EMvTW 100: USS Horizon NCC-176 (Daedalus class)

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

WOW!  Have I really written a hundred Standard Issue reviews?  Considering that I've been at this since November 6th, 2014, I guess it's about time that we hit that milestone mark.

And this article is going to cover the USS Horizon (NCC-176), a Daedalus class starship.  We never get to see the actual ship or its class on screen other than brief glances at a model in someone's office.

My collection of this ship is small, with the Eaglemoss dwarfing the 1:2500 scale Cozmo Heavy Industries model that I built a few years ago.  It kind of looks like David and Goliath there, LOL.


Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Daedalus-class was an early class of Starfleet vessel that, unlike most Federation starship designs, was designed with a spherical primary hull, outwardly similar to the later Olympic-class. This class, which operated with a crew of approximately 229, was decommissioned by the year 2196."

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

Daedalus Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
USS Horizon (NCC-176) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

Ex Astris Scientia also has a very nice article about the class and the "filming model" and you can read that information at THIS LINK.

Since the Cozmo Heavy Industries model was something that I built and painted, it is automatically disqualified from a comparison in this article as I try to focus them more on models that have already been pre-built and pre-painted, like Hallmark, Hot Wheels, etc.  It is also way smaller than what my article tends to focus on.  I do promise to share a little more about the Cozmo Heavy Industries model at the end of this article though.

So here we are, 100 issues into the collection, and Eaglemoss has brought us a rather interesting and unique looking ship that we can now display in our offices just like Captain Benjamin Sisko.

Accept our model won't be quite as big.

 

 

 

 

WARNING!: I'm thinking that those nacelle struts are going to be a bit fragile, so take your time when un-boxing this model, otherwise, you are going to find yourself in a repair dock.  and based off my experiences trying to glue o the 1:2500 scale nacelles, this is not an endeavor you will wish to undertake.

And how did Eaglemoss do with thier rendition of the Daedalus?  The one glaring issue that stood out right from the un-boxing was that my port side nacelle was a bit droopy as it progressed towards the rear of the ship.

Once I took at good look at the rest of the model though, I was willing to forgive.  I guess that another reason I'm more forgiving here is that as a model builder, I certainly understand the challenges of material fatigue.  Let's face it, these starships are meant to be in the 0g of space and those poor nacelles were never meant to tolerate out planet's gravity.  The only way Eaglemoss could have prevented the potential of this happening would have been by thickening the nacelle struts.  That however, would have made the ship look a bit out of proportion and not "screen accurate" like they claim they try for.

Having collected a bunch of non-Eaglemoss models of TOS era starships over the years, I noticed that these ships tended to lack physical, or rather tactile details.  Eaglemoss has continued to beat out the other manufacturers by adding in additional details, which is why, this model is yet another great example of the sculpting and molding work the Eaglemoss is capable of doing.

 

Their attention to these molded in details helps keep the model from looking like a ball stuck on the end of a cylinder.  The ring around the center of the primary hull was particularly impressive.

There are all sorts of details rammed in there, including a docking port on each side.

The ship sports the light grey color of the TOS era ships of the time.  Unfortunately, the shade of blue that Eaglemoss choose to paint windows with doesn't stand out to well, forcing you to look hard for them.  In the wrong light, it looks like the ship doesn't have any windows, which is a shame since the magazine pictures clearly show them, and they stand out in those pictures.

 

Other than that slightly annoying detail, the rest of the painted on details are rather nice.  You can clearly see what the ship is called and there other important ares of the vessel that have been painted to make them stand out more.

Although the join seam can be seen along the secondary hull, it's location looks like it is part of the ship's other panel lines.

Ignoring the slight droop, the nacelles have been designed to look very nice on this model.

The grill work was molded into the inside of the nacelles, and Eaglemoss has blessed us with thier clear red plastics for the bussard collectors.  There is even a piece sticking out from those collectors, and although these become a fragile breaking point, thier addition was a much welcome bonus to the model.  Lastly, Eaglemoss even choose to dab some blue paint t the nacelle exhausts.

Whenever I review a Starfleet ship, I like to hyper-focus on the deflector dish as it usually gives me a good idea of the level of attention to details that a manufacturer puts into thier models.  Let's face it, this is a very important part of the ship and should be accurately represented.

This particular vessel is a bit confusing though when it comes to the deflector dish.  My research tells me that the below pictire show the deflector dish.  Eaglemoss painted it on and quite frankly, this serve the purpose.

It is believed that the following dishes are meant for long rage communications and sensors.  Eaglemoss molded them into the secondary hull and painted them gold.  They are not as glamorous as the TOS Enterprise's dish, but once again, they are good enough to get the point across.

Overall, the ship is a simple design that Eaglemoss managed to produce in a very pleasing model.

And that is all I really have to share at this point on this class of ship.  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 (re)writing (February 2018).

Eaglemoss = $35

NOTE: Prices were researched last on February 2nd, 2018.  Regrettably, Eaglemoss was out of stock on this model at the time of this article's writing.

Since Eaglemoss doesn't have it in stock, we are now at the mercy of whether the world of eBay collector's deem this as a rare model.  Typically, I am comfortable with paying $25 to $30 n eBay to get my Eaglemoss fix.  Honestly, I think that this model is worth the extra $5. It was well produced and looks cool in any Starfleet officer's office.

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.

I had mentioned at the beginning of this article that I also have a Cozmo Heavy Industries model of this classification of ship.  Unfortunately, at 1:2500 scale, it's about as big as a MicroMachine!

At this point, I will only share two more pictures of this model.

Daedalus Class

1:2500 Scale Cozmo Heavy Industries Kit

 

I would normally share more pictures than this, HOWEVER, I have written another article reviewing the resin kit that this model came with.  If you want to see and read more, you can check out that review at THIS LINK.

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     Cozmo Heavy Industries
Comparative Pictures

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