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Qu’nos One Upgrade Sets for Polar Lights Klingon K't'inga-Class Bird of Prey from Star Trek The Undiscovered Country 1:350 GreenStrawberry Star Trek The Undiscovered Country was intended to be the last Star Trek movie, as the actors were becoming older, and it’s eventually impossible to maintain the disbelief that a chunky old guy with a wig can hold his own against the Klingons, Romulans, Cylons… no wait, etc. The Next Generation were already underway with a whole new crew that were yet to get old, but there was to be one more TOS movie, a hand-over from Kirk to Picard, named Star Trek: Generations. Of note was Michael Dorn playing his Grandfather Colonel Worf, and René Auberjonois playing another character that was removed then reinstated from the film but otherwise it was the usual suspects and a grab-bag of Klingons. The Klingon Bird of Prey Kronos, spelt Qu’nos in Anglicised Klingon was based upon the K’Tinga Class ships from the opening scenes of The Motion Picture, reusing one of the filming miniatures after a substantial re-fit due to deterioration of the model in-between uses. Having watched the movie while I was writing this review, I enjoyed it more this time around, and suggest that it’s worth a revisit if you have a couple of hours to spare. The Sets The Polar Lights kit for which these sets are intended has been out of production for some time now, and commands a high price on eBay and other selling sites, but do not worry. We understand that it is to be re-issued soon, possibly as early as May 2025, so prices should become more in-line with our desires, but as things have a nasty habit of increasing every time we look away, it won’t be as cheap as it once was. GreenStrawberry have created a wide range of sets for the kit in anticipation of this re-launch, and you can decide which appeal to you, bearing in mind that it seems almost mandatory to light your Sci-Fi models these days. Anyone wishing to light their model will be pleased to learn that the sets have been designed with that in mind, with clear resin parts and printed films that will transmit your chosen light source to please the audience. Impulse Engines (20623-1/350) This extensive set consists of six large grey resin parts, two clear and two clear red resin parts, all on their own casting blocks. Preparation of the kit is moderate, requiring removal of a few small portions around the Impulse Engine location, trimming the lower lip, and a section within the hull. A quantity of flash covers the Impulse Engine openings on the largest part, which should be scraped away before fitting the nozzles and then backing them with translucent red resin grids, which will show diffuse light from within. Between the two engines is a deep tube that is the Photon Torpedo tube, which has a clear lens at the base, with another that is intended for the kit tube at the bow, part 88, removing a small raised area nearby and cutting a small area away. Hydrogen Ram Intakes (17523-1/350) This set consists of just four grey resin parts, but they are large and well-detailed, and are direct replacements for the large parts in the leading edges of the ship’s hull, each accompanied by the smaller triangular fittings that sit at the angle change on the leading-edges. What’s worthy of note here is that the detail area at the wider end of the insert has an engine half from a Star Wars X-Wing amongst the other parts moulded-in. Main Bridge (19423-1/350) This upgrade set contains a full bridge interior to improve the detail of the Polar Lights kit that was first released in 2018, replacing the void that can be found under the area where it should be on a kit that purports to have all the detail you might need. The set arrives in an unassuming small dark themed cardboard box with a sticker giving you information as to what’s inside, there is a great deal. There are thirty grey resin cast parts, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) parts, a small printed sheet of acetate, and a paper sheet with three viewscreens printed upon one side for you to choose. Detail is exceptional, and the manner in which the set fits together is ingenious. The largest part is the bridge floor and side wall part, which has many of the consoles, walls and other structures cast-in, with a groove in the front that receives the viewscreen part that slides in there smoothly. A cylindrical sensor dome behind the main bridge is also included, moulded as a single part with fabulous detail inside and out. There are three tiny seats that are placed in front of three of the consoles, and an auxiliary screen that is cut from the acetate sheet and trapped between the layers of PE frame, making three of these that can be lit thanks to the transparency of the printed screens. Two doors each in the open and closed position are folded double to create thickness and placed in between the various compartments within the bridge area, adding shelf-like structures in the rear corners of the main bridge, plus a perforated floor from the PE sheet that extends throughout the assembly. Extra structural elements are folded up from PE and glued into the bridge, two lifts with typical Klingon disregard for health and safety, plus a circular railing section within the cylindrical tower and around the captain’s chair, two more weapons scanning crew stations on circular daises, and a large acetate communications viewer screen in a PE surround that sits on a V-shaped base in front of the main viewscreen, which has a PE backing plate and you can choose one of the two pictures to place upon it. The sensor dome above the bridge is fitted with a pair of brackets that fold up and attach to projections on the sides, mounting a circular track around the centre, and a fancy railing around the rear, plus a U-shaped PE attachment to a component moulded into the forward floor. To insert the new bridge and sensor dome in the kit, the two components that the assembly will sit in have rims and a support removed, the areas marked in red for your ease. Kronos One Decorative Ornament (20723-1/350) This set consists of three large frets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, separated by pieces of black paper, with the instructions behind along with a thick piece of card to protect the set during shipping and storage. The set is described as “Decorative ornament”, which means that the set is intended for the exterior of the model, adding huge quantities of detail to the Polar Lights kit, which is a competent model, if a little lacking in fine detail. This set should give the modeller plenty of missing detail to render their creation closer to the on-screen depiction of the Klingon Battle Cruiser. The instructions cover three sides of A4, starting with the “head” of the cruiser where the bridge and weapons are situated, adding a substantial number of parts to the areas including to the bridge and Weapons Room’s upper structure, then extending back over the neck and the wings, before viewing the model from above and below in diagrams that take up a full page each, showing where the remainder of parts are placed in relation to the model. The quantity of detail parts is substantial, and the detail of each part is both finely rendered and complex, giving an impression of a much greater parts count, adding depth to the model’s surface that could be described as “filigree” if you’re familiar with the term. Applying the set to the model should be relatively straight forward, and consist of carefully cutting each part from the fret, filing the supports away (the PE equivalent of sprue gates), then fixing each part to the model with your preferred glue whilst referring to the diagrams. The parts aren’t structural in nature, so a strong PVA glue could be used, although this might not survive any masking you are considering, but gives time to position the parts very carefully, without the sudden ‘grab’ of some super glues (CA). There are slower setting CA blends too, so perhaps they could be an option, ‘freezing’ the parts once you are happy with their location with an accelerator, often known as a Zapper. Test the brand you intend to use on any painted parts beforehand, and douse a length of sprue with it to ensure it doesn’t negatively affect the plastic, as a few types can become brittle, for example the styrene sheet that is commonly used for vacform models. Exterior & Engines (20824-1/350) Consisting of three frets of PE, a sheet of acetate with shapes printed in black, and two resin parts, this set augments the details as it implies. The circular resin part is a direct replacement for the shallow dome that is kit part 284 over the rear of the hull, and the other resin part replaces kit part 201 on the spine. The engine nacelles are overlaid by a double lamination of PE sheets that are inset on the nacelle sides, adding small diagonal stripes near the rear, and several rectangular inserts near the forward sides of the engines. A conference room is sited behind the bridge at the base of the interconnecting neck, which has a curved window facing aft. This is moulded into the kit parts, and is to be opened in preparation for the new interior that will be installed there, removing two location pegs from the interior at the same time. The floor has a table and six chairs fitted, with a set of steps folded into the floor at one end. The floor is glued into a former that has a bulkhead etched into one end, installing the completed (and painted) assembly into the neck after cutting a window from the acetate sheet and gluing a PE frame around it, which is best done by using a clear gloss coat to avoid fogging of the acetate. The windows around the head are opened up to emit light, which is partially covered by four louvres that will allow light to pass through correctly. Two strips with lights cut into them are wrapped around the head to further restrict light, and another two strips are opened in the lower part of the head, covered over by PE strips that will emit pin-prick porthole lights, adding another shorter section to the bow. Two rectangular inserts are inserted on the ridge around the head, adding more around the sides to complete the area. If you are not using the Impulse Engine upgrade set, there are some details included that give two options for the aft proton torpedo tube, either placing a perforated layer over kit part 109, or removing the raised pegs and installing a PE part. These are then installed at the inside end of the tube part. Three PE detail parts are fitted around the Impulse Engine area to finish off, the central part is a four-pane window frame above the shuttle bay that has a piece of acetate located behind it for lighting. Similarly, if you do not have the Main Bridge set, there are some upgrades included for the sensor dome behind the bridge, requiring removal of the chunky brackets on either side of the dome, replacing them with new PE parts, and replacing two uprights from a sensor on the front of the dome with a folded U from the PE sheet. Conclusion This range of sets will improve the detail far beyond the abilities of most modellers, and begs to be lit. If your needs or budget won’t extend to all the sets however, you can pick and choose your preferred focus-points, remembering that Polar Lights themselves produced a lighting kit for this model, which may well be released again in time for the kit’s re-launch. You might have noticed that the package spells the name of the ship as Qu'noS or Qo’nos One, which I understand is the Klingon spelling (in an English alphabet of course) of Kronos, but non-Trekkies would spell it Kronos One, which is how we’ve written it for the review. If you’re minded to pick up the complete set to take your Kronos One to the next level (where no one has gone before?) that includes one extra set to open the Shuttle Bay, the sets are available as a FruitPACK by following the link below: Extremely highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Star Trek Crew in Beam (720032) 1:72 GreenStrawberry Star Trek introduced teleportation to The Original Series (TOS) to cut down on Special Effects costs of getting down to the planet for the episode from the gigantic USS Enterprise that simply wasn’t designed to land on a planet. Later they brought in the shuttles once the budget situation had improved, but they still retained the teleport room, communicators, and that old chestnut “Beam me up Scotty” came into being, despite William Shatner never quite saying those exact words in that precise order. It’s not something that you could depict in a model though, surely? Sure, why not? GreenStrawberry are inventive in how they use the tools of their trade, and have designed a set of figures to allow modellers to do just that. The set arrives in a small black-themed box, and inside are two figures that have been cast in frosted clear resin. The figures are dressed in Star Trek: Next Generation and beyond uniforms, but you must look closely to see the details of the opposition shoulder colour seam across the figures’ chests. They appear to be male human type, with their hands down by their sides and feet planted slightly apart, with a short hair cut, and shod in short boots, rather than the ankle boots with balloon trouser cuffs synonymous with TOS and some of the TOS films. You can also see that there is a Starfleet badge on their chest, and one is wearing a beard. Measuring in at 23mm tall from soles to crown, they scale out a little small, at under 170cm or 5’6” tall, but who said that people in the future have to be tall? Preparation of the figures involves cutting the feet from the casting block, then removing the V-shaped web from between the legs, cleaning up the joins as necessary, and not worrying too much about polishing the clear resin, as it’s intended to be frosted. Once finished, they can be used without further ado, or you can add some twinkling effects by spraying a metallic sheen on the resin, or replicate whatever your favourite beaming method was. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Ornamental Stripes Vol I-V (WG004-1 to 5) Scale Free GreenStrawberry Science Fiction and Wargame modelling can often involve scratch-building aspects of your model, and fine detail is a common theme with many styles of building, thanks in many ways to the “Greeblie” method championed by Star Wars in 1977. Adding detail and patterns to your work can be time-consuming and difficult unless you’re highly skilled and/or have technology to hand to give you a helping hand. For those modellers that don’t have an endless supply of technology, time and/or skill, these Ornamental Stripes could be very useful. There are five sets on offer from the range, and each one arrives in a black-themed flat package with a card stiffener to protect the Photo-Etch (PE) strips from damage during transport or storage, plus a short instruction sheet between the layers. Each sheet is split into different styles of strip, and by the side of each one is an indicator of the width to assist you with layout. We have three of the sets in for review, so can offer a view of the actual brass for those, and if you follow the links below, you’ll see some of the possible uses that they can be put to, but as the site says, it’s limited only by your imagination. Volume I (WG004-1) Volume II (WG004-2) Volume III (WG004-3) Volume IV (WG004-4) Volume V (WG004-5) Review sample courtesy of

