Rewrites: NONE YET
It has been a little while, but here we are again, departing from the regular lineup of Standard Edition, Special Edition and Bonus Edition models. This time around, we are reviewing the Shuttlecraft Collection Set #6. This review is going to also differ from others that I typically write, in that it will cover four different Eaglemoss models in one article.
The set consists of four smaller than Standard Edition sized models, with accompanying half height magazines and something called Okudagrams.
I am going to borrow this next small tidbit of information right from my review of Shuttlecraft Collection #5 for two reasons. #1, it as well written and it still pertains, and #2, because I am at heart, lazy.
"What is an Okudagrams you might ask? An Okudagram is essentially schematics of of a ship. The first ones were created by Mike Okuda of Star Trek reknowned. He was famous for his designing these for ship's computer displays.
Image Source: LCARSGFX Blog
As I mentioned, the magazines are smaller than the normal magazines that we are used to, and are more like little informational inserts that don't cover as much information as the regular magazines. They also do not fit in any of the Eaglemoss binders. I do have a remedy for this and you can read more about that at the end of the article.
Another thing to note about these Shuttlecraft Collection sets is that the stands for the models are much different than other models from Eaglemoss. They are basically tiny little tables that the shuttle rests on.
Last but not least, I will hold off my final judgement on the value of the set until the very end.
And so, let's jump into the shuttles and take them for a spin."
Type M1 - Sphinx Workpod
Although this type of Cargo Management Unit (or CMU) has been around since the Star Trek: The Next Generation era, we never actually get to see one in action on screen.
Per Memory Beta, "The Sphinx Workpod Type M1 was a type of workpod, a small Federation industrial manipulator in service during the 24th century. The main production base for these craft was Starfleet Plant #2, Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, Mars. They were routinely carried aboard Galaxy-class starships."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Sphinx Workpod Information: NO Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
For a ship that never made it to screen, Eaglemoss really knew how to throw in a "WOW" factor for this little ship. Like they did with their Workbee that was released in Shuttlecraft Collection #3, the Sphinx Workpod bears an actual clear cockpit window and inside, you can clearly make out the pilot and copilot chairs.
The sculpt and mold work are nicely done across the entire model and the paint work does a great job of highlighting all the important areas of the ship.
Looking at the rear of the Workpod, these details are especially appreciated. While the rear view window is simply painted on, you really don't mind as you take in all of the other painted details. The
Hydraulics Warning Sign is a really awesome touch. The engine exhausts have been painted as well giving us the appearance of the ship being in mid action. The cargo area is of particular interest. I love how Eaglemoss molded in details to make the rear part of this area appear to be netting.
Besides being painted that bright construction yellow, Eaglemoss did an aztec pattern by darkening some of the panels. And don't forget to take in and appreciate the Starfleet swoops on the top and bottom of the model as well.
I really like how the join seams blend in will with the natural lines of the ship.
I don't mind saying it, but this is probably my favorite of the four models that come in this set.
Type 18
We get to see this little ship first in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes, ""The Search", Parts 1 and 2.
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Type-18 shuttlepod was a small Federation shuttlecraft in operation in the late-24th century. These shuttlepods were often assigned to Defiant-class starships as part of their auxiliary craft complement."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Type 18 Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
The paint work on this model is bright. The primary color is Starfleet white with some light blue offset panels. The cockpit window is painted in a sharp contrasting black.
The Starfleet pinstripe stands out brightly along the sides and belly of the model. The sculpt and mold work is well done, showing off panel lines, side doors and other engineering parts. Eaglemoss greebled a pod on top of the model and I assume that this is the interchangeable weapons system that is mentioned throughout the many texts about the shuttlepod. It's a nice touch and definitely adds to the charm of the model.
The join seams are slightly noticeable from underneath, but all the colorful paintwork helps draw your attention away from the issue.
The rear of the model is heavily detailed as far as mold and paint work goes. There is a lot going on back here and Eaglemoss did a nice job with all of it.
Overall, you end up with yet another nice little model.
Type 4
We first get to see this starship in the movie, Star Trek: Generations (1994).
