Cheetah Productions 1/650 USS Daedalus Kit First Look

By Robert Schmitt

First Look

According to the Star Trek Encyclopedia, Daedalus class starships were first designed in 2156 and adopted by the newly formed United Federation of Planets in 2161. They were initially built as exploration vehicles and spent over forty years surveying the Federation's expanding territory and charting large areas of unknown space. Because of its successful history and proven features, the basic design became the standard for Federation starships well into the 24th century. The Daedalus Class vessels were eventually retired from service in 2196.

The Cheetah Productions kit comes nicely packaged in a sturdy box with artwork and all the parts are secured in a Ziploc bag surrounded by small packing peanuts. This attention to detail ensured none of the parts were damaged during shipping. A black and white set of instructions and a color decal placement guide (nice touch) as well as the decal sheet are also included. There are seven main resin pieces; primary and secondary hulls as one piece, two warp nacelles with pylons, two Bussard domes and two intercoolers for the inboard warp grills.

An optional set of phaser banks are included for those who want to fortify their vessel. The resin pieces were cleanly cast by Masterpiece Models and only had a touch of flash. While there were some pin holes in the primary and secondary hulls, these were quickly fixed with some CA and sandpaper. Detail is crisp and consists mainly of windows and warp grills. The kit can be built in two scales: 1/1000 or 1/650. For 1/1000 you will need to paint the windows and for 1/650 you use the window decals.

The two-page instruction sheet is pretty straight forward and gives you tips on assembly and painting. As mentioned before, a color decal placement guide is also included.

Two sets of decals are included to give you the option of building either the standard Federation version or the more obscure United Earth Space Probe Agency (UESPA) version. Eight different registry names (Archon, Eagle, Enterprise, Essex, Daedalus, Horizon, Icarus and Independence) and hull numbers for both versions allow you greater flexibility. There are plenty of black and white window to cover the entire ship. Another nice touch are the optional color windows representing the Botanical Gardens.

With just seven main pieces, the kit goes together fairly quickly after cleanup. Depending on where you place the pylons, the kit’s overall length is between 6.5” and 6.75”. You have the choice of either installing them on the secondary hull or on the dorsal connector. I chose to place them on the secondary hull and the molded indentation guides came in handy. The pylons have guide pins cast in resin for easy attachment. I decided to beef up the structural integrity and drilled out the guide pins and added metal pins. Although the alignment diagram helps place the nacelles in the correct orientation, I wasn’t paying attention and mine ended up with a slight cant that I didn’t notice until after I had secured them into place. Note to Self: check alignment before applying CA!

Overall, I’m extremely satisfied with this model. It’s obvious that Cheetah Productions put a lot of thought into this kit and it shows in the details. With all the options and possibilities this kit offers, you may have to get several to fill out your fleet!