A Look at Some of the Most Popular Star Trek Model Ships

Every true hero must have a mighty villain to battle. Thus when considering Star Trek model ships, it's right to take a look at the ships piloted by the bad guys as well as the interstellar beauties led by the Federation's courageous captains.

Of course, the original bad guys of the Star Trek universe were the Klingons, and their ship models are nothing to sneeze at.

The Klingons D-7-type Battle Cruiser was the stalwart backbone of the imperial fleet. Designed by the amazing Matt Jeffries, the original art director of Star Trek, the D-7 cruiser was first seen in "The Enterprise Incident, " an episode in the third season. Manufacturer AMT/ERTL offers a kit of three models that includes the D-7 Cruiser, complete with fiber-optic lights and electronic sound effects.

The K't'inga-class Battle Cruiser was seen first in "Star Trek:The Motion Picture." K't'inga is essential an upgraded D-7 with lots more detail on the surface.

Perhaps the most feared of the Klingon fleet was the Bird of Prey. A B'Rel/K'Vort-class starship, the Bird of Prey could enter atmospheres and land on planets, while also being capable of warp-speed travel between star systems. Fictionally, the Bird of Prey came in two classes: a smaller B'rel-class ship used as a scout, and the larger K'Vort cruiser class. Klingon starship capable of atmospheric entry and landing, as well as warp speed interstellar travel. In TV and movie reality (if there is such a thing), the same model in different sizes was used to represent both classes of ships. Designed by Nilo Rodis, the Bird of Prey was built for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, by Industrial Light & Magic.

Next came the Vor'Cha-class Attack Cruiser, first appearing in the episode "Reunion" of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Rick Sternbach designed this beauty, one of the biggest and most power of the Klingon Empire's ships.

The flagship of the Imperial Klingon fleet was the Negh'var-class battleship, commanded by Commander Worf's mentor, General Martok in the Cardassian invasion in "The Way of the Warrior" on Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Also designed by Rick Sternbach, the Negh'var class also did battle against the Dominion when it attacked DS9.

Naturally these Klingon ships didn't face off only against mighty starships such as the Enterprise, and these smaller, lesser-known Federation ships fascinate Star Trek model ship hobbyists as well.

Of the many other Star Trek model ships, such as those from Federation classes Akira, Steamrunner, Prometheus, and Defiant, perhaps the most comically defeated was the USS Excelsior, who was overcome not by an enemy, but by one of the Federation's own. Touted as the high-tech successor to the Enterprise, the Excelsior's vaunted "transwarp" drive was easily sabotaged by Captain of Engineering Montgomery Scott, who dismissed Excelsior as "a bucket of bolts." Apparently Excelsior was upgraded in a refit, because the last time she appeared, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, she was a force to be reckoned much like her esteemed captain, Higaru Sulu.

Paramount Pictures holds all rights to the copyright and trademark of all Star Trek names, characters, logos and related designs. Be sure to look for this information when purchasing kits for Star Trek model ships.

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