The good news is that Warp puts out a number of kits that most other manufacturers do not tackle. The bad news is that they do it with something called 'general resin product', or GRP.

GRP is a brittle resin that at times acts like volcanic glass--and cuts like it too. The Shadow ship, at 20 inches, makes for an impressive display, but within weeks after building the craft, it had already developed hairline cracks. The weight of its component materials would not let the ship hold together, even with brass pinning.

The ship is nicely rendered with a fine gravel texture to the skin and even the suggested painting motif--entirely in gloss black--does make for a pretty scary vessel. I went a bit further with mine and sprayed the ship an overall dark purple, then spent several days adding small dots of gloss black across the entire surface, just to give it a more interesting (and accurate) look. The painting would have gone a lot more smoothly if the fine tips of the multiple arms did not keep snapping off...

I found my copy at Comet Miniatures in London, England in 2001 (a SF model Mecca every fan should visit at least once in their lives!).Though believed out of production, the Shadow Ship can still be found on eBay. But you may have better luck building it from scratch.

Review by: Kenneth "Cydonia" Darden

Entry created: 06/17/09