I remember all of the hype almost like it was yesterday for the all-new 2009 Star Trek movie. A huge budget and a new crew playing all the familiar characters we've come to love over the years. Admittedly when I first saw the film I actually enjoyed it, but one of the things that I've never really liked was the redesign of the Enterprise. It never really had the same heart as other versions of the ship, and the writers seem to get their jollies out of destroying the Enterprise in the sequels.
The one ship however that I absolutely loved was the USS Kelvin. This ship has a unique design, and it feels right at home to other ships in the Star Trek universe. I kept hoping for one of these, and besides a cast resin model, there were no other options available. That is until Moebius Models announced that they were coming out with 4 new ships from the Kelvin Timeline. They included the USS Franklin, USS Enterprise, Spocks "Jellyfish Ship" and to my delight the USS Kelvin.
Moebius began production with the USS Franklin in 1:350 scale. And the announced that next was the Kelvin. I had expected to see it in 1:1400 scale, but I was delighted again when they said 1:1000! This was great as that is the size of ships that I try and collect. I was excited to have it match all the other ships in my collection.
The downside however was that once the kit was nearly completed and set for sales the company Moebius went under and was sold to Pegasus Hobbies. I had seen a few test samples of the kit online and there were a few for sale online. But because the company was under these commanded huge prices.
Thankfully and to my relief Pegasus Hobbies released the kit again, with stunning boxart and plenty on the market to go around. We have yet to get the other 2 kits from Moebius and at this point I'm doubtful that we ever will. But I decided that now was the time and I finally got my hands on one of my favourite ship designs.
The ship has phase cannons that can be placed in the squared sections, or doors to have them closed. Oddly enough the Kelvin class also has phaser banks.
The bridge features several holes for a clear part to set in place.
One of the things, I was actually disappointed with was the size of this ship. I know that the Kelvin Era ships are bigger than other Trek series, and this was done on purpose, but here is it with the USS Excelsior placed on top. The Excelsior at it's time was supposed to be the biggest ship ever built, and to many points it still is. But as you can see here the Kelvin saucer section is slightly bigger than the Excelsior! ( AMT 1:1000 USS Excelsior)
Something I never noticed on the Kelvin was the damage on the right side of the upper saucer. There's an exposed square with some internal details, and many other squares to replicate damaged sections of the ship that were repaired in deep space.
A bit of panel wash to better showcase the exposed details.
The underside of the saucer has a nice thick frame to keep the parts straight and level.
The underside of the saucer features more square sections for phase cannons.
Parts of the neck and upper hull sections. These include an aft shuttle bay and a forward deflector dish.
There are windows detailed on this model as small squares. For those who are planning on lighting this model, it's not impossible to do but a lot of work and problem-solving.
Here is the lower neck and HUGE warp engine. This engine alone is nearly as big and a 1:1000 NX class starship.
A break in the warp engines for some clear parts.
These bands run along the edge of the saucer section. They are for my kit the most disappointing part, as the details on them are fainter than the rest of the model. They will also need to be filled in and cleaned as I can see they will have larger gaps between them.
Phase Cannon doors closed, and bellow the Phase Cannons. Oddly enough there are no open doors for the Phase Cannons to sit in.
A rather interesting display stand is the dedication plaque for the Kelvin.
Quite a large section of clear parts for this build, plenty to light up should a modeler wish.
Part 27 is the shuttle bay doors, I'm not sure why this is clear?
You might be a bit confused with the decals as it looks like you get 2 of the same sets. Well, you sort of do. The top section of the decals is slightly damaged with little scuff marks. They look more like the wax paper got stuck and you lifted the decals. Bellow, they are clean and fresh, I find this to be a really nice addition by Moebius.
The instructions come in a nice book with a lot of descriptions for the stages and parts. Any beginner should have an easy time reading and assembling the kit. There is also a very nice full-colour paint and decal diagram with the real model kit used as a reference.
A rather interesting section of the model was the last pages of the instructions and this separate sheet demonstrating how you can create a multi-layered Aztec pattern on the model. I really like this addition for seasoned and new modelers to have a guide on how to create this really cool effect.
As the kit stands straight out of the box, I find this to be a really nice and fairly simple model. The details on the exterior are really quite nice and sharp, and I'm impressed with the comprehensive instruction guide. I'm pretty excited to get to work on this one, especially with creating all of the multi-panels of the aztecing. For beginners or seasoned modelers, I think that you will really fall in love with this kit.
