By Mark “tak5haka” McGee - images & text © 2005

Scale: 1/2500 - 3¾” x 1¾”/ 95mm x 44mm

Parts: 3 parts, resin

Instructions: None (none needed!)

Decals: .None

Molding Quality: 8

Detail: 9

Accuracy: N/A - it's an original design by Jason Caldwell

MSRP: $15.00 USD (~$17.82 CAN/ € 12.08EUR) available from Ravenstar Studios

Overall Rating: 9

Image: What you get, other side

Image: Rear view

Image: Overhead

As a relative newcomer to the art of modelling, I have recently embraced the “sacred scale” of 1/2500 - in particular, thanks to the guys at the 2500 Page Forums, Trek modelling at this scale.

Having seen the comments about this kit on the forums, I bit the bullet and purchased one from Ravenstar. The ordering process was simple and there was plenty of friendly and informative communication during and after the ordering process. Eventually (I live in the UK, so it always takes an age for anything to arrive from the States) I had a very robust box in my hands and, surprisingly, the model made it intact through its pan-Atlantic voyage - no doubt due to the large amount of packing material. The model itself was in a plain zip lock bag begging for closer inspection.

What You Get

So what do you get? You get a fantastically detailed model for the scale. The kit comprises three parts - the hull, plus two nacelles. The nacelles don't look to be the usual refit nacelles, but are closer to Constellation-class ones and allow the model to fit perfectly with both a Movie-era and a Next Generation-era fleet.

The hull itself contains a wealth of detailing, especially the bottom (which also includes a pre-molded mounting hole). The only thing it doesn't come with is decals, but with all the aftermarket sets available elsewhere, and the fact that very little decaling is going to be needed beyond the name and registration, that doesn't pose a problem.

The quality of the casting is also good - I haven't purchased many resin kits so I'm no expert - but there were no air holes at all, just some flash and a few mould lines along the axis of the hull and the joins of the nacelles. Strangely, herein lays a dilemma. The kit is so detailed; you're never too sure how much sanding to do! One of nacelles was slightly bent, but nothing I couldn't live with.

Assembling the kit can be a bit awkward, even though you only have to attach the nacelles to the hull. Jason's site has good reference photos for the placement of the nacelles (and also acts as a good guide to decaling and painting). I found that I had to sand the pylons down a bit to get good contact, but other than that there were no problems.

Painting was easy; the detailing makes it easy to decide what to paint and what to leave.

Overall