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Galileo-type shuttlecraft was a shuttlecraft type operated by Starfleet in the 23rd and 24th centuries. This type of shuttlecraft had two nacelles, attached to the sides near the ventral hull with two pylons each, and two impulse thrusters facing aft. These thrusters were above and to the side of the rear hatch. The shuttles also had a small, stub wings on the craft's center line. There was also four maneuvering thrusters, located near the corners of the craft. There were two side doors, and the shuttle had a large forward facing window, on the dorsal side of the front of the craft. The forward ventral hull had a large black surface, and a series of landing lights were located in the center of the ventral hull." They go on to say this about the Hawking, "The Hawking was a Federation Galileo-type shuttlecraft that was in service with Starfleet in the late 24th century, attached to the USS Enterprise-D. It was the second shuttle named for Stephen Hawking aboard the Enterprise, and it was shuttle 15. In 2371, the Hawking rescued Captain Jean-Luc Picard from a hilltop on Veridian III following the defeat of Tolian Soran and the crash of the Enterprise-D saucer section."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Type 4 Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
Hawking (371) (NCC-1701-D/15) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
This is the second Type 4 shuttle that Eaglemoss has brought to us. In fact, it was during the last shuttlecraft collection that they presented us with the TMP era shuttlecraft called Galileo. If you wish to check out that review, you can do so at THIS LINK.
Rather than just talking about this Type 4 model, I feel that this article would be of better use to my readers if I do more of a side by side comparison of the one from the last set and this model.
Shuttlecraft Collection #6 vs. Shuttlecraft Collection #5
(From here on out, I will refer to them as SC6 vs. SC5)
The sculpt and mold work are almost identical for both models except for very bottom of the ship. The TNG era (SC6) model seems to have a lot more going on down there. The winglets on sides of the SC5 model also seem to have been dropped from the newer version.
Top View: SC6 vs SC5
Bottom View: SC6 vs. SC5
Like it's SC5 predecessor, this new model also has clear blue plastics on the rear of the model to serve as the impulse engine exhausts. The newer model has no markings on the rear hatch though.
SC5 vs. SC6
Looking at the front of both models, we can see that the cockpit windows have been expanded on the SC6 model.
SC6 vs. SC5
Looking at them from the side, I have already mentioned the removal of the winglet and the additional window paint. Other than that, the rest of the paint work is very similar. I do like that the warp nacelle grills on SC6 are painted a light blue which gives the appearance that the warp drive is currently running.
The removal of the winglets on the newer model did have one negative effect in that the join seam is more visable on the rear portion of the ship.
SC6 vs. SC5
The underside of the shuttle has a different molded pattern to represent the mechanics down there. While I prefer these new molded details, the lack of paint work detracts from the appearance, and all that nice new detail is white washed away. Eaglemoss did add an extra stripe to the underside of the nacelles on the SC6 version.
SC5 vs. SC6
In all honesty, I was underwhelmed by this addition to the shuttlecraft collection. Let us face it, we already were presented with a Type 4 shuttle, so the need to fill those valuable shuttlecraft collection slots with yet another Type 4 shuttle left me wanting. And at the cost of these per shuttle, I really wish we had been given a different shuttle type.
SC-4
We first get to see this starship in the final Star Trek: Voyager episode called "Endgame" .
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "SC-4 was the designation of a Starfleet Command shuttlecraft during the early 25th century. The shuttle was capable of achieving a speed of at least warp 6 and was equipped with deflector shields. It was also equipped with several advanced anti-Borg technologies developed by the crew of USS Voyager between 2394 and 2404, including stealth technology, an ablative armor generator, transphasic torpedoes, as well as a neural interface and synaptic transceiver."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
SC-4 Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
The model presented to us is covered in ablative armor. This isn't the first model to come to us like this. Way back in Issue #48 of the Standard Edition line of models, Eaglemoss gave us the USS Voyager (NCC-74656) which was also covered in this high tech shielding. You can read my review of that model at THIS LINK.
That model did not score very big in my books. I found it rather plain and not really worth the money. The one thing it had going for it was that I already had the USS Voyager in its naked form, which made the collection a bit more cool when displaying the two models together.
In the case of this shuttle, we unfortunately do not have the original unarmored version to admire and we are left with using our imagination as to how this would look without all that silver.
The sculpt and mold work are well done. The plating lines are nicely rendered across the model. Key areas of the ship are also somewhat covered decently as well, still giving you enough for the imagination to help you understand what is being covered
Sadly, the join seams on this model are noticeable on the underside of the model.
The paintwork is simple and almost effective. The ship is painted with a silver paint while certain key panels have been painted varying shades of grey to help break up the monotony. The impulse engine covers need to have a better coat of paint to help them stand out more.
