Wednesday, August 30, 2023

EMvTW Extra 36 - Reman Scorpion Attack Flier Starship

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

In July 2022, Eaglemoss' bankruptcy brought an end to my review writing... or so I thought.  There were several unreleased models that I thought I would never get to see or review.  But then a company called Master Replicas purchased the rights to the remaining stock and suddenly, those "lost" models have slowly come to market.  Being the completionist that I believe myself to be, I have been buying those models.  This next model excited me immensely as it allowed me to bring back a feature of my reviews that I have not been able to do in a long time.  I'll talk more about that in a minute, but for now, here is the Reman Scorpion Fighter.


What you see pictured here are Eaglemoss' model and the 2003 Hallmark ornament.  We first get to see this ship in the movie "Star Trek Nemesis" (2002).

Sunday, August 20, 2023

EMvTW Discovery Special 4 - Starbase 1

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

The whole Eaglemoss bankruptcy thing forced me to re-evaluate my collecting choices, and as a result, I recently made several impulse purchases.  Two of those impulse buys were the Special Edition space stations from the Star Trek: Discovery The Official Starships Collection.  While I am not a Disco fan, I realized that I should probably get the Special Edition stations from this collection while I still could at a somewhat decent price.  

I just finished reviewing the very cool looking Discovery Special # 3, Section 31 Station (Review Link HERE), which then leaves us with the tall and spindly Starbase 1.


It took me some research to figure this out, but we only get to see this station in this configuration in the Star Trek: Discovery episode called "The War Without, The War Within".

Tuesday, July 25, 2023

EMvTW Discovery Special 3 - Section 31 Station

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

My next review of an Eaglemoss model once again covers something I normally would not have purchased.  First, while I do watch the series, because it is Star Trek,  I am not a big fan of Star Trek: Discovery.  And up until this purchase, the only other Star Trek: Discovery model I bought was the "smaller" Enterprise from Eaglemoss' Discovery collection.  The second reason that I would not have normally bought this model is, it is just REALLY big.  I prefer my models to be around the size of the "Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection" size.  The Discovery line is much larger than those other models, PLUS, this model was released as part of that lines even bigger Special Edition Issues.  And I have to tell you, the Discovery Special Edition models are even larger then the Official Starships Collection Special Edition models.  You will see what I mean at the end of this article.

The bankruptcy of Eaglemoss put me in an odd situation though.  As a result of the bankruptcy, the line of models I was purchasing and reviewing suddenly dried up, with the probability of never seeing any more new models again.  Thanks to a company purchasing the remaining stock from Eaglemoss, a few "unicorns" that I never thought I would see published are becoming available at a decent cost as long as I'm quick on the [PURCHASE] button.  Because of this, I was able to complete my Space Station collection from the Official Starships Collection with my recent purchase of the Caretaker's Array (See review at THIS LINK).  Out of morbid curiosity, I looked at the other Star Trek collections that Eaglemoss had produced to see what other space stations were made.  As it turns out, there were only two others, so to be a completionist, I went and purchased them.

And so, I present the first of two very large models, Section 31 Station.


We first get to see this station in the Star Trek: Discovery episode called "Project Daedalus".

Saturday, July 1, 2023

BTE Shuttle Pack 2 - Hawking & Calypso

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

The next two Eaglemoss models that I am going to review are not something that I would normally have purchased.  There are several reasons for this, but the first is, had Eaglemoss not gone out of business, then these probably would not have been available to me at a somewhat decent cost. 

This set of ships was part of Eaglemoss' "Star Trek: The Next Generation Build The USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D" subscription.  Described by Memory Alpha (at THIS LINK) as "a British partwork that debuted in March 2021 in the UK, the US, select EU countries, and Japan.  Available by subscription from Eaglemoss Collections' websites and published under its Hero Collector imprint, collectors can build their own seventy centimeter-long (~27.5 inch-long) replica of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, constructed from hand-painted ABS and die-cast metal parts, and featuring electronic lighting.  Each four-week period, subscribers typically received with each issue four kit "stages" with parts for the model and a (220 × 284 mm) 32-page magazine containing the relevant sections of the assembly instructions."

