Loads of new Starships Collection ships announced

The manager of The Official Starships Collection, Ben Robinson, has had a busy weekend on social media, spilling many a bean on The Collection's Facebook page. Robinson revealed the line-up from issues forty-one through to fifty, plus the next two specials, and even some hints of things further afield. So, here are the newly announced ships (continuing after the jump):

#41: Klingon Raptor class

A small Klingon ship from the 22nd century, the Raptor class only appeared on-screen once (aside from display graphics), as the damaged IKS Somraw in the episode Sleeping Dogs.

As well the rendering seen here, Robinson also posted a video, showing the tooling model which will be used to manufacture the final model we get.

#42: USS Pasteur NCC-58525 (Olympic class)

The perfect companion for the subscriber bonus tri-nacelled Enterprise-D model, the Pasteur featured in All Good Things... as Beverly Crusher's medical ship.

As the Pasteur was originally a physical model, the collection needed a new CGI built to make the new miniature, seen here, as created by Ed Gidding.

#43: Species 8472 Bioship

The unique living ship design of Species 8472 comes from the Voyager two-parter Scorpion.

#44: Intrepid

The Earth ship Intrepid, a sister design to the NX class, was first seen The Expanse, and later played a part in the alternate timeline episode Twilight. In the novels this has been identified as the Intrepid class, and indeed has a staring role in the form of Malcolm Reed's ship, the USS Pioneer, in the Rise of the Federation books.

I believe this will be the first ever model released of this early Starfleet ship.

#45: Malon freighter

The Malon freighter, or more specifically the "Malon export vessel, eleventh gradient", was first seen in the Voyager episode Night, where it was found casually dumping antimatter waste into a nice empty bit of space.

The Malon went on to become a recurring species, with a couple of other ships, but this was the design used by them most frequently. I think this is another first time appearance in model form too.

#46: USS Enterprise NCC-1701-C (Ambassador class)

We knew the Enterprise-C was coming, and now we know when. First seen in Yesterday's Enterprise of course, the class reappeared a few times in TNG and DS9 as other ships. Perhaps the most significant ship of the class, after the Enterprise though, is another entry from the Star Trek novels, the USS Excalibur, from New Frontier.

#47: Klingon Negh'var class

The Negh'Var class has appeared in a few slightly different configurations, as seen in a number of alternate reality episodes. If you squint this could be another one for the All Good Things... collection, but the model we are getting will be based on the original configuration seen in Way of the Warrior, for the Negh'Var, the Klingon flagship.

Pictured here is the tooling model - I would hazard a guess that the yellow portions of the image represent metal parts of the model, and the blue parts are plastic sections.

#48: Armored USS Voyager

The USS Voyager with ablative hul armor, as seen in Voyager's final episode, Endgame. I can't wait to see what sort of finish this model has! I think this is again another model made for the first time.

Robinson commented on ships being repeated in the series, as of course we have already had a regular USS Voyager.

The only other 'repeats' on my list at the moment are the Enterprise-A, which is the same tooling as the TMP version, though we will be doing an upgraded paint job, and the OS Enterprise, which is technically the same ship as the refit. If people are still with us after the 90 we have approval for then I can imagine doing Reliant and Nebula class variants.

#49: ECS Fortunate (Y class)

The ECS Fortunate had a whole episode of Enterprise devoted to it, Fortunate Son, which also introduced the Nausciaan ship that is due quite soon in the collection. This is one of two Earth freighter designs seen in Enterprise, and I think the prettier one! And once again, the first time this ship has been available as a model.

#50: USS Enterprise NCC-1701 (Constitution class)

Finally in the confirmed regular issues, we already knew the original USS Enterprise is number fifty. No new info on this (see my previous report for some details though), but Robinson did comment on other TOS-era ships in the series (believe it or not the Enterprise will be the first TV era TOS ship in the series):

You can take it that the OS Enterprise is only the first original series ship in the collection... There aren't that many, unless of course we have access to all the TOS-r models...

The Antares from TOS-r using a design that looks very like the Fed freighter from the Animated Series? Now, where have I seen that recently...

Issue fifty takes us up to the start of July 2015 in UK releases (with the rest of the world following behind), but Robinson also laid out a few hints even further ahead:

Some hints for issues 50-59. 2 of these classes of ship have defended Earth from an invasion inside our solar system. One of these ships was hijacked. Two of them are operated by a race with pointy ears. Two of them are from the Delta Quadrant. We saw one of them fight in a war. One is both older and newer than a ship we've already done that has the same name. One of them had a captain who was played by two different actors. It'll be a while before I announce what they are though, so plenty of time for theories.

He also confirmed third special issue will be the USS Vengeance, and revealed the fourth will be the Klingon fighter from Into Darkness (D4 class).

UPDATE: And there's more, Robinson has now posted an render of the SS Raven, and confirmed it will be in the series, but didn't give an issue number, it will be coming later than issue fifty-nine.

Talking to readers on the page, Robinson also revealed or re-confirmed a number of other issues. He noted the Steamrunner class will be one of the largest models in the collection thanks to its dimensions. He also confirmed all the Alex Jeager designs will be coming (so that means the Norway and Saber class will be joining the Steamrunner, and existing Akira model).

Also confirmed were the Enterprise-J, and the irregular Borg ship from Descent. There is also desire to get Doug Drexler's NX class refit made, which he remarked will be the only non-canon ship in collection, for now.

A couple of other ships got interesting notes when asked about:

There is fantastic photographic reference for the Merchantman, but she has to be completely rebuilt in CG for the factory.

And when a Borg Tactical Cube was suggested:

Easier to model than a TNG-era cube...

Robinson also hinted at a desire to do an ISS Enterprise (mirror universe) and gave positive responses to suggestions of the Phoenix, and USS Relativity.

Finally there was also so reassurance for German collectors. Apparently when the series started earlier this year it was just a test run (the same thing happened in the UK and Japan ahead of the full launches), so the German series will start proper in January or February 2015. The first five issues will be the same, but after that there will be a slightly different running order for German collectors.

For a listing of all the ships in the Starships Collection, including links to all my previous previews and reviews, see my index page.