EMvTW 118: USS Firebrand NCC-68723 (Freedom class)

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

Eaglemoss is continuing with thier line-up of resurrecting some of the more unique kitbashed ships that were built for the sole purpose of dying in the Battle of Wolf 359.  We see this fleet of ship very briefly in the Star Trek: The Next Generation's episode titled, "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II".

The USS Firebrand (NCC-68723) is definitely a unique ship.

Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Freedom-class starship was a type of vessel in service with Starfleet in the late 24th century.  Like the Hermes-class and the Saladin-class, both from the mid-23rd century, this type was noted for being one of the small number of Federation classes that had one nacelle. These classes shared a similar configuration with a primary hull being connected by a pylon to a nacelle."  

TOS Era Saladin Class Destroyer

They go on to say, "The USS Firebrand (NCC-68723) was a 24th century Federation Freedom-class starship operated by Starfleet.  In 2367, with 38 other starships, this vessel was in the Federation fleet at the Battle of Wolf 359. The Firebrand was lost in the conflict."

Photo Credit: Memory Alpha

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

Freedom Class Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

USS Firebrand (NCC-68723) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

Being someone who loves to build kitbashed models, I have been simply amazed that Eaglemoss was able to bring models the ships from the Wolf 39 conflict to us.  To further impress me, they were able to bring us these models in thier pristine state, as if they just launched out of drydock.  In the case of the Wolf 359 fleet, some of these kitbashed designs challenge what a lot of Trek fans feel that a starship should look like, and I especially like to watch fans squirm when presented with weird deigns.

 

 

 

 

Of all of the Eaglemoss models that I have reviewed, I'm going to have to say that the sculpt and mold work on this one is rather simplistic.  The bridge dome has been molded into the model, however, it is only slightly raised.  There is something about Eaglemoss' execution here that just makes this part of the ship come off as unimpressive.  While there are phaser strips molded into the top and bottom of the saucer, the model is lacking any panel lines.  This makes the rest of the molded details, like the escape hatches, just blend in with the rest of the surface detail.

The one part that saved the model from being completely unimpressive, is the really cool looking phaser turret greeble mounted to the bottom of the saucer.  That is pretty cool looking and was well executed by Eaglemoss.

 

What the model lacks for in molded details, it does a pretty job job of making up for it in the paint work.  Besides a very light coat of aztecing going on, the windows, phaser strips and the escape hatches have all been highlighted with the application of well placed paint.  The ship's registry is even eye catching.

The paint work isn't perfect though.  There is some window smudges on the neck of the ship.

And unlike all the other Wolf 359 fleet ships, the impulse engines don't even have black paint on them.  There is nothing there to indicate that this area is anything important.  At least, you should be able to take a black sharpie marker to those engines if you want to match this ship up with the rest of her Frankenstein sisters.

I also found the lack of detail paint on the shuttle bay a bit disappointing.

Once again, as with the other Wolf 359 ships, Eaglemoss did include thier awesome clear red and blue plastics on the single nacelle.  

Unfortunately, for this model, the lacking tactile detailing on the model causes the join and seam on the bottom of the saucer to be much more noticeable than normal.  Usually, Eaglemoss is able to blend the seam in with the natural lines of the model, but in this case, there are none.

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.

Thanks to the magazine's fine detailing of the various parts of the ship, I learned that the little stubby thing sticking off the bottom of the nacelle is actually supposed to be the deflector dish.

My camera is not screwing up the picture, and your eyes are not playing tricks on you.  There is absolutely no detail paint on this part of the ship.  I would have been a bit more excited had Eaglemoss at least applied some badly aligned light blue paint on this thing to make it stand out more.

My disappointed eyes then can't help, but stray upward and take notice of the sloppy and bland paint work on the photon torpedo launchers that are perched above the nacelle.  I'm at least relieved that Eaglemoss took the time to do any sort of highlighting, even if it is badly applied paint.

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 (March 2018).

Eaglemoss = $35

NOTE: Prices were researched last on March 25, 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).

We now have reached the point where I get to give my opinion on whether the model is worth buying at the prices I found.  I am going to start off with saying, considering the source material that Eaglemoss had to work with, I feel like they did a great job of bringing this model to life, especially since it was never meant to be seen as an intact and functioning starship.  I will also note that this is the smallest of all the current Wolf 359 starships.  That being said, this isn't Eaglemoss' best work, and I certainly would not pay more than $25 for it unless I am really desperate to complete my "Ghosts Of Wolf 359" collection.

I have written reviews of all of the starships that have been pictured above.  Here are what thier names are and I've included the links to each of thier reviews.  In the Upper Left, we have EMvTW 114: USS Buran NCC-57580 (Challenger class) (ARTICLE LINK).  In the Upper Right, we have EMvTW 118: USS Firebrand NCC-68723 (Freedom class) (You are reading that article right now.  😄)  In the Middle, we have the Middle = EMvTW 91: USS Saratoga (NCC-31911) (Miranda Class) (ARTICLE LINK).  In the Lower Left, you will find the EMvTW 108: USS Ahwahnee NCC-73620 (Cheyenne class) (ARTICLE LINK).  Ine the Lower Middle of the picture above, you will see the EMvTW 95: USS Kyushu NCC-65491 (New Orleans class) (ARTICLE LINK).  And last but not least, bringing up the Lower Right of the picture, we have the EMvTW 110: USS Chekov NCC-57302 (Springfield class) (ARTICLE 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!!!"

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.

Early in this article, I made mention of the Saladin Class Destroyer, which may have served as inspiration for the Freedom Class starship.  

For more information on the Saladin Class, you can go to this Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK.

Early in my model building days, I actually built a slightly modified version of a Saladin Class just to practice my fledgling kitbashing skills.

Parts Used: AMT Round Two 1:2500 Scale TOS Enterprise

USS Saladin (NCC-500)

Saladin Class

1:2500 Scale AMT Kitbash

 

 

 

 

This was one of my earliest attempts at kitbashing. She's a very simple ship to build EXCEPT for the traditional placing of the deflector dish. Traditionally, the dish hangs down on this thin spindly pole off the center bottom of the saucer section. At the time that I built this model, there was no way I'd have been able to duplicate that weird dish assembly, so I opted to stick the deflector in a much easier place, and in my opinion, a more logical location.

And that's all that I have left to share for this review.

Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:

Eaglemoss   

Saladin Class (AMT Kitbash)

Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:

Some Kind Of Star Trek

Star Trek Starship Collection