(written from a Production point of view)
Starship models re-scaled to in-universe dimensions | |
Discovery | |
Magazine spread | |
US shop promos |
Star Trek: Discovery The Official Starships Collection is a monthly British partwork magazine and product line that premiered on 31 January 2018 and is published by Eaglemoss Collections under its Hero Collector imprint.
A sister publication of the Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, Build The USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D, and Star Trek Online Starships Collection partworks, it is authorized and licensed by CBS Consumer Products, debuted simultaneously in the US and the UK, and is marketed to a number of countries worldwide.
Products are available through subscription (where applicable[1]), through the company's international webshops, and from many other retailers, including Diamond Comic Distributors, Anovos, and ThinkGeek/GameStop. [11] [12]
Each standard issue includes a (roughly) six to ten inch-long (150 to 240 mm-long) hand-painted [2] scaled replica of a starship from the Star Trek: Discovery series. Cast in ABS and die-cast metal, a number of starship designs have been reproduced here (as miniatures) for the first time by any manufacturer. Available separately, larger Special Edition starship models, metallic resin dedication plaques, dedicated magazine binders, and a figurine have been produced. Gift premiums have also been released to subscribers.
Ben Robinson, the project's senior manager, and his team, under the supervision of John Ainsworth, utilize the original CGI studio models provided by Pixomondo for reference, once they have been approved by CBS Studios and Secret Hideout, the show's primary production companies, and the VFX team. [13] [14] [15] [16]
Robinson and Ainsworth have their longtime Official Starships Collection associate Fabio Passaro convert these models into LightWave 3D, Eaglemoss' software package of choice, as the production-used models are created in Autodesk Maya and must be re-texturized, rescaled, and modified for 3D printing. Passaro then converts these 3D models into CAD files. [17] [18] [3]
At the Holinail Group, Eaglemoss' manufacturing partner in China, [19] these files are converted into the CAD format used by the factory and tooling masters are created. Two-dimensional renders of the ships are frequently used for the publication's illustrations by its editors in the UK, and each sixteen-page A5 format magazine (measuring 168 × 217 mm, [4] half the size of those of the preceding Official Starships Collection) fits within the printed cardboard boxes that the models are presented in.
The magazines are co-authored and co-edited by Ben Robinson, Marcus Riley, and Matt McAllister. Production stills, concept art, and newly-created orthographic views are utilized extensively, and new interviews with DIS starship designers including William Budge, Goran Delic, Ryan Dening, JD Dickenson, John Eaves, Sam Michlap, Thomas Pringle, and Scott Schneider were conducted.
Some of the magazine content was published by Eaglemoss under the Hero Collector imprint, and was distributed by Penguin Random House in two hardcover mass-market reference books from the Star Trek: Shipyards series, within the Starfleet Ships 2151-2293 and The Klingon Fleet volumes. [20]
Also incorporating some of this material, the Star Trek: Discovery Designing Starships volume of the Designing Starships book series features every starship from Discovery's first season and was published in September 2019. [21]
Transition to the Star Trek Universe: The Official Starships Collection[]
In July 2020, the company announced that this product line (and subscriptions) would be suspended after the release of (numbered) issue 33, due to production delays with the third season of the show and the resulting lack of new CG assets.
In October 2020, Eaglemoss further reported that it had plans to release more starship models from DIS in a future starships line, combined with ships from Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
It was subsequently named the Star Trek Universe: The Official Starships Collection which debuted in March 2021. [22] pursuant the institution of the Star Trek franchise's "Star Trek Universe" all-under-one-roof franchise umbrella concept at the start of the year. The company has revealed a number of forthcoming 32nd century Federation starship models from the third season of DIS for the new partwork, which superseded this line. [23] Subscription services for the original line were terminated, and customers who wanted to continue with their collection had to take out a new subscription on the Universe collection.
Until July 2022, larger XL Edition models featuring starships from Discovery continued to be released within the originating Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection. In 2018, the Discovery version of the USS Enterprise actually debuted in that side collection as the very first ship from the new show.
