I bought the Imai "Roman Warship" kit a few years back in its new Academy box. In many ways it's an excellent kit. I love the planking detail and, especially, the ingenious slide-molded deadeyes. I wish they were available separately, by the dozen or hundred. And dig those wonderful "gold"-plated mounting pedestals! And Mr. Millard did a superb job on his.
I have to say, though, that I have two reservations about the kit. For one thing, the scale on the box, 1/250, is utterly absurd. I don't know whether the original Imai version had that scale on it, or whether Academy added it, but the kit is on a much larger scale than that.
My other, more serious reservation has to do with the oars. The hull is that of a bireme. There are supposed to be two rows of oars on each side - one row sticking out below the "outrigger boxes" (as supplied in the kit), and the other row (not in the kit) sticking through the holes in the edges of those boxes. Without that upper row of oars, the outriggers have no purpose.
I don't know why Imai made this mistake. I do remember that Imai offered two ancient galley kits - a Greek one and a Roman one - that used many of the same parts. (I don't recall whether the hulls were identical - but I think they may have been.) The "Greek" kit, as I remember, had the oars sticking out through the outrigger boxes, and the "Roman" version (the one offered now by Academy) has the oars sticking out underneath.
I can suggest three fixes. One - make the additional oars from scratch. (Let's not get into the question of how Academy would feel about making cast resin copies of the ones in the kit.) Two - buy two kits. (The oars in the lower row presumably would have to be shortened.) Three - just put all the oars that come with the kit on one side of the model, and display it on a narrow shelf with the other side facing the wall. (Or maybe the oarsmen on the other side have been ordered to ship oars, perhaps to avoid another ship.)
The goof regarding the oars is a real shame. To my eye, at least, this is the best of the several ancient galley kits on the market - far better than the Heller alternatives. The Imai line of sailing ships was, in my humble opinion, the best series of plastic sailing ships we've yet seen. I think these two galleys may have been among the company's first efforts.
Ambitious modelers interested in ancient galleys might be interested in the wood kits made by the Czech firm Dusek. I hadn't heard of this company until quite recently, and I've never seen any of its kits "in the flesh," but on the basis of the photos the Greek bireme and trireme look pretty good. Here's a link: http://www.dusekshipkits.com/kits.html .
Finally - for the benefit of "Ben Hur" fans who haven't already heard this:
"Battle...speed!" Thump.......thump.......thump.......thump....
"Attack...speed!" Thump.....thump.....thump.....thump....
"Ramming...speed!" Thump...thump...thump...thump...
"Waterskiing...speed!" Tumpathumpathumpathumpathumpa....