Today we have Al Wongs 1/48 scale Peacekeeper Prowler of Farscape fame. What can I say to start this one off …other then WOW! I popped this box open, at the time not very familiar with the vessel in question as I never really got into Farscape, so I Goggled some and watched some on Netflix just to get a feel for the craft. And I have to say it’s a very good representation from the subject in question.
Before I even started looking for reference though, I was astounded with the sheer number of parts in this kit. We are all used to your average resin kit, something on the order of 6-15 parts, this one on the other hand has 37 well cast yellow resin parts to it with some extras for detailing. Casting, once again, is done by Ed Holt of Monkey works and R2 Re-release Kbop fame.
You will receive:
1x: main hull
1x: opaque canopy
1x Pilot
1x Pilot seat
1x Instrument panel
1x Hinge for Canopy
2x rear landing skid
1x fore landing skid
… Heck, I cannot name it all like this as I have for the others. Let’s just say you get a whole Plethora of parts that haven’t been named yet. Gun pods, Outriggers, Brass rod, Telescoping Styrene Tube / Rod. Decals and of course Color instructions.
I, as well, am not going to review every individual part in its on paragraph for this review, would just be too much. So I’ll hit the high points, try and talk about groups of parts as I go along.
So, I guess, I will continue my trend of discussing the Main hull part with this review as well. First off, there are a few seam lines and one pour stub to clean off of the part. The seam lines are very fine, the pour stub is small, and on an area that will need to be sanded smooth, so no details to try to preserve, My copy did have a few voids this time, which is very atypical of Ed’s casting, Most likely a fluke and not to be seen in most production runs of the kit. The part it’s self is well detailed where the details need to be, sculpted in floor plating for the cockpit tub, well defined lines and panels on the upper portion of the hull, the mounting points for the gun systems on either side of the rear are well defined, and feature a gear like detail with a nice locating stub for the gun mount root section. There is also rear detail on this kit, a nice treat missing from previous releases of this subject. There are three holes to the bottom of the kit used for locating the landing gear if you wish to display it opened for landing. Doors are included for both open and closed positioning ( same parts for either option) The hull is very sparse for details, But the details shown seem to, from what I can see and find out, match very well to what the kit should look like. I have heard it said that some people are un- satisfied with the…pointyness of the front of the fuselage. It is my say that any Modeler who would question this and feel the need to get a more pointed front end, can easily cut off a small section of the nose, drill a small hole and put a sewing needle, or straight pin in there, apply some of their preferred putty sand smooth and make the end of the ship as pointy as they please.
The gun pod assemblies on this kit are very nice; you’ll get several pieces that make up each one. I think 11 resin parts make up each Gun pod assembly if I am not mistaken, you’ll also need to spend some time cutting Brass rods and some telescoping styrene tubing and rod for this assembly process. They really make the difference over a resin cast part they details will be much more to scale and much crisper for this type of subject done this way. AS well, for the modelers who have never ventured into any form of scratch building this might make a very good lesson in proper measurement and cutting to get them started. The instructions give well defined instructions on how to make these cuts.
The landing gear is made up of 4 parts, 2 for the front skid, and 1 for each rear skid. Details are what you would expect for a landing gear system, very crisp and cylindrical, with a foot pad on the rear and a long skid on the front. Is exactly that.. A long skid, mounted with a plate and some hydraulic looking detail for stabilization.
The cockpit comes with, as one would normally expect, a seat for the pilot, the pilot (optional) and an opaque canopy for the cockpit, ( can be displayed open or closed) Per the show the canopy is not transparent, so if you’re building the closed option The toss the seat, pilot and console in your spares bin for later use. They are all well worth keeping. If you build the canopy open option then you’ll be able to nicely detail the cockpit with the figure and the instrument panel a few locations for dials, and central Radar looking area.
You’ll as well receive a small sheet with 4 waterslide Decals on it, and two full page color instruction sheets, with a paint guide at the bottom. Minimal paint guide but nothing fancy is needed for this build.
Let’s review the overall molding of the kit. In general it is all very well molded, there will be a few parts that are held together by flash, this is presumably for the structural integrity of the parts while being stored and transported, as they are very small and thin parts. The tri-bladed spikes on the gun pod setups will possibly warp on you between molding and arrival due to the thinness of the part, but this is as well all know easily remedied with hot water and a bit of reshaping. Flash lines and mold seams are all very minimal through the kit with exception to aforementioned parts. And all are easy to clean. Some pour stubs are located on round areas, so be careful when cleaning not to flatten the part out. The canopy has a large section of flash all around the bottom rim, be careful when trimming and filing this so as not to break the brittle canopy part.
I can truly think of nothing really negative to say about this kit. Symmetry all seems to be good, Execution is very nice. Details are all where they should be, and what they should be. All in all it is a very good kit. Again the details are Spartan, so if you’re a guts on the Outside kind of guy, this might not be the kit for you. But if you are a fan of sleek fast looking Craft, then this will be a perfect display piece for your collection.
View more photos of the kit by clicking the link below
https://s1093.photobucket.com/albums/i424/George_Waldron/Al%20Wong%20Reviews/48%20scale%20Prowler/
George Waldron
To contact the KIT PRODUCER direct, please click the CONTACT KIT PRODUCER link below.
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