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Ships of the Federation

The list below is not all-inclusive. We have only listed the ships for which we have direct information. For a list of all the available Trek kits, by scale, see our constantly updated Star Trek Scale List.

For more images of Star Trek ships, check out our Readers' Gallery.

News | The Enterprises | Other Federation Ships | Klingons | Cardassian | Romulans | Shuttles
Space Stations | Non-Canon Ships | Other Ships | Props | Copyright Info


Ships of the Federation

[Akira from 'Message in a Bottle']

USS Akira (Akira- class). This ship debuted in Star Trek: First Contact and has since been seen in DS9 battling the bad guys. A break from the traditional Starfleet design, this class dispenses with the primary saucer hull over a secondary hull - instead having two long booms supporting a "roll-bar" and warp nacelles. Powerfully armed, with 15 torpedo launchers in addition to phasers, this class also sports three large shuttle bays. The Akira-class was designed by ILM's Alex Jaeger for ST:FC; no physical model exists (the films/series' have used CGI).

References:
Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998
Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, Pocket Books, 1998
Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999

Available Kits

Reviews:
Joe Hank's Starcrafts' Akira Preview

Dan Trescott's Jupiter Station Akira Preview
Rich Dula's Odyssey Slipways' Akira Preview


[Starcraft's Steamrunner]

USS Appalachia (Steamrunner- class). Another ship first seen in Star Trek: First Contact and since appeared in DS9. Another break from the traditional Starfleet design, this class also dispenses with the primary saucer hull over a secondary hull - instead having two long booms supporting a "roll-bar" and warp nacelles. It's fast, it's armed to the teeth and it sports four large shuttle bays. The Steamrunner-class was also designed by ILM's Alex Jaeger for ST:FC; no physical model exists (the films/series' have used CGI).

References:
Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998
Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, Pocket Books, 1998

Available Kits

Reviews:
John Lester's Starcraft' Steamrunner Preview


[Prometheus from 'Message in a Bottle' (ST:Vgr)]

USS Prometheus (Promethus-class). Launched in 2374, the Prometheus represents the bleeding edge of of Federation technology. In addition to advanced tactical systems, regenerative sheilding and ablative armor, the ship is the fastest vessel in Starfleet. It was designed from the outset to separate into three distinct modules during combat, each highly maneuverable and heavily armed. First seen in Voyager's Message in a Bottle episode.

References:
Star Trek: The Magazine, Vol.2, Fabbri Publishing, Ltd 1999

Available Kits

Reviews:
John Zook's Starcraft's Prometheus Preview


[My Excelsior]
Image: OneZero

USS Excelsior (Excelsior-class). Launched in 2285 as the test bed for an (unsuccessful) transwarp drive and later refitted with a conventional warp drive. Excelsior class ships are among the most common types in Federation service. First seen in ST:III. For references and reviews, please see listing for Enterprise-B.

Available Kits


[If you value your lives, be somewhere else....]

USS Voyager (Intrepid-class). USS Voyager, NCC-74656, was one of Starfleet's first ships in a new class. Small, sleek, and fast, these ships are well armed for their size. They are also outfitted with advanced computer systems, in which some traditional optical processors are relaced by bio-neural circuitry. The ships are small enough that they could land if necessary on class M planets, and outfitted with specialized gear to make that possible. Voyager was apparently lost in 2371 while pursuing a Maquis ship in the Badlands.

References:
ST: Voyager Starship Reference
Voyager Painting Guide
Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998
Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999

Available Kits

Reviews:
Jay Chladek's In-box Preview of the R/M kit
Josh Albright's R/M Mini-Voyager Preview
John Lester's Alliance Intrepid-Class Preview
Ivan Place's R/M Voyager Built
Tom O'Malley builds Bandai's Voyager
Various models in the Reader Gallery


[USS Pheonix from 'The Wounded' (TNG)] Nebula-class Starship. A contemporary of the Galaxy-class starship, first seen in ST:TNG's "The Wounded". Slightly smaller than the Galaxy ships, the Nebula's sport a large upper equipment pod that can be reconfigured for different missions. Most often seen variants are sensor suites and weapons pods. The Nebula-class was designed by Ed Miarecki, Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda; the filming model was built by Greg Jein.

