EMvTW 108: USS Ahwahnee NCC-73620 (Cheyenne class)

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

As a model builder, I do like to kitbash and there is nothing more gratifying than seeing official kitbashes by the series designers.

And issue 108 brings us one such kitbash, the USS Ahwahnee (NCC-73620), a Cheyenne class starship that we are first introduced during the aftermath of the Battle of Wolf 359 in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II".


Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Cheyenne class was a type of starship in service with Starfleet during the late 24th century."  They go on to say this, "The Ahwahnee, along with 39 other starships, fought the Borg at the Battle of Wolf 359 on stardate 44002. The heavily damaged ship was discovered by the USS Enterprise-D after the battle.

Photo Credit: Memory Alpha

USS Ahwahnee is in upper right corner.

After being salvaged, by early 2368, the Ahwahnee joined Captain Picard's fleet that blockaded the Klingon-Romulan border during the Klingon Civil War. The ship was one of twenty-three assembled for the fleet and was one of the seventeen chosen for the tachyon network. Identified by its name and registry number, the ship's position in the network was monitored from the Enterprise-D."

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

Cheyenne class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
USS Ahwahnee (NCC-73620) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

The wonderful thing that I like about the Eaglemoss collection is that at this point, they have presented us with many nicely sized models that no other manufacturers have produced in a pre-built and pre-painted format.  And this model marks the third one that Eaglemoss has given us from the Battle of Wolf 359.

 

 

 

 

I am going to try to not be too critical of the Eaglemoss model.  Let us look at the facts about the filming model.  It was a kitbashed ship that was thrown together rather quickly to serve the purpose of a long distance after-battle scene.  The filming model was not meant to be super detailed.  If anything, Eaglemoss should be commended for deciding to tackle this ship so that we can have it in our collection.

The sculpted and molded details on this model are OK for the most part.  There is something about the top of the saucer section that just doesn't sit right with me and I'm having a hard time putting my finger on it.

At first, I thought it was a problem, of the Eaglemoss Melted Marshmallow Syndrome, or EMMS.  This is best described as a softening of details where they appear more rounded, less edgy and a bit out of focus.  Sort of what happens to a marshmallow as you heat it up to it's melting point on a camp fire.  But looking at the top in a complete view, it doesn't seem to be this issue.

I actually think that the bridge module is what is throwing the whole look off.  I don't think this is an Eaglemoss issue either.  When the filming model was constructed, the model makers obviously used different scaled parts.  From a distance, this mismatching of size doesn't matter, as you were not supposed to see any differences.   And then Eaglemoss comes along, gets thier hands on every bit of information they can on the filming model and produces something that you can hold in your hand and actually examine up close.  And when this happens, those mis-scaled parts then come into the spotlight.  So once again, we really should commend Eaglemoss of the great job they did!

The molded in details on the bottom of the saucer look better.

The paint work on this model is decent but not fantastic.  There is a very faint aztecing going on all over the ship.  My camera doesn't do it justice, but trust me, it's there.  I personally like that they went with the subtle approach, because in my opinion, too much aztecing can detract from the overall look of the model.  Unfortunately, this model does suffer from Eaglemoss' habit of misaligned window paint, especially with those forward "lounge" areas and some of the smaller windows.  The paint does not line up correctly with the molded in window details.

The shuttle bay on the back end of the ship is a mixed bag of emotions for me.  It's nice that it was molded in and you can sort of tell what it is by those details, however the lack of paint makes it just blend in with the rest of the rear of the ship

The nacelles are another area where I have both good and bad feeling about this part of the ship.  Eaglemoss did a pretty good job of recreating the highlighter marker looking nacelles.  The clear red and blue plastics that Eaglemoss is so good at utilizing from time to time really make these nacelles stand out.

And thier application of paint and decals really adds some finesse to this integral part of the ship.

Unfortunately, because of all this cool stuff, your eyes are naturally drawn to these areas, and makes it easier to pick out some issues as well.  I really am unhappy with the joins and seams on the nacelles.  On some of the nacelles, it looks really sloppy, like Starfleet engineers used welding torches to put the ship together.  I think that the issue is actually with the flashing from the edges of the molds.  It really looks like the flashing was not cleared off enough before painting.

The other real noticeable issue is that my nacelles are not aligned very well on the top part of the ship.  This is going to cause some instability in the warp bubble and my ship is going to spiral out of control at high speeds.  Or maybe this is just a left over issue from the Battle of Wolf 359.  😁

Speaking of joins and seams, they are not hidden very well on this ship, particularly on the bottom of the saucer and rear of the ship.  I am thinking that when you have to cobble together so much stuff into one model, some things are inevitably going to show through.

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 = $33

NOTE: Prices were researched last on February 2nd, 2018.  Sadly, at the time that I am writing this article, the Eaglemoss website is out of stock of the ship so we are stuck trying to get it through other sources.

I am accustomed to paying anywhere from $25 to $30 for a standard edition Eaglemoss model.  I use that price range when I get to this part of my article and have to give my opinion on whether this model is worth getting.  Is this a perfect model?  No.  It has some issues and some noticeable flaws.  However, the fact that Eaglemoss even brought us this model is a very cool thing, and quite frankly, the pricing isn't outrageous yet.  If you are a fan of Frankenstein builds, or kitbash builds, or just happen to like some new looking Starfleet ship, then I'd say that yes, the model is worth the money.  I am certainly enjoying her in my fleet.

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