Eaglemoss Collections marks a milestone with the release of a class starship design for its 100th issue! The USS Horizon comes to life in this die-cast model with full details about the Daedalus Class ship often featured in The Original Series.
For the ardent Star Trek collector there is nothing more fascinating than the various ships in the fleet that provide an unwavering optimism that leads to fanciful expectations about the future of space travel and man’s potential to traverse the final frontiers beyond our own milky way. Gene Roddenberry imagined a 22nd Century and beyond with Star Trek and built upon the imaginations of many to world build a Federation that included many intrepid explorers before and after the legendary voyages of the famous first five-year mission of the Starship Enterprise.
Its captain James T. Kirk was only one of the many explorers to take those first steps into the unknown, and although we know of the adventures of Capt. Jonathan Archer that predated Kirk’s own mission, and captains Picard, Sisko and Janeway that would make their own contributions further into the 24th Century, there is still so many more missions that we’ve yet to mine. With each release in Eaglemoss Collections Star Trek Starships Collection we get a greater scope of the mythology of space travel within the realm of Star Trek.
A (Daedalus) Class All Of Its Own!
Launched in the latter half of the 22nd Century, the Daedalus Class (Issue #100) is an explorer vessel that would replace the more compact and sportier-corvette look of the NX class ships that pioneered Earth’s ventures into uncharted territory. By 2161 the Federation of Planets was constituted and this brought the planet Earth closer to its space-faring neighbors. In accordance with Starfleet’s aspiring directives to seek out new life and civilizations, ships like the USS Horizon (a Daedalus Class explorer) were commissioned.
Approximately 140 meters in length, the Daedalus Class was right fitted to carry a crew compliment of about 230 individuals, and could achieve a speed of warp 7, far superseding the NX class which was limited to warp 5. Configured similarly to other Starfleet vessels, the design featured a primary hull connected to a secondary engineering section, with two nacelles placed in close proximity to the ship’s midsection. The Daedalus Class was uniquely identified by its spherically shaped primary hull, which at the time was felt a shape that would best withstand the vacuum of space.
An Original Concept
The Daedalus Class was based on an initial design by Original Series designer Matt Jefferies who when charged with realizing Roddenberry’s vision for the Enterprise avoided using a saucer because it might have felt cliche, so the artist chose a sphere for the ship’s main characteristic. A lot of the concepts first explored by Jefferies were also based in functional reality and physics, and the idea of a spherical primary hull made perfect sense. On the model it makes for a very dramatic appearance and very utilitarian approach.
The die-cast model is based on a model that was commissioned by Michael Okuda and built by Greg Jein. The Daedalus Class would become a popular design within the Star Trek mythology, and definitely does suggest the evolution of space travel between Archer’s NX ship and Kirk’s own Constitution-class that would become legendary. Eaglemoss’ approximately 5.5 inch replica may be the first time that collectors have had a chance to hold this classic ship and examine it from every perspective.
Eaglemoss Collections Star Trek Starships Collection Issue #100 DAEDALUS CLASS is available now at most retail collector stores or through the website at www.startrek-starships.com.