A new release of miniatures from the Fanhome Star Trek line increases the number of ships available to 32. Each starship also comes with a 16-page magazine that profiles it in the Star Trek universe and explores the design process of both the ship and the miniature with exclusive art and interviews with the production team. The new vessels available are:
U.S.S. Aledo NA-01
Synth Attack Ship – Mars Drone
U.S.S. Damocles
U.S.S. Athena NCC-392023
U.S.S. Cerritos NCC-75567 (variant version)
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 Galileo Shuttle (original series Star Trek)
U.S.S. Kelcie Mae NCC-618
U.S.S. Cerritos (XL size; hull removed)
The Nova Flyer
U.S.S. Adventure 20-1
Gorn Hunter
U.S.S. Protostar NX-76884 (XL size; warp drive deployed)
Fanhome has graciously allowed this reviewer to take a close look at their products by sending him a U.S.S. Titan (NCC-80102 A), and a U.S.S. Enterprise (NCC-1701 F). These ships are largely faithful recreations of the vessels that appear in the third season of the Paramount+ show, Picard.
There are two problems with the Fanhome Federation ships that become apparent. One is aesthetic: The Impulse Engine assemblies and exhaust manifolds contain obvious errors in both miniatures. On the Titan, the paint is over-sprayed, obfuscating the struts that separate the quad-mounts of the drives with the odd, orange hue that the fabrication crew decided to use. On the Enterprise, they’ve just not bothered to color the drives at ALL (nor provide a decal), despite the units being the proper ruby-red in several of the images contained in the glossy, promotional magazine that ships with the miniature, detailing its features and history.
The other major issue is the stand, which comes with poorly-designed bracket mounts. The Fanhome Star Trek collection has ships that are composed of both die-cast metal and plastic. They’re not particularly well-balanced. The stand is serviceable, as it is merely a weighted oval with a connecting notch, but the bracket mount is a nightmare. This reviewer was first given the Titan to examine, analyze, and discuss, yet literally mere seconds after being placed upon the stand, it slipped out of the mount, heeled over, and smashed to the floor, snapping off the (plastic) starboard Warp Nacelle.
Fanhome graciously sent this reviewer a replacement vessel to review (Thanks, Erik!). Subsequently, this reviewer observes that the Enterprise-F balances better on the precarious bracket, but it’s clearly because the secondary hull, composed of metal, is considerably longer than the Titan’s, acting as a more effective counterweight and allowing the larger ship to sit with slightly more stability.
Why Fanhome didn’t follow Bandai’s lead with their Mobile Suit model action bases is beyond this reviewer. The action-bases connect to the Mobile Suits through a peg that fits in a discreet recess on the model, a recess that can be sealed with a plug. Were Fanhome to imitate this technique, it would allow Fanhome to continue its quest for fidelity and accuracy in their recreations of famous vehicles from film and TV.
This reviewer is also slightly annoyed that these two ships are not remotely in scale with each other, but that’s merely this reviewer’s personal and visceral response. None of the ships in this line made available by Fanhome shares the same proportions. This reviewer was very into building and painting model ships, tanks, mechs, and other vehicles a million years ago when he was young. In this reviewer’s opinion, one of the delights of hobby-modelling is having a display containing your hand-made fleet of vessels that are all in scale with each other, maintaining a sense of verisimilitude in your diorama upon your shelf or case.
In-universe, both ships are significant departures from the trends prevailing at the time and do not conform with the designs that were previously established in the shows and films. The Enterprise -F was created by Adam Ihle, the winner of a competition to design the next iteration of the Enterprise for Star Trek Online, a PC, Massive Multiplayer Online video game. However, its immediate predecessor, the Enterprise-E, was part of the Anti-Borg Initiative focused on fielding combat-ready battleships, hulls that were a departure from the Federation’s standard, “science-explorers-with-shields-and-sharp-teeth” paradigm, a style that spanned centuries (in the show). As such, the Enterprise E eliminated the weakest spot each iteration has carried since the Constitution class: the delicate neck connecting the engineering decks to the saucer section. Removing the vulnerable “throat” lowered the ship’s profile and gave enemies fewer targets to aim at. Both of the new ships scoff at this defensive notion, with the Enterprise-F boasting not one neck but two curved and even thinner connections to the vital engineering hull.
The Titan-A has a hunchbacked profile, with six massive engine exhausts sitting on a disproportionately beefy neck that connects to a distorted saucer that looks like someone gracelessly took an axe to one edge. Matt Jefferies, the artist who created Kirk’s ship and crafted much of the visual iconography of the original series, would probably be appalled by the path Paramount’s current artists have taken. He’d plotz if he wasn’t already dead. However, that’s on the Star Trek people, not Fanhome, who have attempted to faithfully recreate their work.
Fanhome’s attention to detail is impressive, but the paint could use a little more precision, and the mounting bracket for the stand should really be rethought. However, these striking miniatures are highly detailed and would make a fine addition to anyone’s display case or bookshelf.
The Fanhome Star Trek collection can be accessed at
https://www.fanhome.com/us/movie-series/star-trek-starships
Brian Isaacs - Executive Editor / Publisher 
Anthony Andujar Jr.