Bonus Edition: Steth's Ship

As featured in the Voyager fourth season episode Vis a Vis, Steth's ship isn't one that will have been up there for 2022's Most Wanted.

Yet that's not to say that it's without its merits nor have Eaglemoss done the one-off craft any disservice as part of their bonus editions.

Niche it certainly is and I can't imagine it will be one of the highest sold from the series. But Steth's starship has some fantastic detailing that you just don't truly appreciate on the screen. While the eponymous shuttle from Alice made it into the regular issues and was something f a bland disappointment, this edition is chock full of surface intricacies top, bottom, front and back.

Carrying the experimental co-axial warp drive, the one man vessel looked beige onscreen with much of its finery not fully realised to viewers through the small screen. Here in this model there's a lot to appreciate. Ok, some of the extremities on the wing tips and the nose have a little flash still attached but they are fairly small to mould. ALso they are nowhere near as thin as they should be. Trouble is I would imagine that creating them in such numbers and so thin would be a nightmare to produce so this is one thing we will have to live with.

The nose probes especially aren't all pointing the same way although that's more a drawback to the scale being rather unforgiving to smaller elements.

The real beauty here is in the metal body. Distinctly lined with segmented panelling, Steth's ship is further nuanced with red highlights.

What you do notice is that both the metal grey hull (benefitting greatly from actually being metal) and the red markings are weathered. There are signs of wear and rust right across the ship even with exhaust charring around the engines. This looks worked, lived in almost and having those few additional touches manages to lift the average into a bit of a hidden gem from the collection. Credit too for the grilled effect blue/black panelling across the top as it looks very effective and on pictures you'd think it was a grille and not just painted on. 

The black recesses of the hull and the cockpit too have detail leaving no surface as a bland flat panel. This really does feel finished and with every possible space properly worked and looking at it best.

Even that plastic underside hits the mark. On the off-grey panels to the rear there is extensive exhaust dirt with the hull itself then mottled with wear. The panelling is devoid of the red markings but that doesn't matter since the paint job is so good albeit fairly simplistic. The main feature under here is the co-axial deflector. Slapped in the middle of the underside of Steth's ship, the triangular shape is easy to spot and decently painted up for this model.

One gripe with Steth's ship is that some of the join lines are quite wide. To the front, the point where metal and plastic meet around the two forward facing probes is a little gaping. The choice to drop the deflector through a gap in the bottom of the ship and therefore have it in metal is inspired and a twit on the usual top is metal process.

The stand is a decent grip too, holding the ship from the rear to provide the illusion of flying. It also fits snugly into the black base which seems to be an option these days.

The bonus magazine included in the new style box travels over the details of the personality-swapping episode as well as the standard run down of the ship itself with most detail paid to the co-axial warp drive. 

For the second half of the magazine there's a substantial interview with Tom Paris actor Robert Duncan McNeill on the character's journey from Caretaker to Endgame touching on several key highlights including Vis a VIs in which Steth's ship appeared.

A decent model here if only let down by the spindly antennae that extend from the nose and wings but still a ship that is packed out with detail and good weathering touches. This isn't one that really "does" it for me but it's far away from the worst of the collection and demonstrates some really good techniques. Average but probably forgettable and one you'll only remember when you're unpacking it to have a shift around on the shelves. 

Steth's Ship is available now from Eaglemoss.

Check out all our Online Starships posts HERE

You can find out more on the Star Trek Online Official Starships Collection by visiting the Hero Collector website HERE

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