Eaglemoss Collections/Hero Collector publications |
---|
Starship collections: Official • Discovery • STO • Universe • Lower Decks |
Other collections: Build the Enterprise-D • Busts |
Book series: A Celebration • Designing Starships • Graphic Novel Collection • Nerd Search • Shipyards • Illustrated Handbook |
Other books: Mr. Spock's Little Book of Mindfulness • Star Trek Cocktails • The Book of Grudge |
Issues[]
No. | Cover | Title/Contents | Model | Lng* | Scale |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | |||||
1 | USS Shenzhou NCC-1227
31/01/2018
|
200 mm | 1:2115 | ||
2 | USS Discovery NCC-1031 [5]
03/03/2018
|
249 mm | 1:3014 | ||
3 | USS Kerala NCC-1255
12/06/2018
|
215 mm | 1:2351 | ||
4 | Klingon Bird-of-Prey
21/07/2018
|
140 mm | 1:1348 | ||
5 | USS Europa NCC-1648
21/08/2018
|
183 mm | 1:2095 | ||
6 | Vulcan Cruiser
28/09/2018
|
203 mm | 1:700 | ||
7 | USS Buran NCC-1422
10/11/2018
|
218 mm | 1:2023 | ||
8 | Klingon Qugh-class
26/11/2018
|
216 mm | 1:6299 | ||
9 | USS Clarke NCC-1661
21/12/2018
|
174 mm | 1:1592 | ||
2019 | |||||
10 | Klingon Qoj-class[6]
02/02/2019
|
201 mm | 1:5516 | ||
11 | USS Shran NCC-1413
05/02/2019
|
135 mm | 1:1668 | ||
12 | USS Enterprise NCC-1701 [7]
15/03/2019
|
215 mm | 1:2056 | ||
13 | Worker bee
31/03/2019
|
175 mm | 1:32 | ||
14 | Klingon cleave ship
24/04/2019
|
210 mm | 1:4450 | ||
15 | USS Edison NCC-1683
30/05/2019
|
140 mm | 1:2545 | ||
16 | The Festoon
24/06/2019
|
180 mm | 1:2157 [8] | ||
17 | USS T'Plana-Hath NCC-1004
31/07/2019
|
159 mm | 1:2439 | ||
18 | Klingon raider [9]
23/08/2019
|
218 mm l × 158 mm h |
1:50 [10] | ||
19 | Class C shuttlecraft (DSC 01)
17/09/2019
|
210 mm | 1:62 | ||
20 | USS Hiawatha NCC-815 [11]
21/10/2019
|
199 mm | 1:3013 [12] | ||
21 | Beacon of Kahless
12/11/2019
|
200 mm | 1:600 [13] | ||
22 | Stealth Ship
06/12/2019
|
221 mm | 1:1240 | ||
2020 | |||||
23 | Landing pod
07/01/2020
|
185 mm [14] | 1:24 | ||
24 | Klingon DaSpu-class
30/01/2020
|
194 mm | 1:2718 | ||
25 | Section 31 drone ship
04/03/2020
|
155 mm | 1:25 | ||
26 | Klingon D7 Battle Cruiser
12/03/2020
|
220 mm | 1:2286 | ||
27 | Starfleet Tug (USS Zimmerman) [15]
27/05/2020
|
150 mm | 1:1089 | ||
28 | Section 31 Nimrod-class
12/06/2020
|
220 mm | 1:3964 | ||
29 | Ba'ul fighter
19/08/2020
|
205 mm | 1:47 | ||
30 | Section 31 Shiva-class
04/12/2020
|
150 mm | 1:4302 | ||
2021 | |||||
31 | Klingon Batlh-class
01/02/2021
|
200 mm | 1:2091 | ||
32 | Section 31 Hou-Yi-class
16/02/2021
|
150 mm | 1:4302 | ||
33 | Klingon Chargh-class
08/03/2021
|
190 mm | 1:4072 |
Bonus Edition issues[]
The USS Glenn, the line's sole convention-exclusive registry variant model, was produced in a limited edition of 500 units (worldwide)[16] and was available for purchase at the 2018 Official Star Trek Convention, New York Comic Con, and the Destination Star Trek Birmingham convention. Later in the year, a small number were also briefly made available to the public by Eaglemoss' UK and US webshops. Each ship was retailed with the USS Discovery's magazine and stand.
