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USS Reliant NCC-1864 Later Version (14121-1/1000 for Polar Lights) 1:1000


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USS Reliant NCC-1864 Later Version (14121-1/1000 for Polar Lights)

1:1000 GreenStrawberry

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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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.

 

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Review sample courtesy of

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