Scale: 1/537 - about 6" (15cm) long

Parts: 6 resin, including stand

Instructions: One small sheet of resin tips

Decals: None

Molding Quality: 7 - many small defects in hard-to-reach places

Detail: 8 - what's present is decent

Accuracy: 8 - basic shapes are dead on, but smaller details are simplified or missing

MSRP: $40 USD, available from Federation Models

Overall Rating: 9 - simple, easy to build, reasonably accurate.

What You Get

Six resin parts are carefully packed in styrofoam peanuts inside the sturdy cardboard box. One of these is a base; the rest make up the ship. The resin is typical of Federation products: dense, odorless and easy to work with. It appears the mold this particular kit was drawn from was nearing the end of its useful life. There are a number of small bubbles on the hull and warp nacelle detail areas, and it looks like areas on the hull have crumbled. The back side of the bow on this kit is also pockmarked with small pits. Fortunately, the worst problems are in the area of the hull where the wings fit in, so they'll be completely hidden when the model is assembled. Harder to fix will be scribed lines on the bow and warp nacelles. These are uneven and marred by small bubbles as well. The modeler will need a good scriber to clean this up. The wings, by contrast, are almost perfect. There are only a few tiny defects on either one.

There are no assembly instructions in the box, just a sheet with tips for working with resin. This is not a problem if you have the boxart, however. Parts are marked with L and R scribed into the mating surfaces, and it's pretty self-explanatory where they go. The only thing that might cause confusion (if one lacks the boxart or other references) is which wing goes on what side. The side with the two inset panels faces up - that's all you need to know to complete this kit.

The model appears to be a faithful replica of the studio model in most respects. Some details are simplified (the inset panels on the top of the bow and wings should have "greeblies" (small, busy details). That's easy to fix with bits from the spares box, if you really feel the need to go that far.

Assembly & Finish

Assembly should be virtually a no-brainer. Make sure to clean the kit off to remove any film that may interfere with the paint or glue sticking first. Then, clean out the mating surfaces, glue with CA (superglue) and you're done. Carefully sand and test-fit the parts before gluing and there will be no need for putty (aside from filling the pockmarks).

The boxart acurately portrays the color scheme, at least according to the references I have. The ship is an overall medium green (though it looks bluer on screen), with a darker green in the "stripes" around the inset wing panels.

Conclusions