Rewrites: April 2016 & July 2020
NOTE: You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.
My next resin kit review will be focused on the 1:1400 scale Suliban Stealth Cruiser that is produced by Resin Modeller.
Resin Modeller's Recommended Paint Scheme
This ship appeared in the Season 1 finale episode of Star Trek: Enterprise called "Shockwave".
Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The Suliban stealth cruiser was a starship used by the Suliban Cabal. It was normally undetectable by Starfleet technology due to its cloaking device. Its armaments included four particle beam weapon banks. The standard crew complement was at least twenty."
If you would like to read more official stuff on this type of ship, feel free to check out the following links:
Stealth Cruiser Information: Memory Alpha LINK and NO Memory Beta LINK
Resin Modeller's version of this ship measures in at 8cm and comes in two pieces. Those pieces are an upper and lower half of the hull. I interviewed Adam, the owner and operator of Resin Modeller about this ship and he shared that he was able to produce the 3D model of this ship in a couple of hours on his computer. Since the top and bottom are identical, it was a matter of copy a paste once he finished one side of it. He then sent off the 3D model to a profession 3D printing company to make his master for the molds. I personally am a big fan of these sorts of kits. They come off looking and feeling very clean and crisp.
If you are interested in reading more about this model right from the source, or wanting to purchase it, feel free to go HERE.
DeepSpace Pat's Paint Scheme
NOTE: The eye hook is NOT part of the kit. I added that because a majority of my models are hung up on a book shelf to conserve space.
I'm happy to say that at this point in time, I started taking pictures of my build process so it helps me better remember how much or how little work was involved in building the kit.
Normally, you would think that it is a simple task to just glue an upper and lower half of something together. And, normally, that would be true. HOWEVER, when you are dealing with resin kits in general, you will often find that you are now in a completely different universe. I will reiterate at this point, that the difficulties I am about to discuss are not completely the fault of the garage kit maker. They are issues that you are going to encounter from time to time simply because of the material we are dealing with.
In order to get my ship to the state that you see in the above picture, I needed to do a bit of trimming. There are lots of nooks and crannies along the edges of the ship and the engine manifold in the back also creates a few difficulties as well.
The two halves required a bit of shaving on thier flat side to allow them to fit flush together. This was because of the way these had to be cast. Looking the kit over, there really was no better way that Adam could have cast these without running into a bunch of air pocket issues, thus taking away from the crisp look of the finished product.
I'm sure that more experienced modelers would have been able to do it with more ease. In the end, I still needed to do some putty work to give the ship that seamless look around it's edges.
On that note, if you are new to resin kit building, you may wish to not skip over the bottom of this article as I give links to some helpful tips on gluing and seam filling.
Once I got her cleaned up and put together, the rest of the process went quick. There are not a lot of tough to reach areas that require special painting. You pretty much paint her all one color and then add a few minor painted on details here and there.
Conclusion
I really liked this kit and how it turned out. Adam did a great job making it. I probably would not not recommend it to first time modelers or first time resin kit builders unless they are comfortable leveling off larger area glue surfaces and doing seam filling.
I hope you found this article as useful and informative as I did while writing it. Please feel free to leave any comments, questions or suggestions below.
So for now, "Live Long And Prosper!"
Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:
Resin Modeller
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. I've found that there are all sorts of neat ships out there that no one has made a pre-built or pre-painted model of, so, in an effort to expand my ship collection 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. If this means that I warn away a first time builder from a particular kit, then they will need to be OK with that approach.
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.
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.
Kit Maker Information
Adam who owns and operates Resin Modeller does most of his business through his website. He will also occasionally sell his kits through eBay, however, it is always recommended to go to his website for orders. Although he does not maintain a FaceBook page for his business, he does post his work in progress stuff over at the All Scale Trek forums.
R.M.'s Website: CLICK HERE
R.M.'s eBay Seller Profile: CLICK HERE
A majority of all of Adam's kits are produced via 3D design software and then professionally 3D printed. He then uses these as his masters in the mold making process. In my opinion, this produces a very crisp model.
In my dealings with Adam, I find him to be a very nice guy to chat with. He will usually answer inquiries within a day or two of being emailed. Like most garage kit makers, he has a regular day job, and the kit building business is his way of funding his love of building models. He has shared that he has found a lack of 1:1400 scale ships and since that is his preferred size to build in, he just makes the ships he wants for his collection.
In my dealings with Adam, I find him to be a very nice guy to chat with. He will usually answer inquiries within a day or two of being emailed. Like most garage kit makers, he has a regular day job, and the kit building business is his way of funding his love of building models. He has shared that he has found a lack of 1:1400 scale ships and since that is his preferred size to build in, he just makes the ships he wants for his collection.
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. I've found that there are all sorts of neat ships out there that no one has made a pre-built or pre-painted model of, so, in an effort to expand my ship collection 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. If this means that I warn away a first time builder from a particular kit, then they will need to be OK with that approach.
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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