Star Trek: Discovery The Official Starships Collection

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Star Trek: Discovery The Official Starships Collection
Publisher:	Eaglemoss Collections/Hero Collector De Agostini (Japan)
No. of issues:	33 + 2 Bonus + 4 Special Editions
Editor(s):	Ben Robinson
No. of pages:	16

Starship models re-scaled to in-universe dimensions
Discovery
Federation	Alien
Small	Massive
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), 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 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]

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, 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.

Issues

2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021
No.	Cover	Title/Contents	Model	Lng*	Scale
2018
1		USS Shenzhou NCC-1227 31/01/2018 Contents, p. 2 USS Shenzhou NCC-1227 Specification, p. 3 USS Shenzhou NCC-1227, pp. 4-7 Designing The USS Shenzhou, pp. 8-14		200 mm	1:2115
2		USS Discovery NCC-1031 03/03/2018 Contents, p. 2 USS Discovery NCC-1031 Specification, p. 3 USS Discovery NCC-1031, pp. 4-7 Designing The USS Discovery, pp. 8-14		249 mm	1:3014
3		USS Kerala NCC-1255 12/06/2018 Contents, p. 2 USS Kerala NCC-1255 Specification, p. 3 USS Kerala NCC-1255, pp. 4-9 Designing The USS Kerala, pp. 10-14		215 mm	1:2351
4		Klingon Bird-of-Prey 21/07/2018 Contents, p. 2 Klingon Bird-of-Prey Specification, p. 3 Klingon Bird-of-Prey, pp. 4-7 Designing The Klingon Bird-of-Prey, pp. 8-14		140 mm	1:1348
5		USS Europa NCC-1648 21/08/2018 Contents, p. 2 USS Europa NCC-1648 Specification, p. 3 USS Europa NCC-1648, pp. 4-7 Designing The Admiral's Ship, pp. 8-14		183 mm	1:2095
6		Vulcan Cruiser 28/09/2018 Contents, p. 2 Vulcan Cruiser Specification, p. 3 Vulcan Cruiser, pp. 4-7 Designing The Vulcan Cruiser, pp. 8-14		203 mm	1:700
7		USS Buran NCC-1422 10/11/2018 Contents, p. 2 USS Buran NCC-1422 Specification, p. 3 USS Buran NCC-1422, pp. 4-7 Designing The Cardenas-class, pp. 8-14		218 mm	1:2023
8		Klingon Qugh-class 26/11/2018 Contents, p. 2 Klingon Empire Qugh Class Specification, p. 3 Klingon Qugh Class, pp. 4-7 Designing The Qugh Class, pp. 8-14		216 mm	1:6299
9		USS Clarke NCC-1661 21/12/2018 Contents, p. 2 USS Clarke NCC-1661 Specification, p. 3 USS Clarke NCC-1661, pp. 4-9 Designing The USS Clarke, pp. 10-14		174 mm	1:1592
2019
10		Klingon Qoj-class 02/02/2019 Contents, p. 2 Klingon Qoj Class Specification, p. 3 Klingon Qoj Class, pp. 4-9 Designing The Qoj Class, pp. 10-14		201 mm	1:5516
11		USS Shran NCC-1413 05/02/2019 Contents, p. 2 USS Shran NCC-1413 Specification, p. 3 USS Shran NCC-1413, pp. 4-9 Designing The Shran, pp. 10-14		135 mm	1:1668
12		USS Enterprise NCC-1701 15/03/2019 Contents, p. 2 USS Enterprise NCC-1701 Specification, p. 3 USS Enterprise NCC-1701, pp. 4-9 Designing The USS Enterprise, pp. 10-14		215 mm	1:2056
13		Worker bee 31/03/2019 Contents, p. 2 Worker Bee Specification, p. 3 Worker Bee, pp. 4-9 Designing The Worker Bee, pp. 10-14		175 mm	1:32
14		Klingon cleave ship 24/04/2019 Contents, p. 2 Klingon Cleave Ship Specification, p. 3 Klingon Cleave Ship, pp. 4-7 Designing The Klingon Cleave Ship, pp. 8-14		210 mm	1:4450
15		USS Edison NCC-1683 30/05/2019 Contents, p. 2 USS Edison NCC-1683 Specification, p. 3 USS Edison NCC-1683, pp. 4-7 Designing The USS Edison, pp. 8-14		140 mm	1:2545
16		The Festoon 24/06/2019 Contents, p. 2 The Festoon Specification, p. 3 The Festoon, pp. 4-7 Designing The Festoon, pp. 8-14		180 mm	1:2157
