Scale: 1/1400 - 2 3/4" long x 3 1/4" wide (7.0 cm x 8.3 cm)

Parts: 2 resin, to include base

Instructions: 1 page, single-sided

Decals: Waterslide; markings for one of three different ships

Molding Quality: 8 - fairly crisp, with just a very small bubbles and only minor mold seams

Detail: 8 - Nicely detailed

Accuracy: 7 - Looks good from what references I can find

MSRP: No longer available

Overall Rating: 8 - Nice kit, needs almost no work and could be done in a couples hours free time!

Nova Hobbies has given us a conjectural ship, based off the original concept sketches of the designer of DS9's Defiant - the Gallant class escort vessel.

As seems to be the trend from the bulk of the Trek garage industry right now, this resin model release is in 1:1400 scale. This allows you to show all of your 1:1400 kits on the same shelf since this scale lends itself well to displaly space. This is my second Gallant and I plan to build a display base of it with my 1:1400 Defiant (also from Nova Hobbies) flying in formation.

What You Get

One off-white resin piece. That's it. No extra parts to have to keep track of or clean up. It's also pretty sturdy. Detail is pretty crisp & clean and consists of mostly raised panelin gwith some recessed deflector grid detailing and weapons emplacements. The model itself is one piece and small; at just a hair over 3 1/4" in width, she's wider than she is long (2 3/4").

It includes the standard cleaning instructions that must be observed for resin - indeed pretty much all - model kits. Decal placement and painting instruction is pretty basic for such a small kit and thus very straightforward. Color instructions are included, as is a call-out for decal placement. A brief history of this ship's design and usage is included in the instruction sheet, as well. Very nicely done!

The base is a TOS era looking arrowhead from the uniform "badges". It's cast in the same off-white resin. Nothing exciting and very straight foward.

I don't own a copy of the "Deep Space Nine Technical Manual" which I'm told has a good section on the design history of the Defiant, of which the Gallant is an off-shoot. I've only seen one set of drawings of the Valiant in "The Art of Star Trek", so can't really comment on the "accuracy" of this subject. However, since there are no real "canon" images of this ship, I think it's very nicely represented.

Assembly and Finish

Assembly is pretty much non-existant, so completion is going to be a breeze. Washing and clean all the parts as usual, then cleaning up the very few airbubbles and seam lines. The instructions are pretty clear on painting and decal placement, which helps to make this a very easy to do kit.

Conclusions

I like this kit very much and am quite happy to have the second of this class to make my mini-diorama with Defiant flying in formation with this and the other I own. I highly recommended this kit for a first-time resin kit builder, since it's very straight forward and promises to be simple to paint. For all you old-timers, it's something you can pretty much do in your sleep, or while on Auto-Pilot, watching reruns of DS9.