Resin Kit Review: Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Kestrel Class

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Rewrites: December 2018

December 2018 Update: Cozmo Heavy Industries has not produced any kits in quite a while so this is a Real Throwback kind of review.  Jay, the guy who runs this garage kit manufacturer had some life events occur that has kept him away from the hobby.

Normally I don't go for certain types of ships in my collection.  I'm not really a cargo ship kind of guy, however you can't deny that Cozmo Heavy Industries does have some unique looking cargo ships.  Especially when you look at his non-human race line of vessels.  One such ship is his Romulan Kestrel Class cargo hauler.

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This ship was never seen on screen and is simply one of those interesting designs that has come from Jay's (the guy who owns and operates C.H.I.) mind.

Resin Kit Review: Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Constitution Class Phase II Prototype

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My next resin kit  review is going to cover a rather rare kit, the 1:2500 scale Constitution Class Phase II Prototype from Cozmo Heavy Industries.

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This kit is of one of the proposed designs for the Enterprise had we seen a Star Trek: Phase II TV series.  I believe that it was also reconsidered when they started thinking about what sort of ship design to use for Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Resin Kit Review: The Delta Quadrant 1/2500 Bonaventure-Class Cruiser

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Rewrites: April 2016 & February 2019

I've been jumping back and forth between two different manufacturers lately in regards to these resin kit reviews.  I decided to be different for this one and look at The Delta Quadrant's 1:2500 scale Bonaventure Class starship.

The Delta Quadrant's Recommended Paint Scheme

Per Memory Alpha and Beta, "The NCC-1000 was a Federation Starfleet starship in service in the late-22nd or 23rd centuries, she was a member of the Bonaventure-class, a newly advanced class of starship that followed on from the success of the NX-class."

Model Building 101 - Decals

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As I am writing my review articles, I sometimes come across a challenge that I encountered that first time modelers would benefit from having some advice for.

I have finally started reviewing some kits that I applied some sort of decals to.  I figured we should finally talk about the art of decal placing.  At least in the realm of water slide decals which is the majority of the decals you will encounter.

For the longest time, I shied away from putting decals on my models.  I'll admit it, they intimidated me.  Some of them are tiny and I have big hands.  And yet, some of them are are pretty darned big and if I try to pick them up, they will curl up and make my life miserable.

Eventually though, I could no longer avoid using decals.  I finally built some models that required the use of a decal because my intermediate painting skills would never have been able to accomplish the level of details needed to give the model any sort of good look.

Hornet Class Landing Deck Decals

Resin Kit Review: Resin Modeler 1:1400 Suliban Stealth Cruiser

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Rewrites: April 2016 & July 2020

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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".  

Resin Kit Review: Resin Modeler 1:1400 Klingon Hunting Vessel (Gorath's ship)

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

[Editor's Note (April 2016): This will mark my second re-write of this article.  Consider this the REFIT version of the original article.]

For this next review, I'd like to focus on a small and simple little kit from Resin Modeller.  He produced a 1:1400 scale version of the Klingon Hunting Vessel that we saw in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Resin Modeller's Recommended Paint Scheme

This ship was used to help capture Captain Archer and take him back to the Klingon home world to face criminal charges.  As of now, there isn't a lot of other information on the ship other than what we saw in the TV series.

Resin Kit Review: Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Federation Class

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Rewrites: April 2016 & July 2018

The next kit I'd like us to take a close look at is a 1:2500 scale Federation Class ship made by Cozmo Heavy Industries.

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Ever since the days of the FASA games, this style of ship has been a favorite of mine.  I even did a very basic kitbash from a 1:2500 AMT kit to make a facsimile of this ship.

 

Sadly, mine was a bit out of proportion.

The Federation Class Dreadnought was just that.  It was a much bigger ship than it's counterparts of the time and wielded much more firepower.

Resin Kit Review: Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Peregrine Class (Non-Canon) Starship

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This time round for my Resin Kit Review series, we're going to take a closer look at the 1:2500 Peregrine Class kit from Cozmo Heavy Industries.

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Resin Kit Review: Resin Modeler 1:1400 Northwest Class (NW Class)

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Rewrites: March 2016 & November 2018

Up next in my resin kit review series, is the 1:1400 Northwest Class (NW Class) kit produced by Resin Modeller.

Resin Modeller's Recommended Paint Scheme

Resin Kit Review: Resin Modeler 1:1400 Intrepid Type (NV Class)

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Rewrites: March 2016 & December 2018

Moving right along in my resin kit collection, I'd like to next review the 1:1400 NV Class kit produced by Resin Modeller.  This ship is seen in Star Trek: Enterprise in a couple of episodes, however, it's first appearance in in the episode called "The Expanse".

