Starship Modeler: Star Trek Ships - The Enterprises

The original Star Trek series may have died after only three seasons - but it spawned a sub-genre that has come to be what most folks think of when they think 'sci-fi'. It also spawned a thriving modeling community and hordes of kits, from 'garage kit' resin ships to mass-market styrene. If that wasn't enough, Trek fans are also renowned for kit-bashing and scratch-building ships that may have never seen the screen, but are no less inventive than those that did. For a periodically updated list of all the available Trek kits, by scale, see our updated Star Trek Scale List. The Enterprises | Federation | Klingons | Cardassian | Romulans | Shuttles | Space Stations | Non-Canon Ships | Other Ships

The Enterprises

Image: CBLIM@AOL.com via Holodeck3

The 'Flagship of the Federation' since the beginning, and quite possibly the most famous sci-fi spaceships ever. Eight ships have borne the name since the start of the various series, 'boldly going where no one has gone before'. All have been mass-marketed as injection plastic kit form in several (mostly inconsistent) scales. Additionally, a number of resin kits have been made of each ship, again in various scales, from 1" long gaming miniatures to Northstar Models' mammoth 1/260 scale Enterprise-A.

^ Image by Adam Ihle courtesy of LCARS: Federation Databank

USS Enterprise NX-01. In the nine decades following Zefram Cochrane's visionary warp flight in space and the First Contact that followed, the human race has been slowly guided by the Vulcans toward developing the Warp Five engine. Mankind was at last able to explore the virgin depths of space with a revolutionary new starship, the Enterprise NX-01, under the command of Captain Jonathan Archer. The ship was designed by Doug Drexler and shares some design similarities with the (much later) Akira class.

References: Star Trek: The Magazine, 2001 Available Kits

Reviews: Bob Pauly's Bandai Lighted NX-01 Enterprise Rick Kelly improves Bandai's Lighted NX-01 Enterprise John Lester's Polar Lights' 1/1000 NX-01 Enterprise: Larry Johnson's Polar Lights 1/350 NX-01 Enterprise Kit Preview Joe Brown's PNT Ennex O'Won: Out of the Box John Lester's Sci-Clone IN-EX: In Box Preview John Lester's 1/2500 NX-01 In Box Preview

USS Enterprise NCC-1701 (Constitution-class) -TOS. The ship that started it all. Launched in in 2245 from the San Fransico Yards orbiting Earth, she spent most of her career under the command of James T. Kirk. Refitted and upgraded throughout her service (most notably in 2270), she was finally "scuttled" by Kirk in 2285 to prevent capture by the Klingons. The original ship was designed by Star Trek's first art director, Matt Jefferies. From the first pilot through the third movie the design underwent many changes, the most drastic of which was the "2270" refit for Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

References: IDIC Page The Model Citizen Starship Builder's Guide Starfleet Modeler STMP Enterprise Paul Olsen's Website Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999 Spaceships of Fact and Fantasy, Kalmbach 1996 Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998 Available Kits

Reviews: Tony Greenfield previews Corgi's 40th Anniversary TOS Enterprise John Lester previews Polar Lights' 1/1000 TOS Enterprise Scott Scariot's Classic Enterprise: Out of the Box Jerry Terrell's scratchbuilt Enterprise (Gallery) Garry Stahls previews Starcrafts' 1/1400 TOS Enterprise Owen Oulton takes another look at Starcrafts' 1/1400 TOS Enterprise Max Kohnke tackles ERTL's The Enterprise Incident (with lights and sounds) Brian Parker builds AMT/ERTL's Original 3 Space Ship Set Robb Merrill uses Absolute Models' TOS Enterprise Blank Grid decals John Lester previews Round 2's TOS Enterprise 'Tholian Web' Edition

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A (Constitution-class refit) - movies (ST:IV- ST:VI). Originally the USS Yorktown, this ship was rechristened in 2286 after the loss of the original Enterprise and placed under the command of Captain Kirk. The ship and her crew were instrumental in the success of the historic Khitomer peace conference in 2293. Shortly thereafter, the ship was decommissioned. Externally, the Enterprise-A was virtually indistinguishable from the refit original Enterprise, though many of the interiors were redesigned for Star Trek: V and VI. FREE Refit Enterprise wallpaper - click here

References: Johnson, Shane Mr Scott's Guide to the Enterprise, Simon & Shuster, 1987 IDIC Page The Model Citizen Starship Builder's Guide Starfleet Modeler Enterprise-A Paint Guide Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999 Spaceships of Fact and Fantasy, Kalmbach 1996 Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998 Available Kits

Reviews: Arthur Pendragon builds ERTLs' venerable Refit Enterprise/ Enterprise-A John Lester's preview pix of the Polar Lights 1/350 USS Enterprise (refit) John Ross and Rob Caswell build Bandai's USS Enterprise (refit) Rod Pitt has another look at Bandai's USS Enterprise (refit) Dale Rollinson tackles the seams of Bandai's USS Enterprise (refit) April Welles builds Starcrafts' Enterprise-A Steve Wilson previews Northstar Models Refit Enterprise/ Enterprise-A A.J. Madison's Accurizing ERTL's Enterprise-A Paul Garcia previews the Starcrafts' Enterprise-A Phil McNaughton builds Polar Lights' Refit Enterprise/ Enterprise-A John Lester previews Polar Lights' Refit Enterprise/ Enterprise-A John Lester's preview of PNT Models 1/350 Refit/ 1701-A Photoetched Detail Set John Lester's preview of VA Miniatures 1/537 Refit/ 1701-A Saucer Mounted Shuttlebay Tyler Lindsay's sneak peek at Polar Lights' 1/1000 Refit/ 1701-A Enterprise Tim Utton previews Tetryon Parts Upgrade Pack for Polar Lights 1:1000 Refit Enterprise Plenty of Enterprise-As in the Gallery