TIE Fighter Updates for AMT Studio Scale 1:32 GreenStrawberry The TIE fighter was one of Star Wars’ outstanding and iconic space craft designs that stemmed from the original film that was released in 1976, but has since become Episode IV of the saga, which still rankles a little bit to this reviewer. Flown by the evil Empire, they were first encountered after the Millennium Falcon came out of hyperspace where Alderaan should have been, and was later encountered in their escape from the Death Star, then again when the Rebel Fighters attacked the gigantic battle station in an attempt to destroy it before it destroyed their base, which they clearly managed. The design carried on through the rest of the original trilogy, and has been seen in different forms at the end of the original trilogy and as updated variants in the sequel trilogy, plus the new TV shows such as the Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. We’ll ignore Kenobi. AMT released their new tooling of the TIE Fighter recently as part of their Studio Series brand, and our friends at GreenStrawberry have wasted no time in creating a new set for the kit to bring up the detail to what you would expect from a Studio Scale kit, as the model has been criticised for being a bit soft and low on detail. TIE Fighter Upgrade Set (20423-2/32) This set arrives in a flat package, with a substantial card protector hidden inside the dark grey themed outer layer of cardboard, and inside is a large fret of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, plus a clear sheet of acetate with various triangular shapes printed on it, and a clear red sheet of foil to assist with lighting your project. The instruction sheet covers both sides of a piece of A4 that is printed in colour, and consists of six steps, although the last two are both marked as No.5. Small portions of the two faceted inner cockpit walls are removed, then several facets of the interior are replaced with PE parts, applying the decals to the clear printed foil to show through the PE part with the same number. This extends to twelve panels, one in the corner receiving an additional PE layer over the top. The coaming that covers some of the faceted windscreen in front of the control columns has the instrument box cut from the top to be replaced by a new folded part, with the two control yokes detailed by adding small levers to the outer sides, removing the top surfaces of the grips, replacing them with small PE parts, with addition levers on the inner side where the pilot’s thumbs would rest. The clear kit floor is laminated together with a PE part that has the same decking pattern etched into it, sandwiching a section of clear red foil between them to assist with lighting the floor, and giving it a red hue. The pilot’s seat is detailed with a new PE head box that is folded up from three parts and applied to the back of the headrest, which will be seen through the hatch on top of the hull once complete. A small instrument box is folded from two parts, and applied to the inner face of the coaming, where it too will be visible through the hatch. Speaking of the hatch, this area is improved by folding up a new hinge from three PE parts, and adding a highly detailed etched rim around the rear lip that is curved to fit the contours of the entryway, gluing the hinge to a flat patch in the centre of the strip, and supporting the hatch itself in the open position. The interior of the windscreen is provided with a new PE inner frame that creates more realistic detail when looking out from the hatch, and another two-part equipment detail assembly is fitted to the bottom rail of the inner octagonal frame. There are eight “clamps” spaced around the external edges of the windscreen, which have their moulded-in texture removed and replaced by small PE rectangles with a crisp pattern etched into their surface, with two spares in case you lose some. The instructions note them as parts 29, but that is the kit part number, and they are in fact part 28. The final part is a honeycomb textured PE insert that fits within the hexagonal exhaust at the rear of the fighter. Mask (AM024-1/32) This set is also supplied in a flat pack, and contains a sheet of pre-cut vinyl masks providing a complete set of masks for the faceted windscreen, plus the strip-windows in the roof hatch, all of which lend themselves to coverage by vinyl, as they are relatively flat when compared to the curves of aircraft canopies (from the real world). The small instruction sheet gives each mask a number on a map, and shows each mask located on a line drawing of the TIE Fighter’s ball-like hull with the masks in green next to their number, plus the number of the opposite side of the symmetrical frame. Conclusion The PE is not a huge set, but neither is it expensive, and it improves the detail on the kit to a level where it will draw the viewer into the cockpit. The addition of the extra interior details that lend their use to lighting the model will be useful to the modeller with a hankering for some LEDs in their TIE Fighter kit. The masks will give a crisp, clean finish to the glazing, and show off all your hard work to great effect. You can see the set applied to the unpainted kit by following the “Available Here” links above, which gives a feeling for the usefulness of the sets in improving the kit. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Imperial Service Gantry (20524-1/32 for AMT) 1:32 GreenStrawberry Given that in every Star Wars film and series, the Empire’s ships are always getting the worst end of the battle whenever they come up against the Rebels or the Resistance, the ones that return must need almost constant maintenance, and what better way to reach those high-up locations than to bring in a maintenance gantry or ramp. So much more high-tech than ladders, and who needs anti-grav platforms? This set is one such ramp that would sit next to any TIE fighter such as the recent AMT Studio Series (AMT1341) kit or other 1:32 Imperial ship, or just in the background of a hangar diorama or vignette. It arrives in a shallow black-styled box with the usual GS theme in green, red and grey, and inside are two Ziploc bags containing twenty-four resin parts, and a trio of thick-gauge laminated material in black that is rounded off by the instructions. Detail and sharpness of the set is everything we expect from GS, although with typical Star Wars logic there are no stairs to get on and off the gantry, but when has practicality ever been a thing in Star Wars? The laser-cut laminated material consists of three parts, by far the largest part being the walkway, plus two trapezoid railings, which are assembled into a C-profile with the help of pegs and notches, twelve resin ancillary boxes applied to the railings, heavily weighted to the ‘front’, but they could be arranged however you like. The two large double-pillar base stanchions are mated to a pair of angular supports via some recesses in their undersides, adding a stabilising bar between the tops and the outer pillars. The walkway assembly is then placed onto the two supports, lining up the holes and locking them in place with a single pillar at each end that is topped with additional tapering “feet” to complete the model. Conclusion Detail is excellent, construction simple, and the added height and detail it will bring to any diorama will pay dividends in terms of visual interest. Include some suitable 1:32 Star Wars figures on or around it, and you’ll have a winner. In case you didn’t know, GS have also created upgrade sets to increase the detail on the AMT kit for which this was probably intended. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Star Trek Manasu Shuttles (20223-1/350) 1:350 GreenStrawberry Star Trek used many shuttles over the years once they’d established themselves with a budget that would permit the additional special effects necessary to make the cheaper option of ‘beaming’ redundant, or at least optional. The most famous of these perhaps was the so-called “Vulcan Shuttle” that brought Spock back to the Enterprise near the beginning of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, where it was fitted with a warp sled that extended its range to drop him off at work. It was a Vulcan design from a series by the name of Manasu, and it was adapted to serve directly in Starfleet as a replacement for the once ubiquitous Type F Shuttle that was prevalent during the original series. This set includes a trio of grey resin Manasu shuttles that can be painted up in Starfleet colours, and each one is cast as a single resin part that is thoughtfully attached to the underside of the nose where it will be easy to hide the cut that removes it from its casting block. Markings A sheet of decals is included that depicts three shuttles in Starfleet service that are painted in a bone white (A.MIG-0122 is given as an example), as follows: NCC-2014 Newton NCC-1701 Enterprise SB4-0314-11 Star Base Halley The decals are cleanly printed with good register, sharpness and colour density, plus a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed parts. Conclusion If you have any 1:350 Star Trek kits that have space in their hangars, or would look good with a brace of Manasu shuttles nearby, this pack of three will fit the bill perfectly, with plenty of detail all over, decals and no annoying windows to paint. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Figures Sitting Position (1350028) 1:350 GreenStrawberry There’s an old adage about the economy of effort, that goes “Never stand up when you can sit down, and never sit down when you can lie down.”, which is attributed to Winston Churchill, apparently. Standing figures in this scale are quite common, but sitting? Less so. This set fills that gap, and arrives in the usual GreenStrawberry black cardboard box with GS themed grey, green and red themed printing, plus a photo and details of the product on the front. Inside is a Ziploc bag containing two casting blocks in grey resin that contains a total of nineteen sitting figures in finely cast resin that are split evenly between male and female humans, divided that way between casting blocks. The detail is excellent, and there isn’t a single repeated pose per block, which includes folded and raised arms, crossed and un-crossed legs, plus a few with hands on a table or their laps, and just one with their head resting on one hand in a resigned manner. The designs are reused between the genders, but are arranged on their blocks in different orders, which will be as easy to do on your chosen model to hide the few similarities. Conclusion These figures will be extremely useful for populating dioramas and the interior of models such as the decks of a Star Trek ship, or another such large vessel (space or maritime) which has a visible area such as a bar, arboretum or even a depiction of the bridge. They are well-detailed, but at this scale they’re generic enough that painting them appropriately will give them all the individuality they need, whilst providing your models with a human scale that is often absent, especially from larger Sci-Fi kits. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Imperial Service Ramp (20023-1/72) 1:72 GreenStrawberry Given that in Star Wars, the Empire’s ships are always getting the worst end of the battle whenever they come up against the Rebels or the Resistance, the ones that return must need regular maintenance, and what better way to reach those high-up locations than to bring in a maintenance gantry or ramp. So much more high-tech than ladders. This set is one such ramp that would sit next to any TIE fighter or other 1:72 Imperial ship, or just in the background of a hangar diorama or vignette. It arrives in a small black-styled box with the usual GS theme in green, red and grey, and inside are two Ziploc bags containing twenty-seven resin parts, and a fret of thick-gauge Photo-Etch (PE) brass that is bagged together with the instructions and a sheet of black paper to separate them. Detail and sharpness of the set is everything we expect from GS, although with typical Star Wars logic there are no stairs to get on and off the gantry, but when has practicality ever been a thing in Star Wars? The PE fret contains just two parts, by far the largest part being the walkway and railings, which are folded into a C-profile, and has the small PE panel and ten ancillary boxes applied to the forward railings, but they could be arranged however you like. The two large double-pillar base stanchions are mated to a pair of angular supports via some recesses in their undersides, adding a stabilising bar between the tops and the outer pillars. The walkway assembly is then placed onto the two supports, lining up the holes and locking them in place with a single pillar at each end that is topped with additional tapering “feet” to complete the model. Conclusion Detail is excellent, construction simple, and the added height and detail it will bring to any diorama will pay dividends in terms of visual interest. Include some suitable 1:72 Star Wars figures on or around it, and you’ll have a winner. Chicken dinner optional. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Kronos One Decorative Ornament (20723-1/350 for Polar Lights) 1:350 GreenStrawberry The K’T’inga Class Klingon Cruiser was a main player in the Star Trek franchise following the show’s transition to large-screen when three of them approached the V’ger construct at the very beginning of Star Trek the Motion Picture (ST:TMP), and has also been seen in the modern Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW) show, although I’ll have to take people’s word for that, as I’ve not yet watched the show. It can trace its heritage right back to Star Trek The Original Series (TOS), sleekened and improved in terms of armament and armour. Improved versions were used in Deep Space 9 (DS9) to fight the Dominion, and were latterly fitted with disruptors to remain current and a worthy adversary for their foes. The Set This set arrives from GreenStrawberry in a flat re-sealable package in their usual black themed livery. Inside are three large frets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, separated by pieces of black paper, with the instructions behind along with a thick piece of card to protect the set during shipping and storage. The set is described as “Decorative ornament”, which means that the set is intended for the exterior of the model, adding huge quantities of detail to the Polar Lights kit, which is a competent model, if a little lacking in fine detail. This set should give the modeller plenty of missing detail to render their creation closer to the on-screen depiction of the Klingon Battle Cruiser. The instructions cover three sides of A4, starting with the “head” of the cruiser where the bridge and weapons are situated, adding a substantial number of parts to the areas including to the bridge and Weapons Room’s upper structure, then extending back over the neck and the wings, before viewing the model from above and below in diagrams that take up a full page each, showing where the remainder of parts are placed in relation to the model. The quantity of detail parts is substantial, and the detail of each part is both finely rendered and complex, giving an impression of a much greater parts count, adding depth to the model’s surface that could be described as “filigree” if you’re familiar with the term. Applying the set to the model should be relatively straight forward, and consist of carefully cutting each part from the fret, filing the supports away (the PE equivalent of sprue gates), then fixing each part to the model with your preferred glue whilst referring to the diagrams. The parts aren’t structural in nature, so a strong PVA glue could be used, although this might not survive any masking you are considering, but gives time to position the parts very carefully, without the sudden ‘grab’ of some super glues (CA). There are slower setting CA blends too, so perhaps they could be an option, ‘freezing’ the parts once you are happy with their location with an accelerator, often known as a Zapper. Test the brand you intend to use on any painted parts beforehand, and douse a length of sprue with it to ensure it doesn’t negatively affect the plastic, as a few types can become brittle, for example the styrene sheet that is commonly used for vacform models. You might have noticed that the package spells the name of the ship as Qu'noS or Qo’nos One, which I understand is the Klingon spelling (in an English alphabet of course) of Kronos, but non-Trekkies would spell it Kronos One, which is how we’ve written it for the review. Conclusion The Polar Lights kit builds into a large model at 2” or 61cm long, and with the addition of this detail set any wide-open expanses of bland plastic should be much improved once the upgrade is completed. It is also available as part of their “full meal-deal” FruitPack set, which you can see here. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Galaxy Class Main Hangar Entrance (19822-1/1400) 1:1400 GreenStrawberry Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced the viewing public to the Galaxy Class starship, the flagship of which is the USS Enterprise-D, Jean-Luc Picard’s chariot in which he goes (went?) gallivanting around the galaxy for seven series and some movies (if you believe IMDb). AMT’s giant of a kit represents her in 1:1400 scale, and while it’s a large model, it would benefit from some upgrades to improve upon the soft details and inevitable short-cuts made due to costs and the limitations of injection moulded styrene. If you don’t have a kit yet, but are tempted by the sets available so far, and who wouldn’t be, it’s now available for pre-order at some shops, so the silly prices in eBay-land will be diminishing soon. We’ve already reviewed some impressive sets from GreenStrawberry for this kit, to tempt you further, so have a look here, and come back to read on. This set arrives in a small black-themed cardboard box with all the usual GS design cues, and inside is a Ziploc bag containing the resin part, and a folded instruction sheet that doubles as protection. It is a relatively simple upgrade to the detail around the Main Hangar area, which is moulded into the kit within the limitations of injection moulding, meaning that the ribbed surface of the tambour is uneven and chunky, needing some serious work by the modeller to improve it. To simplify your life, check the instruction sheet, get your saw out and cut a rectangle encompassing the hangar bay as shown in red, being careful to trim and fettle it carefully to ensure there is minimal clean-up. The part has a cut-line moulded into it near the product code on the casting base, and this is continued over onto the rear as a dotted line to ensure that your cut-line doesn’t drift away from square. There are four pegs moulded into the part that will help you align the new hangar bay with the surface of the model, but double-check your work before you wander away flushed with success, just in case it moves before the glue cures. Note: The kit styrene is transparent in the photo above, showing the pegs beneath it. Conclusion The detail of the tamboured bay door is finely engraved on the exterior, many times more delicate and accurate than the kit mouldings, thanks to the careful 3D CAD work that has gone into creating the master, as evidenced by the tiny ‘pip’ marks on the underside of the part, which don’t matter a jot (a dot?) and will never be seen again once you have installed it. It has also cost me another pre-ordered kit! Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

