EMvTW 110: USS Chekov NCC-57302 (Springfield class)

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

It seems that Eaglemoss has gone on a spree of producing a bunch of the better known vessels from the Battle of Wolf 359.  And next up in this fleet is Issue #110, the USS Chekov (NCC-57302), a Springfield class ship.

As I already said, we get a quick, and somewhat blurry view of this ship in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode titled, "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II".


Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Springfield class was a type of Federation starship that was in service with Starfleet during the late 24th century."  They go on to say this about the USS Chekov, "In late 2367, the USS Chekov was one of 40 starships mobilized at Wolf 359 to intercept a Borg cube en route to Sector 001. The Chekov engaged the Borg at the subsequent battle where it was destroyed, along with the rest of the fleet."

Photo Credit: Memory Alpha

USS Chekov is in top middle.

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

Springfield Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
USS Chekov (NCC-57302) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

This is another one of those ships that was built by the show producers to be seen far away in an aftermath scene.  So how did Eaglemoss do this time around?

 

 

 

 

After I did my review on Issue #108, the USS Ahwahnee (NCC-73620), I wasn't sure what to expect on this model.  You can read my review of that model at THIS LINK.  Although I thought it was a nice model, it did have a plethora of issues, and with that in mind, I set out to take a closer look at the Chekov.

Right off the bat, I noticed that the sculpted and molded in details, especially on top of the saucer, were not as unsettling to me this time around.  The model sports all sorts of nice details on the top and on the bottom.  It's cool to see this model up close and all of it's different components, in a pre-destroyed state.

As for the paint work, Eaglemoss went with a very light aztec detailing all across the model.  My camera once again didn't do it justice.  Actually, the aztecing was so subtle, it was actually a little difficult to pick out with the naked eye.  

There are other areas of the ship that benefited with a nice application of paint, like the phaser strips and support struts on the bottom of the ship.  All in all, it is mostly a rather colorful model.

Sadly, some of the paint does suffer from Eaglemoss' long tradition of misaligned window paint on some of the windows.  Besides the blue windows on the bottom, there are a few small windows on top where the paint doesn't line up with the molded details.

 

The next thing we should talk about is the that thing on the back of the ship.  The magazine calls it a mission pod.  

Sadly, the magazine is rather sparse on actual information on this ship.  Out of the entire magazine, you only get about four pages of usable information.  I actually learned more about the ship from Memory Alpha and Memory Beta.  But we're not here to talk about the magazine.

The mission pod has an interesting look to it, right down to the thing that looks like a hinge in front of it.  This is truly a kitbashed part that was added in from some non star Trek model.   Apparently, the mission pod can be switched out for various attachments, much like the Nebula Class mission pods.

A rear end view of this mission pod leaves me scratching my head.  I am guessing that the rectangle is supposed to be a hanger bay.  It could have used a little bit of paint to help it stand out a tiny bit more.  The cover takes on more of a look of  armor plating from this angle.  I don't know, for me, this whole open area looks a little incomplete.

The very exciting part of this model is that secondary hull that extends below the saucer section.  This area is very reminiscent of the Oberth Class ship and it's secondary hull.  It also houses the deflector dish.

All in all, this part of the ship is well detailed and painted very nicely.  If anything, I really think this part of the ship sells the model.  It more than makes up for the weird module on top of the model.

I think Eaglemoss did a far better job with the nacelles this time around.  Although you can still make out the joins and seams, they are not ungainly like they were on the previous Starfleet ship.

And Eaglemoss duplicated the last ship's use of clear red and blue plastics.

Speaking of joins and seams, these lines are much better this time around.  Although the joins are visible on the bottom of the saucer, the over all look is that they are well blended into the model.

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.

Eaglemoss did a fantastic job with this deflector dish.  I love the molded details and the paint is well placed, which just makes the deflector dish appear to be top notch.

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 = $29

NOTE: Prices were researched last on February 24th, 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).

All in all, I was extremely happy with Eaglemoss' rendition of this model.  The pricing is right around what I would expect to see a standard edition model to cost and the fact that you can get it cheaper from Eaglemoss directly is a bonus.  They seemed to have learned some lessons from thier previous Wolf 359 ship and produced what I would call a top notch model.  And it's uniqueness makes it a worthy addition to my fleet in my display cases.

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