By Jeffrey Griffin - images & text © 2005

Scale: 1/1000 - about 8"/203mm long when built

Parts: 6 pieces - Upper saucer, lower extended hull, port & starboard pylon assemblies, impulse accelerator piece. No stand is included. Pieces for one nacelle, bridge, lower sensor array and navigation light inserts from the 1/1000 scale Polar Lights TOS Enterprise kit required.

Instructions: 3 page assembly/decal placement diagram

Decals: ALPS-printed waterslide; markings for two ships

Molding Quality: 9.5 - Very minor flash and pour tabs

Detail: 10.0 - As with almost all TOS ships, a mostly smooth-hulled design

Accuracy: 9.0 - Has mostly the same lines of the original FASA RPG materials and is easily discernable as such

MSRP: $35.00 USD (~$38.63 CAN/ € 26.47 EUR) available from Starship Modeler

Overall Rating: 10 - A real gem!

Over 20 years years ago, a company called FASA put out the first Star Trek Role Playing Game. Supplemental material that came later was the Federation Ship Recognition Manual, which included a grand total of fourteen different designs used by Star Fleet for the purposes of this RPG's game world. One of those ships included in that very first release was the Larson-class destroyer. While it wasn't necessarily innovative in that it had a single nacelle, it was certainly a stand-out design in that it mounted that nacelle above the hull. A later edition of the same book was released with very similar views of the same ship, but with an expanded background. FASA also released a lead-miniature of the ship design not long afterward. Ever since that initial recognition manual release, I've wanted one of these. Now, thanks to Terry Meisle, Blap! Models and the Starship Modeler Kit Factory, I've got one in 1/1000 scale!

I was fortunate enough to purchase one of the first copies of the kit from Starship Modeler Kit Factory. I'm happy enough w/the initial peek at this to be quite satisfied to have added it to my growing Star Fleet in 1/1000 scale and am considering purchasing a second as a gift for a friend.

The kit consists of a 6 pieces: Upper saucer, lower extended hull, port & starboard pylon assemblies and impulse accelerator piece. No stand is included.

One sheet of decals is included, which has enough window markings, pennants and name/registry info for one complete ship, yet includes two ship names/registries: U.S.S. Larson (NCC-4300) and U.S.S. Tecumseh (NCC-4402). These decals are by JT Graphics and appear to be the usual highly detailed decals we've come to expect. The decals include the shuttlebay door for the underside. The pylon assemblies include venting on the interior of each piece, which allows for some continuity with the Polar Lights TOS Enterprise in the same scale. You have to provide some parts from the Polar Lights 1/1000 scale TOS Enterprise kit: a complete nacelle (the directions recommend taking two outer-halves), bridge, lower planetary sensor array and saucer running lights.

Conclusions

This kit was a lot of fun to do a dry fitting on. I've been a big fan of the Larson since I first saw it in the FASA RPG books and was quite excited to find out that this Star Fleet ship was in-works. It's a nice, small scale but with a decent enough detail and size to allow a modeler to build an excellent representative of the class without taking up as much shelf space as a 1/650 scale kitbash would. Kudos to Terry Meisle for his work on the master!