Next up in our Eaglemoss vs. The World series is one of my more favorite designs, the Sydney Class.
We were introduced to this ship in Star Trek: The Next Generation in the fan favorite episode called "Relics". My collection of this ship consists of the Eaglemoss model, and a very expensive T.M. Lindsey (Star Cast) resin model kit that I bought, built and painted.
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Sydney-class was a class of relatively large personnel transport ship utilized by the Federation from the late 23rd century through as late as 2375." They go on to say this about the USS Jenolan, "In 2294, the transport was carrying passengers to the Norpin colony when the ship experienced an overload to one of its plasma transfer conduits. When the captain brought the ship out of warp, it hit the gravimetric interference caused by the gravitational field of a previously uncharted Dyson sphere." To make a long story short, the ship scanned the sphere, was caught in a tractor beamed and was disabled, thus crashing into the surface of the sphere.
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Sydney Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
USS Jenolan (NCC-2010) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
If you have ever read the history of the building of the studio model for this ship, you would learn that it actually started life as a SD-103 Type Executive Shuttle from the movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. It was then modified into what we know as the Jenolan and then later on, in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, it was flipped over and modified again into another ship.
Eaglemoss also produced the SD-103 Type in thier Shuttlecraft Collection Set 2 and you can read my review of it at THIS LINK.
Normally, I wouldn't compare an Eaglemoss model to a D.I.Y. model kit, but it is so rare anymore for me to have something to compare to Eaglemoss that I just could't resist. For reference, the T.M. Lindsey model was listed at 1:2500 scale, although I'm not sure how accurate that would be as it makes this ship bigger than a Constitution Class starship.
Eaglemoss vs. T.M. Lindsey (Star Cast)
Eaglemoss vs. T.M. Lindsey (Star Cast)
We'll talk more about the resin kit a little later. For now, let us focus on the Eaglemoss model.
Although this is a favorite ship of mine, I'm not so convinced that the Eaglemoss model will be a favorite version of this ship for me.
The sculpted and molded details are fantastic in some areas of the model and soft and even sloppy in other areas.
The bottom of the model shows superb details in the plastic areas of the ship near the forward section, however, where the metal part is "blended in" on the rear of the ship, those areas have a slightly softer look to them. If you you are a follower of my reviews, then you will know that I call this the Melted Marshmallow Syndrome. Sometimes, Eaglemoss models suffer a softness to thier details on thier metal parts that make the details look less edgy and sometime blurred.
This blurriness is extremely evident when you look at the nose of the ship where the cargo hatch is located. In fact, while staring at this part of the ship, you can see that the flashing residue from the molding process was not cleaned up very well either.
From the standpoint of the paint work, I think that the model is a bit lacking. Sure, certain important areas of the ship have been given thier due diligence, like the bridge module and the warp crystal.
Some paint on the impulse engines would have been a nice touch.
Personally, I felt that the model just seemed way to plain and white, and it detracts from all of the molded details that they tried to squeeze into the model. When you look at the bottom of the ship, you are just left with a sense of wonder, and not the good kind. 😀
Given the history of the ship, the model could have used some sort of weathering to make it less bright and that might have helped my feelings in regards to the entire presentation.
Other than on the nose of the ship, the joins and seams have been blended well into the lines of the ship.
The nacelles are very nicely done.
The sculpted and molded details were nicely done. The paint was nicely done.
They should be nicely done given thier size. There is no way you could mess them up given that sized "canvas" to work on. so why did Eaglemoss not incorporate thier wonderful clear plastics, at least into the grills? I found that disappointing... and not nicely done.
I am wondering why Eaglemoss went with all the black paint work on the nacelles. Is it because they were trying to convey that the warp core was offline, thus representing the ship as it was found at the Dyson sphere? If that was the intention, then I'm even more annoyed at the lack of weathering to the rest of the model.
I think I'll stop with the descriptive stuff now and jump right into the price discussions. As always, 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 (February 2018).
Eaglemoss = $30
NOTE: Prices were researched last on February 18th, 2018. You can also currently order the Eaglemoss model right from the company themselves for around $23 (shipping unknown).
Given that the prices are right in line for what I would comfortably pay for a Standard Edition Eaglemoss model, I would have to begrudgingly say that the model is worth the money, especially if you really like this starship. Given that there are no other choices out there in a pre-built and pre-painted model of this size, adding it to your fleet would not be a mistake.
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:
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 made mention of the T.M. Lindsey (Star Cast) at the beginning of this article. Normally, I would write a whole separate review on a resin kit that I bought, built and painted, however, this model is out of print and actually very rare to find. If I remember correctly, I paid about $80 for mine. This was long before I knew about Eaglemoss and I certainly would not have bought it if I knew I could one day buy one in a pre-built and pre-painted format.
From the limited sources I could find, this model was produced by at least three different garage kit makers, and all of them have ceased making the resin kit. Those companies were T.M. Lindsey, Star Cast, and SRS Prototyping. The kit supposedly came with enough parts that you could either build the Jenolan or flip it over and build the SD-103 Type Executive Shuttle. When I found my kit online, the seller only had the parts for the Jenolan, which was fine, because that's what I wanted to build. I was very happy with the outcome of this build, even though it was one of my first resin kits and those nacelles and nacelle struts were a bear to mount.
I made mention of the T.M. Lindsey (Star Cast) at the beginning of this article. Normally, I would write a whole separate review on a resin kit that I bought, built and painted, however, this model is out of print and actually very rare to find. If I remember correctly, I paid about $80 for mine. This was long before I knew about Eaglemoss and I certainly would not have bought it if I knew I could one day buy one in a pre-built and pre-painted format.
USS Jenolan (NCC-2010)
Sydney Class
1:2500 Scale T.M. Lindsey (Star Cast) Kit
From the limited sources I could find, this model was produced by at least three different garage kit makers, and all of them have ceased making the resin kit. Those companies were T.M. Lindsey, Star Cast, and SRS Prototyping. The kit supposedly came with enough parts that you could either build the Jenolan or flip it over and build the SD-103 Type Executive Shuttle. When I found my kit online, the seller only had the parts for the Jenolan, which was fine, because that's what I wanted to build. I was very happy with the outcome of this build, even though it was one of my first resin kits and those nacelles and nacelle struts were a bear to mount.
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 T.M. Lindsey (Star Cast)
Comparative Shots
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
Comparative Shots
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Star Trek Starship Collection
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