EMvTW 152 - USS Excelsior Nilo Rodis Concept II (AKA U.S.S. Excelsior Prototype Mk II)

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

Rewrites: NONE YET

Eaglemoss had me worried on this next review.  I placed the order for the model and then it took them a little over two weeks to get it to me.  Luckily, it arrived and I was not held up with writing the review.

For this article, we are going to take a good look at the USS Excelsior Nilo Rodis Concept II model (AKA U.S.S. Excelsior Prototype Mk II).

We very briefly get to see this starship at Surplus Depot Z15 in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode called "Unification, Part I".


Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Excelsior-class was a type of Federation starship used by Starfleet from the late 23rd century through the late 24th century. It was the backbone of Starfleet for nearly a century, making it one of the longest serving starship designs, and one of the most recognizable ships in the fleet."  They go on to say this about the USS Excelsior, "The USS Excelsior (NX-2000, later NCC-2000) was a 23rd century Federation Excelsior-class starship operated by Starfleet. Excelsior was the prototype of her class.  Dubbed "The Great Experiment," the Excelsior was conceived during the early 2280s as the first Starfleet vessel equipped with transwarp drive. An awe-inspiring concept to some, traditional engineers were more skeptical, as in the case of Montgomery Scott, who expressed his doubt in transwarp technology with the analogy, "and if my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a wagon."  sadly, the drive technology was a failure, however, the ship design went on to become a huge success in starfleet.

If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:

Excelsior Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
USS Excelsior (NCC-2000) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

Hold on... that was for the actual USS Excelsior.

I already reviewed the Eaglemoss USS Excelsior and a few other manufacturers versions of it way back in Issue number 8.  You can read my review of that model at THIS LINK.  Eventually, that type of ship evolved into the Excelsior Refit Class or better known as the USS Enterprise-B.  Eaglemoss and several others also produced a model of that ship in Issue number 40 and you can read my review of that ship at THIS LINK.

The model we are looking at this time around is actually one of the concept models that was designed and built back in the days when the USS Excelsior was being created for created Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.

There is not a lot of information on these concept models, however, Memory Alpha does have a small section about them at THIS LINK.

 

 

 

 

My initial reaction to this model when I first learned about it was that it should have been part of the Bonus Ship (or "The Extras") Collection.  I felt that way because I did not realize that it actually did appear on screen and therefore considered canon.  After I actually bought the model, and did more reading for my review, I learned the truth about it being canon, and now I am willing to say that it does belong in the Standard Edition series of models.

My reaction to the model when it came to me was that it is small.  Actually, it is quite LOOOONG, but very slender.  Like the USS Excelsior model, the length dictates the size of the overall model because Eaglemoss needed to be able to fit it in one of their Standard Edition boxes.

Once I got over the size shock, I started looking more closely at the actual model.

The sculpt and mold work is not bad.  All of the tactile details are nice an crisp and you can clearly make out the important areas of the ship.

For the most part, the paint work is pretty good as well.  I love the fact that the phasher banks and RCS thrusters are painted in great detail.

Eaglemoss attempted to give this model an aztec pattern of sorts.  This breaks down to looking more like someone has speckled grey paint across the entire ship.  Sometimes, I have felt that Eaglemoss has gone overboard on aztecing their models.  I don't feel that this is the case here.  I have to say that I think this model could have done with a bit more.  In my opinion, the light speckle pattern ends up looking more like sloppy painting.

It is hard to tell in the pictures, and quite frankly, its hard to tell in person, but the navigation lights were actually painted onto the top and bottom nacelles.  The top ones are painted very lightly, but are correct with the green and red lights.  The bottom nacelles have an issue though where both sets of lights are painted red.

The one major issue that I have with the paint work though is the fact that the impulse engines were not painted.  The magazine makes a point of showing the red areas on those engines, but Eaglemoss seems to have decided to now paint them on the model.

I was happy to see that Eaglemoss used clear blue plastics on the nacelles.  Unlike other larger models, you can not shine a light through the nacelles on this model.  I am OK with this as the plastics still give the model a little extra something special to look at.

Outer Nacelle Grille

Inner Nacelle Grille

For those familiar with this series of articles from me, you will know that I typically go in for a close-up of the Starfleet ship's deflector dish.  In my opinion, you can tell a lot about a company's attention to details by just looking at this area of the ship.

For this model, the deflector dish is nothing more than a small dot of paint applied withing a recessed ares.  From a distance, this looks OK.  Up close, it's not that impressive.  Unfortunately, due to the size of this model, there really wasn't mush room to work with so I doubt that Eaglemoss could have done any better.Since they had already used clear blue plastics, and a lot of those at that, they probably deems it to expensive to use clear blue plastic for the dish as well.

And that is all the pictures and comparisons I have to share on this ship at this time.  As for pricing, I will continue with the tradition of rounding up the most inexpensive Buy-It-Now prices from eBay at the time of this article's writing (June 2020).

Eaglemoss = $37

NOTE: Prices were researched last on June 14th, 2020.  As of the writing of this article, you can also currently order the Eaglemoss model right from the company's US WebStore for around $25 (shipping unknown).

Before I go into my final thoughts on this model, let me explain that when I am shopping around for the Standard Edition models from Eaglemoss, I am comfortable paying up to $30 for one of those models.  I am gathering that this model is rather popular among the Eaglemoss collectors because the eBay prices are well over my comfort range.  Luckily, I was able to get mine directly from Eaglemoss.

Given the size of the model, and the little annoying issues that I found across the entire thing, I certainly would not recommend getting this model for the eBay costs.  I am not saying that this is a horrible model though.  It just is not worth more that $30.  If you can get this model for the normal Eaglemoss prices, I actually would recommend it.  For the normal cost, you get a very unique looking model with a historical tie-in to one of the more beloved ships in Star Trek history.

BONUS ROUND!!!

Every once in a while, I'll have a little extra stuff to share with you that sort of fits in with my comparison articles.

From what I can see, we are expecting to see two more of these Excelsior concept models, so it will be cool to have all of them lined up in the future.

As always, I hope you found this article useful and informative.  If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to comment below.

So for now, "Live long and prosper!!!"



Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:

Eaglemoss     Comparative Shots

Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek