Rewrites: None
The next three Eaglemoss Bonus (or as I call them, Extra) models came at us in rapid succession. I almost considered putting all three of them into one article, but decided to keep them separated. And all three ships were seen on screen at the same time, so it made a lot of sense that Eaglemoss produced them like this, and one right after the other. The first of these three models is the USS Armstrong (NCC-1769), an Armstrong Type
We first get to see this starship in the movie, "Star Trek (2009)".
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The USS Armstrong (NCC-1769) was a 23rd century Federation Armstrong-type starship operated by Starfleet. In 2258, the Armstrong was docked at Starbase 1 at the time Vulcan issued a distress call. Ignorant of the true nature of the distress call, the Armstrong joined with a fleet of other Starfleet ships on a mission of mercy for the Federation planet. Upon arriving at Vulcan, the Armstrong discovered itself in a trap conceived by the Romulan Nero, and was subsequently destroyed during the destruction of Vulcan, along with the rest of the fleet save for the USS Enterprise, by Nero's ship Narada."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
USS Armstrong (NCC-1769) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
USS Armstrong (NCC-1769) Information: Memory Alpha LINK and Memory Beta LINK
Before we get into talking about the model itself, I feel it necessary to rant and lament one more time. It was my understanding that due to licensing restrictions set by Paramount, Eaglemoss was only allowed to produce JJverse (or Alternate Reality) ships in the larger Special Edition format. I have complained numerous times that I felt that models produced in this large size could have easily been produced as Standard sized models, which I prefer due to space limitations. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled that these next three models from the movie are coming to us in the smaller size, however, it now makes me realize that perhaps some of those other models we got over the run of the Special Edition models, could have been smaller, and more importantly, less expensive.
The other complaint that I have with the continuation of the Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection is in regards to the magazines. Now that the series came to an "official" end with issue #180, the magazines seem to have gone through a slight change, mainly in that they seem to have shrunk. I believe that this was Eaglemoss' way of being environmentally friendly. I get it it and I applaud that decision. The thing that is bothering me is the fact that the Special Edition magazines, and the magazines for these new Bonus models are two different sizes. And Eaglemoss DOES NOT sell binders for either of those sizes. That means that I now have to modify another binder in order to keep my magazines safely stored away. I'll talk more about that process at the end of this article.
OK, I have that out of my system... for now. Let us take a closer look at the USS Armstrong.
The first thing I noticed about the Star Trek (2009) fleet of models was the color. I was initially upset about them being such an odd color when compared to the USS Enterprise, however, the magazines and Memory Alpha set me straight. The paint color on the models is screen accurate and is described as being brown. These ships were intentionally painted this way to have them stand out as being older than the hero ship. Although, one of my fellow reviewers did bring up an interesting point, "if the Armstrong is older though, how come its registry number is NCC-1769?"
The overall paint schemes is what I would call a darker silver, with bits of grey and black speckled in to give the ship a worn and dirty appearance. There is a tiny hint of brown as well, which helps give the look of some rust spots on the ship. I am not sure how it got rusty in space where there is no moisture or oxygen to cause that rust. The effect works though and you can tell you have an older ship in your hands.
The ship's registry is painted on nicely in several locations and can be clearly read. The bridge dome is barely painted and you can make out some porthole windows that received paint to highlight them. The phaser arrays received a little paint to help them stand out. The RCS thrusters on the top of the saucer seem to be painted on in a sloppy manner and there is no paint on the bottom of the saucer to represent them. The impulse engine is painted in the traditional red.
It almost feels like most of the painted details were sort of rushed. If you read the story about how the fleet came into existence for the movie, you can almost feel like Eaglemoss was trying to convey that rush in the way they presented their model's paint work. While I would not rate the overall paint job to be fantastic, it does do a good job of conveying the age of the ship.
The sculpt and mold work on the model, is pretty solid and does not suffer from any blurred lines. The panel lines across the saucer section are crisp and well aligned. The afore mentioned phaser banks are easily picked out, even if they didn't have paint on them.
Eaglemoss did a decent job of disguising the join seam as some of the panel lines. While it is slightly noticeable, it is forgivable since it follows the panel lines to tries and blend in.
You could tell that the ship designers for Star Trek (2009) were USS Reliant fans as they included a weapons/sensor rollbar on some of their ships. This part is plastic, but it is molded well with some very nice detailing. It looks like a small amount of painted details was also included to give this part of the ship some extra pizazz.
Rollbar Closeup: Front Rollbar Closeup: Rear
And lastly, let us discuss the three nacelles on this model. Why the designers felt that three nacelles was necessary, we will never know, but there they are, none the less.
The paint scheme from the saucer section carries over on to the three nacelles. The ship's registry is very legible as well. There are a few extra painted details, with what I assume to be the grills on the bottom, being painted brown (???).
Nacelle Closeup: Exterior View
Nacelle Closeup: Interior View
I feel like it has been a while since I mentioned this in one of my articles, but this model brings back Eaglemoss' tradition of adding in some clear plastics to give the ship a glowing effect. In this case, the exhaust ports of the three nacelles are capped with this plastic. It appears that the bussard collectors are painted plastics as well.
And that is all the pictures of this model that I have to share 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 November 11th, 2021, and as of the writing of this article, I was able to find the model from a non-US based seller for around $71 (shipping included). That's crazy, especially since you can currently order the model right from Eaglemoss' US WebStore for around $30 (shipping unknown).
This model looks rough, but it was done this way by design. I honestly feel like Eaglemoss was successful in bringing us a model of a ship that has seen some active service. I really could not find anything wrong or worth complaining about for it and as long as you are paying closer to $30, this model could make for a nice addition to your fleet.
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.
Modified Magazine Binders
I had mentioned at the beginning of this article about how the informational magazines were not standard sized. In fact, Eaglemoss does not sell a binder that can fit them.
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:
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