EMvTW 121: SS Xhosa (Antares Class (Federation))

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

Eaglemoss' second release in the U.S. this month is the SS Xhosa, an Antares Class, Federation based vessel.

We first meet this old vessel in the Star Trek: Deep Sapce Nine episode titled, "Family Business".


Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Antares-class freighter was a type of starship operated by civilians for the United Federation of Planets and other organizations. Ships of the class were protected by standard deflector shields and could support crews of at least twelve. The Antares-class was capable of hauling a variety of freight, including deuridium, duridium, and dilithium. In addition, crews could also haul various types of supplies and material stipulated by contract."  They go on to say this about the SS Xhosa, "The SS Xhosa was a Antares class cruiser constructed at the Luna Shipyards in the 23rd century and commanded by Captain Kasidy Yates.  The ship's equipment was mostly obsolete, as such it only had a Mark V transporter, requiring ship's personnel to use anti-grav sleds when loading the ship with unstable biomatter."

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

Antares Class (Federation) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
SS Xhosa Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

This will now make the third ship in the Eaglemoss Standard Sized collection to carry some sort of "Antares" title, so perhaps it is time for a quick refresher and some clarification.

First, let us get the alien ship out of the way.  It was inevitable that one of the alien races that we encountered in the myriad of TV show episodes and movies, would also have a ship whose classification was the same as a Federation ship.  In this case, the classification is rather easy to handle.  And for this situation, we can simply call it the Bajoran Antares Class carrier.  You can read my review of that model at THIS LINK.

 

But that was rather recent, if you can call 1995 recent, LOL.

However, back in the TOS days, the show creators didn't really know that they would eventually be creating more than 160 starships over the next 50 years.  And as such, a few of those really early starships never were classified on screen.  In those cases, the ship ended up being tentatively classified as a TYPE instead of a CLASS.  And during the TOS era is when we were first introduced to an Antares Type.  And of course you may read my review of this type of ship at THIS LINK.

 

So, based off of all that information, that would make the current type of ship a Federation Antares Class freighter.

 

 

 

 

I am going to say that when I first saw pictures of this model, I was concerned that we were going to have another repeat of the Federation Remote Control...  oops, I mean Holoship.

 

I'm not going to rehash all the pain an suffering brought on by that model and instead, I'll simply give you THIS LINK to go check out what I'm so delicately dancing away from.

I am happy to report that the SS Xhosa is a MUCH better model.  And, the SS Xhosa is a MUCH heavier model too.  This new model has a lot more metal to it.

Some of my fellow reviewers were not super pleased with this model.  Personally, I'm not sure why as overall, it is nicely done.  So in an effort to build up more excitement for this model, we'll do things a little differently and start from the bottom and make our way upwards.

There is a lot going on with this model when we start to look at the sculpt and mold work.  Well, actually, it depends on which angle you look at the ship.  The bottom is where my fellow reviewers were a tad disappointed.  And I can sort of see what they mean as it is a bit plain looking compared to the sides and top of the model.

Thanks to the lightly molded details on the bottom of the model, the joins and seams are really noticeable on the command section of the ship.

As you follow the hull towards the rear of the ship, this lacking of details continues.  Now here is where I'm going to defend Eaglemoss.  They did thier best with the sources they were given.  The bottom of the ship looks like the show creators built the model up and then realized that they had to stick some random stuff on the bottom to give it some sort of texture.  So in reality, the looks on the bottom are not Eaglemoss' fault.

The details on the sides of the ship end up working overtime to make up for the bottom's lack-luster looks.

Depending on the angle and the lighting, it sort of looks like the sides of the model model suffer from what I have come to call 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.

I had to pull my model out of the box again and look at it up close a second time, and I can say with a sigh of relief that this is simply a trick of light.  While not as crisp and clear as the top details, these side details will suffice in making the ship more interesting looking.

Speaking of top side molded details.  This model is loaded down with them.  

Eaglemoss did a nice job on the paint work for this model too.  At least on the top and sides.  The command section of the ship shows off all sorts of windows and access hatches.  There are also some nice green intakes to break up the oranges, grays and tans of the model.

The cargo area of the ship is what really grabs your attention though.  There is something simple, yet complicated in the design in this section of the ship that is very visually pleasing.  The paint choices also drive it home that we may be dealing with an older ship as well.

As I said earlier, the bottom of the model is lacking in molded details, and in the case of the paint work, it lacks these details as well.

I really like the old fashioned drive exhaust ports on the rear of the ship.  Eaglemoss did a fine job of detailing these from a molded perspective and the red paint gives them that old fashioned engine look too.

Although this ship serves the Federation, it does not have a deflector dish.  It does have a subspace transceiver poking out of it near the rear of the command module.  While I don't feel that it is well rendered, it was still cool that Eaglemoss included it as an extra greeble.

The model that Eaglemoss gives us is of a very interesting vessel that has an important history to one of the series.  I was also interested to learn of the filming model's cool history as well.  It has apparently undergone quite a few changes during its existence and has made many on screen appearances as different types and classes of starship.

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 (April 2018).

Eaglemoss = $38

NOTE: Prices were researched last on April 20th, 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).  Like the USS Bozemen, this the model was released in the US only last week, and it is still a rarity on eBay, hence the extremely high price.  Give it time and those prices will come down, however, it might be just wiser to buy it right from the source.

And that brings us to my opinion on whether this model is worth the money.  I always like to point out during this part of my review that I am used to paying around $25 to $30 for the Standard Sized Eaglemoss models on eBay.  And if you can find the model for under $30, then it is a good investment to add to your fleet or collection.  Sadly, it is not a perfect model, so I would not feel comfortable paying more than that $30 mark for this ship.

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