NOTE: You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.
Left: U-4 Cerebus Class - Right: U-13 Cacus Class
While I was writing my review on the Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Pre-TOS Adversary Set, I made mention of how I did a lot of research to assist Jay at C.H.I. to come up with a classification name for his Romulan ship.
I eventually stumbled across this book which contained lots of historical information, and more importantly... pictures!
We eventually figured out that his model was a slightly modified U-13 Cacus Class. If you wish to learn more about the U-13, you can read my review of the Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Pre-TOS Adversary Set at
THIS LINK.
While coming to this conclusion, I also found, studied and decided that I was going to also try to build a U-4 Cerebus Class if I found the time and parts.
I ended up acquiring a second, rejected Pre-TOS Adversary Set which of course gave me the most important part that I needed and so I set out and built the U-4.
As you can see, at 1:2500 scale, this thing is rather tiny, but I was really happy with the fact that I ended up with something that no one else has in thier collection.
The "Federation Spaceflight Chronology" had this to say about these ships, "This is one of the oldest known Romulan starship designs, predating the Romulan War by at least two decades. Data gleaned from Starfleet Intelligence suggests that it entered service no earlier than 2130. This data also suggests that it was the first Romulan warp-capable military spacecraft. In many ways, particularly with regards to engine design, construction, and sublight maneuverability, it was more advanced than most of the starships that the Federation Star Fleet was fielding at the time. Although early and primitive by modern standards, the Cerebusalready shows many of the distinguishing characteristics of Romulan military designs: the sweeping, wing-like engine support pylons, the unibody hull with rear-mounted sub-lightengines, and the “Bird-of-Prey” emblem on its underside. Its curved surfaces were in stark contrast to the angled “slab ship” designs preferred by Terran starship engineers and represented different approaches to starship combat. The Romulanseschewed the inherent stealthiness of a faceted, slab-like hull for the maneuverability of a smooth one. This gave the Cerebusincredible sub-light acceleration and agility. A lone Cerebusmight not outgun a typical Federation vessel; however, it could almost certainly outmaneuver and outrun it. Furthermore, itwas rare when a Cerebus was found alone. They usually operated in packs of three or six, preying on easy targets and zipping away whenever the alarm was raised. Another impediment to Federation attacks was the energy screens of a Cerebus. All Romulan starships had early forms of force fieldscreens, requiring that their attackers first overwhelm the cohesive energies of the screens before weapons could penetrate them and do damage to the ship itself. This remained an Romulan advantage until just before the war, when the Federation deployed force field screen technology of its own. At least 30 Cerebus class cruisers are thought to have been built by the Romulans from 2130 to 2137. Most were lost during the Romulan War. This was largely due to the fact that by the time the war started they had already been outclassed by improved Federation designs. The survivors were briefly returned to front-line service in 2159 but this was a desperation measure due to rapidly mounting Romulan losses. Only four Cerebus class cruisers survived by war’s end. One sole example remains as a museum ship in orbit around Romulus. Its presence is meant as a permanent reminder of the great war that was fought “... to save the Empire from Federation domination.”"
Build Notes:
The build process for building this model was not all that complicated. I first cut off the wings and nacelles from the U-13 model and then re-glued the wings at a steeper downward angle. Since the U-13 nacelles were too big, I fashioned some new ones out of sculpting putty.
I then used sculpting putty to fill in the gaps between the wings and the hull as well as along the top of the hull where the wings stuck up a tiny bit. I also used my drill to score a small notch at the front of the model to represent the deflector dish.
Once the putty set, I then glued on the nacelles and filled in a few more gaps with model cement.
Fro there, it was just a matter of painting the model and then detailing it.
And there you have it, a very unique model that no one else would normally have in thier collection. As a side note, I suppose that if you were so inclined, you could probably construct this whole thing using sculpting putty.
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:
