Scale: 1/1400, approx 10½"/ 27cm long

Parts: 8 GRP resin (4 tinted) including stand

Instructions: Sort of

Decals: Waterslide, markings for one ship

Molding Quality: 5 - rough edges, many imperfections & bubbles

Detail: 6 - uneven grid lines, conjectural detailing

Accuracy: 7 shape appears to be right on, however has added windows and lifeboats that do not appear on reference material.

MSRP: This item is no longer in production

Overall Rating: 6 - a lot of work to be done for a lot of money

What You Get

In a sturdy, decent-sized box filled with a generous amount of packing peanuts to protect the model are eight GRP (glass reinforced plastic) resin pieces. I am assuming this is the same resin Warp Models uses, as it has the same feel and smell to it. There's a large primary hull, two nacelles w/pylon; two bussard collectors (molded in red resin); two grill-type pieces which go under and in the back of the primary hull (also in red resin). I am not sure what these last are to represent, so your guess is as good as mine. Also included are a base, two decal sheets and a vague instruction sheet.

At first glance the model appears to be a decent representation of the rarely seen Norway-Class. Reviewing the limited material available on this ship, it is obvious that Ask Models took many creative liberties with this ship. It has many windows which are not seen on any schematic or picture I have seen; however, I like the addition. They also added phasers to the upper hull similar to the angle of the Voyager phasers. The underside of the hull, I am assuming, is entirely conjectural. The windows on the underside are similar to the windows on the underside of the Enterprise D, which are indended into the hull.

Much of the detail is quite soft. The grid lines appear to be sloppy but workable. The grid lines on the underside are raised and not indented. There is A LOT of tiny "gribblys" all over the ship, especially in the windows and on what I believe is the deflector dish. Looking from above, many lines are not even to each other, which makes the ship look off balanced.

The edges of all parts are very rough, but can be cleaned up with sanding. However there are quite a few bubbles, which will require puttying. There is quite a bit of flash, or more like large chunks of extra resin on the nacelles and the red resin grid thingys. This will require either: careful and time consuming cutting with a sharp exacto knife, or quick and easy removal with a dremel tool. One of the pylons (for lack of a better word) that attach the nacelles to was slightly warped in my kit, but that's easily fixable with a little heat. The entire ship is rough and will need light sanding over all the pieces, but I will be careful due to the soft detailing.

Decals have markings for one ship, the USS Budapest, NCC-64923. It includes banners, transporter emitters and lifeboats for both the upper and lower hull. Again, according to all sources I have seen there are no lifeboats, but I will probably add them anyway, because it seems to make sense that all newer starships have lifeboats. There is no decal for the name of the ship to go on the front of the hull, which is the first starship I have seen that doesn't have such markings. There is a large decal for the sensor pallet(?) behind the bridge. The decal itself is lacking in detail so I will most likely paint on the detail and forgo the decal.

For the amount of money spent, I believe a lot more effort could have been made in both the designing and the molding. I am pleased to have a Norway to go with my fleet, however. If you can wait for another company to produce this kit, then you may want to hold off. If the Norway is a MUST HAVE like it was for me, then order yours from ASK Models, but be prepared for a possible long delay in shipping, and quite a bit of clean up after you receive the kit. I am looking forward to building my Norway - look for it in the Readers Gallery sometime in the future.