K’Tinga Class Main Bridge (19523-1/350 for Polar Lights) 1:350 GreenStrawberry The K’Tinga Class Klingon Cruiser was a main player in the Star Trek franchise following the show’s transition to large-screen when three of them approached the V’ger construct at the very beginning of Star Trek the Motion Picture (ST:TMP), and has also been seen in the modern Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (SNW) show, although I’ll have to take people’s word for that, as I’ve not yet watched the show. It can trace its heritage right back to Star Trek The Original Series (TOS), sleekened and improved in terms of armament and armour. Improved versions were used in Deep Space 9 (DS9) to fight the Dominion, and were latterly fitted with disruptors to remain current and a worthy adversary for their foes. The Kit This upgrade set from our friends at GreenStrawberry contains a full bridge interior to improve the detail of the Polar Lights kit that was first released in 2018, replacing the void that can be found under the area where it should be on a kit that purports to have all the detail you might need. That’s down to GS to provide however, and it’s an impressive set, without shadow of a doubt. Arriving in an unassuming small dark themed cardboard box with a sticker giving you information as to what’s inside, there is a great deal. There are nine traditional grey resin cast parts, seventeen parts that could be 3D printed or cast – it’s hard to tell, they’re so crisp, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE) parts, a small printed sheet of acetate, and a glossy paper sheet with two viewscreens printed upon one side for you to choose. Detail is exceptional, and the manner in which the set fits together is ingenious. The largest part is the bridge floor and side wall part, which has many of the consoles, walls and other structures moulded-in, with a groove in the front that receives the viewscreen part that slides in there like it was made for it. It was. A cylindrical sensor dome behind the main bridge is also included, moulded as a single part with fabulous detail inside and out. There are three miniscule seats that are placed in front of three of the consoles, and an auxiliary screen that is cut from the acetate sheet and trapped between the layers of PE frame, making two of these that can be lit thanks to the transparency of the printed screens. Two doors each in the open and closed position are folded double to create thickness and placed in between the various compartments within the bridge area, adding ladder-like structures in the rear corners of the main bridge, plus a perforated floor from the PE sheet that extends throughout the assembly. Extra structural elements are folded up from PE and glued into the bridge, two lifts with typical Klingon disregard for health and safety, plus a circular railing section within the cylindrical tower and around the captain’s chair, two more weapons scanning crew stations on circular daises, and a large acetate communications viewer screen in a PE surround that sits on a V-shaped base in front of the main viewscreen, which has a PE backing plate and you can choose one of the two pictures to place upon it. To apply the set to the kit, the circular base for the sensor dome moulded into the roof of the ship’s “head” must be removed neatly, and the inner curved rear of the bridge’s superstructure should be removed to accommodate the new cylindrical structure, fitting the combined parts 58 and 59 over the new bridge without glue, and doing the same with the clear roof of the sensor dome at the rear, allowing their removal for viewing whenever you like. Markings There are no painting details included, but there are plenty of photos to be found online, culled from the ship’s various appearances on small or large screens, although the Klingon bridges tend to be similar to the Klingons themselves. Dark, moody, with plenty of sharp edges and dangerous bits. Conclusion This is another set from GreenStrawberry that makes me want to own the kit that it is intended for. Sadly, it’s beyond my price range at present, although as it’s my birthday, one of you can pick me up one of the several boxings (joking!). Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Star Trek Galaxy Class Upgrade Sets (for AMT) 1:1400 GreenStrawberry Whether Star Trek or Star Wars is your preferred method of Sci-Fi entertainment, you can’t help but acknowledge that Trekkies have some great ships, one iconic vessel being the USS Enterprise in its various incarnations. After The Original Series (TOS) hung up its Phasers, there was a substantial hiatus before Star Trek the Next Generation (TNG) came to our screens, giving Sir Patrick Stewart the captain’s seat as Jean Luc Picard, and a bridge full of diverse and peculiar crew that went off on an open-ended cruise through the galaxy. The Enterprise D was a Galaxy Class starship with a saucer section that could separate if needed, although this happened less and less as the series progressed. It was also faster and larger than its predecessors, with whole families accompanying the crew members on their travels, which was a nod to the less jingoistic “we come in peace – shoot to kill” mantra of Captain Kirk’s era. Starting in 1990, the show ran for seven series until 1996, with Enterprise D making its first big screen appearance in the 1994 cross-over with The Original Series Star Trek: Generations, where Kirk and Picard meet toward the end of the film. Several more cinematic outings followed from the Enterprise and her crew, some better than others, before they too hung up their Phasers to make way for other series, spin-offs and potential movies. Whether you like those next, next generation offerings is entirely down to you, but you can probably still remember the hate when TNG first arrived, and although there is still much love for TOS, TNG also benefits from the rose-tinted glasses we tend to don once a show has been and gone after a long run. In the modelling world, AMT have long produced kits from this lucrative property where no man/one has gone before, and they have a range of ship kits in 1:1400, of which the Enterprise D has been one that was first issued in the 90s, and has been re-released in many different boxes over the years, with new parts and decals added along the way. GreenStrawberry have been watching, and have created a number of sets to upgrade the detail on those ageing kits, whilst also making the lighting of the model a much easier and painless proposition. We have three sets in for review, and they are a feast for the eyes that will move warp-speed once you have woven your chosen lighting method into the upgraded kit. Galaxy Class Warp Nacelles (19923-1/1400) This large set arrives in one of GreenStrawberry’s shallow top-opening black boxes with a captive lid that is kept closed during transit by the overlapping sticker on the top that gives the modeller information upon what is inside. Once opened, there are eight parts in grey resin, two more in translucent red resin, and a further two parts in translucent blue resin. That doesn’t sound a lot until you see the size of the parts. The entire Warp Nacelles are replaced by new resin units that are made from upper and lower halves that are separated by a translucent blue part that wraps around the sides and rear of the nacelles. At the front, a corrugated section is fitted between the main nacelle and the forward Bussard Collector fairing, which then receives a translucent red ‘tongue’ that projects from the collector, which has pre-prepared holes moulded-in, and the hollow nacelle further assists in this regard. There are two of these of course, as no-one wants to go round in circles at warp 8, and each one is handed, with a helpful part number on a raised plaque inside the nacelle halves to avoid confusion. These parts have been 3D mastered, then further prepared to be traditionally cast for incredible finesse and smoothness of the parts throughout. Galaxy Class Impulse Engines (19723-1/1400) This set arrives in a small black box, and upgrades the Enterprise’s sub-light Impulse Engines with four grey resin parts, plus three translucent red resin lenses for lighting, and a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) with three grille parts. The simplistic kit engines are first cut from the back of the saucer and the base of the neck, as indicated in red on the instructions, then the three Impulse Engines are cut from their bases, have the translucent red parts slipped into the centre, taking care to align them correctly, using the chamfered end to achieve a snug fit, and remembering to flatten and smooth the cut surface. A PE grille is then glued over the red resin to increase detail, and a long spine insert is supplied for the central engine at the bottom of the saucer’s interhull neck, using hot water to subtly bend the resin part to the curved shape of the hull in that area. The engines have a crisp grooved outer, and are hollow behind so that a light source will make the red resin glow from behind the PE grille. Galaxy Class Main Deflector (19623-1/1400) This smaller box contains three grey resin parts, a clear resin lozenge, and a PE sheet with two parts included. The kit defector can be discarded, as this is a drop-in replacement when complete, and the set has again been mastered in 3D, then worked on further to improve the detail. Only one resin part is used on the model, which is the deflector dish, complete with ribbed detail within, and a central recess into which the clear resin part is glued. This is to disperse a light source from behind, the dish having a hole marked out in its base to assist with this, but the light is further muted by adding a PE part over the top of the clear resin diffuser, which is surrounded by another larger PE part that has a hole in the centre. You might baulk at having to curve the PE part to fit the contours of the dish, but you don’t need to worry, as the other two resin parts form a jig to curve the surround to the contours of the dish with very little effort. It may be wise to anneal the brass first by heating it in a flame and allowing it to air-cool to soften the metal, then place the part centrally on the concave section of the jig, pressing down with the convex portion to press it into shape. Then it can be carefully glued into place around the centre, and the completed assembly can be pushed into the front of the lower hull to complete. Conclusion If you’re building an Enterprise D in this scale, you will want to consider these upgrade sets, and choose which ones you feel you want, based on your needs and budget. If you don’t yet have a kit to suit the sets, we understand that the kit is being re-released in 2024, so you may wish to plan ahead. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

The CHARIOT from Lost in Space FruitPACK (FP28 for Doll & Hobby Kit) 1:35 GreenStrawberry Danger Will Robinson! In the mid-60s, a new series called Lost in Space premiered, a creation of Irwin Allen, a man with a prodigious imagination. His output during the 60s and 70s consisted of well-known fantasy, adventure and Sci-Fi series and TV movies that many kids of the day grew up loving or loathing. Many of them were repeated late at night with a new audience of drunk or stoned youngsters that delighted or laughed at the corny but intriguing stories that were unfolding before their bleary eyes. Lost in Space was one such show, and it became quite a familiar sight, consisting of three seasons and eighty-three episodes plus an un-aired pilot in its original form, although a big-screen reboot in the 90s happened, and another reboot in 2018 as a very different series that I just couldn’t enjoy. The original show was based on the premise that a family heading out to colonise the galaxy was thrown hopelessly off course when a stowaway caused issues. That stowaway was the overly arch and slightly effete Dr. Zachary Smith, who became trapped whilst trying to reprogramme the robot, which was designed by the same gentleman that also create Robbie the Robot for Forbidden Planet. Whilst in space they jollied around in the Jupiter 2 space ship, which was a similar saucer shape in a similar vein as the C-57D from Forbidden Planet, but on a smaller scale and with a large and highly impractical picture window for the crew to stare out of. When planet-bound, they trundled around in an extensively glazed Chariot, which was a tracked vehicle that just happened to have road-style tyres on its wheels. Where it would fit within the saucer is a practical aspect that’s best not thought about too closely. The Kit This FruitPACK set from our friends at GreenStrawberry is a combination of the sets that are also available separately from them, but in one box and with a discount for the modeller. The super-set is intended to significantly improve the detail of the 1:35 Doll & Hobby kit (who?), and it arrives in a handsome black box with the set’s name and details on a large sticker that wraps over the side onto the underside and securely seals the front-opening lid against accidental release before it is deliberately cut open by the new owner. Inside the box are three sets that target specific areas of the model, broken down as follows: Exterior & Interior Accessories Tracks Those few words oversimplify the aims of the sets, while “Accessories” is rather vague, but it refers to stowage that can be placed inside or around the vehicle, or alternatively loaded into the stowage rack on the roof for extreme visibility. The tracks set is a work of art, and must be seen to be believed, while the Exterior & Interior set is a comprehensive reworking of the model’s details that improves upon the injection-moulded kit parts. Between them they will transform your kit and raise the level of detail to something very special, which will be a head-turner with careful painting and minimal weathering. We will deal with each set separately to do them justice. Exterior & Interior (19323-1/35) This is the most comprehensive of the three sets, and it consists of two sheets of Photo-Etch (PE) brass, a short length of styrene tubing, and two instrument panel faces, printed in duplicate on film and paper to add to your choices. The instructions are four pages long, and begins with the removal of much of the detail in the front of the Chariot’s cockpit, sanding away raised detail on the dash, the kick panel, two seat lugs on the floor, and the massive centre console. A new interior is then built, starting with the top of the centre console, which is folded into a shallow rectangular box with a dual layer instrument panel at the rear, set to the side while the largest part of the sheet is folded into shape to cover the console and both floor areas on either side. Extra tread-plated layers are added to the floor sections, with folded over returns linking the kick panel, gluing the console top to the assembly, and adding three detail parts to the rear of the left floor portion. The dash is next, angling the upper face and adding an extra layer, plus four inserts that are applied to the cut-outs in the part. This is lowered over the remains of the kit dash, while the console and floor parts with folded-up kick panels is slotted in from the rear. The computer console that is mounted in the right position is folded into a wedge-shape with supporting legs under the front, and holes for dials in the crew-facing surface, which lends itself to lighting from within. Your choice of film or paper dials is then applied over the holes, and is locked in place by adding the instrument panel surface over the top, which has bezels etched in around the cut-circular outs for added realism. The console is slotted into the right station after installing two diagonal inserts in the corners against the wall below the dash. The step to the rear of the new PE crew section is folded over at the top, and glues into position, adding a long hand-rail across the rear of the console, which is formed from an extended O-shape that is folded in half to add thickness. A scanner device is mounted on the console between the crew members, and this is detailed with a new section added to the underside to fill a gap in the kit part, along with a pair of grab-handles on the front sides. A box-like shape at the rear of the cabin has its raised circular detail removed, and is covered by a lid that is folded into a shallow open box, while the seat mounting posts are also removed from the kit floor, with the corresponding lugs on the underside of four of the six crew seats also removed, and replaced by a PE panel that has triangular strengthening webs between it and the 9mm length of styrene tubing that is cut from the length provided in the set for each one. On the top surface of all six of the seats, eight tabs are added around the perimeter of the cushions, and lap belts are folded up and draped over the cushions. The focus now switches to the exterior as promised, starting with the front of the Chariot, folding a mesh panel in half to create the lower grille, and curving another part to the same shape as the upper grille. The lower grille is then covered by another coarser diamond-patterned grille that has a protective panel curved under the front, and a long strip at the top that stretches across the width of the vehicle. The Robot gets a look-in too, adding replacement pincers to the ends of his concertina arms, rotating sensors on either side of his ‘head’, and lugs on his shoulders, replacing the chunky kit equivalents in the process. He also has his narrow tracks filed down and replaced by four strips that wrap around to the back under his track-units that hide the operator’s feet… sometimes badly. An astrodome is present on the roof of the Chariot, which has a new square surround folded into a shallow box with a large hole in the centre that receives the dome later, adding a top layer and two double-thickness grab-handles along one edge. The kit’s roof-mounted stowage rack has the solid sides removed along with several lugs denoted in red, leaving just the framework present, which is built into a rectangular frame that has a PE mesh floor inserted from below, with shallow folded-down sides, and a separate ribbing insert underneath. An L-shaped box is then made and attached to