Initially available exclusively as a subscriber gift premium, the ISS Shenzhou, a registry variant of the USS Shenzhou model, later became available as a retail product from Eaglemoss' webshops. Contrary to the first bonus issue, a magazine was not included with this model.
No. | Box | Title | Model | Lng* | Scale |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
(B1) | USS Glenn (NCC-1030) Limited Edition Variant
01/08/2018 |
249 mm | 1:3014 | ||
(B2) | ISS Shenzhou (NCC-1227)
21/05/2019 |
200 mm | 1:2115 |
Special Edition issues[]
Considerably larger than the standard releases, Special Editions are also available to the general public from company webshops and other retailers, and are not automatically sent to subscribers.
Before it was released as a 215 mm-long model with issue 12 of this partwork (see above), a 259 mm-long "XL Edition" model of the USS Enterprise (as it was seen in DIS) debuted in the first starship collection. Larger XL Edition models of the USS Discovery and the USS Shenzhou were also released in that collection, and a refitted XL USS Discovery-A is planned.
No. | Cover | Title/Contents | Model | Lng* | Scale |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
(SP1) | Sarcophagus Ship Special Issue
22/03/2019
|
300 mm | 1:8502 | ||
(SP2) | ISS Charon Special Issue [17]
18/12/2019
|
300 mm | 1:32000 | ||
(SP3) | Section 31 Station Special Issue
30/07/2020
|
190 mm w 300 mm h |
1:2676 | ||
(SP4) | Starbase 1 Special Issue
15/12/2020
|
173 mm ø 300 mm h |
1:17772 |
Magazine binders[]
"Mini-binders" (measuring 167 × 244 × 45 mm) store ten of the magazines and were made available to US subscribers but had not been retailed to the general public through the company's webshops, despite the company's stated plans to do so at the partwork's debut.
One binder however, was provided as a free bonus gift with the third shipment to early subscribers, following the below-mentioned unexpected delays with the release of the first few starships and gift premiums.[18]
Additional binders were also automatically sent to some European subscribers in 2020, close to the conclusion of the Collection's release in the region.[19]
Dedication plaques[]
Scaled replicas of starship dedication plaque are cast from metallic resin and were previously distributed as subscriber gift premiums.
No. | Box | Plaque | Model | Lng |
---|---|---|---|---|
(1) | USS Shenzhou NCC-1227 Dedication Plaque | 222 mm | ||
(2) | USS Discovery NCC-1031 Dedication Plaque | 222 mm |
Figure[]
Originally released as a subscriber gift premium in February 2019, the company also distributes this scaled figure through its international webshops and other retailers.
No. | Box | Figure | Model | Size |
---|---|---|---|---|
(1) | Tardigrade | 120 mm l × 90 mm h |
[]
Gift premiums were provided to subscribers at specific subscription milestones, and the models did not include companion magazines. As seen above, a number of these products also became available to the general public from Eaglemoss/Hero Collector webshops and other retailers. The enamel pins were previously released by FanSets.
*Starship length as measured from bow to stern, where applicable.
Background information[]
- Determined to bring the collection to market while Discovery's first season was being streamed for the first time (and managing to do so with issue 1), the company faced challenges due to "(...)delays in receiving assets from the licensor and the subsequent impact on production schedules," according to the letter that early subscribers received with the second issue, informing them of a temporary suspension. Robinson tweeted on 19 February 2018, "Shenzhous are almost all shipped. It’s been a huge push to get them out this quickly. Discos will follow. Then a little break. We just couldn’t get them made any faster." [25] As stated above, the third issue came with a free binder as appeasement for the delay. The binder had not been part of the subscriber gift premiums lineup.
- Translations of some Klingon language starship names appeared on a poster that was sent to subscribers: bortaS bir (Cold Revenge), Chargh (Conquer), 'etlh (Blade), Jach (Scream), Qaw' (Destroy), Qoj (War), Qugh (Disaster), Sech (Torch), and Veqlargh (Demon).
