Star Trek USS Discovery

For the scale/size, there is great detail in the molding, especially around the secondary hull. This is also a decently-sized model considering the scale (For Star Trek models, anyway). The ship design is eccentric, with plenty of right angles and a bit of a tight spot around the neck, so I would recommend painting and decaling in subassemblies. Pieces fit well together mostly, but I did experience some issues with fitting around the bridge/inner-saucer section. Additionally, the port side of the secondary hull needed to be clamped together to set properly. In the end, I was happy enough with the seams that I did not feel a need to putty/glue them. The decals look good, but the paneling decals are a tad bit oversized and that can lead to wrinkling/silvering. My particular kit's decal set came with a small amount of discoloration/cloudiness, but held up well enough during application. I highly recommend using a decal setting solution to help settle the decals (I went through about 5 or 6 applications) and I would also suggest cutting some of the decals even more than the instructions say to make them easier to handle and so they lay onto the body of the model properly, especially the decal along the spine of the neck. Although the decals do much of the heavy lifting, there is still plenty of opportunity to add detailing with paint. I finished my build with a matt coat (as I typically do with Federation starships), however, I think perhaps a satin finish would look better (to still promote a shiny metal look without looking wet, and would also hide some of the silvering better). In the end, the molding, decals, and ships paint scheme do a lot to minimize the issues I discussed and present a lot of wonderful detail in the finished kit.