By Daniel 'Talen' Trescott -(text)
with photos by Eric Lakie © 2007

Scale: 1/2500 - about 9"/229mm long when built

Parts: 4 resin parts

Instructions: Assembly guide and decal placement sheet

Decals: ALPS-printed waterslide with markings for 4 different ships.

Molding Quality: 9

Detail: 9

Accuracy: 8

MSRP: $45.00 USD (~$53.14 CAN/ € 34.76 EUR) available from Starship Modeler

Overall Rating: 9 - see review

Image: Topside, main hull

Image: Underneath

Image: Warp nacelle

Image: Weapoons pod

Image: Compared with the ERTL 1/2500 Enterprise-C

From the time I saw Star Trek: First Contact on the big screen I've wanted a model of the Akira class starship that was briefly seen in the opening space battle with the Borg. With my switch to building models in 1/2500th scale this model became a very difficult thing to obtain. The few Akira models that had been made for this scale have been out of production for some time and are very hard to find. Lucky for me, all of this changed in June 2006 with the arrival of the 1/2500th scale Akira class starship to the Starship Modeler store. This model was mastered by Kurt Prester and is manufactured by JupiterStation.

What You Get

Here is what you get in the box: Four light blue solid resin pieces, which consist of a main hull, a weapons pod and two warp engines, a sheet of decals and decal placement/instruction sheets. The resin pieces are virtually flawless, no flash, no bubbles and very small pour stubs. I have heard that some of the kits have had some issues with mild warpage in the warp engines, mine did not have this issue, though this is an easy fix if it has occurred. Trim the stubs, give the pieces a bath in soap and water to remove any release agent and you're ready to assemble and finish.

The decals you get have registry numbers and names for 4 starships: the Thunderchild, the Akira, the Rabin and the Spectre. The sheet also includes pennants, escape hatches and other small markings. As for windows, the decal placement sheet suggest using the window decals from the Polar Lights 1/1000 scale Enterprise kit.

The detail on this kit is great, though there was one thing omitted : a phaser strip on the bottom of the saucer of the main hull. This would not had been noticed had not the decal placement sheet called out for decals to be placed where the phaser was omitted.

Conclusion

Overall, this kit is a great buy. The 1/2500th scale should not scare off anyone, the kit is plenty big enough and is as big as some of the 1/1400th scale kits on the market today, and yet is small enough that if you want to build up your fleet your shelf space won't suffer for it. This kit is very reasonably priced at $45 (though at the time of this review this kit was out of stock at Starship Modeler Store, so check for availability).