This is by far the best model of this ship available. You can build strieght out of box and have a beutiful replica .or put lights and such in there you won't be disappointed

This is the best looking kit I've built from years of AMT kits. No longer do you have to worry about poorly fitting parts and it's built strong. The kit is designed for lights and polar lights sells an expensive light kit which I also purchased. This review reflects the kit with the additional purchase of the light kit.

The Good
Kit looks fantastic
Kit goes together well
The included paint diagram is brilliant
The size is just awesome

The Bad
The instructions are rather poor
The instructions don't match the light instructions. You tend to to be building a part of the kit that might conflict with the lights construction.
The shuttle bay lights just don't fit without serious modification.
Lastly, I went with 9v rather than the included 12v for the lights because it was just too bright.

This was a very challenging and fun build. Take your time and you'll be rewarded.

This is another big "Win" for Polar Lights. The model is without a doubt one of the best engineered builds I've ever done. Everything fits together very well and is designed for you to put lighting in it. I highly encourage you to do this. Polar Lights offers a lighting kit which is very easy to install, and there are other aftermarket kits from dealers such as Tena Controls that are worth looking at. I would also encourage you to purchase the photo etch set by Polar Lights and the supplemental photo etch from Paragrafix in order to give your model a real professional look. This model is big so you might want to think about where this can be the center piece at in your house. The only issue I had with this build was the shuttle bay. It is a very tight fit and you will have to trim the plastic that protrudes out of the rear bay wall in order to get it to fit. I did not use the Polar Lights LEDs that were supplied with the shuttle bay since they were too big, and I could not close the hull with them in place. I opted to put very small SMD lights instead which worked great. I got the SMD lights from HDAModelworx.

First off, it took almost 2 weeks to get this model delivered. One week of that was waiting for it to even be shipped! I don't understand why something can't be shipped in less than 7 days.

The model is fantastic. The plastic is thick and heavy. The seams are tongue and groove. The parts fit together perfectly. I dry fitted the saucer, engineering hull and warp nacelles together to see what it was going to look like, and although I used masking tape to hold the parts together, I didn't really have to. The fit is that good. This thing is 32 inches long! The engineering hull is the size of my forearm!

I had asked on Amazon if this kit came with the clear parts for the shuttle bay and bridge. 2 answered yes, 1 said no, and 1 gave me a copy and paste of the info on the box. The correct answer is NO. You have to buy the lighting kit from Polar Lights to get the clear shuttle bay and bridge. BUT, Wally at Starfleet Model Academy has a bunch of you tube videos that show how to light the opaque parts and it looks really good. If you can put up with the belches and farts, coarse language and silliness, it's worth a watch.

I'm giving this model five stars. It really is that good. If you've only built model kits from other manufacturers, you'll be stunned. The shipping though, leaves SO much more to be desired.

This model kit is awesome! The quality is excellent and the fact that it has the smooth saucer is really nice. I highly recommend it.