References:
ST:DS9 Starship Reference
Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998
Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999

Available Kits

Reviews:
John Lester's FXM's USS Nebula Review
Kevin Parkison's Warp Nebula Conversion Preview
Dougie Bain's Warp Nebula Conversion Build Up
Scott Scariot's Warp Nebula Conversion Build Up


[Defiant in Earth Orbit]

Defiant-class: Though officially classed as an escort, the Defiant class was originally developed as a small, agile and powerfully armed warship to meet the Borg threat. When the Borg threat receded, and design flaws discovered during the lead ship's shakedown cruise, the project was suspended (it would later be restarted with the outbreak of the Dominion War). The USS Defiant was assigned to Deep Space 9 in 2371, in part to meet the Jem'Hadar threat. First seen in DS9's "The Search", the Defiant has also appeared in "Star Trek: First Contact". It was designed by concept artist Jim Martin under the direction of Herman Zimmerman; the studio model was built by Tony Meininger with Gary Hutzel.

References:
Starship Modeler DS9 Hardware Reference
Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998
Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, Pocket Books, 1998
Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999

Available Kits

Reviews:
John Lester's preview of NorthTrek Creations' Accurate Defiant Bridge Cap
Allison Cottreau's Spaceboy Re-Tooled Defiant Build-Up
John Lester's Spaceboy Re-Tooled Defiant Preview
Erick Muņoz's Spaceboy Defiant Review
Kirk Williams' ERTL Build-up Review
Several Reader's Gallery models


[USS Reliant from 'ST:II']

Miranda-class. Introduced in the late 23rd Century, the Miranda class became one of the most numerous in service. The basic design has been modified and upgraded throughout it's long service, spawing several sub-classes (Soyuz and Saratoga among them). USS Reliant was the first ship seen on-screen. The Reliant was designed by Mike Minor and Joe Jennings, and built by ILM for Star Trek II.

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

Available Kits

Reviews:
Scott Scariot's Saratoga-class Conversion preview Tim Roy's USS Reliant on a Budget
Justin Miller's Starcrafts' 1/1400 Reliant preview
Scott Scariot's extensive Endurance-class Conversion feature


[Oberth]

Oberth-class Also known as "Survey" class. Small Federation vessel often used for scientific and supply missions, and also apparently in civilian service (SS Vico from TNG). The class was named for the 20th century rocket pioneer, Hermann Oberth. First seen as the USS Grissom in Star Trek III.

References:
Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998

Available Kits

Reviews:
Sven Ferron previews Starcraft Models' 1/400 Oberth & Corvette Set
FineScale Modeler, Feb. '95


[USS Hathaway from TNG]

Constellation-class. Similar in size to the Constitution class, these ships were equipped with four warp nacelles. They were primarily used for extended patrolling and deep range exploration. First seen was USS Stargazer, Captain Picard's first command, in TNG's "The Battle".

The desk model was designed by Rick Sternbach and Andy Probert; Rick did most of the kitbash construction from 1701-refit parts, sheet styrene, and anime kits like Macross fighters, Gundam machines, and Crusher Joe weapons. Greg Jein built the studio shooting miniature using the desk model as a reference, which is why (in "The Battle") you see a silver Enterprise on the pedestal where the Stargazer usually sat, because they didn't get the yellow model back in time for filming. Greg did pretty much what Rick did, using existing molds for the refit, and even used a larger scale Macross Valkyrie kit for some of the plant-on parts.

References:
Mike Trice's studio model photos
John Glentoran's studio model photos
Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999

Available Kits

Reviews:
Scott Scariot's SFSM Vac Kit Build up Review
Garry Stahls' TM Lindsey 1/2500 Constellation Preview


[USS Pasteur from 'All Good Things ...' (TNG)]

Olympic-class (also referred to as Hope- and McCoy-classes). Federation medical starship. Beverly Crusher's Pasteur from TNG:"All Good Things..." was the first seen of this class. The ship was designed by ILM's Bob George.

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

Available Kits

Reviews:
Garry Stahl's Starcast 1/2500 Olympic-class Preview


My Centaur
Image: One Zero

Other Starfleet and Associated Vessels . New ships are constantly seen as the Trek franchise continues. Some of these include the Centaur (class unknown) from DS9, and the Nova-class Equinox and USS Dauntless (ok, that one was an alien ship pretending to be Federation - not to be confused with the ship you comand in the Star Trek Bridge Commander PC Game) from ST:Voyager.