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B (Excelsior-class refit) - ST:Generations. Launched in 2293 under the command of Captain John Harriman, the Enterprise-B's "claim to fame" was the loss of the visiting Captain Kirk during an aborted VIP junket out to Pluto and back. Little is known of the ship's career after this, except that she must have been decommissioned or destroyed before 2344 (when her descendant, the Enterprise-C, was herself lost). The miniature was a modification of the Excelsior model designed by Bill George for Star Trek:III. The modifications were designed by John Eaves, who also helped design the Enterprise-E.

References: IDIC Page The Model Citizen Starship Builder's Guide Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999 Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998 Available Kits

Reviews: Garret Parson's In Detail: Building ERTL's Excelsior John Lester's Building the Excelsior Ken Lilly's Excelsior Build-Up Matt G's preview of Starcrafts' Exclesior Refit/Enterprise-B

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C (Ambassador-class) -ST:TNG ("Yesterday's Enterprise"). Little is known of the early career of this ship. Under the command of Captain Rachel Garret, she was lost in 2344 defending the Klingon outpost at Narendra III from Romulan attack. The original ship was was later modified and redressed as the Zhukov, Yamaguchi, et al. Andrew Probert sent this in on the design of the Enterprise-C: "When Gene decided that the Next Gen Enterprise was to be designated "D", I was compelled to come up with what was between The Movie version and Next Gen, so I came up with the "B" and "C". Having designed the "D" to a length twice that of TMP, I wanted to ramp up to that size, so I established the "B" as a perfected Excelsior Class. Then I placed a side profile of it below the Galaxy Class, at the same scale, with room between the two ships. In that space, I started the "C". I drew lines between important points on both ships, i.e.: saucer, eng-hull, and warp engine boundaries, and then completed the "C" to those proportions. The result was this image. I know you've seen this painting before but you can see where I would have taken it, had I been on the show when the show was written for it. The "Class" (Ambassador) was also from me. It was a class I'd suggested to Gene for the "D" but he wanted something "bigger" like Galaxy, so when the "C" came up, I resubmitted it and it was so named. After I left the show, a miniature of the "C" was needed and it underwent modifications to what was seen on screen. My guess is that Greg Jein changed it but Rick might have had something to do with it too. Rick and I did co-design the Stargazer, however."

References: IDIC Page Starfleet Modeler Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999 Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998 Available Kits

Reviews: Chris St. James' Build Up Review John Lester's Enterprise-C Kit Preview Wayne Snyder's Enterprise-C Build-up

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D (Galaxy-class) -ST:TNG. Launched in 2363 from the Utopia Planitia Shipyards orbiting Mars, she spent her entire service under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. She was destroyed at Veridian III in 2371 during a mission to prevent the destruction of the Veridian system. The filming model (actually, there were at least four, including the one built for Generations) was designed for Star Trek:The Next Generation by Andrew Probert. It also appeared as the Odysseus and Yamato, among others.

References: Sternbach, Rick and Okuda, Michael Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual, Simon & Shuster, 1991 IDIC Page The Model Citizen Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999 Spaceships of Fact and Fantasy, Kalmbach 1996 Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998 Available Kits

Reviews: John Lester's Galaxy-Class Shuttlebay Preview Brad Eastman's Galaxy-Class Shuttlebay Installed Alun Owen's Future Enterprise Conversion Preview John Lester's Galaxy-Class Warp Nacelles Preview CultTVMan's Building the Enterprises

USS Enterprise NCC-1701-E (Sovereign- class) - ST:First Contact, Insurrection and Nemesis. Leanest/meanest of the line. Launched in 2371 under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, she prevented the assimilation of humanity by the Borg the next year, exposed and defeated Son'a genetic slavery, and was severely damaged defeating a Romulan coup. The ship was designed by Herman Zimmerman and John Eaves, and built by ILM for ST: First Contact.

References: Starfleet Modeler Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999 Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998 Available Kits

Reviews: Craig Mah builds Bandai's Enterprise-E Scott Scariot's Alliance Sovereign-class preview TrekFX's preview of the ERTL kit. Various Gallery pieces. CultTVMan's Building the Enterprises

USS Enterprise NCC-1701 (Constitution- class) - Star Trek (2009), Into Darkness (2013). In JJ Abram's re-imagined "alternate-universe" Star Trek reboot, The Enterprise is purpose-built as the Federation flagship, saving Earth from various threats under the command of cadet-made-captain James Kirk. Director J. J. Abrams wanted the Enterprise to have a "hot rod" look while retaining the traditional shape, but otherwise afforded Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) "tremendous" leeway in creating the ship. Concept artist Ryan Church's initial designs that were modeled and refined by set designer Joseph Hiura, then further refined and developed into CGI models by Alex Jaeger's team.

References: Available Kits

Reviews: Jay Chladek looks at Revell's Into Darkness Enterprise

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