one side of the stowage rack, which supports one of the sensors after removing its mounting lug, and adding a textured surface to the flat rectangular sensor panel. Another radar-like assembly at the front of the roof has the kit’s moulded-in dish removed, bending a replacement from a circular PE part that has a section missing to help create the cone shape, mounting it to the remains of the kit radome, strengthening the joint with two large tapering supports at the rear, with lightening holes etched into them. Four handles are folded double to thicken them, and are applied to the two opening doors on each side. The access ladders on both sides of the Chariot have their lugs removed, and a doubled PE strap fitted between the top supports, which hook onto two brackets that are made from two parts each and are glued to the side of the vehicle between the two opening doors on each side. Accessories (20123-1/35) This set consists of seventeen items in grey resin, some of which share a casting block with others of a similar type. There are nine cases of various sizes with moulded-in handles, hinges and clasps around the edges of the opening, and stiffening ribs along the larger surfaces. Three vertical tubs with handles and clasps on their lids are on a single casting block, as are the five differently-sized bedroll elements, all of which are individually shaped to be more realistic. All these parts are sensibly mounted on their casting blocks, and should be simple to prepare once liberated from them. Sympathetic painting using your references will bring them to life, and where you place them is entirely your choice. Tracks (19223-1/35) This set will make a huge difference to the look of the model, which from the box has each track run moulded as a single part that includes the many road wheels, so you know it won’t be particularly detailed. There is a lot in this set, including twenty-four resin wheels and springs, four long PE track parts that form the base for the build, and two bags of track ribs, one containing 140 of one type, the other with 40 of a different design. The track ribs appear to be made from a very thin fibrous material that is possibly a thick card impregnated to strengthen it, and each part has been cut out very cleanly, possibly by a laser, although I could be jumping to conclusions to match the Sci-Fi theme. The instructions are simple but the build will be time consuming due to the number of parts involved, however it will be well-worth the effort. Each run of tracks is etched as air-gapped pairs within an outer frame, and the side frames are first folded up, creating an upstand that spaces the tracks from your desk while you glue the track ribs to the PE. The detail is etched into what becomes the underside of the tracks, which will be seen between the wheels, and is in no way a mistake, and you should ensure that the detail is facing down during construction. The ribs are laid out and glued into place using three of the shallower and more numerous parts, followed by one deeper part from the smaller bag, repeating this process until you reach the other end of the track run. The frame of the PE can then be cut away, and the finished track is wrapped around the wheel set, which consists of five identical road wheels with standard tyres you might find on a 1960s truck, plus a drive sprocket at the rear of each run, arranging the track so that the join is under the wheels for minimum visibility. This task is carried out again in mirror image for the other side of the Chariot, and all the wheels have a resin axle with a spring at the rear pushed into the holes in their rears, the hollow springs plugging into the kit’s location stubs on the sides of the body. The instructions don’t show the wheels on the model, but this is probably the easiest way to obtain the correct length and shape, wrapping the tracks around the wheels after fitting them to the lugs moulded into the model. You may have to reseat a few of the track ribs whilst bending them around the ends of the track runs, but if you remember the order in which they are applied and don’t over-glue them, no-one will know but you. The detail will be noticed by everyone however, as they look very impressive when finished. Conclusion It’s not all that often that a set comes in with the ability to make me purchase a model to go with it, but this one did. The level of detail it brings to the model is enormous, so extremely tempting, even though I was never a fan of Dr Smith’s malevolent campness. Don’t forget that these sets are also available separately if your budget or area of interest won’t stretch to the Fruity package. If you click the link below, you’ll be able to find them from there. Extremely highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Star Wars The Mandalorian Razor Crest Updates (for Revell) 1:72 GreenStrawberry We reviewed the Revell release of this (IMHO) iconic but short-lived Star Wars ship in Platinum Edition here recently, and the original release that came without the additional cockpit parts of the later edition. You might note that the Platinum kit included some GreenStrawberry parts for the cockpit and cannons, but they had also been incredibly busy making more detailed update sets for the kit that will bring a huge increase in detail to the kit that would otherwise take the modeller forever to complete themselves, assuming they even had the skills. The sets are themed for various areas of the kit with minimal overlap, and can be purchased individually to suit your needs or budget, or you can push out the boat and opt for the FruitPack edition that includes all the sets with a discount to match. We’ll link to the FruitPack as the end of the review. The Sets Each set arrives in an appropriately sized cardboard box in their usual black, grey, red and green theme, with the resin parts in a Ziploc bag, and any Photo-Etch (PE) sheets separately bagged with instructions and black paper divides (for multiple sheets), to prevent chaffing and bending of the parts. Cannons (15822-1/72) This set completely replaces the kit cannons with eighteen resin and five PE parts. Each cannon starts by joining the three stepped tubular sections together to form the main assembly, adding a separate muzzle to the end of the barrel, then making up a two-part sub-assembly for the shroud around the outer mid-section, which has a smaller shroud added to the front of this section, and a curved strip around the end of the cylindrical body. The left and right assemblies are handed, and simply slot into the holes in the sides of the nose in the same manner as the kit parts. Engines & Exterior (16022-1/72) The Razor Crest has an oversized engine nacelle to either side of the hull, and these are the subject of this set, consisting of thirty-seven grey resin and two clear red/orange resin parts, plus a PE sheet of detail parts. Each nacelle is made in mirror-image, starting with the exhaust petals made from two highly detailed halves, which have ten vanes inserted into grooves in the rear, aligning the assembly with the base part that it is glued onto. The clear orange/red part is intended to allow you to easily light your model, and this circular part has two sleeves fitted to the central tip before it is glued to the underside of the exhaust assembly. The kit cowlings have PE strips fitted around the inner lip before the exhaust are inserted into them, with a scrap diagram showing the correct alignment to complete the engine part of this set. The rear landing gear struts are targeted for the next round of upgrades, starting with removing a simplified section from one of the actuators, creating the replacement from four PE parts, which adds a lot of extra detail with lightening web-work on the struts and sides of the supports. This is glued to the main gear legs, and the captive bay door is fitted over it after removing a small area of raised styrene that is marked on the instructions in a dull green. Behind the main gear bays are grilles at the end of the nacelle, which the set replaces with more accurate detailing in the shape of an insert for each side of the hull, plus two circular detail-parts on the rear loading ramp. The final parts of the set replace ten triangular strengthening parts near the front of the engine nacelles, which should be removed and made good first, folding each replacement into a wedge-shape before gluing it into position equally spaced across the two locations. Cargo Bay (16122-1/72) This substantial set is packaged in a deceptively small box, although it is still the largest of the boxes, mainly because there are five large sheets of PE of varying gauges, plus thirty-four resin parts, some of which are quite large. There is also a small piece of paper printed with template shapes for some alterations that are carried out during the build process, the instructions for which stretch to seven sides of A4. The first stage is to remove large parts of the cargo area sidewalls, increasing the size of a doorway, removing some tapering tubes in the nose, and filling any rough areas once complete. With that done, the PE front bulkhead is prepared, folding several wires down over the bulkhead to add detail, then adding a resin trunk, a set of PE tools in a rack, and a two-layer recessed bay to the cut-out in the bulkhead. This is glued into place at the front of the cargo bay, where the space-toilet is found, completing the structure by using the kit parts, which includes the short sections of the side walls that were left after removing the rest. The cockpit floor is also replaced by a long PE part with etched-in detail, and a small fold to the forward edge. In the outer walls of the two forward bays, a triangular fillet with grilles etched-in are made with the use of two templates to make styrene back-plates, fitting them into position at the top of the compartments, and installing two resin detail parts into the starboard bay, a toilet and a PE ‘basin’ that is folded from two parts. Extra diagrams show these installations from above as a “modeller’s eye view” to assist you with placement. The next task is to create sub-assemblies for installation in the bay over a couple of pages of the instructions. It starts with folding up ten PE blasters to attach to the weapons locker body and doors that are supplied as three resin parts. A section of the cargo bay is made from two open doorways with a section of roof above it, plus two grab-rails added to each doorway. A ladder is folded up and attached to an equipment box, and another ten lighting boxes with three rectangular cut-outs is made with use of another of the pattern pieces to complete the assembly. Next, a jig is cut from the PE sheet and folded into a C-shaped carrier so that five ribs and three cross-ribs can be installed and glued together without undue issues, unless you’re too liberal with the glue and stick it to the jig! Don’t do that. Another jig is folded up to create a longer section of ten ribs and three cross-ribs, putting these to the side carefully to avoid damage before installation. A tapering rib has a similarly shortening set of lightened ribs half-etched to it so that they can be folded perpendicular to the long rib, rotating them as you do. The jigs are then bent in the opposite direction to create the same three assemblies in mirror-image to finish the three ribbing sub-assemblies for the hull. The kit hull is moulded as a tub with a blunt nose, and sharply tapered rear where the main loading ramp is located. The tapering rib assemblies are fitted to the rear of the hull, adding another rib level with the floor near the roof. A resin strengthener is fitted in front on both sides, gluing the ribbing to the wall and adding two resin equipment blocks over the top, plus four lighting boxes at roof level. Another doorway is fitted forward of this section, and the short ribbing insert is glued to the wall, fitting another lighting box at roof height, locating the resin compartment in front, then installing the gun locker and ladder in front of that, which finishes filling the interior from nose to tail. The same ribbing sections and light boxes are fixed on both sides of the hull, the starboard side having two wiring looms instead of resin equipment blocks in the long compartment, a control panel next to the side door, and a stowage net in PE laid over the ribbing. The doorways should all line up with grills on the floor, and the instructions point this out, perhaps a little later than it should, but pay attention to this in anticipation. The kit upper floor is prepared by removing a cross-bar from below, and cutting out a hatchway just behind the cockpit using the template provided, after which the rear of the floor is cut away, as shown by the red printed area on the drawing. The open undersides of the cockpit floor should be filled as instructed, then another stowage net is fixed to the underside, allowing it to sag under gravity. The new ceiling to the lower floor is detailed with four resin clamps for carbonite frozen criminals, adding four raised panels to it, and another stowage net, again sagging under gravity. The kit ceiling is lowered into position over the new ladder, and at the rear an aft ladder is folded up and glued in position at the edge of the new ceiling after it has been inserted and glued down. It's a big set, and the most expensive of the six for good reason. There’s a lot of content, and it’s time-consuming to create for the manufacturer. You will need to create sub-assemblies and undertake painting in stages, and with care an amazingly detailed cargo bay will be the result. Cockpit (15722-1/72) It’s worth noting that this set is not the same as that included on the Revell Platinum boxing, which was a simplified version to appeal to a wider and possibly less-demanding audience. There are twenty resin parts, and a sheet of PE, plus a template to cut out the hatchway that is printed on white paper. The first step is to fold up small PE parts to represent the controls on the resin instrument panels on both sides of the cockpit, then folding up additional boxes that are fitted into a recess at the back of each console, and help space the consoles from the cockpit wall, and will also support the next panels to be made. The PE floor with etched-in detail is inserted into the resin tub first, followed by the two panels made earlier, creating a cylindrical control column from three resin and two PE parts, which fits near the front of the PE floor in the centre. On either side are two rudder pedals, folded to a wedge shape, gluing the non-detailed side to the floor, adding two additional consoles stepped above and behind the lower side consoles, then making a representation of Mando’s favourite weapon to hang on the bulkhead outside the cockpit, plus a small instrument box with trunking running up to the ceiling. Inside the cockpit above the doorway, there are three small domes moulded in a line, which are partially covered by a two-part PE assembly that allows the domes to be seen through the grating underneath and through the circular etchings on the front of the part. The pilot’s seat is resin, and is mounted on a PE box that is folded up, and has a PE support running up the back, while the two passenger seats have a similar mount, but also have seatbelts included. The port seat can be posed folded away to the side, with a separate flat resin seat and different PE belts to suit the stowed seat. Inside the kit's upper hull, the cockpit framing is moulded-in, and short raised sections should be removed with a sharp blade, scraping it flush, then adding a longitudinal frame the entire length of the canopy, with three grilles at the rear, and two equipment boxes with separate faces over the pilot’s seat. A tiny pair of PE instrument are located on the sidewalls of the cockpit as shown in a transparent diagram, taking care not to lose them, as they are very small. The kit floor and walls are adapted to suit the new layout, removing the forward half of the side walls and the moulded-in ladder that will be replaced, while the floor has three raised boxes removed and made good, using a template to remove a section of the floor behind the cockpit for the hatch that leads to the lower level. The new cockpit tub is glued over the kit floor, and the floor in the compartment behind has a new PE surface installed, adding the remains of the kit sidewalls, and the kit rear bulkhead to complete boxing in. A new PE ladder is folded up, and you are shown the moulded-in ladder in the lower level that will need removing before installing the replacement, and a two-layer door is also supplied in case you wish to depict this in the closed position. The final diagram shows the location of the ladder and the closed door to assist you with placement. Flaps (16222-1/72) These aren’t flaps as we’d expect to see on a terrestrial aircraft, but are air-brake flaps that extend from the engine nacelles on command, revealing the bays behind them. The set consists of five resin parts, one of which is a jig, and two sheets of PE from which the flaps are created. The first step shows the areas of the engine nacelles that should be removed in red, giving helpful 'before and after' diagrams to assist you with construction. The outer nacelle parts are separated into two subsections that are joined back together by a large and detailed piece of resin with the bays moulded-in, which joins them together on large lips that should prevent any issues. The engines are then built as normal, making the flaps and leaving them detached until after main painting in case of damage, which is likely if you’re a clumsy modeller like me. The four flaps per nacelle are all made from two layers, folding over the gridded section onto the solid portion without gluing