GreenStrawberry Star Trek Danube Class 'Runabout' Shuttle Update Sets (for AMT) 1:72

[Mike]

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

[Basosz]

I've built the Runabout many, many years ago and still have it, so it might be good to redo it, but unholy mother these sets are expensive! I know they're worth it but that's a lot of dough