Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan brought many changes to the Star Trek universe, from small things like the maroon Starfleet officers’ uniforms to enormous events like the death of Spock — but in the middle of all that, the film introduced the first new Federation starship design: the Miranda-class USS Reliant.
Originally planned to be another Constitution-class vessel like the Enterprise, a combination of factors led the visual effects artists behind Star Trek II to pivot to the new single-hulled design. Between the cumbersome size of the Enterprise filming model to the need for viewers to instantly differentiate between the two ships, the Miranda-class Reliant became the first of many Federation starships created using the familiar hallmarks of Starfleet engineering.
The original studio model, built for the second Trek film, went on to be used for years in different configurations — including as the Soyuz-class, with roll bar removed — up until its final appearance in Star Trek Generations as one of the three ships which rescued the Enterprise-D crew from Veridian III at the end of the film.
The design then transitioned to a fully-digital model, seen in the extensive Dominion War battle sequences of Deep Space Nine, the opening battle against the Borg in Star Trek: First Contact, and as part of the fleet of ships which met the USS Voyager upon its return to Earth.
Eaglemoss’ XL-sized USS Reliant model is the first of that series to be released outside of the primary Star Trek ‘hero’ ships — your Enterprises and so forth — and is one of the most successful larger-scale offerings to date. Right out of the box, the XL Reliant is frankly gorgeous, with clean and crisp hull markings, red, blue, and grey accents around the ship, and solid construction at nearly every angle.
The upper hull is the standard die-cast metal build, with plenty of intricate detailing not often seen in the non-plastic portions of Eaglemoss models. The roll bar, underside, and nacelles are the typical injection-molded plastic segments, which includes the bright blue, translucent warp nacelle inserts, adding another pop of color to the ship.
Around the sides of the saucer, the tiny identification text which proved to be utterly distracting on the Enterprise-A model is just right here, aligned with the edges of the ship in a very appropriate size — and unlike many of the other Eaglemoss releases, this ship has painted windows without hull indentations, so the infamous window-alignment issue isn’t a factor.
The paint isn’t perfect, however; the edge of the saucer is missing the light-blue stripe which should be around its perimeter, and the front and rear torpedo launchers should be blue rather than gray, but on the whole those are extremely minor issues which don’t detract from the model at all.
The one thing that does serve as a bit of a disappointment is the “U.S.S. RELIANT” text on the top of the saucer, rendered just a little too small for it to stand out. If that marking was just a bit larger — like it appears on the bottom of the saucer — that single issue would be resolved.
Finally, like the XL Enterprise NX-01 and XL Voyager before it, the XL Reliant has a woefully inadequate display stand, with support prongs that are too short to support the weight of the front-heavy model. The bottom set of tines could easily be another inch longer without impacting how the ship is mounted, and it would keep the Reliant from falling out of its stand every time you try to move the ship.
Those minor nitpicks aside, the XL-sized USS Reliant model is at the top of the larger-scale Official Starships Collection fleet to date in terms of construction and presentation, and certainly something we highly recommend to fans of The Wrath of Khan and starship model collecting in general.
If the XL-sized USS Reliant model is one for you, it’s available now in the United States for $74.95, and can be purchased in the UK for £49.99.
We’ll be bringing you a look at more recent arrivals from the Eaglemoss Official Starships Collection in the coming weeks, including close looks at the XL Enterprise-B and Enterprise-C, new releases from the Star Trek: Discovery line, and more!