Predator: Nemesis' Scimitar; The Official Starships Collection Special 18

With one of the largest arsenals in the history of Star Trek, the Romulan/Reman Scimitar made a big impression even if the movie it featured in didn't.

Dwarfing the USS Enterprise-E, the vast Scimitar was the flagship for Picard's clone, Shinzon, as he took control of the Romulan Senate and looked to expand further afield.

Eaglemoss had a huge run on this model at its initial release meaning that I’ve had to wait a little over 9 months for its arrival and quite a bit has happened since then!

But there are a few concerns with this one. Those wings certainly give it some width but they are dangerously flimsy and bend at the slightest touch. As a major part of the design it's hard to get past holding them at some point. Both sides of the wings are heavily detailed with the unique panelling detail of the whole ship and that rolls back into the main hull. 

Everything about this ship screams aggression with the fang like weapon protrusion from the shoulders as well as the forked nose section. The central upper piece of the hull is the only part in metal which also means that the whole thing is surprisingly light. 

On screen the Scimitar looked a lot darker with the light blue highlights from its power sources glowing a lot stronger visually. The model itself is toned back down to the original design (as best is possible). Here those blue spots don't show up as well against the lighter grey and almost fade into the background. Initially it looks like they are only on the central section but check in a different light and you'll see that the whole model has this effect. It's the two extremely light colour tones that make it almost indistinguishable from the main hull.

Atop the main section there's a lot of that hull patterning and on the ventral side it's completely different. The line of symmetry runs front to back and there's something new to see from every angle. Even from the side you can catch the recessed centre line which is the best spot to see some of the very fine highlight blue detail perhaps thanks to the darker shadows.

The most impressive pieces though on the Scimitar are those touches around the nose and also to the rear beneath those overhanging engine pods.  To the front Eaglemoss have ensured all the weapon points are easy to see face on while at the back there's a lot of parts slotted together to complete the various extremities.

The winglets affixed to the top and those rear pods are good and sturdy additions onto the frame leaving only the wings - a huge bit - as the structural concern. Just don't be heavy handed. Scimitar has a lot of parts, possibly the most of any of the Specials and certainly over and above any of the regular issues. There are inserts for the main section, winglets top and bottom plus the pods to the rear and the build quality to bring all that together is very, very good. The seams and fittings are completely invisible and even checking the engine pods you have to look underneath to see how they are assembled. In this respect it's a masterclass on concealment to provide a polished and "flawfree" finish.

The stand fitting isn't too good with the Scimitar's weight pulling it to the front and also - oddly - slightly to one side meaning that the rear doesn't sit against the clear plastic grips. The plug into the black base might need a shade of filing down to get the sit right as there's a fair bit of movement.

The 20 page magazine is a treasure trove of sketches in the Design article that have probably rarely if ever been seen. The Scimitar hasn't received a lot of page time when it comes to exploring its background and this issue does a lot to address that. Scimitar, as you can find out here, was bristling with weapons at every point, backed up with an almost impenetrable cloaking device, Reman fighters, superior warp drive to the Enterprise and more.

Including a lot of screenshots from Nemesis, the issue details all the key features of the ship including a forward view of the ship with the wings open and closed. Those views are also included from its solo screen appearance and gives a bit more clarification to the deployment of the thalaron weapon that made it even more deadly.

This is a very, very special Special backed by the point that it sold out fast and took some time to restock (might also be due to a pandemic) but is one that fans need to have in the collection. It suits the larger size of these editions perfectly and the difficulty in bringing it to life only increases the desire to get hold of it. 

Getting the right information to build it has taken some time but it's meant the Scimitar has been made right and at the right time in the collection. Up to this point the only one available was the smaller Attack Wing miniature so don't wait to pick one up!

Read all our other reviews of The Official Starships Collection from issue ONE here.

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