Went together Very nice.

The box was damaged when it arrived but the contents inside were perfect condition.

A quick and easy build of two great ship designs. A word of warning that while most fans will know and expect the Bird of Prey's (BoP) "fun size" in comparison to most Federation ships, some may be surprised at just how small the Grissom is. If you're thinking the saucer will be similar in size to the Enterprise or Reliant's saucers, be aware that as a science vessel, the Grissom is much smaller-- closer in size to the BoP. This makes the menace of the BoP all the more scary, as unlike its diminutive size against Federation ships of the line, it's so much bigger and more imposing in comparison to the ill-fated Grissom.

The parts go together well with the Grissom being mostly smooth surfaces relying on decals for detail. The decals are excellent and work beautifully with Gunze Mr. Mark Softer. Meanwhile, the BoP's details are mostly engraved surface textures that will react well to simple washes. This set really highlights the differences in design philosophy between the Federation and Klingon ships. Most assembly can be done in an evening with more time being spent on paint and decals depending on your taste. Enjoy!

Nice bundled kit with two pivotal ships from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Both are fairly small in scale but go well with the 1/1000 Enterprise Refit kit.

The Grissom is very basic. Details are a bit muted. It seems to rely on a abundance of waterslide decals to make up for the lack details. The decals were very frustrating. The longer pieces tore easily which lead to a lot of missing markings.

The Bird of Prey was much better. Lots of details are molded in the kit. Decals are minimal. My biggest complaint is that the wings can only be mounted in "cruise" or "attack" modes separately/permanently. It could have been engineered to be modular which would have made this kit fantastic.

Both kits are on par with Polar Lights meaning the fit of the pieces are hit and miss. There are gaps in some places. It takes some skill to give these kits a flawless finish which I did not do. But, overall I do like the kits and glad to add to my collection.

Those Trekkies of my generation will always remember the first-time seeing Star Trek III: The Search for Spock in theaters and being introduced to a grand total of three new starship designs, which included the USS Excelsior, USS Grissom and the Klingon Bird of Prey, the last two of which concern us here. Particularly memorable was the battle between the Grissom and the Klingon ship that was not actually a battle but more of a slaughter of the former by the latter. I remember the audience being shocked at the sudden, quick dispatch of the science vessel, especially given she was commanded by one of Star Fleet's most experienced, tactically bold and "think outside the regulations" captains (yes, that was sarcasm).

Despite the fact the Grissom was not only a ship full of Redshirts, but was a Redshirt itself, I have always liked the way it looked, even if from a practical perspective, the design made little sense. I had always wanted to build this ship as a model, but up until Polar Lights released this kit, the only option was expensive, vacuform models made by small, unknown companies or someone's even more expensive garage-built kit. So not only could I finally build an Oberth class ship, but also a Klingon vessel that due to its reuse throughout the several Star Trek films and series, has become iconic.

As for the kit itself, it is a simple snap together affair with only a few parts each and molded in their respective colors, which for beginners who don't wish to paint the models should give them the ability to still make them good enough for display. They are both surprisingly detailed for such small models and almost identical to their larger versions also available in 1/350 scale. Both feature decals, though the Grissom has a lot more sheets than the Bird of Prey by 3 to 1.

As for the individual ships, the Grissom should have been the most enjoyable to put together but wasn't quite. Though the majority of the relatively few parts fit into place fairly smooth and tight, but the biggest hassle was in snapping the tops of the nacelle pylons into the bottom of the main hull (see photo). I had to trim and sand down the tabs multiple times to get them to go in as they just didn't seem small enough for the slots and even after managing to accomplish it (and using glue), there are still gaps and it caused the one of the nacelles on top to be off axis. Though this seems to be common with snap-it kits where the tolerance for fitting parts seems to be much less than glue together ones, but also seems particular to the Grissom as I had the exact same issue with my larger 1/350 kit (see separate review) in the exact same area with the exact same lackluster results. Don't know if this is the fault of the way the ship itself was designed or just the way Polar Lights designed it, but it is annoying and should be noted. The decals themselves are quite extensive and includes Aztec plating for certain areas that was absent on Polar Light's larger kit and thus makes a ship that was always kind of plain hulled a little less so. Even so, I added some phaser bank decals I had left over from other 1/1000 kits as I think it was much needed to make the Oberth Class slightly less of a flying death trap. I would suggest putting on most of the decals before putting all the parts together as it makes it almost impossible to reach certain areas, like the underside of the main hull, afterwards and get them to go on straight. There are also a few alternative names and registry numbers from the Oberth Class ships featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation should the default Grissom name not suite one's fancy.

The Klingon ship, despite being second liked, was actually easier to put together. Unlike the Grissom, all the parts fit smoothly and left no gaps. The wings can either be displayed down in "attack mode" for destroying weak science vessels and unarmed merchant ships or straight out in "cruise" configuration for when merely warping along looking for ships below its weight class to destroy. The choice of wing settings should be decided before assembly, though theoretically as long as one doesn't use any glue, you should be able to unsnap the parts at a later date to change them and it would have been nice if they were adjustable, but even the larger 1/350 kit doesn't have that luxury. There are only a few decals and they reflect the Bird of Prey from Star Trek III, though I added an additional Klingon "tri-foil" marking to each wing.

With the exception of the Grissom nacelle strut bugaboo, this was a fairly fun kit and can easily be completed in a day if one forgoes painting and gluing the parts. Though I still liked my larger 1/350 models in both the Grissom and the Klingon Bird of Prey (which I no longer have but am planning to purchase another and review in the future), this is still a welcome addition to my collection and with their diminutive 1/1000 scale, they do not take up much display space, which is something I always find at a premium.