The warp nacelle has the bussard collector cover painted red. This is a nice touch, however, I think Eaglemoss needed to do more. The nacelles would have been more impressive had the warp nacelle grille covers been painted blue as well.
The armor covering for the tachyon emitter keeps rubbing me wrong for some reason. In my opinion, it doesn't have enough details and almost just blends into the rest of the model.
In the end, I was about as impressed with this model as I was with the the armored USS Voyager. I felt that it needed more paint and only having an armored version of the ship is a little disappointing as a collector.
And that is all the pictures and comparisons I have to share on this ship collection at this time. As for pricing, I will continue with the tradition of looking up pricing on eBay and finding the most inexpensive Buy-It-Now prices at the time of this article's writing. Prices were researched last on July 23rd, 2020, and as of the writing of this article, I was able to find the collection from both a seller on eBay as well as Eaglemoss' US WebStore for around $100.
Before I give my final verdict, let me explain something about my feelings of pricing. I have always liked the Eaglemoss Standard Edition line of models, because I feel that for around $20 to $30, most of the time, you get a fairly decent pre-built and pre-painted model. While I do like to build and paint my own models, deep down inside, I am lazy and would rather buy an already finished model, that is, if the price is right. At $20 to $30 for those Standard Edition models, the price is definitely right for what you typically will receive. And so, we come to the discussion of price for this set.
At the above quoted price, you are essentially paying $25 a ship for a model that is much smaller than their equally priced Standard Edition siblings. That's a lot of money to shell out for these smaller than normal models. I went back and looked at my reviews of the last five Shuttlecraft Collections, and was surprised by my reactions. I seem to have been undecided on the first shuttlecraft collection and give a definitive "NO" to collection number four. What surprised me was that even though they are priceer per model, I still gave a thumbs up to the remaining three sets.
I guess that the trend had to be broken at some point. I was disappointed this time around by the inclusion of yet another Type-4 shuttle, and walked away from SC-4 with just a feeling of "meh." In my opinion, only two of the models in the set spoke to me as being worth any sort of investment. I am thinking that Eaglemoss would have done the fans a better service of skipping the additional Type-4 shuttle, and instead, included the SC-4 in an unarmored state as well as still including the armored version one too. Having both models simultaneously would have probably raised the score of the armored version a tiny bit for me. And then I would have relegated this collection to the same status of the other favored collections of the past. But, they didn't, and I can't, so I won't. In the end, unless you are really dying to get all four of these models, you might just want to save your money.
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.
Here is the entire shuttle collection laid out for your viewing pleasure. I have to tell you, it is quite the endeavor to unpack all 24 of those ships and then arrange them like that.
I had mentioned at the beginning of this article about how the shuttlecraft collection magazines were not standard sized. In fact, Eaglemoss does not sell a binder that can fit them. I suppose that if Eaglemoss ever sold a Discovery Line of folders, those would work as they are similar in size, but alas, there is no such item available.
I really liked having all my magazines kept nice and neat in those binders, so I did some experimenting on how to be able to store those magazine. This was my solution...
Rather than make this already long article even bigger, you can read about how I accomplished this and if you feel so inclined, do it yourself. You can read that article at THIS LINK.
Here is the entire shuttle collection laid out for your viewing pleasure. I have to tell you, it is quite the endeavor to unpack all 24 of those ships and then arrange them like that.
If you are interested in reading about the other Shuttlecraft Collection sets, feel free to check them out at the following links:
Shuttlecraft Collection Set #5 - THIS LINK
Shuttle Magazine Binders
I had mentioned at the beginning of this article about how the shuttlecraft collection magazines were not standard sized. In fact, Eaglemoss does not sell a binder that can fit them. I suppose that if Eaglemoss ever sold a Discovery Line of folders, those would work as they are similar in size, but alas, there is no such item available.
I really liked having all my magazines kept nice and neat in those binders, so I did some experimenting on how to be able to store those magazine. This was my solution...
Rather than make this already long article even bigger, you can read about how I accomplished this and if you feel so inclined, do it yourself. You can read that article at THIS 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!!!"
Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:
Eaglemoss - Sphinx Workpod Type 18 Type 4 SC-4
Comparative Pictures: Type 4
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
Comparative Pictures: Type 4
Other Reviewers Take On The Eaglemoss Model:
Some Kind Of Star Trek
No comments:
Post a Comment