- A render of the USS Gagarin appeared on the poster but was replaced in the collection by the USS Kerala, another Shepard-class ship. Robinson and Eaves had not been able to confirm whether further intended modifications to the original studio model had been made, prior to its on-screen appearance as the Gagarin. [26]
- In August 2018, the project manager announced that the USS Buran, another Cardenas-class vessel, had replaced the USS Yeager in the lineup.
- On After Trek, the DIS companion series, prototype models of the collection's USS Discovery and USS Shenzhou were displayed as set decorations behind host Matt Mira, among other Star Trek memorabilia. [27]
- In 2018, Eaglemoss first partnered with Simon & Schuster for a US contest to cross-promote the Collection and the first three Discovery novels. [28](X)
Unused/cancelled Klingon designs[]
Appearing in promotional materials, six more Klingon starship designs were identified as upcoming models but were in the end not released as issues of this partwork. Regarding the prospective and eventual release of these ships in the Star Trek Universe: The Official Starships Collection followup partwork, Ben Robinson revealed, "The plan is definitely to do more. To be honest, these Klingon ships don’t sell brilliantly so we’ll work our way through the Picard, Disco and SNW ships first. Starfleet and lead ships sell better so are always the priority but with any luck we’ll circle back round." [29]
This actually reflected the criticism classic Trekdom had leveled against the total re-imagining of Klingon culture by the Discovery showrunners, which included the complete abandonment of adherence to established classic Klingon starship lineage design. Incidentally, the intense fan criticism forced the showrunners to dine on ashes by backtracking on their ill-conceived intents (see here in this regard) which resulted among others in the unplanned yet speedy introduction of a D7-class battlecruiser, redesigned along more traditional lines, which quickly received its own outing in the Collection as issue 26. Early in Discovery, the D7-class was a differently configured vessel and was renamed to Sech-class for intended inclusion in the Collection, only to became one of the cancelled issues instead.
Still, and while not in the Collection itself, all these designs did find their way into Eaglemoss' in-universe Star Trek: Shipyards - Klingon Fleet reference book, an indication that much of the editorial work for the planned accompanying magazines had already been completed.
Gallery[]
Appendices[]
Footnotes[]
- ↑ Contrary to the preceding Official Starships Collection, non-British EU customers were allowed to take out a subscription through the UK website, if a local official website was not available to them in their home countries, which had been the case with countries like the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark, among others.
- ↑ The models are painted freehand and with the use of paint masks (templates), alongside pad and tampo printing processes. The earliest prototypes are 3D printed in resin and, once approved by Eaglemoss and CBS, are manufactured using a variety of injection, vacuum, and compression molding techniques. [1]
- ↑ Pixomondo-created CG models that Fabio Passaro's Meshweaver Productions has converted and re-texturized for the Collection, as identified online, include issue 1-19, issue SP1, and the Tardigrade figurine. [2] [3] [4] Featured on his website in the Summer/Autumn of 2019, [5](X) in late 2019 Passaro opted (for unknown reasons) to delete all renders of his Discovery work from his website's "Eaglemoss: Trek Little Ships", pages 5, 6, and 7, and replace them with his later work for the Official Starships Collection.
- ↑ The concurrently running "Battlestar Galactica: The Official Ships Collection" utilized this size for the magazine component of its partwork as well.
- ↑ A larger "XL Edition" model of the USS Discovery was also released in the first starship collection in 2020.
- ↑ The sticker on the base of the Qoj class model's stand has "Klingon Veqlargh Class" printed on it, and this had apparently been the intended class name in production circles, as Pixomondo's production CGI model, built by Victoria Passariello, was actually endowed with the designation. [6]
- ↑ A larger (259 mm-long) version of the DIS USS Enterprise model was released in the first starship partwork in late 2018 with a different magazine.
- ↑ The dimensions of the "real" Festoon are not given in the magazine so the model's scale is based on an length of 388.26 meters, as provided by (the ship's designer) Ryan Dening to Wixiban's Star Trek Collectables Portal in October 2019. [7]
- ↑ Both of the Klingon Raider's "wings" are stored separately within the box that the model is shipped in, and fit into slots on the model's fuselage for display. When placed on its stand, the assembled model is 180 mm tall. As of August 2019, it is the first ship model from either Starships Collection to have a small hole made in it to accommodate its stand.
