EMvTW 31 - Romulan Warbird IRW Valdore (Mogai class)

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

Rewrites: May 2016 & August 2018

And we will jump right into the second of this month's Eaglemoss vs. The World ships, the Romulan Valdore Class.

We get to see this ship in action doing battle along side a sister ship of the same class, in the movie Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

This is another one of those ships that only Eaglemoss has produced in a pre-built and pre-painted format of this scale.  While you can purchase some resin models of this ship, those require some building and painting, and are a bit more expensive than Eaglemoss' already finished model.


Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Mogai-class (also referred to as Valdore-type, Valdore-class, or Norexan-class), was a kind of Romulan warbird in service in the late 2370s and early 2380s.  The Mogai-class was most likely made in response to the Klingon Negh'Var-class or the Federation Sovereign-class starships."  They go on to say that "The Valdore was a Romulan warbird that was in service with the Romulan military during the late 24th century, under the command of Commander Donatra.  In 2379, the Valdore took part in a battle in the Bassen Rift, along with another warbird and the USS Enterprise, a Federation starship, against the Reman warbird Scimitar."

While the ship is never given an on-screen classification, and is only referred to as a Valdore Type in the canonical references, it has been given an official classification in books and certain online games.

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

Mogai Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
IRW Valdore Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

As with my Nausicaan fighter review, I'm going to skip over a bunch of stuff that I would normally do for my comparative articles.  I promise that next month we can get back into the normal grind and actually do some comparing.

Eaglemoss

 

 

 

 

Let us get this one thing out of the way first.  I do confess that I read a couple other people's reviews and takes take on the Eaglemoss' models.  This allows me to get a feel for whether I missed something or to see if my model has something out of the ordinary.  I state this, because I want to talk about something that seems to have been an anomaly with my model only.  None of the other reviewers that I follow had the same problem.

My ship came with a slightly crooked nacelle which I tried to move, and ended up snapping it off completely.  This didn't concern me too much though, because I am a model builder, and it ended up being easy to super glue back on in the correct orientation.

Other than this minor issue, I have to say, this month, I was left in awe of a very awesomely done Eaglemoss ship being added to my collection. 

Eaglemoss really has thier thing down for producing super detailed alien vessel when you get into these later editions.  This ship does not disappoint as it is detailed from top to bottom over every square inch of the model.

The sculpted and molded in details are executed perfectly, especially when you take in to consideration the lower wing assembly of the ship.  I was super impressed with how well they pulled that off.

And the areas of the ship that were not given molded details have benefited from painted on ones.  In fact, even some of the sculpted details were made better with a well placed painting.

There are no trademark Eaglemoss clear plastics on this model.  My guess is that production costs got a little high because of the lower wing assembly and they needed to make a cut somewhere.  Even so, the nacelles still look great.  The molded details make this part of the ship look sleek and graceful.

The only place where the joins and seams are even somewhat noticeable are along the neck and bridge module of the ship.  But they almost look like part of the natural lines of the ship.

The ship is very lightweight and feels like it is very delicate.  The stand is great though and holds the ship firmly so I'm not concerned with it falling and breaking.

This model was a thing of beauty, and left me in awe of how well it was produced and how nice it was to add to my collection.

Conclusion

At this point, I will jump right to the pricing portion of my article.  As usual, 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 (re)writing (August 2018).

Eaglemoss = $29

NOTE: Prices were researched last on August 8th, 2018.  As of the writing of this article, you can also currently order the Eaglemoss model right from the company themselves for around $23 (shipping unknown).

Normally, if I was comparing different manufacturers I would now tell you which one I thought was the best buy.  In my opinion, Eaglemoss gives you a double home run with thier ships for this month.  The Valdore is a great ship that has been executed in a ,most excellent manner, and a must have for any collector, especially if you are a fan of the Romulans.

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   

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