I would not have normally acquired these models because, while I do like building and painting models, I found this particular project to be a rather expensive undertaking.  Once again, referring to Memory Alpha, they better describe these Shuttle Packs as "Double-model packs offered exclusively to subscribers of this particular partwork alone (and therefore never offered through the company's webstores), which, while coined as "bonus", had to be paid for nonetheless by those subscribers who opted to receive them. Larger scaled than the ones from the Official Starships Collection, each shuttle model came with its own 20-page magazine, which was actually twelve pages longer (and larger) than the ones that accompanied those from the Official Collection shuttle sets. The extra content is taken up with production background information that was not included in the Official Collection shuttle set magazines, which only contained in-universe information. Each individual model/magazine combo came within their own "Collector's Edition" format style packaging as introduced in 2018, two of which included in a box set."

Thanks to the groups I follow on FaceBook, I had the unique opportunity of seeing this partwork fail and be canceled by Eaglemoss in several unmentioned countries, leaving builders in those countries with partially built ships, and no way to complete them without breaking thier bank.  I therefore opted out, and apparently, it was a wise decision in the United States as well since Eaglemoss ended up belly-up and thus stranding everyone with unfinished models.  Rumor has it, that another company has acquired the dies and rights to continue the subscription, but, as I said in my last article, when it comes to Eaglemoss stuff these days, "I will believe it, when I see it."

Lastly, you may be noticing that I am reviewing these Shuttle Packs out of order.  That is because, the companies that are liquidating the leftover Eaglemoss stock, are doing so in a seemingly random fashion.  The reality is, they are consolidating the stock from all over the world, inventorying those assets, then trying to turn it around and sell that stuff to the consumers at a reasonable price.  I took a chance buying this set, in the hopes that I can acquire the other two sets as well.  We will see if my gamble pays off.



Shuttle Pack #2 consists of larger version of the Hawking and the Calypso.

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

EMvTW Special 30 - Caretaker's Array

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

Eleven months ago (July 2022), I posted a link to an article that talked about Eaglemoss going into what we call in the United States, a Bankruptcy.  On August 5th, 2022, the rumors became true and I came to realize that my collecting of Eaglemoss models had ended.  There were rumors that some models were produced but never released, and we might get a chance at purchasing these "lost models", but I am a firm believer of "I'll believe it when I see it."  And so I quietly retired from writing reviews, thinking that I'll never get my hands on anything new.

Enter Master Replicas and Real Merch, two UK based companies that managed to acquire Eaglemoss' stockpile of models from around the world.  As models have become available for purchase through these sites, it has been a feeding frenzy trying to get one's hands on certain models.  Lucky for me, I am only after a select few ships and stations, and it seems that my competition for those items wasn't as fierce.

And so, it was with great excitement that while on a camping trip, I was able to purchase the Caretaker's Array and not be gouged by Internet (eBay) Scalpers.  It was a bittersweet moment as I added the second non-human space station to my collection.



We first get to see this starship in the Star Trek: Voyager episode called "Caretaker".

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

End Of An Era?

 I just saw some interesting news on the web today.  It appears that Eaglemoss is facing financial issues and may be going away after giving us 10+ years of Star Trek goodness.  I guess this will cut back on my reviews.

Check out THIS ARTICLE for more information...

Thursday, May 19, 2022

EMvTW Special 29 - Ty'Gokor Orbital Facility

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

Rewrites: None

I was never a big fan of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  I didn't watch it when it first aired and ran through the entire series, and I didn't watch it in reruns.  It wasn't until about five or six years ago that I finally sat down and binge watched it just to get a handle on it.  It still isn't my thing, but to each thier own.  It is because of my lack of knowledge of the series that when Eaglemoss announced this next station, that I at first thought there was some sort of mistake being made.  I was like, "What is this thing?"  But, it appears that Eaglemoss has decided to bring us a non-human space station in the form of a Special Edition release.  And so, we now can add the Ty'Gokor Orbital Facility to our crowded space station display shelves.


We first get to see this starship in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode called "Apocalypse Rising".