Wayfarer Class & Wayfarer Class Refit

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

I built these two models around the same time that I built my Vagabond starships.  Both that design and this design were the brainchild of a very talented model builder named PT Riley.  When I saw those two designs, I wanted to have a go at building them in 1:2500 scale.  PT only built his models in TOS style, and I wanted to re-imagine his designs as they would have looked like if Starfleet had kept them around until the TMP era.

This is the story of my build of the Wayfarer and Wayfarer Refit models...


PT Riley's website for this model did not have a lot of information about the ship's history.  So I've copied his text verbatim to preserve that information.  Per PT Riley's website (which can be found at THIS LINK), "Designed between the Vagabond and Constitution class ships, the Wayfarer was an early attempt to create a ship with a sleek warp profile that could still perform as a fully-functional exploration starship.  The Wanderer herself was lost in the mid-to-late 23rd century during an ion storm. She was presumed destroyed.  It wasn't until 2370 that the truth became known when the ship returned to Federation space. She was manned by the descendants of the crew.  She had been extensively refitted with alien and "drawing board" technologies, and she now serves as a part of Starfleet once more."

Wayfarer Class Starship

Length:290 m, Width:134 m, Height:48 m

Photo Credit: PT Riley

I don't remember where, but I believe the PT had given a little more information about the ship and it went something along the lines of a Klingon and Starfleet ship got sucked through some sort of phenomena and over half a century later the crews returned to our quadrant in this.

USS Wanderer (NCC-1512)

Wayfarer Class (TOS Era)

1:2500 AMT Kitbash

 

 

 

 

The whole project was an awesome idea in imagining what those two crews had to do in order to survive.

 

My model has an eye hook in it because I like to hang some of my work up like Christmas tree ornaments in order to conserve shelf space.

At the time I built this model, I was also experimenting with building TMP era kitbashes.  Although PT never did a model up of the ship in TMP era fashion, I had the extra kit, so I decided to go that extra step and build it.

USS Wanderer (NCC-1512)

Wayfarer Class Refit (TMP Era)

1:2500 AMT Kitbash

 

 

 

 

I went the lazy route and mounted the engineering hull with the photon torpedo launchers on the top.  This saved me the work of cutting off the shuttle bay doors and re-gluing them on.  I also thought that having the torpedo launchers on the top allowed for them to have a better arc of fire than if they sat just above and behind the bridge dome.

 

Sadly, these models were built at a time where I did not see the importance of taking Work In Progress pictures, which means, I can show you any of those cool build progression shots.

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