them down, then applying the PE to the curved jig and bending them to shape for later fitting. The jig is a perfect arc of the nacelle, and as long as you press the flaps over it squarely, they should be the correct shape when removed. Annealing the flaps may assist with bending the parts smoothly, holding them over a flame until they discolour, without letting them become red hot for more than a fraction of a second, then allowing the part to cool naturally, which leaves the brass more malleable. The four flaps per nacelle are shown being installed at the rear end of the bays, with another diagram showing which numbered flap should be located where, as they all have different details on the outer skin as seen from behind. Cargo Stuff (15922-1/72) This set is the most fun, as it includes equipment, accessories and other items that would be seen inside Mando’s ship, consisting of twenty resin parts, and a small PE sheet. There is a little overlap with the Cargo set, which extends to the stowage nets and the clamps for the carbonite frozen perps that he often carries on the way back to collect their bounty. The first item is a tubular container with PE backpack straps, which is shown in one of the compartments with several loose items, including another backpack and helmet, plus sundry boxes and other parts. The stowage net in the short compartment is shown holding equipment in position, another diagram showing the net in the longer compartment, the various boxes also shown without the net over them for clarity. The final and best parts of this set is the four carbonite frozen criminals in their “frames”, hanging from the ceiling by large clamps, in the same manner as seen in the show. There is an Ewok, a humanoid wearing shorts, a Rhodian (Greedo’s race), and a Ithorian (Hammerhead), one in each frame for you to arrange in any order you like. Painting them will be relatively easy, as once a person is frozen in carbonite, they’re a monochrome metallic shade. Of course, leaving the rear ramp open is the best way to expose your hard work within the model. FruitPACK (FP23) For the super-detailer, all six of these sets are included in the FruitPACK, which you can check out by following the link below, representing a substantial saving on purchasing sets individually. Conclusion This Star Wars fan thinks Mando and the Razor Crest are the best things to come out of the modern trilogy and its off-shoots, so when I build my kit, it will be a fully detailed model, although I’ll have to learn how to make a lighting kit before I do. The detail presented here is truly amazing, and it’s worth every penny. Don’t hang around though, as some of the sets are going to be out of stock soon, so get your order in while you can. Extremely highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

USS Enterprise NCC-1701A Refit (14021-1/1000 for Moebius) 1:1000 GreenStrawberry After losing Spock on the Genesis Planet at the end of the Wrath of Khan and getting him back in Search for Spock, the sneaky trick on the Klingons near the end of the film sees Kirk and co. leaving the bridge of the original refitted Enterprise for the last time just in time for it to blow up and take the deluded Klingons with it. Captain Kirk is a bit upset about that for obvious reasons, and they’re stuck flying a green Klingon Bird of Prey for most of the following Long Way Home movie, engaging in some time-travelling, whale kidnap and saving of the world once again. At the end of the movie, they get a new Enterprise as a thank you from a grateful earth, which they sail off into the black depths of space until the next film came calling, with many break-downs following a refit, and some chicanery from a group of baddies that frame Kirk for murder, at least temporarily. That’s a massive over-simplification of events, so if that doesn’t make any sense, just watch the films, some of which are better than others. The Kit Polar Lights kicked off a new series of Star Trek kits in the homogenous 1:1000 scale around the same time as Star Trek: Discovery reached our screens. This version of the Constitution Class Enterprise is available again as a reboxing, which also comes with some ‘damage’ decals for people wishing to depict the ship in a state of battle weariness. This set arrives in GreenStrawberry’s usual clear foil packaging with black card that has green and red branding, whilst inside are two frets of Photo-Etch (PE) separated by a sheet of black paper, a small printed sheet of self-adhesive paper, a thick chunk of card for protection, and the folded-up instruction sheets that are also doing some protective duties. Construction begins with removing a tiny raised light at the rear of the upper bridge, with a two-layer bulkhead added to the flat rear before it is joined to the lower. The lower section has a detail strip applied all around its middle, which includes vertical frames for the bridge windows at the rear, through which the simple insert that is made next will be seen. The floor of the insert is folded to create a bulkhead, and two additional short bulkhead sections are glued into grooves in the floor, and some half-thickness details are etched in the area nearest the windows. It is inserted from below and glued into position before it is placed in the centre of the saucer section. The lower surface of the saucer has two shuttered bays cut out to receive a pair of wedge-shaped inserts that are each folded up from four parts before they are slotted into place. These parts are identical to the Reliant set we reviewed recently. The impulse engine housing at the rear of the saucer section has the lower lip removed and a PE mesh insert fitted, with two more light fittings on the saucer nearby, and a PE spider placed over the dome-shaped Plasma Deflection Assembly just forward of the impulse engines. The similar-shaped Photon Torpedo housing at the base of the saucer ‘neck’ has a new insert made up from two main layers with additional bezels around the launch tubes. The central scanner array in the lower saucer has four PE skins added to the flat-fronted sections, while a trio of lights are added to the rim, and at the top of the neck a ribbed appliqué plate is glued to each side, butting up against the saucer. The edge of the saucer is decorated with new skins that have textured stripes and windows etched-in, with the ends shaped to fit around the Impulse Engine housing at the rear, and where the sections join at the sides, the left side is hidden by the application of the crew gangway over the top in a half-thickness socket. A circular hatch is installed at the bottom of both sides of the neck, with two more on the sides of the hull. The hull has a long, windowed section along the lower side with an arboretum stretching from side-to-side, and this is updated with a PE window frame part on each side, which will allow the interior to be seen. The arboretum itself is made up from a floor part that has pathways etched to half-height, and walls with etched-in fold lines that are bent up to support the roof section, onto which the sticker is fixed, giving the impression of lights and a blue cloudy sky, with the light portions having the PE etched away behind so that if you light the interior, it will show through the sticker. Two small curved skins are applied at the rear around the sides of the shuttle bay doors, with yet another little circular light added over the top. On the underside of the hull another pair of light fittings are glued onto the centreline - there are quite a few of these on the sheet. Moving to the warp nacelles, the kit inner nacelle sides have their striping removed, and the new PE replacements are glued into the recess instead, then at the rear the exhausts are inset with two new parts that make up a U-shape when complete. Yet another light fitting replaces the kit lumps at the rear of each of the nacelles. Conclusion Apart from some slight vagueness around the fitting of the arboretum (my kit is on its way, so I can’t peruse the parts together yet), this is another great set from GS with plenty of detail added to the base kit. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

SSTO Ranger Update Set (02422-1/72 for Moebius) 1:72 GreenStrawberry The Film Interstellar made a few folks scratch their heads, a few more yawn at times, while many others were thrilled and enthralled watching this fictitious expedition across the universe and time. Deep, huh? There were some interesting and plausible ships and near future tech exhibited on the screen, including one of the most unusual robots to take part in a Sci-fi film, bearing a striking resemblance to a stack of slabs of stainless steel when at rest. In order to get around away from the mothership on the Endurance mission, the ship carried two Single Stage To Orbit (SSTO) spacecraft, named Ranger 1 and Ranger 2. These wedge-like ships have a crew of four plus one of the four former US Marine robots, TARS being the most prominent in my memory after the rapid departure from Miller’s Planet near the Black Hole. The set is to augment the moulded-in detail of the Moebius kit of the Ranger in 1:72, released in 2015 and getting more difficult to find as time goes by and the film fades from memory. That should mean that there are plenty out there in stashes that could benefit from the detail that this set brings to the party. As usual, the set arrives in GreenStrawberry’s clear foil packaging with black card liner that has green and red branding, whilst inside is a large fret of Photo-Etch (PE), a thick chunk of card for protection, and the folded-up instruction sheet that is also doing some protective duties. The base kit is quite simple, having solid styrene windows and no interior despite being in a larger scale, and the exterior is on the menu for GS will fix. Firstly however, the ‘real’ underside has a section of the fuselage covered in long narrow vents that aren’t particularly well-represented in the kit. That section of the fuselage is removed completely and is replaced by a PE section that has etched-in crease lines, and the louvers etched completely through at all but the pivot-points at the ends, which allows them to be twisted/rotated to an angle once they are in position under the fuselage. It would be wise to create an inner lip around this section to give the PE something to ledge upon so that it won’t push through with accidental pressure. The top surface is dotted with 22 windows of various shapes and sizes that are cut out and the bezel detail removed then sanded smooth. The fret includes a full set of PE bezel/frames and a sheet of acetate with the window shapes pre-printed on them. These are cut from the sheet and glued behind the frames and then applied to the window apertures as per the accompanying diagrams. If you don’t like masking, you could use the PE frame parts to make masks spirograph-style for the acetate before you join them together, making the painting an easier task, or treat yourself to the mask set, also from GS. The kit has no interior however, so it would be an ideal time to engage the services of Black 3.0 or Musou black to make the interior as dingy and invisible as possible. The topside also has a pair of two-layer laminated exterior instrument panels on the rear, much like the panels seen at the rear of the Space Shuttle. There is an upper panel that wraps around the rear of the ship, and this is detailed with a large PE skin that has fine grating etched-in, improving immensely on the kit details. At the rear, there is a large circular air-lock with an engine exhaust at each side. The blank panel behind this is first removed and consigned to the bin, then the detail over-layer has the circular centre removed too, to be replaced by a PE lamination with latch details added from the rear, and a triple laminated ring around the front edge, which means that the initial cut will need to be as smooth and circular as you can manage. The two exhausts are decked out with PE inner tips, finishing off the set nicely. Conclusion The original kit wasn’t overly expensive, so you can forgive Moebius for skimping on the detail, but this set goes a long way to correct that, giving the windows the correct sheen and depth, and upping the detail where it matters. An interior would be awesome, but maybe that’s a topic for another day. Highly recommended. PE Upgrade Set (02422-1/72) Mask Set (AM020-1/72) Review sample courtesy of

USS Reliant NCC-1864 Later Version (14121-1/1000 for Polar Lights) 1:1000 GreenStrawberry KHAN!!!!!!!!! Yes, that’s him. He’s been Kirk’s nemesis for a while now, and during the 2nd Trek movie, he pinched the USS Reliant whose crew happened upon the remains of Khan’s people left on a horribly transformed planet that Kirk marooned them on some years earlier during the original series. The Reliant is primarily an exploration vessel of a different configuration to the Enterprise, consisting of a saucer section with underslung warp nacelles on each side, and a rather 80s spoiler at the rear that they call a Support Pylon. She sported some weapons for self-defence, as demonstrated during the climactic battle around the Genesis planet, where Khan came off worst thanks to a clever ruse on the part of the Federation crew that resulted in the destruction of the Reliant. The Kit Polar lights kicked off a new series of Star Trek kits in the homogenous 1:1000 scale around the same time as Star Trek: Discovery reached our screens. The Reliant is available in a couple of variants, one of which being the Khan edition, which also comes with some ‘damage’ decals for people wishing to depict the ship near the end of the film when the Enterprise has finished knocking it about. This set arrives in GreenStrawberry’s usual clear foil packaging with black card that has green and red branding, whilst inside are two frets of Photo-Etch (PE), a thick chunk of card for protection, and the folded-up instruction sheets that are also doing some protective duties. Construction starts with the upper saucer, which has the bridge windows removed to receive the new parts later. The bridge insert is first folded up into an L-shaped assembly with another part mated to a line on the interior wall and painted. Once complete, it is glued into the upper saucer from the inside, as shown in a later diagram. On the underside of the saucer there are a number of let-in sections toward the front, which are cut out from the kit along the panel lines, and have the inserts made from four parts that are folded up into a wedge-shaped assembly, then slipped into the apertures from the outside. A PE outer skin is added all around the bridge deck, curved around so that the window frames match the slot in the front where the bridge will be seen. If you’re minded, you could add some acetate sheet behind to give the impression of glazing. An additional pair of inserts are fitted into the areas above and below the bridge windows, and a number of circular PE parts are dotted around the underside of the saucer, and on the top side above the bridge, plus a few more to the edges of the saucer topside. The whole saucer edge is wrapped in PE skins that add extra striping detail and window cut-outs to the area, with a raised section at the aft-most ends, with two ladder-sections on the corners of the deformed sides. Underneath the saucer is a tapering front “wall” toward the rear of the area, and these too are fitted with skins added to the front, having windows and decorative striping etched-in, a motif that is carried on in sections around the rear of the shaped parts of the saucer under the pylon. Additional details are added to the sides of the pulse phaser cannons that are in the pylon sides after removing the vertical details, and these too get one each of those circular PE shapes, which could be formation lights. Possibly. Under the cannons a pair of triangular skins are applied to the front of the support pylons, then at the rear under the support, some moulded-in details are removed and replaced by new more detailed parts around the two shuttle bays, which themselves are surfaced and lined with new PE skins, including a texture on the door, and details around the entryways. In addition, a pair of overhead light fixtures hide the join between the ends of the strip. The auxiliary Navigation Deflector unit at the centre of the lower saucer have PE skins applied to the four ends, and in the centre of the support pylon the weapons pod is detailed with exhaust louvers, exterior panels and yet more of those round lights. The panels near the rear have a choice of two parts, so check your references, and while you have them out, check to see whether the circular Photon Control disc at the rear of the saucer has a set of fingers radiating out from a central circle, as this a included as an optional extra. If you are planning on modelling your Reliant during the Dominion War, there are two more formation lights (we’ll call them that), another set of fingers for the Lower Fusion Core dome, and striped inserts for each side of the warp nacelles, so take your pick! Conclusion Another gorgeous set from GS, and yet again it has cost me to pick up the kit to go with the set. The detail is excellent, and the parts are well-finessed to fit, while bringing a ton of extra detail to your model. