The Klingon D-5 battlecruiser patrolled the Klingon Empire during the same time the Star Trek: Enterprise series was set. It was slightly smaller the later D-7/K’Tinga battlecruisers. Capable of Warp 6, it was faster, had better sensors, and was more heavily-armed than contemporary Star Fleet ships, such as the NX-class starships. Offensive weapons included both photon torpedoes and disruptors in a forward-firing port, a belly-mounted turret with two disruptors, and a dorsal disruptor array. For defense, the D-5 carried defensive shields and dispersive armor. A freighter version was equipped with containers stored on the belly, which could hold up to 80,000 liters of deuterium.

Starcraft produces a lot of good-looking Trek kits in 1/1400 and 1/1000 scale, the former a common scale in resin Trek kits and the latter being the same scale as Polar Lights’ D-7, Enterprise NX-01, and Enterprise NCC-1701 kits. You can even get a 1/1400 model of the NSEA Protector from the movie Galaxy Quest.

It sounds a bit silly to use words like “accuracy” and “scale” when talking about science fiction models, but the D-5 model does look like a good representation of the ships that Enterprise NX-01 encountered from time to time. The kit is about 6” long and cast in tan resin, with 11 parts, plus a stand and two sections of brass rod. Mine had a small air bubble in the bow and another on the belly that required filling. I was able to use styrene and super glue to rebuild the damaged detail in both spots.

Assembly was quick and easy. The model required a minimum of cleanup, with just a little flash here and there. The parts fit together very well, and I didn’t have to use any filler, other than what was needed to fill the afore-mentioned air bubbles. The instructions are a little vague as to where to place two small panels that attach to the tops of the engine nacelles, but the rest of the kit just falls together. Plenty of brass rod is included, so you have a little extra if you cut a rod too short. I had to drill out a couple of the pilot holes, but most were ready to accept the brass rods. I made the mistake of attaching the disruptor turret before painting the model, so I ended up breaking off one of the barrels. The part attaches right at the model’s center of gravity, which makes placement of the hole for the stand a little difficult.

The four posts that support some sections of the brass rod look like they might be a bit oversized, compared to screen captures from the show, but I left them as-is and just enjoyed building the model.

The biggest time-consumer of this kit is painting. The entire model is covered with the Klingons’ signature armor plates, and of course, they are a different color than the rest of the ship. Starcraft kindly provides color callouts, based on Testors Model Master paints. I gave the model a base coat of MM 2092 Lichtgrun, then broke out the fine-tipped paint brush and magnifying glasses and spent the next several hours painting. The instructions don’t specify which are “light” and which are “dark” panels, so I went with just the dark MM 2076 RLM 62 on most panels and saved the pale green for dry brushing some areas.

No decals are provided, and there didn’t appear to be any kind of markings on the D-5s seen in Star Trek: Enterprise. I used pastels and washes to add a little more depth and weathering to the model, and finished it off with a couple of applications of Microscale flat clear coat.

Final assembly only involved reattaching the broken disruptor barrel and setting the model on its stand. The keel that runs down the centerline of the ship is not very wide, so I just drilled a small hole in the model and in the end of the acrylic rod to accept a short section of steel piano wire. The stand base was riddled with thousands of tiny pinholes, and rather than try to fill them, I just sprayed the base with Metalizer Burned Metal. This gave the base a nice, rough-cast look in a very Klingon-like color.

 A very nice model of a cool-looking sci-fi ship. The low parts count, great fit, and relative ease of painting combine to make this a good first model for those wishing to try a limited-run resin sci-fi ship, and its small size means it won’t take up much space on your shelf.

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/D5_class

Ben Brown

27 March 2018

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Model courtesy of my wallet.