Miranda Class (TOS Era)

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

A lot of people have speculated that there were other classifications of ships in the service of Starfleet during the TOS era besides the Constitution class.  They further speculated that some of the ships we see in the movies or TMP era were probably refits of those TOS ships.  

Hence the idea for a TOS era Miranda Class.

Although we never see a TOS era version of this type of ship on screen, there is a reference to the USS Reliant in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode called "Court Martial" where the Reliant's registry is seen on the wall in the background of one of the scenes, indicating that she was in dock for repairs.  Using that as a point of reference, it can be rationalized that what we see in Star Trek II is in fact, a refit version of the ship, much like we are treated to a refit Constitution class in the movies.

The idea to build a 1:2500 scale TOS version of this class of ship came to me after seeing Gerry Higgin's mirror universe build.  I really liked the idea that during the TOS era, the weapons pod was originally a sensor pod.

ISS Reliant (NCC-1864)

You can find pictures and a complete history of his build here at THIS LINK.

I built my model in my earlier days of learning to kitbash.  Although my tiny little model is nowhere as intricate as Gerry's, it was still fun to build, gave me some kitbashing practice, and ultimately looks neat in my fleet.

 

 

 

 

Yes, there is an eye hook in my model.  In order to conserve space in my display shelves, some of my models are hung up like Christmas tree ornaments.

Sadly, I built this back before I took Work In Progress pictures, so I can't share my build progress with you.

I basically took a standard Reliant hull and cut out the engineering section.  I then cut out the engineering section from a TOS style Constitution class and glued it on.  I also glued on some sheet styrene to fill in the big gap on the bottom of the ship.

The weapons pod replacement was made by cutting the shuttle bay off the back of the TOS Constitution Class engineering hull and then gluing on the deflector dish assembly.  I somehow lost the actual deflector dish, however, I felt that it looked OK without it.  It sort of pays homage to the fact that the TMP era ship doesn't have a noticeable deflector dish either.

If I was a little more skilled at the time, I would have removed the Reliant's command module and replaced it with a TOS era one from my chopped up Constitution class saucer section.

All in all, this was a fun build at the time.  Was it perfect?  Nope, but I was just starting out.  I'm seriously tempted to have another go at build this model again sometime in the future.

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:
AMT Kitbash