AMT 1/650 Star Trek Klingon Battle Cruiser Kit First Look

By Michael Benolkin

First Look

In the mid-1960s, TV audiences around the world were captivated by a new television series that took science fiction to a whole new level - Star Trek (also referred to as Star Trek Original Series or STOS). Among the adversaries that challenged the crew of the USS Enterprise each week was the Klingon Empire. Very little was known about them through the original series, but in subsequent series the lore of the Klingons grew beyond all others and even put one on the bridge of the longest-running series of the franchise - Star Trek the Next Generation (STNG).

The whole Klingon phenomenon grew to even address one visible flaw in the Klingon appearance - in the STOS episodes, Klingons had a similar physical appearance to their human counterparts, but in subsequent series, a ridged forehead and long hair became one of the signature appearances of a Klingon. Writers in the final series 'Enterprise' developed one episode where a genetic mutation was created that saved the Klingon race but transformed the ridged forehead to one more human in appearance and providing an explanation for the discrepancy in Klingon appearances that was a pet peeve of Trekkies for decades.

AMT had produced several spacecraft in the Star Trek (STOS) series back in the 1960s and 1970s which included the USS Enterprise, Klingon Battlecruiser, Romulan Bird of Prey, and Shuttlecraft Galileo. Round2 Models has been working on each of these kits providing detail and/or feature updates to each kit as needed.

In this release, AMT has tweaked a few details, but has addressed one annoyance with the kit for years - how do display the finished model. Now the kit includes a new display base with a metal rod that mounts to a solid point in the model's center of gravity so you'll have a stable model when you're finished.

Molded in gray styrene, the kit is presented on on seven parts trees plus one tree of chromed parts and the black styrene base. The metal rod is also included.

The instructions don't appear to have been reviewed by a proper Trekkie and the menacing oriface at the front of the ship that glows red prior to firing a photon torpedo is identified as an antenna; the bridge is identified as a cabin; and the main section of the hull that mounts the wings of the warp engines, the housing for the impulse engine, etc., is identified as a hall. The artist must have been watching Dark Shadows at the time...

The set comes with a nice sheet of decals for the hull with Empire markings as well as windows and hull stenciling to 'busy up' the exterior of the model.

It is nice to see this kit back on the market and with the wealth of lighting systems on the market, this model would be a simple project given that it didn't usually light up except when bad things were about to happen to the USS Enterprise.

My sincere thanks to Round2 Models for this review sample!