Diamond Select ToysStar Trek: The Wrath of Khan: Enterprise Ship

Let me preface this by saying that I own several Diamond Select Star Trek models (Enterprise B, Excelsior, Bird of Prey, Enterprise D, Enterprise E (first contact edition), etc) and the quality of those models is amazing. So when I saw this one was available and heavily discounted, I jumped on it!Unfortunately, there is so much wrong with this toy that it isn't even funny.For starters, the warp nacelle on the left side is mounted poorly and the top of the nacelle points in and it literally looks like it has been broken (but it hasn't.)a friend of mine has the same model and yes, his has the same issue.Now it hasn't actually been broken, it's just a bad manufacturing glitch that was not corrected.Another issue was that the screw for the belly plate on the lower engineering hull that can be switched out either for hanging the model or displaying it on it's stand literally broke in half. And that required a great deal of time to unscrew with a set of very tiny needle-nose pliers to remove.Another issue is that the under-side plates never seem to fit properly and you get some ugly panel gaps.Outside of the odd misshapen nacelle and terrible panel gaps on the switchable plate section, the model is actually pretty ugly in places...The paint over-laps in spots where it should not (big black splotches around the windows and lots of over-spray here and there in various spots) and while I respect the attempt at capturing the original shooting model's pearlescent finish the paint is entirely too bright and looks like a toy, and when you add the bad paint over-spray it looks even worse.Another issue is the plastic used to make the toy, it's entirely too thin in spots and lights have a bad habit of shining through the plastic (their Enterprise E mold has this same issue.)Overall, I would advise you skip over buying this model.If you can find an older Art Asylum rendition of the Enterprise A or the Bandai snap-together kit of the Enterprise A, I would highly recommend those two models over this one.Even at double the buy-in price, you would be buying two superior models.

I will edit this as needed:OK, so I've bought a few starship models, and this thing is not the greatest. However, it's only about 40 bucks!!!! Which after seeing the true detail, precision, and overall look of the thing, it is insane. This beats the pants off any playmate model you can get, and like I said, an amazing price for what you get as well. My favorite part is that it features the hilariously tacky "KHAAAAAAAAN!" line from the star trek II, but aside from that this thing just looks great.Cons:The plastic is a little thin in places, but it has a cool, unintended spotlight effect.The engines only light from one side.Hard to press action button without shaking the whole freakin' model.Stand seems a little precarious.Important:When attaching the stand, GENTLY AND GRADUALLY FORCE or rock the ball into the socket on the battery cover. Some people said it doesn't fit, but it fits very snugly. Excessive force could break the thing, but once in, it holds and adjusts amazingly.When other models are going for 60 bucks, $40 is a great deal. Art Asylum did a great job on this one, and this thing will make a great addition to any star trek collection/decor.1/6/14This model now costs twice what I payed for it. If you can get it cheaper, then DUH! I would not pay more than $60 for the thing if I could help it... but it REALLY HARD TO FIND now.VERDICT:Absolutely amazing! Still, my favorite ship model, but you have to ask yourself if it's worth the price.

So naturally, after 30 years of looking, I finally find the perfect toy Enterprise and I'm too old to really play with it. Typical.Honestly, though, it's not quite "perfect." As other reviewers have noted, the lighting on the sound/light effects is a little bit weird, in that the lights are sufficiently bright to illuminate parts of the hull that aren't supposed to light up; evidently the bulb is in the secondary hull, near where it connects to the "neck" that joins the engineering hull with the saucer section, so when it lights up, the light is visible through the hull of the ship. That doesn't actually bother me that much, because I don't really care that much about the lighting or sound effects. The ship itself is VERY well modeled, and seems to have achieved something that no model of the ship I've seen before has managed, which is to make the nacelles strong enough. The appearance of the ship itself is very, very good, and that's what I care about.The only thing that keeps me from giving it a full five stars is the stand. The Diamond Select ships have a neat feature, which is that they include separate covers for the battery section, one of which is smooth, and the other holds a recessed area to mount it on the stand. The stand on this ship, however, doesn't work very well. The ship balances poorly, so that there are only a couple of stable attitudes you can position the ship in to keep it steady, or it will tilt in weird angles. If they'd managed that a little better-- like their Enterprise-B-- this would be a near-perfect model. As it is, it's still the best version of the movie-era original Enterprise that I've found. If I'd found this when I was in high school, I'd have been flat-out ecstatic.