CD7 Class & CD7 Class Refit Battleship

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

The CD7 Class Battleship is NOT my design, however, I did ask permission to build her.  I took the original build a step further by constructing a TMP era version of the ship as well.  I was then asked by the original designer to help co-write a back story for her.

The CD7 class is based in the Mirror Universe and was originally conceived by Martin Shepherd over at the Star Trek Modelers Group page on Facebook.

In Universe Story:

ISS Yorkington (NCC-1771)
CD7 Class Battleship
1:2500 Scale AMT Kitbash

 

 

 

 

ISS Seizon (NCC-1772)
CD7 Class Refit Battleship
1:2500 Scale AMT Kitbash

 

 

 

 

Dimensions
Length: 335.28 meters
Specifications
Decks: 17
Crew: 500 (room for additional 200 MACO troops)
Speed: Cruise: warp 4 / Maximum: warp 6.75
Armaments: 7 Dual Emitter Phaser Banks, 2 Heavy Disruptor Canons, 2 Forward Torpedo Launchers, 2 Rear Torpedo Launchers
Defenses: Deflector Shields, Cloaking Device
Auxiliary craft: 4 Workbees, 4 Shuttlecraft, 6 Attack Fighters

Backstory By Martin Shepherd and Patrick M. Dougherty Sr.

This backstory all occurs in the Mirror Universe.

On a distant planet outpost, there existed a 'secret experimental Starfleet shipyard. Although it was never officially verified, it was believed that it was a Section 31 research facility.

During the Klingon-Cardassian Empire Invasion of the Terran Empire, this shipyard was discovered and attacked. Many ships were still under construction, and therefore of no use to the defenders. The base fought valiantly and managed to destroy the invaders, but at a massive loss of equipment and personnel.

The survivors found that they were no longer able to communicate with Earth and decided it was best to evacuate the base and set a course for home. Impressed with the power, and cloaking capability of the D7 battle cruiser, the survivors took the remnants of some Constitution class ships and D7 class ships and were able to build two new vessels from those parts. These ships were christened the ISS Yorkington (NCC-1771) and the ISS Seizon (NCC-1772). They decided to call the new class of ship a CD7 Battleship. The two new ships did have some cosmetic differences, but still looked similar enough to both hold the class name.

Now, with the possibility of escape at hand, the survivors loaded all of the remaining personnel and anything of value onto the ships, and set a course for their home world, Earth. The cloaking devices served the ships well and managed to protect them from detection for the entire journey.

Upon reaching Earth, the crews of the two ships found that their home world had been conquered by the Klingon-Cardassian Empire. They no longer had a home to go back to. Enraged, the crews decided to start making sneak attacks upon the Klingon-Cardassian Empire and began a career of piracy.

These missions could in themselves become a whole new series called “Star Trek: Pirates Of the Empire".

Eventually, things became real difficult for the ships as the new empire began focusing more and more on stopping the acts of piracy. One day the sister ship, the ISS Seizon, sacrificed herself to protect the ISS Yorkington in one particular brutal attack. The Seizon was captured and all the crew were put to death.

The Yorkington escaped and continued her life of piracy as well as taking on smuggling missions, ferrying displaced Terrans to safety from within the occupied territory. The Yorkington became a ship of legend as she successfully evaded capture for over 10 years.

The Klingons took the Seizon as a war trophy. They were very impressed with the ship and eventually put her into service for their fleets. She continued to be in service up through the TMP Era and was eventually refitted.

Real Universe Story:

Parts Used: AMT Round 2: TOS Era Constitution Class Kit, TMP Era Constitution Class Refit Kit, Klingon D-7 Class Kit and Klingon K'Tinga Class Kit

 

The original idea for a ship like this actually dates back to when Matt Jeffries was coming up with designs of what he wanted the Enterprise to look like.

Martin Shepherd over at the Star Trek Modelers Group page on Facebook was inspired by this design and set out to build his own variant of this design.  

Photo Credit: Martin Shepherd

I saw his work and figured I could probably duplicate it it in 1:2500 scale, which is my preferred medium.  Given the relative cheapness of 1:2500 scale models, I also figured that I could probably build a refit version of her as well.  I asked for and gained his blessing to proceed.

I started asking him questions about a back story for her and since he was about to submit his model into a Design Your Own Ship contest, invited me to co-author the backstory for her.

At this point, I just started building the ships.  I ended up needing to build a secondary support under the bridge booms because the saucer sections proved to heavy.  In the end though, this actually looked pretty cool as well as it covered over the notch that would have housed the engineering hull neck.

 

 

I also put the nacelles together and painted them.

 

I also base coated both ships as well as put them together.

At this point, my life took some changes.  I broke up with a girlfriend and started a search for the next Ms. Right.  In fact, ALL of my model build went on hiatus.

Eight months later, I got tired of watching the models collect dust and started the shipyards back up.  There really wasn't too much more to do at this point.  I cleaned off the dust, did the final detail painting and then clear coated the ships.

 

 

As always, I hope you found this article useful and informative.  If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to comment below.

So for now, "Live long and prosper!!!"

Additional Links To Photos Of My Collection:

TOS Era Model     TMP Era Model

Comparative Pictures     WIP Pictures