3788 Scale Romulan SaberHawk Heavy War Destroyer W

This ship was typical of the heavy war destroyers which came into service about Y180. They were intended to replace all of the support ship variants with a single design. The ability to rapidly convert an HDW to any variant (scout, escort, fighter carrier, gunboat tender, commando ship, cargo transport, scientific survey ship, and others), allowed a fleet to respond to a need for more support ships of a given type caused by heavy casualties among those units or changing battlefield technology. All HDWs carry two fighters for additional firepower and are treated as "casual carriers."

The mounting of the third engine (under the hull, rather than over it as was done with the SparrowHawk) and the lack of a torpedo weapon on that engine were the result of hull stress studies. The hull was not originally designed to mount a third engine at all, and mounting it above would have required building an entirely new design. Mounted under the hull, the stress was manageable (as the main hull frame members were there), but the torpedo would not have been able to clear the bridge. The rear-firing weapons created interesting tactical situations.

The ship is available in a variety of materials. (Smooth Fine Detail Plastic makes an excellent cloaked ship!) Ships are unpainted, use standard flight stands available from many sources, and, while designed for gaming, make fine display pieces.