Star Trek Starships Collection Review – Part 2 – USS Enterprise – 1701 Refit

OK, I have just picked up part 2 of the Star Trek Starships Collection, publisished by Eaglemoss, and the fears I wrote about in my previous post have been realised – the model of the USS Enterprise-1701 refit is not a very good looking model.

Don’t get me wrong, the model has been made very well, it’s sturdy, the proportions are correct and the details are ok, but it’s the paint scheme that is the issue here. Now love it or loath it, the Enterprise refit has an aztec paint job, where each individual panel of the ship is a slightly different colour from the next to it, giving it a textured appearance, but this model is sadly lacking in this detail. “An all new colllection of Star Trek Starships reproduced in incredible detail” is the selling point splashed across the retail card that houses the ship and magazine, but how can they claim this when THE most iconic ship of them all is afforded less effort than a basic Micro Machines TOY?

The centre spread of the magazine has a side view and a dorsal view of the ship, with a key of all the suface features of the ship, the RCS thrusters, deflector grid, and docking ports to name a few, and these are shown on the model and thier locations are accurate.

Another issue with this model is the front end of the engine nacelles, these should be a solid black colour as these were never intended to glow blue, as does the warp field grille which runs along the lenght of the nacelle, but for some bizarre reason, the model has a blue, semi transparent piece of plastic in it’s place, again reducing the accuracy of detail.

How can we go from a quality, highly detailed model from issue 1, the USS Enterprise-D to a completely sub-standard model in issue 2?

I was so looking forward to collecting these models, but already I am thinking that it is not worth it. Someone said to me “what do you expect from a model that is only £9.99 full price?” to which I replied “all ships should have the same level of detail, not the inconsistency we have already seen”

I would really like your opinions on this one guys, don’t be shy, am I being unreasonable in my expectations, or do you agree that each ship should have the same, highly detailed, well made effort put into each one?

Start your collection now by clicking here

Front view of the model, the deflector dish has a solid dark blue colour to it, more effort could have been made to make the dish look like it should.

Top view of the ship, this is where the aztec paint shceme should be most obvious, but sadly lacking on this model.

Another look at the bad paint detail of the model. This also shows the incorrect blue part of the front nacelle detail.

This image is shown on the back cover of the magazine, note the mottled effect of the aztec paint job. Also note the correct black detail of the front of the nacelles.

This is the image of the studio model in the centre spread of the magazine, again, the paint scheme is obvious here.

Again on the centre spread, the magazine acknowledges the paint scheme here, so why not paint the model this way?

Magazine front cover.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

Star Trek Starships Collection Review – Part 1 – USS Enterprise – 1701 – D

I have just purchased issue 1 of the Star Trek Starships Collection, which cost an introductory £1.99 (normal £9.99). Issue 1 is the Galaxy Class USS Enterprise-D.

The magazine that comes with the model is quite slim, but does pack some useful information of the ship and some really nice images, not a single graining screen cap in sight. If you are an avid trekkie then the information in the magazine is nothing new, it goes on to explain the concept and workings of the saucer seperation, what the deflector dish does and a nice diagram of the various functions scattered across the outer hull of the ship.

I guess the most interesting article would be the design process of the ship by Andrew Probert, and how he came to be the ship’s designer.

The articles are well written allbeit with a few glaring typo’s, something I would not expect from a publication which has had so many issues coming to print. (Admittedly, the issues were with sourcing a company to make the models), the biggest typo though is really inexcusable: On the last inside page there is a little trivia piece that reads “GALAXY-class starships like the ENTERPRISE-D appeared in every episode of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, the film STAR TREK GENERATIONS, STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, STAR TREK: VOYAGER and STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE. This means the only series they did not apear in is the original STAR TREK” obviously, it should have said the Galaxy class ship has been in every SERIES of Star Trek other than the Original Series.

Now what about the model? This particular model is extremely well made and the paint job is as accurate as you can get on a model of it’s size. The aztec scheme is excellent and the detail is exquisite. My only nit pick is the cradled display stand, I don’t like the way it hugs the model, which when viewed from the fore, looks pretty ugly. A traditional upright stand would have been better.

There is an additional series guide that shows the forthcoming issues and their respective models, such as issue two featuring the refit Enterprise-1701 and issue 5 and it’s Romulan Warbird. I have issue with the look of some of the forthcoming models, particularly the refit Enterprise, Reliant and Excelsior. Thier paint schemes are all very basic at first glance except that of the Reliant, which looks far more superior. There looks to be no aztec paint job on either the refit Enterprise nor the Excelsior making them look no better than the smaller scale Micromachines models.

I hope this is just an early publicity photo, and that the quality of these models have been upgraded. Only time will tell. (Those of you who had an early run, or have the issues via subscription may already know the answer to this issue, please advise)

Start your collection by clicking here

This slideshow requires JavaScript.