EMvTW Extra 13 - USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F (Odyssey class)

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

It looks like I will be reviewing the Extra Line of Eaglemoss ships a little out of order.  I'll explain more about this a little later in the article.  Whatever the reason, we are now going to take a look at the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-F), an Odyssey class starship.

This is a non-canon ship from Star Trek and the only place you can currently see it in action is in the online game called "Star Trek Online".  There have also been several books written about it as well.


Per Memory Beta, "The Odyssey-class was a type of Federation starship that was the pinnacle of Federation starship design and will carry the Federation into a new generation of exploration in the 25th century. It was designed to be a dreadnought and an explorer. It is one of the largest starships created by Starfleet, surpassing even the Galaxy-class in size."  they go on to say this, "The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-F) was a 25th century Federation starship, launched in the year 2409 under the command of Captain Va'Kel Shon."

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

Odyssey Class Information: NO Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-F) Information: NO Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK

HeroCollector also did a really cool write-up about this ship and you can read that article at THIS LINK.

A long time ago, when Eaglemoss was first being begged to produce the USS Titan, I swore to myself that I would not delve into collecting non-canon models.  My original feelings were that Eaglemoss was straying away from the idea of producing good quality models of canon ships.  There was a certain purity to this concept and I originally poo-pooed the idea of supporting this endeavor.   My initial plan was to ignore this release from Eaglemoss and just build my own model, HOWEVER, at $75 for a resin kit, I just could never bring myself to partaking of that adventure.  Depending on how good of a shopper I can be, I could buy up to three Eaglemoss models for that amount of money.  And the Eaglemoss Titan was considerably cheaper, so I bit the bullet and purchased their version.

And I'm glad that I did, because it changed my mind.  You can read my review of that model at THIS LINK.   This model paved the way for me and I have not been disappointed in any of the non-canon models I've purchased since then.

How I acquired the Enterprise F is a bit of an interesting story.  I have found that if you pre-order models from the U.S. Eaglemoss WebStore, they will typically send the model right away and then just backorder the magazine.  I am torn on how to feel about this practice.  On one side of the coin, it is cool to get the model right away so that I can review it immediately and share it with my readers.  I am also annoyed by the practice as the magazine is a useful tool for those reviews and without the magazine, I have to do a lot of legwork to check on Eaglemoss' accuracy with their model.

And so, the time came to pre-order the USS Bonaventure (NCC-1000), a Bonaventure class starship.

Photo Credit: Memory Beta

Everything seemed to go well and within a week or ordering it, I was notified that the Bonaventure was shipped.  What arrived in my mailbox though, was a model that isn't even available on the U.S. WebStore yet.  It appears that I was one of the lucky people to receive the proverbial...

Apparently, Eaglemoss is on top of the issue because within 5 minutes of emailing them about it, I received a reply back that they were working on sending the correct model out to me.

So here we go, let us take a closer look at the Bonaventure... er... I mean the Enterprise F.

 

 

 

 

My first thought as I un-boxed the model was that the Eaglemoss model is mostly plastic and seems smaller than other Eaglemoss models.  As for the plastic comment, I'm fine with this as that means the details are usually better.  As for the size, well, it does fit the entire length of a Standard Edition box.  Due to the sheer size and length of the ship, in universe, when it is scaled down to fit in these boxes, it just feels and looks small.  The same thing happened to the Excelsior, the Enterprise B and Enterprise E, so I'm OK with this as well.

I also noted that the stand is EXTREMELY tight to the point of it wanting to scrape off the paint.  Many people had filed their stands to fix this issue, AND THEN, they received their USS Bonaventure model.  That model suffered the same issues.  BUT THEN, some smart individual tried reversing the support pieces and guess what?  THEY FIT perfectly!  SOOOO... before damaging your stand, wait and buy the other Extra model and then you will have a perfectly fitting stand for each model.

Because of the model being mostly plastic, the sculpted and molded details came out crisp and clear.  This is a good thing too, because there is A LOT going on with this ship.

It is hard to imagine the sheer size of this ship.  According to the readings I did, it is bigger than a Galaxy class.  But sure enough, when you go looking for the command deck, and you finally find it on top of the saucer, you then can get a feel for the massive nature of the ship.

Given that Eaglemoss had to take such gigantic ship and shrink it down, I was expecting a few issues with the mold work, however, the entire model came out looking great from this perspective.

The paint work on this model is pretty darned good too.  All sorts of little details were added onto the model in th form of windows, escape hatches, etc.  The impulse engines have been clearly defined on either side of the shuttle bay.  If I had my druthers I would have painted the shuttle bay door an off color than the hull to allow it to stand out a bit better.

While some of the windows appear to not follow a straight line on the saucer in some areas, there is so much detailing going on, that it makes it hard to really notice the issue.

The entire model is coved with this detailing with tons of panels in gray hatch details and even Starfleet and United Federation Of Planets logos included.

It's a shame that I don't have a magazine to read up on, however, I did learn from my online research that this ship has it's own support craft that is always docked in the very rear of the ship.

