Scale: 1/64 - about 9"/ 23cm or so long when completed

Parts: approx. 40 injection molded styrene - green,orange and clear

Instructions: 1 page, English text and exploded diagrams

Decals: N/A - one small sticker is included for the base

Molding Quality: 9 - no sink marks or flash on my sample

Detail: 7 - not a lot of it, but what is there done well enough

Accuracy: 8 - quick checks don't reveal anything glaring

Price: Around $15 USD (~$23.77 CAN/ € 15.53 EUR) - though smart shopping may find better deals - available from hobby retailers all over.

Overall Rating: 8 - a nice blast from the past that should make a good weekend project

Image: ... and here's the orange ones.

Image: The second bag holds these interior parts and the rear hull halves

Image: Instructions are adequate, and include paint call-outs

What You Get

Polar Lights' latest sci-fi spaceship is not a re-pop of the Aurora molds. Rather, the company has back-engineered the model and made new tooling as they did for other Aurora kits. This is evident in the very clean, nicely pressed parts. I found no sinkholes, flash or other molding flaws on my kit at all; even the inevitable mold seamlines are barely visible.

The kit is comprised of around forty parts, molded in orange (exterior), a vomitous green (interior) and clear (windows and base). (There is another issue of the kit in which all parts are either white or clear - you can see which you're getting through a small window in the bottom of the box). There is not a lot of detail present - but then, there wasn't a lot on the original. The interior parts - bulkheads, flooring, chairs and instrument clusters - are crisp enough. So are the grilles on the exterior. As on the Aurora kit, the company logo and striping are raised from the surface to make them "easier" to paint. Most modelers these days would no doubt prefer decals, but this is a faithful replica of a 30 year old kit so we get raised markings.Also included are three surprisingly nice figures. Their size is what leads me to conclude the ship is around 1/72 scale.

No landing gear is provided, just like in the Aurora offering. Instead, you get a clear stand and a small sticker to place on it.

Assembly and Finish

The fit of the parts, at least from what I can tell by dryfitting pieces, is surprisingly good. One area of concern: the alignment pins on the exterior pieces don't fit in the corresponding holes. Those will either need to be enlarged, or the pins shaved off. The upper hull can be left unglued to you can show off the interior. If you decide to glue it in place, you'll want to build the interior anyway as it provides the rigidity the model will need to survive being handled.

Painting is simple and very, very '60s: bright orange outside, vile green inside. Adequate instructions for this, as well as the crew's uniforms, are provided on the instruction sheet.

Conclusions

Polar Lights has produced another nice little kit. Those readers who want to have a Spindrift on their shelves without having to pay collector's prices for the rare Aurora kits still in existence will be quite satisfied with this issue. I'd recommend it to any level modeler.