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Klingon D7-D Drone Cruiser

By Jordan Hofer

I was first inspired to engage this project of merging two Matt Jefferies ships into one when I saw a photo online of the Leif Ericson model kit (designed by Jefferies), kit-bashed with 1/1000 Polar Lights Enterprise model parts.

I was very impressed at how the two Jefferies designs so successfully melded into this new Federation starship with a dorsal shuttlebay and four warp engines. I wondered if anyone had kit-bashed a Klingon D7 with the Leif Ericson. I could find no evidence of the project on Google. So I began researching the Leif Ericson and found a color scheme I really liked. The shiny blue hull color reminded me instantly of the Dinky die-cast Klingon toy I knew as a kid. This model was going to be all shiny blue and chrome!

Many details would change but the overall design was set. I needed the front of a Klingon D7, its warp engines, and the chrome grills from the assembly dorsal-aft (the assembly itself pictured above center in gray was discarded for the final model). I was inspired by one of Matt Jefferies' original sketches of a Klingon ship. The warp engines were situated on the dorsal-aft surface and the grills were on the sides where a D7's nacelles are located. I liked this earlier design and incorporated the swept back warp engines to give the Cruiser a sense of speed.

I also wanted to do something with a Star Trek model I had never done before: incorporate an ethical dilemma into the ship itself. The Klingons have always been the "bad guys" so I felt it appropriate that they would use drones just as the United States military does today. Some drones are for reconnaissance, others for attack with missile payloads. They attack border planets, killing dozens of innocents with every drone strike. The ship itself is the ethical question, "Are drones evil?" And the answer is "yes".

Note the shiny blue hull color, the chrome accents, and the open drone bay doors, as well as a red plastic Klingon emblem, the swept-back warp engines and the copper-colored cone-shaped antenna atop the drone operator station. Also, the angular impulse engines on the hull have blue translucent plastic, and the red lettering on the very back of the ship, as well as the spherical antenna on the front of the white drone.

This is my most successful kit-bashed kit.

Image: Inspiration

 





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