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Babylon 5 The Station (09420-1/19660 for Revell) 1:19660 GreenStrawberry Babylon 5 was a ground-breaking American Sci-Fi TV show, or Space Opera from the mid-to-late 1990s that broke a few records, being amongst the first shows to utilise the then nascent Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) instead of the usual miniatures and mattes for the space ships and exterior action, plus a great deal of CGI used in expanding the sets that the humans were later placed in. It also had a five-season story arc, rather than the usual piecemeal show-by-show or season-by-season approach, which in itself gave the show a loyal viewership that stuck with them long after the show was over, and still has fans today. Of course, some of the CGI looks long in the tooth now, and the costumes and hairstyles haven’t aged well, but if you look past those aspects the show still has legs. They had to shorten the story arc to four seasons when they were threatened with cancellation, but the reprieve left them with a season to make without the Shadows, but they managed to pull it off reasonably successfully, with a few straight to DVD movies in the following years. Babylon 5 also had some cool ships, some of which Revell kitted at the time, and although they’re sometimes hard to find now, there must be many Bab 5 kits still in stashes just waiting for this set to arrive and pull the kit detail out of the doldrums. I’m lucky enough to have a boxless kit of the Babylon 5 station in my stash, so when I heard of this set I was pleased, to say the least. It arrives in a clear foil envelope with the usual dark themed card interior within, showing off one of the frets. Holding the package in my hand reveals the weight of more than one fret of Photo-Etch (PE) in the package, and when the resealable outer is opened, it deploys seven sheets of bare brass between sheets of protective black paper that are almost the size of the pack, and there are three different gauges of brass that have been used. Structural components have been etched from 0.2mm sheet, while the more detail-focused parts etched in 0.1mm gauge. The rest are in 0.12mm (ish) sheet that has strength without being too thick or resistant to bending. Construction begins with the removal of the ribs around the main habitat drum and the removal of a raised block where the docking bay entrance should be. The ribs are then replaced by new parts that folded into shape with a lot more detail, with skins added to the curved “prongs” that project over the bulge behind the docking bay. The spine of storage and manufacturing areas that run along the top of the drum, called the “top array” in the kit instructions is decorated with new skins from end-to-end over the next few steps, including details for the sides of the trapezoid boxes on the mid-section. The zero-G docking area “tuning fork” that overhangs the docking hub is also given a detailed skin plus a number of triangular webs underneath, a docking bay aperture below, details for the ring, and an assembly above the fork that I think represents the Tachyon emitter. The rest of the set is a complete replacement for the sails that fit on the “side array” toward the aft of the habitation drum, with six sails per side that first need removing. The new sails are made up each from three layers, the centre being the strong thicker gauge, the two detail skins having fine patterning etched into the surface. They are then surrounded by frame parts on each side and finished by two attachment lugs that then glue onto the short length of remaining plastic between the top and bottom sails. When they are attached to the array, a set of detail skins are fixed to the connection as well as the array surface, completing the upgrade. Conclusion My main issue with the base kit was always the complete lack of serious detail of the parts, although I had a reckless plan to replicate much of it with paint, but if you know me you just know that would never happen! This set makes all my silly plans redundant, and upgrades a so-so kit into a good one. If you’re lucky enough to have one in the stash, or plan on hunting one down, this set is a must-have if you have the skills to fold some PE and remove a bit of styrene from the kit. (yes, I know there's a typo on the package label) Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of