For my very next review, I'd like to jump garage kit makers and focus on Cozmo Heavy Industries' 1:2500 scale Hippocrates class hospital vessel.
C.H.I.'s eBay Advertisement
Per the USS Albion website, "The Hippocrates class light hospital ship (AHL) was designed as the hospital ship for minor and moderate scale medical emergencies. The medical facilities allow for the transfer of a few hundred more serious patients with superior medical facilities to many Federation facilities. The current Hippocrates class is a refit of the earlier model and has been in service since the 2260s when it replaced the older Quinn class (named for the famed medicine woman!)"
The Hippocrates Class is a variant of the Miranda class, featuring a longer primary hull and larger hanger areas. You can read more about this class of ships at the USS Albion website by using THIS LINK.
The Model
The completed model is just around 10cm long. The kit comes in three parts plus a base for a stand. Two of those parts are sheets with the extra casted parts embedded in them. You will need to trim the parts loose from those sheets and there will be a need to do some sanding as well. The primary parts of the ship requires a bit of trimming and then sanding of those trimmed areas to smooth it out. I built this kit prior to my want to take work in progress pictures so I don't remember many other details. I don't believe there were any quality issues nor do I remember the need to fill in any bubble hole defects. The only issue I do really remember was that getting the nacelles to stay straight while I super glued them on was a bit of an undertaking. The kit also comes with very nice decals. At the time that I built mine, I was not at a good skill set where I felt comfortable applying them. I might revisit this kit and try to apply the details now that I'm a little more skilled.
NOTE: This issue that I had with the nacelles was because this was my very first resin kit and I was still learning the subtleties of working with super glue. A little helpful hint for first timers is to not to paint the area where you will be applying the glue. Or, if you already painted, scrape away the paint to those areas where the glue will be applied. The super glue bonds the resin better without the paint layer in the way. Also, a little glue goes a long way. You don't need a lot to get the parts to stick together.
DeepSpace Pat's Paint Scheme
If you plan to display it using Jay's supplied stand, then you will need to do a little additional work to fabricate a rod for the stand. I have written a nice little article discussing just this and you can find that article HERE.
Conclusion
Although I would not recommend this kit to the first time modeler and I would also give some caution to the first time resin kit builder, this is still a well made kit and will provide you with an interesting variant to an already favorite vessel among Star Trek fans. Other than the issues I had with the nacelles, I really enjoyed making this ship.
As always, I hope you found this article useful and informative. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to comment below.
So for now, "Live long and prosper!!!"
Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:
Helpful Hint Articles
NOTE: If you are new to my reviews, then please read on. This section talks about the garage kit maker that made this kit as well as a little about why I'm writing this review. If you are one of my regular readers, then feel free to skip the rest of this article as it is a word for word repeat of stuff from previous articles.
Jay also maintains a FaceBook page where he likes to share his work in progress on future kit releases. I really like this approach as I'm a big fan of behind the scenes stuff.
Lastly, Jay does have a website, but it is more of an informational page about the business.
C.H.I.'s eBay Seller Profile: CLICK HERE
C.H.I.'s FaceBook Page: CLICK HERE
C.H.I.'s Website: CLICK HERE
If you have ever followed Jay's work, you will know that he hand makes all of his kits from pre-existing parts, and he hand crafts all the other pieces for the ship. This allows him to produce all sorts of unique model kits.
When I interviewed Jay about his business, he says that a lot of his kits were designed and made over 20 years ago so he is unsure now just how long it took to make most of them.
DISCLAIMER SECTION
I consider myself an intermediate model maker. I'm pretty good with assembling kits these days and OK on the painting side of things. I ultimately end up with ships that look good enough to me to display in my collection. In an effort to expand my ship collection into areas that I can't buy pre-assembled ship types and classes of, I've turned to building them myself, either by kitbashing or purchasing ready made resin model kits.
There are several smaller garage kit makers out there that produce some very good kits. I've actually developed a good relationship with a couple of them and volunteered some of my time to write up reviews about the kits I've purchased from them. I have already warned them that I intend to be pretty objective, not pull any punches, and these reviews are going to be written from the point of view of an intermediate model builder.
Lastly, due to the nature of resin casting, not every kit is going to be the same. Excess resin and air pockets are a part of the game when you get into this sort of model building. The kit that I got and built may be slightly different than your kit as far as minor quality issues. I will still point out flaws with my kit as those flaws could lead into a lesson of some sort for either you the reader or the kit maker themselves.
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