U.S.S. Reliant

from "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" (1982)

Scale: 1:535
Initial Release: 1995
Medium: Styrene
Kit Rarity: 2

About the Design

Although the “Star Trek” universe now contains dozens of Federation, adversary and alien starships, it’s interesting to note that this “Miranda”-class light cruiser was actually only the second Federation capital ship to appear in the ST canon. For 1982's "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan," the designers at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), frustrated by the difficulties lighting the original Enterprise, designed the Reliant to photograph easily from just about any angle. Incorporating the Enterprise’s distinctive saucer and engine nacelles, they created a more linear craft distinguished by a distinctive “roll-bar”-style weapons and sensor array. The miniature would later be undergo numerous modifications and appear as, among other things, Kelsey Grammar’s USS Bozeman in “Star Trek: The Next Generation's” fifth episode “Cause and Effect,” and as Avery Brooks’ doomed “U.S.S. Saratoga” in the pilot episode of “Deep Space Nine.”

About the Kit

It took a full 13 years from the premiere of “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” for AMT/Ertl to finally bow to fan pressure and release a model of the U.S.S. Reliant.  Handsomely sized but lacking much surface detail, the Reliant kit was ultimately produced in numbers that far exceeded the public demand, resulting in surplus kits appearing on the shelves of toy and hobby liquidators for years afterwards. 

The kit went out of production in the mid-1990s.  It returned in 2010 courtesy of Round 2 Models, itself the resurrection of Polar Lights.

This model was built from an original issue.