References:
Star Trek: Voyager Starship Reference
Star Trek: The Magazine (various)
Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, Pocket Books, 1998

Available Kits

Reviews:
Jeffrey Griffin's Gizmotron 1/2500 USS Centaur Preview
John Lester's USS Centaur Preview

Sven Ferron's Starcrafts' 1/1400 Cheyenne-class Preview
Scott Squibb's Odyssey Slipways' 1/2500 Coventry-class Review
Rob Schmitt's Cheetah Productions Daedalus-class Build-Up
Erick Muņoz's Nova-class USS Equinox Build-Up
Steve Cramsie's PNT 1/1400 New Orleans-class (refit) Preview
James Spry's Nova Hobbies' 1/1400 Norway-class Preview
James Spry's ASK 1/1400 Norway-class Preview
Jason Caldwell's Odyssey Slipways' 1/2500 Norway-class Preview
Scott Scariot's Ptolemy-class Tug Kitbash
Garry Stahl's Odyssey Slipways' 1/2500 Raven Preview
Jason Caldwell's Odyssey Slipways' 1/2500 Sabre-Class Starship Review
John Lester's Nova Hobbies' 1/1400 Surak-class Preview
Garry Stahl's Starcast 1/2500 Sydney-class Preview
Delbert Wells' Ravenstar 1/2500 Valiant-class Preview
Justin Miller's Vulcan Lander Preview
Jeffrey Griffin's Gizmotron 1/2500 USS Kelvin Preview
Jeffrey Griffin's Delta Quadrant 1/2500 Surak Preview
Scott Scariot previews Delta Quadrant's 1/1000 Vulcan Surak-class Starship
Scott Scariot builds Delta Quadrant's 1/1000 Vulcan Surak-class Starship

Space Stations

[DS9/TerekNor]

Deep Space 9 The Cardassians built "Terek Nor" in 2351 as a mining station orbiting Bajor, and abandoned it 18 years later when the planet regained it's freedom. At the request of the new government, Starfleet assumed control - renamed the station "Deep Space 9" and assigned the relatively low-ranking Commander Benjamin Sisko to run it. The station was designed by Rick Sternbach and Hermann Zimmerman; the model built by Tony Meininger.

References:
Starship Modeler DS9 Hardware Reference
Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998
Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, Pocket Books, 1998
Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999

Available Kits

Reviews:
None Yet


[Trouble spot]

Deep Space Station K-7 Space station of a design used during the mid 23rd century. K-7 was located near Sherman's Planet, close by a Klingon outpost. It gained brief noteriety in 2267 when infested with almost 2 million tribbles ("The Trouble With Tribbles" TOS). Greg Jein painstakingly recreated the model nearly thirty years later for the DS9 episode.

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

Available Kits

Reviews:
None Yet


Spacedock/Starbases Massive orbital stations where repairs, overhauls and "depot-level" work are performed on Federation starships. First seen in Star Trek III, and later in several TNG episodes. The original Spacedock model was designed by Dave Carson and Nilo Rodis, and built by ILM.

References:
Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998

Available Kits

Reviews:
Jeffrey Griffin's Preview of Nova Hobbies' Spacelab Regula 1

Shuttles and Other Small Craft

[Let's go have an adventure!]

Runabout. Generic term for short-range Federation starships. The Danube-class Runabouts were introduced in DS9's first season as a way to get the characters off the station for adventures, and later seen in TNG. These vesseles are clunky, plain, and utilitarian ... and proud of it. Resembling enlarged shuttlecraft, these ships have a short-range two person transporter and minimal living accomodations. Various specialized, detachable modules, forming the mid section, may be carried, increasing the craft's utility. The Danube-class was designed by Rick Sternbach and Jim Martin; the miniature was built by Tony Meininger.

References:
Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998
Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, Pocket Books, 1998
Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999

Available Kits

Reviews:
Jack Brunner's Detailed and Lighted ERTL Runabout Rio Grande
Jack Grey's In-Box Preview of ERTL's Runabout
John Lester's In-Box Preview of Alliance's Danube-Class


[The original]

Shuttlecraft Small, short range spacecraft intended primarily for transport from larger spaceships to a planet/planetoid's surface, or for short trips within a solar system. Two general types are in use: shuttlepods, which generally can transport no more than two persons, and shuttles, which can carry more personnel and equipment. Most are incapable of warp speeds. A variety of these craft have been seen, from the original Gallileo introduced halfway through TOS' first season, to Tom Parris' "speedboat" seen on Voyager.