That gray area on the very "tail" end of the ship is what is called an Aquarius class light-escort.

It is basically a slightly larger run-about (Danube Class) with a lot more fire power than it's older cousin.  While not as powerful as a Defiant Class, it has been described as being almost as good as having own at your beck and call.

Photo Credit: Star Trek Online - Beaming in from The 'Couv' Blog

The Starbase 400 website seemed to have the best write-up about this type of ship, so if you are interested in reading more about it, check out THIS LINK.

Unfortunately, due to the small size of the model, I think the details of the docked Aquarius class are a bit lost and you really have to know what to look for to recognize it.  Had I not known about the support craft, I would not have known what that gray section really was.

The ship bears none of Eaglemoss' famed clear plastic and the nacelles are just simply painted the required red and blue.  Although the paint is aligned well, so I can't complain to much.  My guess is with the skinny nature of the nacelles, and Eaglemoss trying to keep production costs down, while still giving us the best model possible, they decided it best to just save the effort and focus more on the paint work.  And it does pay off, in my opinion.

For those familiar with this series of articles from me, you will know that I typically go in for a close-up of the Starfleet ship's deflector dish.  In my opinion, you can tell a lot about a company's attention to details by just looking at this area of the ship.

I really think that the mold work is beautiful on the dish.  And the paint color choices are efficient and well placed.  It end up being represented well on this model.

It is hard to tell from a lot of the pictures, but the saucer section is connected a bit differently to the engineering section.  There is actually a large gap that runs between them and I am reminded of Oberth Class with how the saucer was supported above the engineering section.

The configuration on the Oddssey class is different though and it is very easy to see that personnel can easily travel between the two parts of the ship.

I think the one thing that really bothers me on this model is that the joins and seams are REALLY visible all along the ship.  They are particularly noticeable underneath the saucer section.

I think it is even more noticeable though where the bottom piece of plastic of the engineering section joins with the upper pieces.  Under the right lighting, it almost looks like a different color was used which then accentuates the different "sides".

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.

Normally, I save this section until the very end of my article, but I felt it was important to talk about this next item sooner rather than later.

The Enterprise F was primarily conceived of for the game Star Trek Online.  Eaglemoss released the model first in the standard Starfleet colors of the era.  HOWEVER, in a nod to the Star Trek Online community, Eaglemoss has also decided to release the model in Star Trek Online colors as well.

 

Photo Credit: Eaglemoss

This is what they say about the second model on the UK WebStore...

"Designed to be the hero ship in Cryptic Studios free-to-play, MMO-RPG STAR TREK ONLINE, the Enterprise-F has a unique origin. Through Cryptic’s “Design the Next Enterprise” contest in 2010, fans had a chance to design the next iteration of the Enterprise for the game.  The winning design came from Adam Ihle for this Odyssey-class cruiser.  

Now Hero Collector has brought this beloved designed to life as a bonus issue in the STAR TREK The Official Starships Collection. As with all Bonus issues it has been produced In scale with the standard issues measuring 13.5 cm in length.

This version of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-F  features the STAR TREK ONLINE LIVERY as it appeared in the Cryptic Studios MMO-RPG STAR TREK ONLINE."

Personally, I don't have a need to purchase the ship in an alternate color scheme, in fact, I will usually shy away from doing that, as was the case with the USS Defiant (Constitution Class version).  I am hoping that one of my readers does buy one for themselves and chooses to share their thoughts on this version in the comment below.

At the time that I am writing this review, on February 2nd, 2019, you can not buy this model in the U.S.  In fact, it isn't even on the US Eaglemoss WebStore as a pre-order yet.  When I checked eBay for the lowest Buy-It-Now price, I could only find the two variants of the model from a UK seller and it would cost you about $53 (shipping included) to buy either one.  We know that it will eventually become available here in the US on the Eaglemoss website for around $25 (shipping unknown), BUT, you will probably have to order fast as I see this one disappearing quickly from inventory (could be caused by the Bonaventure screw-up).  

Due to the model's small size and the join and seam issue, I would feel rather uncomfortable paying more that $35 from any source for the model.

If you can get it at a reasonable price, then I highly recommend jumping on it and buying one for your collection.  All of the other hard work that Eaglemoss put into producing the model clearly shows through and you end up with a very cool looking Enterprise to add to your fleet.

And here are some of the other Special Edition Enterprises as well as a couple of the Extra Edition models.

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!!!"



Editor's Update (February 21, 2019): I did eventually receive my USS Bonaventure (NCC-1000) and was able to review that model.  You can check it out at THIS LINK.



Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:

Eaglemoss   

Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek [NO REVIEW YET]
Star Trek Starship Collection [NO REVIEW YET]

NOTE: Whoever was running the Star Trek Starship Collection Review blog at THIS LINK, seams to have dropped off the grid after their review of Warship Voyager.  While commenter's have asked the writer if he/she was OK, there has been no reply.