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Millennium Falcon, Snowspeeder & T-70 X-Wing Junior Update Sets (2004, 2005 & 2006) 1:144, 1:48 & 1:72 GreenStrawberry Star Wars. Enough said? We all know the Bandai kits from this ground-breaking series of movies (we’re talking generally here – ignore any you don’t like). Not so very long ago, GreenStrawberry hit upon a cool idea that would appeal to a broader group of modellers, a simple pared-down set of Photo-Etch (PE) parts and accessories that can be used to improve on the detail of the base kits, which are pretty impressive to begin with, let’s be honest. You can always improve on injection moulded plastic with a little PE and some cleverness though, and these sets are just that. They’re smaller than their fully-featured siblings, and are useful as an introduction to PE wrangling, or in case you just want to put a little extra into your model without pushing the boat too far out. Each set arrives in a resealable clear foil bag with a black card that has the usual green/red branding, and a thick piece of card within to protect the goodies inside. The sets usually comprise one fret of PE, plus either printed acetate, stickers or paper, depending on what is appropriate to the set. The final part is the instruction sheet, which has step-by-step isometric instructions to guide you through the process, and is folded up to add even more protection to the package. 1:144 Millennium Falcon Junior Set (2004-1/144) Despite the small scale, the set is quite large, due to the inclusion of the mesh for the six vents on the rear deck, all of which are shown in a scrap diagram to ensure correct alignment of the mesh with the direction of motion. There is also a rear bulkhead for the cockpit, which is layered with a door and its padded surround from either side, and a set of stickers that when applied will allow light to filter through them and give the impression of the bright flashing bulkhead we know and love. There are similar panels for the side consoles, although these do not have corresponding holes to match the stickers. A simple control yoke is included to place in front of Han/Rey and Chewie. Nien Numb and Lando Calrissian have just spat their collective dummies. The crew ramp is backed up by a two-part assembly that prevents the see-through effect if anyone is looking up there with an endoscope, and a T-shaped part is also fixed to the exterior just next to the opening. The final parts for the interior are the gun controls for the twin cannons that Han & Luke had so much fun with in the original Star Wars movie. Externally, the seven sets of landing pads are upgraded with fine filigree ‘cuffs’ that are each single parts with four sections with pre-thinned joins that allow them to be folded and lightly curved to form the vertical parts of the cuffs. They slip over each strut before installation of the legs into the hull, and although there are two types of legs, there is only one type of cuff. 1:48 Snowspeeder (2005-1/48) The fret for this ship is slightly smaller than the Falcon set, and includes a sheet of clear acetate that is printed with various shapes for the instrument panels, allowing light to show through if you’re planning on lighting your model, and who doesn’t? A little removal of moulded-in detail is needed first, taking the dials off the instrument panel, the two pegs on the seat that retain the kit pilot figure, and the instrumentation on the rear gunner’s console in the centre of their control yoke. The front and rear seats are re-skinned with PE replacement roll padding, and four small parts are applied to the back-to-back bulkhead sides between the crew members. The main panel is fitted with a flat T-shaped part on the rear, and a laminated panel on the front that is made up from three acetate pieces and three PE parts over the top, ending with four layers on the outer areas. This is then glued in place on the recently blanked panel. The rear gunner’s station has a similar, smaller panel made up from two layers, then it also has a pair of grips installed underneath, folded and then laminated to give the handles some thickness. Externally, you have a choice of two styles of grille at the front under the windscreen, connecting hoses and coiled cables to the harpoon gun at the rear, as well as a twin-layer part glued into position vertically beneath the cylindrical barrel. The final part is another grill for the back of the intake that runs down the centre of the underside. 1:72 T-70 X-Wing (2006-1/72) This set includes a sheet of printed clear acetate as well as a fret of PE, and starts with a small panel fixed to the control column, augmented with a new triple faceted instrument panel that has a clear central section. The side consoles are also covered with new panels, and five additional parts are dotted around the rest of the interior. Externally, there are two crew ladders, one for the pilot that descends from a slot in the lower fuselage the plastic for which must be removed from the kit before proceeding, as per the accompanying diagram. The ladder is folded in two to give it additional thickness, and the treads are folded horizontally to better represent the steps, with a small folded part at the top representing the opened ladder door in the fuselage. The other ladder is a larger accessway for the ground crew onto the aft deck that houses the BB-8 unit or other Astromech, as appropriate. The ladder’s structure is etched as a single T-shaped part that is first folded perpendicular to the treads, then each tread is folded horizontally, and covered by cross-hatched plates, with another double lamination on the flat top where the mechanic would crouch attending to the droid. A guide rail is affixed to the left side of the ladder, then it can be placed behind the cockpit and a crewman sourced if you feel the need. GS have sets of 1:72 Star Wars figures too, so while you’re there… The last four parts are replacements for the nozzle detail within the exhausts, which are fixed in place after removal of the simplified moulded-in detail. They fit neatly against the rear of the nozzle parts before adding them to the rear of the engines. Conclusion Not everyone wants the full PE sets to adorn their model, and these sets take the most important and noticeable areas of your model and upgrade it in a relatively simple but effective manner, without too much taxing work with the PE bender. A decent pair of flat-bladed pliers would be sufficient if you’re not already tooled up for PE. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Intrepid Class Sensor Array (15321-1/1000 & 15221-1/670 for Polar Lights & Revell) 1:1000 & 1:670 GreenStrawberry Star Trek Voyager was one of the early spin-offs from The Next Generation, and was rather successful, extending to seven series that spanned two millennia (1995-2001 in case you wondered). After departure from Deep Space 9 on their first mission, then being whipped far away from their home sector to the Delta Quadrant by the ‘Caretaker’ that following its death would see them travelling for a lifetime to reach home, they set off on the way back, meeting many friends and foes along the way, getting the occasional leap-frog to get them closer, and problems to set them back along the way. The Intrepid class was fortuitously designed for long missions, and was compact in size at roughly half the length of the then-current Enterprise with a relatively small crew of just over 140 souls under normal circumstances. It was technologically advanced, having variable geometry warp nacelles, an emergency medical hologram system, and many other fancy things to fit the storyline. The Kits The larger Revell kit is 1:670 or 1:677 if you believe Scalemates, and it has been around a long time now, since the mid 90s when the show first aired. It is a product of its time, so will welcome any upgrades that can be thrown at it, and you can see some of the other GS sets here, which covers pretty much the rest of the spaceframe. The Polar Lights kit is smaller at 1:1000 and was released in 2021 as part of a range of new range of Star Trek ships that also included the then-new Discovery with its weird mushroom powered propulsion system, that seems silly when you say it out loud. The main difference between the two sets relates to their size. There are the same number of parts in each set, and they both arrive in the same compact-sized black box with their usual green and red themed printing. Inside each box is a Ziploc bag of five grey resin casting blocks that contain twelve parts each set, plus a folded instruction sheet that acts as a damper to protect the contents during shipping and handling. The instructions are functionally identical, although they are laid out slightly differently between the two scales. The narrow, curved sensor arrays are set into the edges of the saucer section, and these require the possible deepening of removal of the blank backing plates behind the kit inserts and replacing them with the corresponding resin parts, along with two more on each side of the main hull, an inverted coffin-shaped array on the sloped front of the saucer, and a final trapezoid array at the back of the saucer where it blends into the hull. Each part is correctly shaped and contoured to fit the model, and improves on the kit details to make it a worthwhile exercise. 15221-1/670 for Revell 15321-1/1000 for Polar Lights Conclusion If you have either or both of the two kits and want to bump up the detail, these sets are just the ticket. The detail is to the usual high standard we’ve come to expect from GreenStrawberry, and that’s why they’re my favourite Sci-Fi upgrade company. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Star Trek Danube Class 'Runabout' Shuttle Update Sets (for AMT) 1:72 GreenStrawberry Star Trek has been around for longer than I have, and I’m getting on a bit now. After the original show and the movies, during the late 80s and early 90s we were treated to newer TV shows that gave us more exciting visuals thanks to the advances in special effects, the early days of CGI, and everything that came with it. First appearing in Deep Space 9, the shuttle has since shown up in other Star Trek shows, although it appears predominantly in DS9 where it became the regular Runabout for their various adventures, which was its more informal description. In a cross-over with Star Trek – The Next Generation, the Enterprise delivered three Runabouts to the station, all of which were named after rivers of Earth. The Runabout is modular in design, with a twin boom warp sled over the top of the main hull, a tapered command section to the front, with an interchangeable pod in the centre section that can perform various functions as the mission demands it. It’s a warp-capable ship, although it’s not as fast as a Galaxy Class ship like the Enterprise, with a maximum warp of 5, and a cruising speed of a stately warp 2. The two front seats contain duplicate controls for pilots, so that one can take over from the other seamlessly if the need arises, plus a replicator and a transporter in the centre section under most circumstances. It’s a large shuttle, capable of carrying 40 passengers in addition to the two crew, but with different pods it could be configured as a medical shuttle or for carrying a smaller number of passengers in relative comfort, but after the initial run-ins with the Dominion, an additional tactical station was added behind the forward cockpit, with an extra crew member able take some of the workload from the pilots. Exterior Set (15622-1/72) This large and comprehensive set is intended for the AMT 1:72 kit of the Runabout, which was initially released in 1993, but was re-released in 2018. It’s fairly rare on eBay these days, so there are doubtless a lot out there, probably yet to be built, mine being amongst them. The kit is typical of its day, having reasonable detail and some simplification that could be improved on by some additional effort, which GreenStrawberry are intent on helping you with. The set arrives in a small black box with the usual green/red branding, and on opening it up you find three bags of resin parts, one in grey, one in translucent blue, one in translucent red and orange resin, plus another bag containing the instruction sheet and a small sheet of thick-gauge Photo-Etch (PE). Detail is excellent throughout, and the translucent parts are beautifully cast, with the orange-coloured corrugated parts cast so sharply that you could probably file your fingernails with it! Each part is cast on a block, the small parts cast with a number of other parts on the same block, while the larger parts are flying solo. There are raised numbers and codes on most of the parts to aid with identification, which will certainly come in useful. Construction begins with the twin engine nacelles, which have all the clear parts replaced by translucent resin that improves the look of these areas immensely over the original clear parts that are painted with transparent paint, especially if you intend to light your model, a task that this set is extremely suited to. The blue side sections and the bulbous red front are drop-in replacements, whilst on the top a small rectangular shape with rounded corners is removed and replaced by new grey resin parts for additional detail. On the hull, the phaser banks are replaced by more detailed resin parts, and the radiators at the rear are also replaced with resin units, then a host of PE panels are dotted around the hull, with a double layer replacing one strip high over the windscreen. The twin booms that support the engine nacelles have the front sections removed and are replaced by a resin part that has an orange translucent resin backing inserted behind. The rear surface is also replaced by grey resin, and has a small translucent red resin section pushed through the hole near the bottom, necessitating a small block removing from the rear of the kit surface. The tops of the booms are detailed with two new resin sections after removing the kit details, and at the rear three more resin parts and two folded PE parts finish off the transformation. Deep Space 9 Cockpit Set (14821-1/72) This set contains parts for the cockpit as it appears in Deep Space 9, where it is primarily seen, so this should/could be the most popular, but who knows? It arrives in a larger box than the exterior set, and contains a huge quantity of resin parts, twenty-seven of which are grey resin, with five more in a translucent/clear resin. The package is rounded-out by a large PE sheet, a clear film sheet, a sheet of printed paper, a sheet of decals, a sheet of masks, and a sheet of printed stickers. Lots of sheets that add up to quite a thick multimedia bundle. We find out right away why there are clear resin parts, as the largest piece forms the base for the main pilot consoles, which includes the sides, fronts, centre and corner consoles, all of which have gigantic read-outs on the “real” thing. These are simulated by either decals or stickers that are applied to the top surfaces of the consoles then varnished over with gloss clear to protect them from the masking material that is applied over it in order to paint the rest of the consoles, leaving the screens unpainted. This leaves the modeller the possibility of installing lighting beneath/behind the console that will diffuse and glow through the decals or stickers. If you intend to light it, a first coat of black or metallic paint should prevent light from leaking through the lighter coloured paint that is applied over the top. The instructions for this set and the others for this kit take a new form, which shows the assembled area in colour 3D, pointing out the part numbers and colour numbers to assist you with construction. The cockpit floor is a large resin part onto which the clear console section fits, plus a stand-alone lectern-style console is decaled and fitted to a marked area in the centre of the floor. The two cockpit sides are then painted and slotted into place on top of the floor after cleaning out the flash on the oval side windows, then putting a transverse beam across the rear, and a curving fore-aft beam between the two pilot stations. There are also decals for the patterns on the floor, which is first painted blue according to the instructions, suggesting AMMO paints as the brand to use. The aft bulkhead is next to be made, beginning with the large screens that fit onto the bulkhead either side of the door, suspended over a pair of holes so they too can be lit. The open doors are prepared with PE and decal, and two side hatches are made up in the same manner, then the large resin bulkhead part is painted up and has the new assemblies added so that it can be mated to the front of the cockpit, creating the front “tub” that receives the mixed PE and resin roof section on top, to be topped off with a printed paper depicting mesh at the last moment. A pair of clear blocks are provided to glue into the aft bulkhead, filling up corresponding holes in the resin part. The aft section of the cockpit is primarily PE that is folded up to create the floor and aft bulkhead, with three resin structural members added so that the front sections can be applied after some minimal bending to shape. The sides of the floor are also built up into raised areas, and the final diagram in the step shows the area painted up and decaled. In the centre of the aft compartment the two-person transporter (Beam me up Scotty!) is located, and this is made from a single resin compartment that has clear parts slotted into the sides to receive either decals or stickers that “greeblie” it up. The front aperture is opened up to allow the crew access, while the rear opening is opened up to accept another detail panel that can also be lit up. The floor area is layered up from a PE base, a clear acetate section and either a decal or sticker on top, before it is fixed into the bottom of the transporter cabinet. Another pair of displays are fixed into the front bulkhead, then the ceiling is created by adding acetate and stickers/decals to the area where the roof of the cabinet should be, with it glued into the top of the compartment after adding one last structural beam that joins the cabinet to the forward bulkhead. Note the vertical clear parts