17		USS T'Plana-Hath NCC-1004 31/07/2019 Contents, p. 2 USS T'Plana-Hath NCC-1004 Specification, p. 3 USS T'Plana-Hath NCC-1004, pp. 4-7 Designing The USS T'Plana-Hath, pp. 8-14		159 mm	1:2439
18		Klingon raider 23/08/2019 Contents, p. 2 Klingon Raider Specification, p. 3 Klingon Raider, pp. 4-9 Designing The Klingon Raider, pp. 10-14		218 mm l × 158 mm h	1:50
19		Class C shuttlecraft (DSC 01) 17/09/2019 Contents, p. 2 Class C Shuttlecraft Specification, p. 3 Class C Shuttlecraft, pp. 4-9 Designing The Class C Shuttle, pp. 10-14		210 mm	1:62
20		USS Hiawatha NCC-815 21/10/2019 Contents, p. 2 USS Hiawatha NCC-1815 Specification, p. 3 USS Hiawatha NCC-1815, pp. 4-7 Designing The USS Hiawatha, pp. 8-14		199 mm	1:3013
21		Beacon of Kahless 12/11/2019 Contents, p. 2 Beacon of Kahless Specification, p. 3 Beacon of Kahless, pp. 4-7 Designing The Beacon of Kahless, pp. 8-14		200 mm	1:600
22		Stealth Ship 06/12/2019 Contents, p. 2 Stealth Ship Specification, p. 3 Stealth Ship, pp. 4-7 Designing The Stealth Ship, pp. 8-14		221 mm	1:1240
2020
23		Landing pod 07/01/2020 Contents, p. 2 Landing Pod Specification, p. 3 Landing Pod, pp. 4-7 Designing The Landing Pod, pp. 8-14		185 mm	1:24
24		Klingon DaSpu-class 30/01/2020 Contents, p. 2 Klingon DaSpu' Specification, p. 3 Klingon DaSpu', pp. 4-7 Designing The DaSpu', pp. 8-14		194 mm	1:2718
25		Section 31 drone ship 04/03/2020 Contents, p. 2 Section 31 Drone Specification, p. 3 Section 31 Drone, pp. 4-7 Designing The Section 31 Drone, pp. 8-14		155 mm	1:25
26		Klingon D7 Battle Cruiser 12/03/2020 Contents, p. 2 Klingon D7-Class Battle Cruiser Specification, p. 3 Klingon D7-Class Battle Cruiser, pp. 4-7 Designing The Klingon D7, pp. 8-14		220 mm	1:2286
27		Starfleet Tug (USS Zimmerman) 27/05/2020 Contents, p. 2 Starfleet Tug Specification, p. 3 Helios Class, pp. 4-7 Designing The Starfleet Tug, pp. 8-14		150 mm	1:1089
28		Section 31 Nimrod-class 12/06/2020 Contents, p. 2 Nimrod-Class Specification, p. 3 Nimrod-Class, pp. 4-7 Planning The Final Battle, pp. 8-14		220 mm	1:3964
29		Ba'ul fighter 19/08/2020 Contents, p. 2 Ba'ul Fighter Specification, p. 3 Ba'ul Fighter, pp. 4-9 Designing The Ba'ul Fighter, pp. 10-14		205 mm	1:47
30		Section 31 Shiva-class 04/12/2020 Contents, p. 2 Shiva-Class Specification, p. 3 Shiva-Class, pp. 4-7 Designing The Section 31 Fleet, pp. 8-14		150 mm	1:4302
2021
31		Klingon Batlh-class 01/02/2021 Contents, p. 2 Klingon Batlh-Class Specification, p. 3 Klingon Batlh-Class, pp. 4-7 Designing The Batlh-Class, pp. 8-14		200 mm	1:2091
32		Section 31 Hou-Yi-class 16/02/2021 Contents, p. 2 Hou-Yi-Class Specification, p. 3 Hou-Yi-Class, pp. 4-7 Scaling The Section 31 Fleet, pp. 8-14		150 mm	1:4302
33		Klingon Chargh-class 08/03/2021 Contents, p. 2 Chargh-Class Specification, p. 3 Chargh-Class, pp. 4-7 Designing The Chargh, pp. 8-14		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) 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 Contents, p. 2 Sarcophagus Ship Specification, p. 3 The Sarcophagus Ship, pp. 4-9 Designing The Ship Of The Dead, pp. 10-14		300 mm	1:8502
(SP2)		ISS Charon Special Issue 18/12/2019 Contents, p. 2 ISS Charon Specification, p. 3 ISS Charon, pp. 4-9 Designing The ISS Charon, pp. 10-14		300 mm	1:32000
(SP3)		Section 31 Station Special Issue 30/07/2020 Contents, p. 2 Section 31 Station Specification, p. 3 Section 31 Station, pp. 4-9 Designing The Section 31 Station, pp. 10-14		190 mm w 300 mm h	1:2676
(SP4)		Starbase 1 Special Issue 15/12/2020 Contents, p. 2 Starbase 1 Specification, p. 3 Starbase 1, pp. 4-7 Designing Starbase 1, pp. 9-14		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.

