Romulan Bird of Prey

(TOS; Balance of Terror, The Deadly Years)

Pictures

Interpretation

These pictures of the studio model reveal a number of shortcomings in the old Bird of Prey model kit from AMT. Most notable are that the model:

• has spheres rather than hemispheres on the nacelle leading ends
• lacks plasma cannon
• lacks angled rim around edge of hull
• vertical fin looks too thick
• dorsal blister stands too high off the hull
• "exhaust" cone at end of each nacelle is too short
• decal doesn't exactly match the bird of prey pattern on the keel
• no raised rings demarking the ?viewports?
• the aft keel should have an inset V-shaped curved area

This enhanced image of that area shows shading (red arrowheads) where the hull surface is a concave V-shape or half-ellipse. The vestige of the tail shows additional 'bird of prey' marking.

 Robert Klaus has written an extensive article on reworking the Bird of Prey. It's re-posted here with his kind permission.