References:
Star Trek:Voyager Starship Reference
Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998
Deep Space Nine Technical Manual, Pocket Books, 1998
Star Trek Mechanics, Vol.4, Bunkasha (Japan) 1999

Famous Spaceships, Kalmbach, 1997

Available Kits

Reviews:
Stephen Oakley Slater's TOS Shuttlecraft Diorama 'Embers of Empire'
John Lester's preview of Resin Ranger's Speedboat shuttlecraft
John Lester's preview of Resin Ranger's Galileo shuttlecraft
Jim James' LiquidSpace Models' 1/1400 Delta Flyer Preview
John Lester & Michael Smith preview Liquid Space Models' Voyager Small Craft
Marco Sheleoske & James Cho preview Enterprise-E Captain's Yacht (pre-assembled)
Scott Scariot takes a look in the box at Alliance's 1/72 Type 6 Shuttle
Jon Kunatz takes a peek at Alliance's 1/72 Delta Flyer
Allen Ury builds Alliance's 1/72 NX-01 Shuttlepod
Justin Miller's preview of Probert Designs' Standard Shuttlecraft
Steve Chung builds Probert Designs' Standard Shuttlecraft


Other Small Craft Starfleet possesses a number of other small one- or two- place ships, including some fighters/assault craft and maintenance vehicles.

References:
Star Trek: The Magazine

Available Kits

Reviews:
John Lester's In-Box Preview of Alliance's Peregrine Fighter


Yellow and busy!

Work Bees first made their appearance in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but Deep Space Nine showed that the timeless design is still in use in the 24th century. These little EVA pods are the forklifts and backhoes of Starfleet's orbital engineering endeavors. Their conception demonstrates exceptional depth of consideration for Star Trek engineering.

References:
Star Trek Encyclopedia, Simon & Schuster, 1998

Available Kits

Reviews:
Rob Caswell's Build-up Review

[Sled]

Vulcan Warp Shuttle. A small, warp-capable vessel used most often as a courier and VIP transport. It features a crew cabin that can detach from the warp section and travel short distances under its own power. So far, only seen in ST:TMP. This ship was designed by Andrew Probert and built at Magicam.

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

Available Kits

Reviews:
Joe Hank's ERTL Kit Build-up Review

Non-Canon Ships

U.S.S. Archer

Star Trek in its various incarnations has always inspired modelers. Many have designed and built their own ships, carving up and/or combining existing kits to get something new - or completely scratchbuilding them. The genre lends itself to letting loose the imagination - so why don't you give it a try?

References:
Starfleet Technical Manual
Ships of the Fleet et al.

Reviews:
Jeffrey Griffin's preview of Jackill's Data Sheets (Federation, movie-Era)
Jeffrey Griffin's preview of RBM's 1/2500 Chandley-class frigate
Mark McGee's review of Ravenstar's Cordia-class
Jeffrey Griffin's preview of Gizmotron's 1/2500 Ascension and Belknap classes
Eric Lakie's VA Miniatures' 1/2500 Jenghiz-class Preview
Jim Layfield's Alliance Belknap-class Conversion Preview
Jeffrey Griffin's Nova Hobbies' 1/1400 Gallant-class Preview
Jeffrey Griffin's preview of SSM's 1/1000 Larson Class Conversion
Daniel Trescott's preview of Ravenstar's 1/2500 Archer Class Border Cutters
Scott Scariot's Starfleet One Conversion Conversion
Scott Scariot's Detroyat-class Kit Preview
Scott Scariot's Detroyat-class Built
Aaron DeAngelis' review of Valiant Miniatures 1/2500 Dreadnought -Class
Justin Miller previews the Starship Modeler Kit Factory Loknar-Class Federation Frigate
Allen Ury builds the Starship Modeler Kit Factory Loknar-Class Federation Frigate
Aaron DeAngelis' review of Starship Modeler's 1/2500 Odonata -Class Frigate
Darren Bertrand's preview of PNT Models' Avenger and Indomitable Class Starships
J. Grey's USS Violator conversion
John Lester's preview of Ravenstars' Guardian-Class Battleship
John Lester's preview of McDaniel Models' Achernar-Class Heavy Cruiser
John Lester's preview of McDaniel Models' Surya-class Frigate
Brian Byrne's Federation-Class Dreadnought Review
Allison Cottreau's Ravenstar Scout
John Lester's Thomas Model's Scout
Rob Caswell's Ravenstar Border Cruisers Preview Garry Stahl's Manta-class Battlecruiser
Various Reader's Gallery models

Props

References:

Reviews:
Owen Oulton's 23rd Century Pistol Preview


The Bad Guys....


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Last updated on 23 October 2012