for the transporter booth are doubled up in this kit, as both casting blocks have one strip with a solitary bubble within, so rather than foisting inferior parts on you, they have supplied two sets, thereby saving waste, which is a responsible method. The two parts of the compartment are now joined, and the printed paper mesh ceiling inserts are fixed to the top of the assembly, with additional paper layers fixed to the backs of the hatches, which should diffuse any light over the etched lines in the doors. The remaining clear acetate parts are supplied to create the windows at the front and sides of the hull, with masks supplied for the aftmost oval portholes. In order to complete installation a small section of the hull floor is removed to make room for the new cockpit, which is slid up into the upper hull, and closed in by the lower. As it’s likely that you’ll light this model - It would be churlish not to really – the process will be a little more complex due to the addition of wiring, LED sources and a power source to keep the lights on, but it should result in an impressive model. Star Trek The Next Gen. Cockpit Set (14321-1/72) Surprisingly, the TNG variant is substantially different from the DS9 set above, not just from having only the forward cabin with the transporter booth right behind the crew seats, and a different console layout. That makes for a lower parts count and some differences, and should make for a simplified build, although the detail is still excellent, and on a par with the DS9 cockpit, just lacking the aft compartment. The set arrives in the same sized box, and inside are fourteen grey resin parts, five in translucent/clear resin, a smaller sheet of PE, decal sheet, mask sheet, acetate sheet, sticker sheet and printed ceiling mesh sheet, all differing from the DS9 set. The first part to be made up is the clear instrument panel, which is decked out with screen decals or stickers, given a coat of varnish, then masked up ready for painting. The same process is carried out for the clear side panels for the transporter booth, along with the triple-layer top and bottom sections of the booth, although only the floor is documented at this stage. The booth is inserted into a hole in the cockpit floor from below, and the cockpit floor is painted grey, then decaled with a few paler grey marking decals. The cockpit sides are added to the floor, and a central beam joins the transport booth to the front of the instrument panel, and this too has its own detailing decals. The seats are probably best inserted into the cockpit before the sides are added, as it gives you more finger-space for locating them. The aft section of the cockpit is very similar to the DS9 version, but its door is closed, as there’s nothing behind it. There are a pair of screens on the aft bulkhead, plus decals for the operating panels for the three doors, two of which are PE with decals on the sides that correspond with the exterior access doors on the kit. The ceiling is very different from the DS9 set, but is completed in the same manner, with a PE section folded up at the front, some resin detail parts, the top of the transport booth and a paper mesh above it. The clear acetate is for the windscreen and the forward side windows only, again because of the lack of aft section that wasn’t yet defined at this stage of the show. Habitat Module Set (14321-1/72) This set fills in the rear compartment of the model with living space for a small crew, and includes the windows at the rear that helps locate it in the mind’s eye. It arrives in the same sized box as the two cockpit sets, and has thirteen grey resin parts and one clear/translucent, plus decals, film, PE, printed paper, stickers and masks (I’m sick of typing ‘sheet’). The first assemblies are the five ‘office’ chairs that seem unchanged over the last 400 years or so. The main seat and pedestal are moulded as a single resin part, with two PE arms and a PE star-base (not to be confused with Star Base) and castors for each one. Four of these are placed around a resin table in the rear of the floor panel, which also has a pair of sofas moulded into the back wall upstand. There are two wall/ceiling sections to turn the floor into a compartment, and these are supplied in forward and aft parts. The forward part is made up first, and this has four bunks moulded into the side walls, which have PE fronts with curtains etched in, and also have sloped overhead panels from PE with a paper mesh insert to allow light to diffuse onto each bed space. Two overhead lighting panels are laminated from PE and paper sections, and are inserted into two troughs in the ceiling. The doorway through to the centre compartment is PE and has a decal to detail it before it is inserted into the space in the front wall. The aft ceiling is mainly storage lockers similar to those over the bunks, and has a space in the exterior side of the rear bulkhead that allows you to insert a sheet of clear acetate, then a resin frame insert, and finally pre-cut masks to protect the acetate during external painting. Two more PE/paper overhead lighting strips are placed into troughs in the roof, and a number of smaller light decals are applied to the undersides of the lower lockers. The solitary clear resin part is used to create the control console on the starboard side of the rear section, and this is decaled or stickered before being varnished, masked and then painted, allowing any light from behind to glow through the decals or stickers. It is attached to a PE backing plate that has an acetate sheet inserted into the front along with a decal or sticker, then this is inserted into a socket on the wall, allowing light to diffuse if a source is provided by the modeller. A large skeleton bulkhead fits between the front and back sections, and this has darker grey recesses painted on it, then the whole assembly is brought together to create the room, which is placed inside the upper hull after cutting out the window section in the rear, and gluing the two other acetate sheets to the exterior of the compartment, sliding between the hull and giving the impression of glazing. Conclusion These four sets are incredible in terms of the work that has gone into making them, and the transformation that they will perform on what is a fairly simple and unassuming model. It’s a shame the base kit is currently hard to find, as it could well entice more modeller to buy the kit simply to accommodate these sets, but the many Star Trek fans that already have them in their stash should prick up their ears and take note. They’re stunning! Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Greeble Plating 1.0 (14921-1.0) No Scale GreenStrawberry Sci-Fi modellers often have the urge to build things that don’t exist yet, both in terms of being in the future or even another reality, or because there’s just not sufficient perceived demand to warrant a model company making a kit of it. That’s where our scratch-building skills come in handy, making things from all sorts of goodies found wherever and whenever our modeller eyes alight on something useful. It’s a weird skill, but sometimes we just don’t have the time or haven’t yet found anything suitable. Sci-Fi involves detail that is loosely referred to a “greeblies” by those that know, making areas busy and more visually appealing to the viewer, whilst making your model look more… technical and futuristic. GreenStrawberry have been my favourite Sci-fi aftermarket company for a long while now, and they’re always thinking of ways to ease our way through the process of creating these fabrications of someone’s fevered imagination. They’re looking to make a little profit of course, but that’s only fair for the effort they put into doing these things! The set arrives in a resealable foil bag and their usual dark grey card with green and red branding on the header, a further thick piece of card helps protect the contents, instruction sheet, and the sheet of Greeblies within. There are four styles of Greeble-sheets available, and this is just one of them. If you’re interested in seeing the others, click the link below and you’ll be taken to the store page where there are photos of all the types. This sheet of greeblie material is covered in all manner of shapes and technological-looking bits & bobs that can be used in a diorama or a model to add almost instant detail. Cast in grey resin on a sheet 11.4cm x 6.9cm with a base thickness of 1.5mm that varies depending on what’s detail is present, maxing out at just under 8mm thick. The back of the sheet isn’t perfectly flat as that’s the open pour side, with the usual complement of bubbles and small depressions that are associated with any resin casting. A rub-down on a flat piece of sandpaper would be a good idea, especially if you think you need the sheet a little thinner. The instructions are very simple, but worth a read. The common-sense part advises that you can cut the sheet into a number of sections to suit your applications, but even though I’ve been using resin for years, the second instruction didn’t occur to me. If you heat the resin up in a shallow bowl or saucer of hot water, the thermo-formable resin will become soft and you’ll be able to bend the sheet around contours to make it fit your needs more closely. The water should be 70-90oc, and you should immerse it for 10-15 seconds or until it begins to feel soft. Also, don’t burn yourself as burns are painful. Relatively obvious, but still worth mentioning. Conclusion A greeblie/greeble sheet is manna from heaven for those of us with a Sci-Fi leaning, especially if you’re prone to some scratch-building and are short on time. You’ll be glad you had it on hand when the need arises. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Star Wars T-65 X-Wing, RZ1 A-Wing & BTL A-4 Y-Wing Junior Sets (for Bandai/Revell) 1:72 GreenStrawberry Our friends at GreenStrawberry have been releasing a flood of detail sets for all things Sci-fi for a number of years now, and in the Star Wars fold the Bandai kits are at the pinnacle of plastic kit quality, so there have been numerous sets for those kits, taking the great styrene kits and making them better. Not everyone is experienced with Photo-Etch (PE) though, so some folks might be put off by the complexity of the sets and the amount of work involved. It occurred to them to create some more straightforward sets for the beginner, intermediate or modeller in a hurry that could be used as an introduction to the genre of PE folding without over-facing them with tons of parts or slowing them down to a crawl. Their Junior Sets are their response, and we have three such sets for some of the popular Star Wars Rebel ships, namely the X-Wing, Y-Wing and A-Wing from the original and best trilogy. Each set arrives in a small clear film bag, with a card insert, the PE, the folded instructions, and a thick piece of card to keep everything safe and sound during transit from them to you. T-65 X-Wing (2001-1/72) This set is etched from bare brass, and contains a nicely detailed boarding ladder with separate treads and standing area at the top; a new instrument panel that requires the kit panel to be removed or sanded flat, but using one kit decal and four new decals supplied with the set to complete the detail, as well as small pieces of printed white PVC foil behind the instruments that will glow if you’re lighting your model. At the rear of the engines, the exhaust detail is cut from the nozzles and replaced by PE parts that are oriented with a small hole pointing toward to the aerofoil. If you’re taking the opportunity to light the model, the interior of the engine shell should also be reamed out to make way for an LED. At the nose there’s a small electronics bay that receives an insert skin, plus a two-layer flip-down bay door. Finally, the three gear bay doors receive opener rams near the forward end of the bays, which are folded up to give added depth. RZ1 A-Wing (2002-1/72) This set is nickel-plated PE, and includes a slip of white PVC foil to back up the instruments in the cockpit. This is the main focus of the set, with the kit instruments filed away and replaced by a lamination of PE and printed PVC. The PVC is best glued with CA or PVA, as normal modelling glue won’t adhere. A pair of control handles fit on each side of a central boss to give the pilot something to hang onto, and if you are planning on leaving the pilot out, shave away the tab in the bottom of the seat, and fit the four-point seatbelts that are supplied in the set. As well as delicate new inserts for the engine rears, there are two detail inserts added around the base of the weapons pylons at the widest point of the ship – I hesitate to use the word “wingtip” for obvious reasons. BTL A-4 Y-Wing (2003-1/72) This set is on nickel-plated PE, and includes both printed clear acetate and printed PVC foil for use in the cockpit. Firstly, the engine exhausts are lined with ribbed PE that should be rolled into a tube to be glued inside the outlet and is then joined by a narrow ring that covers the thickness of the cowling parts. Later on the exhausts are detailed by removing the kit detail and replacing it with a crisp PE part in each nacelle, which will be useful if you’re going down the lighting route. The cockpit has its original instrument panel removed and replaced by a new lamination of two pieces of PE and printed PVC foil, which is repeated for the side consoles, with the clear acetate inserted into the window aperture in the rear of the fixed part of the canopy. The engine nacelles receive further detailing that involves folding up a set of skins for the inside of the gear bays, with a small hole left for the stut’s socket in the centre. The final parts make up a skin for the interior of the nose gear bay door, and includes a hinge mechanism for better detail. Conclusion More great sets from my favourite Sci-Fi detail & accessory producer. If you can’t afford a full set, don’t want a full set, don’t trust yourself to do a full set justice, or don’t want to be slowed down by the extra work, these will do the job nicely. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper Mk.I TOS (FP19 for Moebius) 1:32 GreenStrawberry Battlestar Galactica came to our TV screens in 1978, courtesy of Aaron Spelling’s media factory, and was a big hit at the time, even though it lasted a scant two seasons before it was cancelled due to the high costs of each episode, which were coming in at over a million dollars a week. CBS considered picking it up, but it wasn’t until the reboot happened in 2004 that it hit our screens again, and only then if you subscribed to Pay TV at the time. It ran for five seasons of variable quality, and it still doesn’t seem like it was 17 years ago. We really are getting old! The Vipers were a common theme between both renditions, and were similar in form and function, acting as fleet fighters and general run-abouts, having various versions from the original “TOS” (The Original Series) Viper Mk.I, through the Mk.II that was first seen in the opening episodes of the reboot, and later the sweeping lines of the Mk.VII. The original Viper wasn’t referred to as the Mk.I in TOS, but as the Colonial Viper it ferried the originally male Starbuck, Apollo, Boomer and the gang around the late 70s galaxy far far away (wait, what?), using a design imagined by the legendary Ralph McQuarrie of Star Wars fame, with an unused alternate design showing up as the Thunder Fighter in Spelling stablemate Buck Rogers. The Kit This is number 19 in the GreenStrawberry FruitPACK range that bring together a number of smaller sets into a “full meal deal” boxing that gets you everything with a little cost-saving into the bargain. This set arrives in one of their medium-sized black boxes with their usual green and red printing, and a photo of the finished set on a bare model along with some details of the sets in the box. It includes the following rather large group of sets: 13521-1/32 - Intake & nozzles 13721-1/32 - Side Panels VC09-1/32 - VacuCanopy 13621-1/32 - Cockpit 13821/32 - Wheel bay & exterior Unpacking the box is a satisfying experience involving nine Ziploc bags, a sheet of masking material and a printed clear acetate sheet, plus five sets of instructions to help you along. As usual, all the sets are available individually, so if you don’t want them all for whatever reason, you can get as many or as few as you need, want or can afford at the time. We’ll cover each set separately to avoid confusing myself, mostly. Intake & Nozzles (13521-1/32) This set includes eleven resin parts on six casting blocks, plus a large fret containing three delicate Photo-Etch (PE) parts. It upgrades the detail in the front and rear of the three engines, and requires surprisingly little adaptation of the kit parts. The first activity is removing the locating tabs inside each intake and adding a section of intake on a T-shaped platform in the rear. At the aft-end, the three fluted exhaust detail parts sleeve inside the kit trunking, increasing the detail substantially. Back at the front, the exposed central structure of the engine pack has the new intake fans inserted into the front, and once the intake lips are added, the PE parts have a bullet fairing fitted to the centre before they’re placed inside and located on their rear dowels, so don’t cut those off during prep, although there is a spare on the casting block. Side Panels (13721-1/32) The side panels in this set refer to the rounded-off rectangular greebly-filled depressions to each side of the cockpit, which must first be removed from the kit fuselage halves, then have their detail replaced by the pair of resin inserts. The PE sheet is made from thick gauge brass, and contains four parts that are laminated up to create a coaming area