Additional binders were also automatically sent to some European subscribers in 2020, close to the conclusion of the Collection's release in the region.

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

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.

No.	Box/Package	Premium	Model	Size	Scale
(1A)		USS Shenzhou enamel pin (June to October 2018)		57 mm ø
(1B)		USS Discovery enamel pin (2019)		57 mm ø
(2)		Scale chart poster × 2		594 × 420 mm × 2
(3)		USS Shenzhou NCC-1227 Dedication Plaque		222 mm
(4)		USS Discovery NCC-1031 Dedication Plaque		222 mm
(5)		Tardigrade		120 mm l × 90 mm h
(6)		ISS Shenzhou NCC-1227		200 mm	1:2115

Scaling, size, and contents info, cover scans, and some graphics courtesy of Wixiban's Star Trek Collectables Portal [24]
*Starship length as measured from bow to stern, where applicable.

Background information

A collector's display of releases from the first two Starships Collections

• 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).

USS Gagarin

USS Yeager

• 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.

• 

  Promo for the first issue

  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.

BortaS bir-class

'etlh-class

Jach-class

Qaw'-class

Sech-class

Veqlargh-class

Gallery

Early prototypes at the 2017 Las Vegas con

Banners at Dortmund con

Introductory promo insert

Checklist for the models (10/2019)

Packaging for the first issue

Designing Starships book

Mary Wiseman and Shazad Latif with the USS Discovery model at the 2018 DST Dortmund con

Anthony Rapp with the tardigrade model at the 2018 Las Vegas con

Jayne Brook with the USS Enterprise model at the 2019 Las Vegas con

Eaglemoss' Ben Robinson giving away ships at a 2019 con

Ryan Dening with a prototype of the Stealth Ship model at the 2019 DST Birmingham con

A collector's display of 308 Eaglemoss/Hero Collector starship releases (12/2020)

Appendices

See also

• Star Trek starship miniatures
• Star Trek model kits

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