By Scott Scariot - images & text © 2005

Scale: 1/1400 - 18"/457mm long with 'wingspan' of over 19"/483mm.

Parts: 17 Resin (4 Brass and some felt for the stand)

Instructions: Three pages of assembly guide and painting directions

Decals: None (not needed)

Molding Quality: 9 - very sharp detail nice lines

Detail: 9 - lots of it

Accuracy: 9 - the model looks like what was on screen

MSRP: $225.00 USD (~$266.65 CAN/ € 283.94 EUR) available from Federation Models

Overall Rating: 7 - the kit is great and it's a different subject however the price may be an issue for some people

The Jem'Hadar Cruiser made it's on screen debut in the Deep Space Nine episode "In Purgatory's Shadow." The ship is much larger than the Jem'Hadar fighter that was seen in previous episodes.

Image: Main hull, top

Image: Bottom

The rumors that Starcrafts was working on a 1/1400 scale Jem'Hadar Cruiser started three years ago. Then, last year at WonderFest, some people (myself included) saw parts of this kit. Well, this year at WonderFest the kit was ready.

What You Get

I have to say, I think this may be the most detailed Starcrafts kit ever. The body is well cast, though there are a few holes from bubbles. Some of the alignment pins didn't cast, but that's no big deal as I'll probably replace the resin pins with brass rod to give the joints just a little more strength. The other parts in the kit are solid resin. The main engines are very well done. They have nice crisp lines and have lots of detail all over them.

Another nice thing about the kit is that Starcrafts uses a few tricks to keep the weight down. The first was rotocasting the main hull. There is a large pod that mounts under the main hull that was cast in half rather than in one solid piece to save on weight.

This is the first Starcrafts kit that includes a stand that does not require a hole be drilled into the model. The stand is made of two resin parts, the four pieces of brass rod and contains a large copy of the Dominion logo. The "pod" on the bottom of the model will fit right into the stand.

Conclusions

I like this kit. Its size is very impressive and it's very well done. The molding quality is good and construction looks like it should be straightforward. I have only one issue with the model and that is its price. I bought the kit because I had to have one, however, I think the price may put it out of the range of some modelers. I should also mention that a set of Starcrafts' Jem'Hadar fighters is included in the price of the new cruiser.

All that being said, I think Starcrafts has a winner with this kit.