Eaglemoss’ Official Starships Collection has produced over a hundred different Star Trek models over the last few years, from the 20th Century’s SS Botany Bayto the 26th Century’s Enterprise-J and dozens of different ships in between.
Now, the company has targeted sensors on a starship that’s been part of Starfleet’s history for nearly forty years, the USS Enterprise XCV-330, which made its first on-screen appearance in 1979’s Star Trek: The Motion Picture… but has its genesis in the earliest days of preproduction on the original Star Trek series.
What began as a series of concept sketches by Constitution-class Enterprise designer Matt Jefferies eventually became one of the “vessels named Enterprise” in the historical display featured aboard the refit Enterprise in the first Trek film, and remained part of early Earth space travel lore throughout both Star Trek: Enterprise and in the Kelvin Timeline, seen on as a model in Admiral Marcus’ office in Star Trek Into Darkness.
Launched sometime prior to 2143, the time period of Enterprise episode “First Flight,” the XCV-330 was an early Earth vessel; based on its placement in the Into Darkness spaceflight history display, it was a ship which served sometime before the launch of Zefram Cochrane’s Phoenix.
A “live” version of the ship has never appeared in Star Trek canon, however its unique shaping influenced the production design of the Vulcan Suurok-type ‘ringship’ seen in Enterprise.
While there have been a few limited collectible releases of this ship in the past, ranging from the Fantastic Plastic model kit to the $1500+ QMx model designed for Into Darkness, Eaglemoss’ special edition XCV-330 makes for a much more accessible (and affordable!) version of this unique ship for fans to bring home.
Measuring nearly 8″ high on its stand, this Enterprise spaceship is definitely one of the most unique designs that ever sprung from Matt Jefferies’ creative mind. Its plastic outer rings have a radial width of nearly six inches, and the extended metal “centridyne” engine and “enviropod” — terms from the above early Jefferies’ sketch — juts out giving this ship a total length of approximately 8.5″ inches.
As usual when it comes to the different components of the Eaglemoss starship models, there are varying levels of detail between metal and plastic sections. The plastic engine pod is molded well with interesting color applications, and attached firmly to the metal, angled centerpiece which extends out to the forward habitat pod.
The outer “centriverter” rings carry a great amount of hull plating and other such molded textures around their surfaces, though the lack of any substantial texturing on the inner surface of the rings is a little disappointing. Aside from a single line of detail on each ring — and the bold, black registry text — the inner surfaces are primarily featureless.
(And just a nitpick, it’s curious that the registry number and ship’s designation are imprinted in two different typefaces.)
While the general shape of the “enviropod” is certainly there, the detail is a little softer than we’d prefer.
Like the rear engine pod, a nice plastic mold of this front section would have afforded a much deeper amount of texture for this area — as it is, it feels somewhat unfinished, and it again has a bit of the window paint alignment issue that’s affected prior Eaglemoss releases.
Some added markings on the upper, bulbous region — especially around the front of that section — would certainly help add some more visual impact to the ship.
Unlike some of the other model stands we’ve mentioned in recent reviews, the XCV-330 stand does a great job holding this unusually-large release in place while on display.
You’ll need to eye up the alignment yourself on this one, though, as the circular design doesn’t have any grooves or other markers to indicate the centerline when locking the ship in place.
If you weren’t one of the 25 fans able to spend $1500 on the QMx edition a few years ago, this is probably the best rendition this ship has ever had for a model release — and at $49.99 (or £29.99 in the UK), it’s certainly much more financially accessible too.
The USS Enterprise XCV-330 model is shipping now in the UK and heading out any day now in the United States, so head over to the Eaglemoss store for your region and lock in your order if you are looking to add this rarely-seen part of Trek spaceflight history to your collection.
In Eaglemoss’ US store, TrekCore readers can use promo code TREKCORE at checkout for 10% off any ‘Star Trek’ collectible purchase $60 or greater (some exclusions apply).