Scale: 1/48th - about 20 cm (7¾“) long

Parts: 37 resin + 1 styrene sheet

Instructions: 2 page assembly and painting guide

Decals: Laser-printed self-adhesive

Molding Quality: 9+

Detail: 9 - very sharp

Accuracy: 10 for the 22“ version (for the 23“ version it is a bit too long)

MSRP: $85.00 USD (~$115.69 CAN/ € 73.02 EUR) available from Small Art Works

Overall Rating: Good value for the price

Image: Outer door

Image: Quad thrusters

Image: Large thruster

Image: Center door

Image: Center piece

What You Get

Contained in a ziploc bag are 37 resin pieces, one strip of styrene, a two-page manual and a decal sheet. The resin is of high quality, soft, and should be easy to whittle and sand. The resin surface is flat - which should offer the paint a nice surface to cling to. The pod is cast flawlessly, merely a few tiny bubbles are on the manuevering jets and the landing engines.

Assembly & Finish

The main body of the pod is made up of 6 resin parts. The outer walls and the two extensions are broken down into 4 hollow-cast pieces. The pouring channels for the extensions are 3mm thick, and are easily removed with a motor tool. Don’t cut too close too the model - leave a bit that you can carefully cut with a knife and sand. One extension takes about 30 minutes of cleanup.

The instructions are easy to understand and visually aided with good pictures. If you want to build the 22“ version, the main body must be shortened by one centimeter. This one centimeter is well placed and recognizable at the center of the pod. Removing it should be no problem. A test-fit of the side extension to the main body showed an excellent fit. When cemented properly, no filling/sanding is necessary. This also goes for the rest of the Pod. If you work slowly and cleanly, filling will be at a minimum.

The decals are printed on peel-and-stick paper. The printing Quality is good and the paper is very thin. The Deluxe Version contains waterslide decals. The smaller pieces are cast in very good quality and only require a bit of sanding to remove the excess resin.

There are tips in the instructions on how to paint the pod, however I would still recommend browsing the ‘net for additional pictures.

Conclusions

SmallArtWorks helps make the lives of us customizers and scratchbuilders very easy. I must say that even if I tried very hard, I wouldn’t be able to build a better pod. It is almost perfect. For beginners the kit might be a little difficult, but then which beginner would start-off building an AB, Replicas Unlimited or scratch-built Eagle?

To anyone beyond the beginners stage I can heartily recommend this kit. There will never be a better one.