The Space Ship Set was first issued back in 1976 and included three ships from the classic Star Trek television series: a Constitution Class ship, a Klingon Battle Cruiser (known as a D-7), and a Romulan Bird of Prey. The kit featured snap-together construction and included a display stand so that the three ships could be shown together.

The parts are molded in white styrene, and are fairly free from flash, considering the age of the molds. A sheet of waterslide decals is included, and has two Klingon trefoils and four three-letter insignia, the decals necessary to create the bird design on the bottom of the Romulan ship (actually made up of six separate pieces), and a slew of decals for the Federation ship. Builders are offered a choice of: Enterprise, Yorktown, Valiant, Hood, Potemkin, Constellation, Farragut, Excalibur, Intrepid, Republic, Constitution, Lexington, Exeter, and Kongo. The only problem is that nothing is provided in the kit to match the name of the ship to the correct registry number, so builders will have to locate that information on their own.

The details are very basic, and in some cases completely wrong, such as the Enterprise's pylon grilles being molded on the outboard sides rather than the inboard sides. Additionally, the nacelles on the Romulan Bird of Prey are incorrectly shaped where the Bussard domes meet the nacelles. There are also raised details on the ships that are out of scale (like the windows/portholes and the deflector grid on the upper primary hull). Builders should do additional research prior to working on one of these kits if they want accurate models of what was seen on-screen in the TOS series.

This kit has been reissued several times over the years, and the review sample is from the 1989 production run. It's not a bad kit, but it needs additional work to make it into something that will shine as part of your displayed collection.

Completed dimensions on the ships are:

Enterprise – 7 inches long by 3 inches wide (12 parts)
Klingon Battle Cruiser – 6 inches long by 3.5 inches wide (10 parts)
Romulan Bird of Prey – 3.25 inches long by 5.5 inches wide (3 parts)

Review by: Rich “Lonewolf” Dula

Entry created: 06-26-09