Resin Modeller's Recommended Paint Scheme

Resin Kit Review: Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Dakota Class

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Welcome back to my series of reviews for the various resin kits I've built.  For my next review, I would like to focus on Cozmo Heavy Industries' Dakota class carrier.

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Resin Kit Building 101: Part 5 - Stands

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I have been writing a short mini-series of articles to help assist me with some resin kit reviews I'm doing.  I figured that instead of boring my more experienced builders with material that they already know, or repeating the same helpful hints in article after article, it would be far easier to just reference these smaller articles like footnotes in any reviews that require some extra advice.

This is the last article in the series for now and it is more of a Do It Yourself article that covers making stands for your smaller models.

Some resin kits come with a base to make a stand for your ship.  However, I have yet to find a garage kit maker that has supplied a rod that goes with the base.  This is probably because making the rods is a bit time consuming and every modeler has thier own preference on how tall of a stand they may want.

I like my stands to hold the ship about 2 inches of the ground so this method I'm about to show works really well for me.  You could of course modify the length to your liking, but as you will see, you'll go through more of the base materials.  At two inches, I get two rods for each piece I cut.

The first step is trying to locate a source of sturdy rods that In my case, I found that these little guys were my best friend.

Resin Kit Building 101: Part 4 - Filling Seams and Imperfections

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I'm writing this short mini-series of articles to help assist me with some resin kit reviews I'm doing.  I figured that instead of boring my more experienced builders with material that they already know, or repeating the same helpful hints in article after article, it would be far easier to just reference these smaller articles like footnotes in any reviews that require some extra advice.

And so, we come to my fourth article and this one covers filler material.

At the end of my reviews, I have a small disclaimer section and one of the things that is said there is this; "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."

There is a reason I say this.  Resin pouring is not an exact science.  Some of the garage kit makers have very expensive equipment to produce higher quality kits than others, however, you will eventually run into minor flaws in you model kits.

This sort of thing is to be expected when you delve into this kind of  model building so you should always be prepared to deal with these minor flaws.

Resin Kit Building 101: Part 3 - Glue

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I decided to write a couple small helpful hint articles to serve as footprint references in my Resin Kit Reviews.  This will save my more experienced readers having to read the same stuff over and over again, yet give my first time readers some extra help and advice when I feel it is necessary to give it.

This next article should be a relatively short one as it involves gluing resin.

My experience is that you can not use your standard modelling cement.  It just does not bond well to the resin like it would to styrene.

My best results have come from using super glue.  And it doesn't even have to be brand name stuff.

Resin Kit Building 101: Part 2 - Warped Parts

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Since I've started doing reviews on some resin kits that I've built, I figured it would also be a good idea to give some helpful hints and tips for those of you who are new to building this unique form of models.  I can then refer back to these articles without re-quoting the same text over and over again.

My next article is going to cover warped parts.

No, not WARP parts, but instead those parts you get that may be slightly bent the wrong way.

Resin Kit Building 101: Part 1 - Washing Your Kit

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

Since I've started doing reviews on some resin kits that I've built, I figured it would also be a good idea to give some helpful hints and tips for those of you who are new to building this unique form of models.  I can then refer back to these articles without re-quoting the same text over and over again.

My first article is going to cover bathing.  No, not your bathing, but rather, the bathing of your resin kit.

Resin Kit Review: Cozmo Heavy Industries 1:2500 Hippocrates Class

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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.

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Resin Kit Review: Resin Modeler 1:1400 Warp Delta

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[Editor's Note (March 2016): This will mark my second re-write of this article.  Consider this the REFIT version of the original article.]

Welcome to my next Resin Kit Review.  This time around, I'd like to focus our attention on  Resin Modeler's 1:1400 scale Warp Delta class from Star Trek: Enterprise.

Resin Modeler's Recommended Paint Scheme

EMvTW 27 - Romulan Bird Of Prey (22nd Century)

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Rewrites: March 2016 & July 2018

Here is the second entry in this month's Eaglemoss vs. The World series, the 22nd Century Romulan Bird Of Prey as we saw it in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode called "Minefield".

Like the Tholian starship, this vessel is a one of a kind when it comes to Pre-Built and Pre-Painted versions of this ship.  That of course means that this will also be a relatively short article as well.

EMvTW 26 - Tholian Starship (22nd Century)

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Rewrites: March 2016 & June 2018

I feel it necessary to apologize to my readers, but the next couple of Eaglemoss vs. The World articles are going to be short ones indeed.  You see, the next few ships that I am going to discuss have never before been made by any other manufacturer in a pre-made and pre-painted form.  This once again demonstrates why the Eaglemoss collection is such a great thing for us collectors.  We continue to be given completely new ship models for our collection.