in front of the cockpit, and should be curved to match the contours of the fuselage before they are laminated together. Annealing the parts in a flame and allowing them to cool naturally will make that process much simpler. VacuCanopy (VC09-1/32) This is a multi-media set, and includes a vacformed canopy blank in thick crystal clear PETG plastic, plus a set of PE frames to give the canopy sharp definition, and finally a set of pre-cut vinyl masks for each of the six panes. It will be essential to choose the correct glue to put the canopy together without fogging up the glazing, so choose something like GS-Hypo watch crystal cement, or one of the PVA-based canopy cements that are commercially available. Care and preparation will be key here. Cockpit (13621-1/32) This set is mixed media too, with six resin parts on four pour blocks, plus two sheets of nickel-plated PE and a sheet of clear acetate with instruments and screens pre-printed on it. The instruction sheet begins with the tub, which is the largest resin part, and is covered in apertures through which the instruments will be seen. Firstly, remove the flash from over the holes, then laminate up each screen with its matching PE panel and glue them over their aperture. There are four on each side and one large panel at the front, with smaller button panels above some of the side panels, which also have holes behind them - you can just see one of them in the the photo below. The holes allow light to show from behind if you are lighting your model, which seems de rigeur with Sci-Fi builds these days. A nicely detailed control column fits into a D-shaped slot in the floor of the tub. The lower floor is built up on a cruciform sheet of PE, with foot pads, a detailed central tunnel and rudder pedals added before the sides are folded up, leaving a step at the rear that gives a large contact point for when it is glued to the underside of the tub, adding detail under the seat and in the footwell of the cockpit. It would be a shame to hide all that detail away, so a canopy rear frame is included in the set, allowing the modeller to pose it open, simply by gluing it to the rear of the canopy (from kit or the lightweight one above). The other large resin part includes the headrest for the pilot seat and the spine directly behind it, replacing the kit part completely. The new PE canopy rear frame is glued to a recess in the top of the spine, with one of the three resin rams holding it in position. Why three? Spares in case you want to experiment with different lengths or happen to break one. Wheel bay & exterior (13821/32) This set is made up of a large fret of PE, and requires some removal of kit details before adding the new parts. The main landing gear skids have a moulded-in rod removed from each side of the legs, adding a pair of brackets near the bottom, then linking them to the top with a dog-leg PE part on each side. The main bays have a number of small corner protrusions in the corners removed, with a new bay skin folded up from one main part that is augmented by two more slatted detail parts, then dropped into the bays, leaving the sockets for the gear legs visible in the centre. Each gear bay door including the nose skid get skins with integrated hinges added to improve on their blank inner surfaces. The nose gear bay also has a small panel dropped into the roof with opening rams laminated onto it to add more detail in that little bay. Moving to the intake at the tip of the nose, which presumably comes into play in the atmosphere when there’s some gases to take in, the rear blanking plate is removed from the tapering lip part, and has two layers of PE slats inserted to give it more interest, and the final parts are two replacement gun muzzle tips for the main armament at the sides of the cockpit. Conclusion With five sets in the box, this is an extremely comprehensive upgrade to a somewhat bland kit that really does take it to the next level. It’s not cheap, but if you have limited areas of interest or budget to upgrade the basic kit, check out the individual sets before you move on. Truly excellent detail that’s easy to work with. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Battlestar Galactica Fighter Pilots (for Moebius/Revell) 1:32 GreenStrawberry Battlestar Galactica came to our TV screens in 1978, courtesy of Aaron Spelling’s media factory, and was a big hit at the time, even though it lasted a scant two seasons before it was cancelled due to the high costs of each episode, which were coming in at over a million dollars a week. CBS considered picking it up, but it wasn’t until the reboot happened in 2004 that it hit our screens again, and only then if you subscribed to Pay TV at the time. It ran for five seasons of variable quality, and it still doesn’t seem like it was 17 years ago. We really are getting old! The Vipers were a common theme between both renditions, and were similar in form and function, acting as fleet fighters, using a lot of Fleet Air Arm terminology in the dialogue, and having various versions from the original “TOS” Viper, through the Mk.II that was first seen in the opening episodes of the reboot, and the sweeping lines of the Mk.VII. These resin figures are designed with the kits in mind, and each figure arrives in a small card box, with the resin parts ensconced in a Ziploc bag, protected by the folded instructions. The seated pilots are patterned to specific kit marks, but could probably be adapted with a bit of judicious sanding etc. Colonial Pilot Fighter Ace (132017-1/32) This figure is a tacit homage to Lieutenant Kara Thrace, who had the nom de guerre or call-sign ‘Starbuck’. It’s a good likeness given the limitations of size, and consists of six resin parts - the body, two separate arms, a stowed jacket that fits around her waist, pistol at her waist and an equipment box for her to rest one foot on. There is a little flash on her chin and across her back, which should be easy to eliminate with a little care, and once removed from the casting blocks should go together quickly. She scales out at around 5’9” which is three inches taller than her real-world size, but we’ll put that down to the soles on her flight boots being thick, or the taller stature of her fictitious character. Colonial Pilot – Viper Mk.II (132018-1/32) This figure is of a seated male pilot sat in his Viper, waiting for the launch order or pondering life, the universe and everything after a difficult mission. It consists of four resin parts, one of which is a clear visor for the helmet resting on his lap. The pilot is bare-headed, and has a pair of separate arms that are moulded as one piece and fit over the shoulders once the helmet is in place, resting on the top of the helmet with hands folded. The helmet is hollow, and the base can be cut out to depict it more realistically before painting and adding of the visor. Colonial Pilot – Viper Mk.VII (132019-1/32) This male figure has his helmet on and is moderately prepared to launch, although his hands are firmly planted on his lap. There are three resin parts, the body, the separate helmet, and the clear visor, which can be applied after painting the helmet and face. There is a little flash between the pilot’s knees, and the shape of the seat is clearly visible in his back. Conclusion A figure brings a human scale to any model, and these are well-sculpted and simple to build, with little in the way of preparation other than cutting off a few small casting blocks. A quick wash in warm soapy water will help the paint adhere too. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

USS Voyager NCC-74656 FruitPACK (FP18 for Revell) 1:670 GreenStrawberry The USS Voyager, under the command of Captain Catherine Janeway was “relocated” to the far away Delta Quadrant by a benevolent but misguided alien whilst in the middle of a firefight with a Maquee ship, wanting their help in looking after a race called the Ocampa since damaging their planet irreparably in error. It all gets more complicated, the Caretaker eventually dies and the crew are forced into a difficult decision to destroy the station to protect the Ocampa, stranding the Federation ship in the Delta quadrant, so far away from Federation space that it could take the rest of their lives to get home. Cue a long journey home that spanned seven series and ran from 1995-2001 with 168 episodes, of which I’ve seen quite a few but by no mean all. The USS Voyager is an Intrepid Class ship, built in the Martian shipyards in 2371, carrying around 150 crew, some of whom were originally Maquis, filling jobs vacated by crew killed in the initial encounter with the Caretaker and the other protagonists of that episode. Kate Mulgrew played the Captain, and was the first female lead character of any Star Trek show, with a number of alien races also being on the roster, some more annoying than others. Looking at you, Neelix. The Set This is another of GreenStrawberry’s burgeoning range of FruitPACK sets that bring together a number of smaller sets into a “full meal deal” boxing that gets you everything with a little cost-saving into the bargain. This set arrives in one of their medium-sized black boxes with their usual green and red printing, and a photo of the finished set on a bare model along with some details of the sets in the box. It includes the following sets: 13021-1/670 Exterior Set 13121-1/670 Shuttle Bay 13221-1/670 Landing Gear The kit is patterned for the Revell kit that has been re-released a number of times over the years, and we have reviewed one of those boxings here on the forum. It’s a nice kit that builds up into a reasonably sized model, but it could do with a little more detail if we’re honest, in order to bring it up to the more exacting standards of the modern modeller (that’s you BTW). Each set is available separately in case you don’t want to purchase all of them, so make a note of those numbers above if you’re so minded. In the meantime, we’ll deal with each set separately, as they are in their own clear film and Ziploc bags within the box with their own instruction booklets that are printed in colour in the usual GS style. Exterior Set (13021-1/670) This set consists of three sheets of Photo-Etch (PE), two of which are 0.2mm thick and nickel-plated, while the third is bare brass but much thicker than the other two at 0.5mm. There is also a sheet of thin printed plastic (possibly PVC film) with lots of tiny windows and the contents therein to decorate the windows/portholes of the ship. The instructions are 8 sides of A5(ish), thanks mostly to the volume (area?) of PE that you have in the package. Work begins on the aft of the hull, removing a few raised areas to be replaced by laminated grilles top and bottom, plus a wrap-around section of windows facing aft, for which you’ll need to laminate the printed window pictures with the PE. More raised/engraved areas are removed under the saucer, and on both aft “corners” the raised details are removed to accommodate the new PE detail parts later. These are made up with two layers that are bent to fit the shape and glued in place, as are five more sets of windows with printed backing within recesses in the lower saucer. The details removed earlier are replaced with new parts, the rectangular sections being made from two layers each, while the two curved ribbed lengths are glued to the lower saucer along with some frames above the deflector dish, which has extra detailed parts inserted into its three sections once the original detail has been removed. Some additional skin panels are laminated up either side of the pivots at the front of the variable geometry nacelles, and a pair of faceted mesh panels are added to the intakes on the pylons. The same “exfoliation” is carried out on a large number of raised panels on the upper saucer, and a hole is made in the rear of the bridge superstructure, then the windows are filled in with PE and printed plastic picture parts in the same manner as the underside. More printed windows are applied to the hull sides, and another raft of them are placed behind the outer rim layer of the upper saucer. More of the two-layer detail inserts are added to the front “corners” of the saucer lip, then a major detail upgrade is performed on the bridge. The centre section has various layers added to create the correct depth at the centre, the windows and their frames are added on either side of the main bridge hump, and the two-layer grilles are laid in place further outboard, again in a similar manner to the underside. A large detail skin is prepared with additional layers and inserts, then glued to the roof of the bridge, with more parts added to the sides and to the front section of the roof, with yet more side detail panels, an insert that fills the hole in the rear of the bridge, and another pair of detail panels to complete the revamp. Toward the front of the saucer is an auxiliary deflector array set into a large scalloped part of the surface. The array is cut down at the rear and detailed with PE parts, then the raised panels in the depression are skinned with PE, and the two large grille panels are given the (by now) usual treatment with two layers of PE. A trio of three-layer airlock panels are laminated and placed in the front and both sides of the saucer edge, followed by more raised panels being removed from the underside of the hull, to be replaced by yet more detailed skin panels, some of which are two layers. On the back of the “neck” that joins the saucer to the blended hull after a fashion, there is a sensor palette, which is upgraded with a small insert placed in a recess, and a pair of brand-new photon torpedo launchers replacing the soft styrene versions that are moulded into the hull. There are also two raised panels on each side of the neck that are shown being added rather vaguely, which is because they’re actually missed off from the kit. You can see their location on the example photos of a finished example, or on any of the many plans of the ship that can be found online, which is exactly what I did. The final stage has you building up the two slatted impulse engine exhausts on the back of the nacelle pylons. They are folded up into a three-sided shell with grooves for the strakes that is inserted within the hollowed-out styrene originals once finished, which are comparatively chunky. At the back of the hull is a skin for the shuttle bay surround and a door part that has horizontal lines etched in it. Shuttle Bay (13121-1/670) This set includes the two-part bay within the rear of the Voyager, which has a larger inner section and long narrow entrance hall. The set is 100% PE, and includes two sheets of PE in 02.mm brass with 6 sides of A5 instructions. Construction begins with the entrance hall, which is L-shaped and folds up to form floor and walls from one part, with detail inserts lining the walls to add extra visual interest. Doorways and doors are included, and the larger rectangular second section is made up from another one-part floor and wall section, adding door skins and a two-layer sidewall, which gives the impression of a narrow walkway high up that wall. The two ceiling panels are made up from structural layer and detail layer, with added lighting frames running down the centres, and shallow flaps on the sides that give them a better grip on the lower sections, preventing them from flexing and breaking the glue bond. The rear doorway is made up from three layers, plus detail panels inside and out, and optional smaller access door to the right (from the outside) of the main door, which can be glued closed if you enjoy wasting your efforts, or more sensibly in the retracted or semi-retracted position to show off your hard work. The last part involves trimming excess plastic from the top of the rear duck-bill fairing, removing the centre section that is now redundant, plus adding a set of narrow slots in the rearmost area, which will be most use if you plan on lighting the bay floor. If you want to populate the bay, the kit includes a Type 7 shuttle for you to place in the sightline. Landing Gear (13221-1/670) This set is a combination of resin and PE parts, with twenty resin parts and a small fret of nickel-plated PE brass in the package. Construction begins with cutting out the four gear leg apertures on the underside of the hull that are depicted as raised mouldings on the hull halves. The holes are backed by large resin ports that should be well glued into place for maximum strength before closing up the hull halves. The four gear legs are paired and handed once built, but the struts are identical pairs. They have a resin core that is wrapped with a PE skin that is glued in place around it and slid into the four ports after putting the lower legs and feet in position. The lower legs are all identical, with a slot in the inner face that accepts a PE strake. The bottom of the lower legs has a joint onto which the landing pads are fitted, with a choice of two sets of feet. The first set have all the “toes” folded together as if they have just been extended and haven’t yet deployed, while the second set are unfolded into their cruciform landing configuration with a flat underside. The first set could be of use if you were planning an in-flight pose just prior to landing of after take-off, while the second set is great to take the kit’s stand out of the equation and ground your Voyager as it appeared occasionally in the show. Again, probably the first main ship that landed back on a planet willingly – we’ll ignore Cap’n Kirk’s regular crashing of the Enterprise in the films. Conclusion A highly comprehensive set of updates to this ageing kit that should do much of the work to bring it up to modern standards. Your talent will do the rest of the job. Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of