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Alliance's Peregrine Fighter Preview


By John Lester - images & text © 2003

Scale: 1/72 - about 7"/17.8cm long when built
Parts: 5 resin
Instructions: 1 page, with paint and decal placement guide
Decals: ALPS-printed waterslide, markings for 4 ships
Molding Quality: 9 - almost no flaws
Detail: 9 - crisp and well-defined
Accuracy: Not rated -see review
MSRP: $65.00 USD (~$98.48 CAN/ € 59.72 EUR) available from Federation Models
Overall Rating: 9 - excellent kit, good for a beginner to resin

[Boxart]

The Peregrine-class fighter was seen briefly in Star Trek: Deep Space 9®, primarily in the two-part episode "The Maquis". It is apparently carried on larger warships, such as the Akira-class; a few were stolen by the Macquis and used to good effect against the Cardassians.

[Click to enlarge]

^ Top view

[Click to enlarge]

^ Bottom view

Image: Weapons array and engine grilles

[Instructions]

^ Instructs are clear and easy to follow

Image: Decals provide markings for four fighters

What You Get

Alliance's kit is comprised of five resin pieces, decals and instructions.

The resin pieces provide the hull, weapons/nav array, engine "booms" (one piece) and engine exhaust "grilles". All are well-cast in a medium-hard tan resin and well-detailed. The only flaw I could find was a bubble trapped under the leading edge of one "wing" - which won't be a problem, since there's nothing to sand there (but it does open an avenue for some interesting "battle damage" .....). Mold seams and pour stubs are so minor on my sample that clean up should literally take minutes.

Decals are printed by JTGraphics and exhibit the quality we've come to expect from them. Printed by ALPS, they are perfectly registered and very well defined. Markings are provided for fighters from the Akira, Rabin, Spector and Thunderchild. Interestingly, you get metallic gold details and decals representing the glowing blue areas of warp engines.

Instructions are typical for Alliance kits: an exploded assembly diagram, so general resin tips and a color painting/marking guide.The diagram is very clear as to where the parts go and the decal placement and painting instructions comprehensive enough for the subject.

Is it accurate? Looks it to me, but I'm relying on memory. If I recall correctly, Star Trek: The Magazine had an issue with plan views and some CGI images, but I could not locate my copy to make sure. Alliance's instructions state that some detail and markings are conjectural; given the dearth of available references, I find that to be no problem

Assembly should be a no brainer. I taped all the parts together and found only a couple minor places that will require filler. You'll spend more time painting this kit.

Conclusions

Alliance's Peregrine Fighter is a simple kit, and should be easily built. It's a very good kit for someone who has never built a resin model to cut their teeth on. There's enough surface area, and enough surface detail, that careful painting and weathering can really make it shine. The only downside is the price - but you certainly get your money's worth in a quality product

I can highly recommend this kit to any skill level builder with the means and the interest in the subject matter.

Many thanks to Federation Models for providing the review sample. Manufacturers and retailers, interested in getting your wares reviewed and publicized on a site averaging 3500+ readers a day? Contact us!

Please note that the opinions expressed in this article are those of the reviewer.
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This page copyright © 2002 Starship Modeler™. First published 4 February 2003. Last updated on 5 February 2003.