- ↑ The length of the "real" Klingon Raider is not stated in the magazine so scale was based on an estimate of 11 meters.
- ↑ In a social media post, Ben Robinson attested that the hull USS Hiawatha as seen in the episode, did not have a registry rendered onto it by its creators. [8] In this he was mistaken as registry markings were actually seen onscreen alongside a Starfleet Medical logo, in a mirrored image of the ship. But even though the registry markings were added on the Eaglemoss model, the Starfleet Medical logo was not.
- ↑ The length of the "real" USS Hiawatha is not printed in the magazine, but was established as 599.5 meters, as provided by the ship's designer, Ryan Dening to Wixiban's Star Trek Collectables Portal in October 2019. [9]
- ↑ The length of the "real" Beacon of Kahless' length is not stated in the magazine and was estimated at 120 meters.
- ↑ The dimensions of the Landing Pod reflect the ship as displayed with its struts extended, and stands 145 mm tall. The ship measures 145 mm long × 90 mm high without the struts attached.
- ↑ The Federation tugs seen onscreen in DIS did not have registries or names rendered onto their hulls. Alex Kurtzman assigned the "USS Zimmerman" name and NCC-1616 registry for the Eaglemoss model, following a request by CBS' John Van Citters and Ben Robinson. [10] Unlike the magazine's title, the model's box is labeled USS Zimmerman NCC-1616.
- ↑ Eight units of the limited edition USS Glenn model were damaged at the warehouse and were deemed unfit for release to the last eight customers who had ordered them from the UK's online shop. Besides providing a full refund, an I.O.U. for a free future convention-exclusive starship, and a handwritten apology, the company sent (at least) one unpainted production prototype of an earlier starship model to each of the affected customers.
- ↑ The ISS Charon model features internal electronic lighting that replicates the ship's super-mycelial reactor, and is powered by a CR927 coin cell battery that is not included with the issue.
- ↑ An accompanying letter made it clear that the binder was specifically meant as a compensation, and that the binder was not originally part of the gift line-up.
- ↑ After the October 2020 announcement of this line's conclusion and its transition into the Star Trek Universe collection, some European subscribers started to receive binders from issue 30 onward. The automatic shipping of the binders to these subscribers was viewed as somewhat questionable as (unlike the standard gifts), they were not free and costs were automatically deducted from subscriber accounts that had given Eaglemoss permission to do so during sign-up. Still, and even while some subscribers received binders they had not ordered, it was likely that few would have objected as the binders were never offered for sale in the webshops, despite the company's stated intent to do so in 2018-19.
It was not until June 2022 – long after the collection had been suspended – that the binder became available for general sale on the webshop sites, albeit for a very short time only as Eaglemoss went bankrupt less than two months later.
See also[]
External links[]
Official sites[]
- Eaglemoss.com(X) – defunct official international webshop
- HeroCollector.com – official collector portal (still live, but no longer maintained as of 6 July 2022)
- Coleção Star Trek(X) – defunct official Brazil webshop
- Star Trek Starships at Facebook - defunct
- Star Trek: Discovery Starships at YouTube – official YouTube channel with model turnaround videos (live, but no longer maintained)
- Ben Robinson (project manager) at X (formerly Twitter)
- Meshweaver.com – CG artist Fabio Passaro's portfolio galleries including work for Eaglemoss
Collector sites[]
- HeroCollector Star Trek & Sci Fi Collections Fan Group at Facebook – unofficial fan forum
- Wixiban.com – comprehensive series guide and the primary provider of cover scans and scaling information for this article
- Geekology at YouTube – Star Trek Official Starship Collection videos playlist
- Irish Trekkie at YouTube – Star Trek: Discovery Starships video playlist
- Some Kind of Star Trek – Star Trek: Discovery - The Official Starships Collection articles
- Trek Collective Lists – Star Trek: Discovery - The Official Starships Collection index
- The Official Starships Collection articles and reviews at TrekCore