This time around, we are going to take a look at the 22nd Century Tholian starship.  We are first introduced to this ship in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode called "Future Tense".

The reason I am apologizing is that my sole purpose for writing these articles is to do comparisons.  When there is only one ship to show off, I kind of feel like I'm wasting your time.  However, I also don't want to skip these single ship reviews either as I can hopefully give you some idea of what you would be purchasing.

Resin Kit Review: Resin Modeler 1:1400 Sarajevo Class

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Rewrites: July 2020

As it turns out, this is going to be my very first review of a resin kit produced by one of the many sellers that I do business with.  Please bear with me if it is a little rough as I have never done this before and am trying to figure out my groove, so to speak.  This review is going to be about Resin Modeller's 1:1400 Sarajevo Class kit.

Resin Modeler's Recommended Paint Scheme

We first get to see this starship in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode called "Storm Front, Part II".

EMvTW 25 - USS Prometheus NX-59650 (Prometheus class)

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Rewrites: March 2016 & June 2018

This article marks an entire year's worth of Eaglemoss ships and quite frankly, I find it extremely exciting that they are finishing the year off with my all time favorite Star Trek ship.  I am of course talking about the USS Prometheus which we get to see in the Star Trek: Voyager episode called "Message in a Bottle".

My small collection of this ship includes an Eaglemoss, a Furuta and a MicroMachine sized version.

EMvTW Special 03 - USS Vengeance (Dreadnought class)

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Rewrites: March 2016 & August 2018

I count myself lucky to have acquired the third special edition ship from Eaglemoss two months early from my supplier, so I now get to do this review that much earlier.  In this edition of my Eaglemoss vs. The World series, I would like to cover the USS Vengeance.  We are introduced to this vessel in the movie titled Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013).

Before I go any further, I acknowledge that the NuTrek stuff has caused all sorts of controversy.  I myself am on the fence about whether I like NuTrek or not.  HOWEVER, this is not an article on NuTrek, but rather, the models, so please keep all comments to the designs and quality of the models.

My current collection of this ship consists of an Eaglemoss, a Hallmark, a Hot Wheels large model and a Hot Wheels small ship.

EMvTW Special 02 - USS Enterprise (Constitution class - alternate timeline)

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Moving right along with the Special Editions Line for my Eaglemoss vs. The World series, we are now treated to the NuTrek Enterprise from the rebooted series based in the JJverse.

First, I acknowledge that the NuTrek stuff has caused all sorts of controversy among Ster Trek fans.  I myself am on the fence about whether I like NuTrek or not.  HOWEVER, this is not an article on NuTrek, but rather, an article about the models, so please keep all comments to the designs and quality of the models.

My current collection consists of an Eaglemoss, a Hallmark, a large Hot Wheels, the smaller Hot Wheels, a Snapco model, and a MicroMachine version that was made from a key chain.

EMvTW Special 01 - Deep Space 9 (Nor Class)

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Editor's Update: I started my collection of Eaglemoss ships later than other collectors in the United States.  As such, I was a bit behind everyone else and I had held off purchasing the specials for quite a while.  By the time I got around to writing this review, a year had passed since I got into the collecting and reviewing of these models.

I have now covered a year's worth of Eaglemoss ships and have decided to take a slight detour of sorts to cover the special edition ships in thier lineup.  At the time of this writing, there currently are three.  And unlike my last Eaglemoss vs. The World article, this one has more than one manufacturer to show off.

The first of these special ships is not a ship at all, but rather a space station.  I am of course talking about Deep Space 9 which is the main location for the series of the same name, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine".

My Deep Space 9 collection currently consists of an Eaglemoss, a Furuta, a Hallmark and a MicroMachine model.

Xindi Aquatic ship (24th Century) (Manta Class)

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Rewrites: May 2019

There was a discussion in one of the modeling groups I follow on FaceBook about converting submarines into starships.  And so, I decided to give it a try as well.

And this is the story about this model...

EMvTW 24 - Xindi Insectoid ship (Olaen class)

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Rewrites: March 2016 & June 2018

Welcome to the 24th installment of my Eaglemoss vs. the World Series.  This marks a milestone as I will now have reviewed an entire year's worth of Eaglemoss ships.  This time around, we will take a look at the Xindi Insectoid Ship which we first get to see in the Star Trek: Enterprise episode called "Twilight".

Unfortunately, only one company has ever produced a pre-built and pre-painted version of the Xindi Insectoid ship, so this will sadly be a very short article.