XL USS Enterprise NCC-1701 (2009)

 

Of all the XLs this is the one where we see the least upgrades from the original. 

Not only that but it's a rare XL where the original was already larger than the regular editions. This was, if you recall, the second special edition and as such there's not a lot that's been achieved by making this ship slightly bigger.

Comparing this back to both the special edition and its screen ancestor, the Kelvin Timeline USS Enterprise, this version is pretty close to the original. The paint scheme picks out the aztec patterning and the grey panel highlights mirror the smaller version. One thing to notice immediately is that these grey elements are slightly lighter on the XL and the white a shade more crisp too. Admittedly my photography skills back in the day weren't the best but this newer edition does feel at least cleaned up.

Most significant are the joint lines on the engine and between the neck and saucer section. On the former the two halves meet much more cleanly at the top and along the length of the two warp nacelles. The grey detailing is now more prominent on the warp engines with even the rear exhaust ports gaining some much needed detailing. 

The secondary hull is now cleverly sectioned up with the sectioning changed from two hull left and right halves into a top and bottom section with an addition double section forming the neck. It is more complex but adds a great deal of structure to the ship and strength to the finish. Plus the horrid join line across the top of the secondary hull is now erased providing a cleaner curve. Underneath you can see how the new combination works with the bottom element extending front to back and slotting in to the upper piece.

Around the base of the pylons there's also been a tweak to the thickness of the grey striping which now goes all the way round rather than just underneath. Also just under the strikingly blue bussard collectors there are new grey cutouts adding to the colouring of the starship. Onde thing that is still missing however is the striping around the sides of the saucer but here that curve is just too tight to mark up. The collectors themselves also gain the white lining omitted before and look ten times better just with this screen accurate touch.

As for the secondary hull; on the special edition the joint line was gaping with the saucer only loosely fitting onto the secondary hull. The line from that point along the front of the neck is now a lot better aligned with the torpedo tube and element just below it now coloured - something that the slight size increase does afford. 

Docking ports on the side of the Engineering hull and also on the neck are now more prominent as are the RCS thrusters on the edge of the saucer. Ok, so this isn't a big rework but rather a refining of the first version released just under eight years ago and it does work. However I would be pushed to justify getting this if you've already forked out for the special edition. There isn't a huge amount different. Yes, the windows are slightly better aligned but the decals are just as good - except this version does now have the registry on the underside of the hull that was missing previously.

The upgrades of structure, painting and formerly omitted decals are the biggest things here and do add to the overall feel that this is more complete but anyone who already has a version will be disappointed. I am looking forward to lining this up with both the TOS version and DSC editions as a mini trio.

As for the magazine, the content barely touches the USS Enterprise and instead swings off on another direction linked to the 2009 Kelvin Timeline movie. Focusing heavily on the design and build of both the Enterprise and Nero's mammoth Narada, Eaglemoss makes it even more conspicuous that the antagonist's ship will never see its arrival in the collection. Lots of concept drawings and the standard array of background info is packed in here to cover the Romulans' mining starship from every angle.

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