by J. Grey

Nine years before the launch of the refitted Enterprise, the Federation began experimenting with new ideas to bring the fleet more up to date. The Foundation class was a total disaster and was quickly forgotten after only a dozen were built. The small ships were intended to serve as long range scouts but ended up working as border patrol cruisers where they could operate out of harm's way serving between Starbases. Foundation class vessels had a crew of only 23 and lacked many refinements of the larger cruisers.

The model is virtually entirely scratchbuilt. The main hull is made from Star Wars model stands turned on a lathe to make them fit together. The nacelles are borrowed from the ERTL 18" model Enterprise but were heavily modified to make them look rescaled down to 1/200. She's meant to be an early stable-mate of the Oberth class but more awkward looking. The sensor dishes and deflector are all custom made in metal and a friend very kindly created custom decals for me. Due to a horrible winter and the fact I have to do my spraying outside this has been painted entirely by hand which was an arduous and reasonably miseraable experience.

The whole thing comes apart to replace bulbs once I figure out how to do a proper job of wiring it up.

Image: Fly-by

Image: Port side

Image: Warp grilles lit