GreenStrawberry Qu’nos One Upgrade Sets for Polar Lights 1:350

[Mike]

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