The U-34 Cricket Prototype was an experimental precursor to the 23rd Century Romulan Bird Of Prey.
Only two of these style of ships were known to be built. One of them was re-purposed and converted into a tramp cargo ship. The second ship was presumed lost but was later discovered in a boneyard and was salvaged and rebuilt to original specifications.
In Universe Notes:
IRW Temrhae (AKA: Beginning)
Romulan U-34 Cricket Class Prototype
1:2500 Scale AMT (Round 2) Kitbash
The ship that is commonly known as the 23rd Century Romulan Bird Of Prey was originally designated as the U-34 Cricket Project, and then later re-designated as the Vas'Hatham Class. Starfleet and other races, not knowing this, simply called it the Bird Of Prey because of it's shape, and the recognizable bird logo painted on the ship's underside.
The following information was taken directly from the Federation Spaceflight Chronology history books, particularly the volume covering the Romulan Star Empire.
"U-34 CRICKET
(ROMULAN VAS’HATHAM – “WARBIRD”)
SERVICE ENTRY DATE (ESTIMATED): 2252
DATE FIRST SIGHTED BY FEDERATION: 2260
The Cricket was the first Romulan ship ever observed operating in Federation space since the end of the Romulan War. It was originally classified as the P-1A Empire class until several decades later, once more information on the Romulan Space Navy became available. It has since been reclassified in accordance with standard Starfleet Intelligence nomenclature.
Cricket represents the pinnacle of postwar Romulan designs. Its lines clearly evoke the “Warbird” of the Romulan War, for which it has since been named (by both Starfleet and the Romulans, as it later turned out). It is the “Warbird” reborn in almost every aspect save for improved engines and weaponry. Cricket’s engines are capable of sustained cruising speeds over warp 4 and a burst emergency speed approaching warp 6. The main difference from its wartime predecessor is its plasma torpedo system, which represented a giant leap forward in Romulan heavy weapons technology, and its cloaking device, which became Romulan standard fleet issue with its Capsize predecessor. The only drawback of its new plasma weaponry was it that it required most of a Cricket’s warp power to generate a plasma torpedo; furthermore, it could not be held it its tube for more than a few seconds. Like Capsize, this power requirement meant that Cricket could neither arm nor fire a plasma torpedo while cloaked. Another limiting factor to the Cricket was its short operating range due to lack of available interior space for fuel stores. Crickets, like most other Romulan starships of the era, were usually dropped off within range of their targets by a Gooney Bird warp transport and returned to it once their mission was complete.
In late 2161, in an apparent effort to test Starfleet resolve, a lone Cricket crossed the Neutral Zone and began attacking Federation outpost stations. Four were quickly destroyed before the starship Enterprise (NCC-1701), the nearest Starfleet vessel, could respond. What followed next was a pursuit and fight between the Cricket and the Enterprise that took it all the way to Icarus IV, a comet whose path crosses the Neutral Zone. Enterprise was eventually able to corner and disable the Cricket, but only after suffering a fair amount of damage from a hit by one of the Cricket’s plasma torpedoes earlier in the encounter. Enterprise had unsuccessfully attempted to outrun the torpedo at a speed of warp 8 before it struck. Fortunately, most of the plasma torpedo’s strength had dissipated by the time of impact; even so, it was still strong enough to overwhelm Enterprise’s shields and damage the ship. Data from the attack on the Enterprise, coupled with extensive analysis of the debris remaining from the four destroyed outpost stations, were used to compile a combat profile for the Cricket in this initial encounter. It also gave Starfleet its first taste of advanced plasma weaponry, for which ever after it would accord the Romulan Space Navy the respect it was long overdue.
Cricket, along with its offshoots and derivatives, are still fairly common sights along the Neutral Zone despite their age. They were retired from main fleet service with the introduction of Winged Defender; however, many continue to soldier on in auxiliary roles. Many have also been converted for a variety of other purposes or served as testbeds for technology conversions and upgrades. The bulk of these are dealt with under the entry for the modernized “Warbird” class (V-8).
Starfleet commanders are advised to be on guard when confronting a Cricket in combat. In the hands of a skilled Romulan commander it can still be as deadly as any modern Romulan starship given its plasma torpedo system.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Length: 131.0 m
Beam: 234.1 m
Draft: 33.5 m
Mass: 70,000 DWT
Crew: 170
Armament: 4 disruptors
1 plasma torpedo tube
Cruising speed: warp 4.4
Maximum speed: warp 5.7
Innovations:
• First Romulan starsihp sighted in Federation since the end of the Romulan War
• First Starfleet encounter with a cloaked Romulan ship
• First Romulan starship to field plasma torpedoes
ROMULAN WARBIRD BY WAH CHANG
BACKGROUND ADAPTED FROM THE STAR TREK EPISODE “BALANCE OF TERROR”
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL AND CRICKET DESIGNATION BY MASAO OSASAKI (STARFLEET MUSEUM)
SPECIFICATIONS COURTESY OF MICHAEL McMASTER AND FASA CORPORATION
VISUAL BY GALE McMILLAN"
Prior to the full scale production of the Bird Of Prey line, there were several experimental craft built to test the differences between down-swept wings versus up-swept wings. While down-swept wings were common in older style Romulan ships, it was believed that a change in geometry was due.
The U-34 Cricket Class Prototypes were the last two such experiments before the final decision was made to put the wings in an upright position.
As stated earlier, only two of these style vessels were ever constructed.
The first of these ships was stripped down and sold for scrap. It was later purchased, overhauled and converted into a Junker Class Tramp Trader sip known as Mindy's Delight.
The second test vessel was somehow lost, presumed destroyed during testing or shortly after the adoption of the standard Bird Of Prey line. This second ship was later discovered in a bone yard. She was purchased by Triple-D Enterprises, and fully restored to her original operating specifications. She currently sits at that company's public museum.
Real World Notes:
I LOVE to kitbash. Every once in a while, I may see a kitbash that peaks my interest and then I'll try to build it in 1:2500 scale. Or on other occasions, I create my own brain child. Because of all this kitbashing, I'll tend to buy the AMT Round 2 3 ship sets in bulk in order to stock up on needed parts. As a result, I sometimes end up with a plethora of some models that I usually never have a use for. The 23rd Century Romulan Bird Of Prey is one such model. I have come up with ideas from time to time on how to use this model, but like I said, I have an over abundance of them.
The U-34 Cricket Prototype was not my idea, but rather one of the ideas of a talented builder over at the Star Trek Modeler's Group page on FaceBook. Sadly, it was so long ago, and before I took better notes, that I don't know who the original modeler was to give credit to.
The challenge I often face when building a kitbash is to come up with a decent back-story that sound plausible enough to warrant the existence of my build.
I write reviews of Eaglemoss pre-built and pre-painted models. I had already written the the reviews on Issue 27, the Romulan Bird Of Prey (22nd Century) (that review is at THIS LINK) and Issue 57, the Romulan Bird of Prey (23rd century) (that review is at THIS LINK).
It made sense to me that in 100 years, the Romulans would continue to experiment with thier ship designs. I have seen numerous ships with thier wings in a downward position during my reading of the above mentioned Federation Spaceflight Chronology history books, on the Romulan Star Empire. Designating a ship a prototype is also a great way to cheat and squeeze an odd design into the non-canon history books. And so, the U-34 Prototype was born.
I will traditionally show work in progress pictures as my readers like to see how the model was built. For some reason, I didn't take any for this project. Maybe it was just such an easy build that I didn't think about taking them until after it was all together already. So I apologize for not being able to share that stuff with you.
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:
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