Scale: 28mm - 30 cm/12" long and 24 cm/9½" wide when built

Parts: 42 resin 1 clear

Instructions: 2 pages; 1 for complicated steps, 1 for technical info.

Decals: Awww man, no decals! Guess I'll have to raid the extras box

Molding Quality: 8 - The model parts are solid. Some filler will be necessary for large seams. Large pour stubs/casting blocks.

Detail: 9+ - The detail is mind-blowing, inside and out.

Accuracy: Not rated

MSRP: £75.00 GBP ($125 USD/ ~$164.19 CAN/ € 125 EUR) available from Forge World

Overall Rating: 8 - Pricey, but you definately get what you pay for.

Image: Canopies

Image: Cockpit piece

Image: Door gunners

Image: Engines - note the casting blocks

Image: Fuselage

Image: Extra bits to add to the fuselage

Image: Pilots

Image: Wings

Image: A nightmare, revealed

Image: Instructions

Forge World has put together some great stuff since its creation and this piece is no exception. When I saw the Valkyrie it jumped out a some thing brand new in that universe, something for the Guard other than a tank. It's obvious where the inspiration for this piece comes from. Although not a rotary-wing based craft, it has all the feelings of a troop carrying helicopter.

What You Get

After saving some euros I finally found the time to strike a get the Valkyrie. Forge World in my opinion has great service and it only took a couple of weeks to get to me. When I cracked the box open I found a bag full of bags full of pieces. I think it was clever to keep the smaller parts from mixing with the larger as not to get snapped in two. This has some pretty heavy parts.

I started rifling through the 42 pieces and was instantly absorbed into all the detail. My modeling task seemed to become more daunting by each detailed piece I looked through. More on detail later. This kit a a surprisingly little flash a light scrape of the knife would eliminate those. The ends of sprue are an entirely different story. Where the part and the sprue end meet does not taper like most kits, it's solid and thick. A razor saw will definatly need to be used. There was no pitting or warping in the larger parts. Some of the smaller part were a little warped, nothing major.

Each piece of this kit is encrusted with detail. Switches, buttons, and dials on the consoles in the troop bay really stand out. This is where I encountered my first challenge. To pick out all the detail of the troop bay I would have to paint the interior with the two halves separate. While dry fitting the two halves I found that a gap of about a millimeter is present. Filler will be necessary. The thought of putting filler on or near well painted details is not a good one. I'm still a little stumped at this time.

Other than that seam, the parts dry fit fairly smooth. The cockpit has a pilot and a copilot molded in place. History indicates that this practice yield ugly results. Forge World pulls this off. The canopy is large enough to give way to the details inside. This area would be a lot of fun to wire for light if the nose area were not solid resin. This kit comes with a strip of clear plastic to cut out the windows. I've had very little experience with this so I'm going to get some extra at a local shop. The panel lines on the wings and fuselage are deep, real deep. Getting a wash into those canyons will be no problem.

This model comes with a couple of options as well. Side doors close via a rail so you don't have to glue them open or shut, you can also have the seats in the troop bay up or down. The rear hatch drops down as well to reveal the inside. I bought two door gunners to spruce up the inside just a bit more. These models can be bought separately from Forge World.

Conclusions

This is an intimidating kit. I don't feel that it's out of my league, just a new experience to advance my skill level. I'm looking forward to creating some sort of diorama for this, the model is just too nice to stand alone in my opinion.