Comparison of Bandai and Art Asylum Enterprise-E

[Pat Za Ponor]

Hi,

I hope this is in the right forum. In my 9 years coming to the RPF I've never been outside of the Prop Forum and the OT forum.

I'm thinking about getting an Enterprise-E model and have it down to either the Bandai snap together model or the Art Asylum version.

I was hoping someone who has both could let me know their thoughts on the two and which they prefer. If side by side pics could be posted that would be phenomenal.

Just from reading online about these here's what I think are the pros and cons of each version. However since I've never seen these in person some of what I write could be wrong.

BANDAI:

Pros-
Better lighting than AA version
Better paint job than AA version
Satisfaction of putting it together yourself.

Cons-
Smaller than AA version.
More expensive than AA version.
Can have gaps in the seams.

ART ASYLUM:

Pros-
Bigger
Cheaper and easier to find.
Sturdier, I think

Cons-
Looks more like a toy?
Blue on nacelles don't light up
Paint job on underside isn't detailed.


Is that assessment about right? Like I said, I can only guess at some of those qualities so I would love to hear from people who own both and hear why they prefer one over the other.

Thanks

 

[actias]

The art assylum is scanned off the filming miniature. The Bandai is beautiful when complete. I have both, and both have their positive and negative attributes!

 

[Serenity]

I personally only have the Art Asylum version (both the E and the NX-01) but I really like it. I was impressed by the AA ships; I still would like to get their version of the Refit, and hopefully the D will come out sometime soon too. I was disappointed when they didn't get the license for the upcoming movie...

Anyways, you're right about the paint job on the bottom, it's lacking a few details. To solve this, I did some more detailing on the underside, and I also installed some LEDs instead of the standard lights that were in it. The improvement just from the LEDs is tenfold, and it looks great on display.

I have some comparison pictures of both versions from somewhere, but I don't know where the drive is with them on it. If I find it, I can send them to you if you'd like...

 

[Pat Za Ponor]

Thanks for the input you two!

Serenity, how hard is it to put in LEDs? I've never worked with electronics before so is it something a novice could do? I saw a clip on youtube of an AA with LEDs put in the blue part of the nacelles and I thought it really improved the look of the ship.

 

[Serenity]

Thanks for the input you two!

Serenity, how hard is it to put in LEDs? I've never worked with electronics before so is it something a novice could do? I saw a clip on youtube of an AA with LEDs put in the blue part of the nacelles and I thought it really improved the look of the ship.

I'm a complete novice too when it comes to electronics, but I managed to get it to work. It just takes a bit of soldering and some patience. If I remember correctly, the trickiest part was dealing with the original wiring. The wires are so incredibly small (and short ) that you have to be very careful not to: A) Cut them too short, and B) Destroy them from the heat of the soldering iron.

If you're going all out though, perhaps it would be better to disassemble the whole thing and rewire it all instead of using the original wiring like I did. It would also help the power issues you may face by putting in more LEDs...

 

[CessnaDriver]

I have the Bandai and pretty happy with it.

 

[phase pistol]

Well there you go, all those window lights in the Bandai. The Art Asylum doesn't even have painted windows, just indents in the plastic.

 

[Pat Za Ponor]

Nice pics CessnaDriver. Are those the stock lights?

 

[CessnaDriver]

Nice pics CessnaDriver. Are those the stock lights?

Yeah, just built up out of the box.

The only thing that bothered me was the windows above the hanger deck were tinted red. So I removed that and used some of the left over sticker material used to cover wires on the nacelle struts to make some frames for the window.


Also there are some strange red illuminated plastic squares on the bottom, not sure what they thought they were doing with that.
But you can paint over them if you like. I left them.

 

[Lord Abaddon]

Whoa! Just checked the prices for the Bandai on eBay, holy frack! $300+ for Voyager? $150 for the 1701A? WOW!

 

[GF]

I have both Bandai Enterprises and I'm not a Star Trek fan, but had to get them simply because of the amazing paintjob and light effects. If they got into SW capital ships they would look awesome

GFollano

 

[Serenity]

Whoa! Just checked the prices for the Bandai on eBay, holy frack! $300+ for Voyager? $150 for the 1701A? WOW!

Yeah, the Trek Bandai models are rather spendy... But considering the price that some people spend on just the lighting kits alone for models, it's nice to get all of it in one shot.

On the other hand, the AA can usually be found for around $40... I mainly picked up the AA because of the price, and I'm happy with it, so I guess it's all a matter of choice.

 

[CessnaDriver]

I have all the Bandai and wish they had made more.

A TOS E would have been awesome.

I guess the cost was too much and it hurt sales.

Sucks. I could have went on forever buying them.

Defiant.
Reliant.
B C D

Oh well.

 

[GeorgeC]

I have the Art Asylum Enterprise-A which was the first Ship they sold. That was at least 5-6 years ago now.

It's nice for the cost -- I paid around $20 for it which is half today's going rate -- and fairly sturdy with one exception...

The pylon bulb that goes into the bottom of the Ship tends to snap and I had to get a new piece from Art Asylum. They sent it to me free of charge!

If you don't want to use the display pylon and leave the ship rest on its side or be suspended from wires, it comes with another hatch that covers the battery compartment MINUS the indentation for the pylon bulb.

Since then, AA has made two other runs of that Ship painted as the original Refit Enterprise from TMP and TWOK/TSFS damage ("blown up" saucer). Did not like the Refit "damaged" Enterprise paint job one bit. It was very awkard-looking. What a wash!

Frankly, the Refit and Enterprise-A are so similar that I didn't see a point in buying another Ship. Were I to get another one, I'd probably go for the Enterprise-E.

I'm very reluctant to get the TOS Enterprise because of those lousy nacelle pylons which will probably droop over time and I just don't like the other Starship designs outside of Reliant which I'm puzzled AA hasn't done that.

Reliant was supposed to be one of AA's first trio of Starships! For that matter, you'd think they do the classic D-7 Klingon Battlecruiser or its K'tinga Battlecruiser upgrade. There are still quite a few classics AA hasn't touched on yet...

Generally, I like what I see from AA. Besides the Ships, their prop replicas and superhero statues are pretty nice, too. The Classic Trek Phaser I've seen in the local comic shop is just a beautiful piece and a steal for the price!

 

[Serenity]

The 1701-D is being released sometime this year, complete with saucer separating feature... I'll definitely be picking one up, but I just hope they've done some more improvements on design from the proto that I saw (as the nacelles weren't too cleanly done).

 

[Too Much Garlic]

The 1701-D is being released sometime this year, complete with saucer separating feature... I'll definitely be picking one up, but I just hope they've done some more improvements on design from the proto that I saw (as the nacelles weren't too cleanly done).

Any pictures?

 

[Serenity]

In retrospect, I guess that it might just be quickly assembled for the image, but note the large gap between the bussard collector and the top of the nacelle:

As it appears to be gone in the stock photo:

I really like that they're using LEDs instead of small bulbs like were in the 1701-E. Or at least, that's what the design plans indicated...

 

[Tom Starkiller]

I wish that AA hadn't screwed up with the Enterprise E. The actual model looks great, but the paint job and lighting suck, in my opinion.

I didn't like how they added Picards voice either, but The D looks amazing. As do the prototypes for the Excelsior and Enterprise-B.

 

[Rhett J Martin]

Is that a retooled D up there? It looks like the studio model!!?!

 

[Tom Starkiller]

That's the AA D. I think it was an early prototype though. (That last picture.) Since later imagees show the translucent parts of the nacelles are coloured.

The lighting looks amazing.