Star Trek Klingon D7 Battlecruiser Studio Model

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#startrek #trekworld #strangenewworlds #thenextgeneration #deepspacenine #voyager #enterprise #discovery #picard #lowerdecks #prodigy #theanimatedseries #trekculture
My Star Trek Journey.
I discovered Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek The Original Series in 1972 and fell in love with it even though I was only 8 years old. In 1973, Star Trek The Animated Series premiered on NBC Saturday Morning Cartoons, and kept me entertained until it finished its run in 1974.
Like many other Star Trek fans, I waited and waited as the powers that be kept saying we would get Star Trek Planet of The Titans, then Star Trek Phase 2, until finally premiering Star Trek The Motion Picture in 1979.
As the Harve Bennett movies of the 1980’s began, I was at the theatre on opening night for Nicholas Meyer’s Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan, Leonard Nimoy’s Star Trek III : The Search for Spock & Star Trek IV : The Voyage Home, William Shatner’s Star Trek V : The Final Frontier, and Star Trek VI : The Undiscovered Country.
Before the decade ended, we got Star Trek : The Next Generation. Which, among other things, introduced us to the three letter Star Trek designations with the introduction of TOS for The Original Series, TAS for The Animated Series, and TNG for The Next Generation. We also were introduced to Rick Berman, who went on to give us Star Trek : Deep Space Nine ( DS9 ), Star Trek : Voyager ( VOY ), and Star Trek : Enterprise ( ENT ).
Berman also finished out the second run of Star Trek movies beginning with Star Trek Generation, Jonathan Frake’s Star Trek First Contact, Star Trek Insurrection, and Star Trek Nemesis.
Shortly afterward, the star of the new millennium, JJ Abrams rebooted the movies with Star Trek using a new cast for the actors playing the TOS characters. Taken on its own, this movie; along with Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond were responsible for a completely new Alex Kurtzman Star Trek resurgence. Although many older fans didn’t like Star Trek Discovery ( DIS ), Star Trek Picard ( PIC ), or Star Trek Strange New World’s ( SNW )
Oddly enough, brand new Star Trek animated shows have enjoyed a far greater success amongst the fan base with Star Trek Lower Decks ( SLD), and Star Trek Prodigy ( PRO ).
While you are here; please be sure to support your local Star Trek creator community and visit these other fine Star Trek KZbin channels!
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/ @trekworks

[@syrophenikan]

I'm 56 years old and I remember building that glow-in-the-dark "Leif Ericson/Interplanetary U.F.O. Mystery Ship" when I was just 10 or 11 years old. I haven't thought about that model in 45 years. Thanks for bringing it back into my memory.

[@majorneptunejr]

I had that model too . Never knew it was designed by Jefferies. I could never get over the fact that it was shaped like a whiskey bottle. I always liked the design of the shuttle that came with it .

[@tsolive]

Add me to the list. Never painted it either since I didn't want to take away from the glow!

[@C.Brown5150]

I just turned 60 and I had that glow in the dark model also, but it was just called the UFO Space Cruiser. I had the Enterprise and the Klingon model's as well. Wow !!! That's been a long, long time ago. I remember that I never built any of them for display or show. I put them together played with them.😂🤣 Those were great times to be a kid.👍

[@acfiv1421]

I was thinking the exact same thing. I'm 55, and built the same ship in `74 or so.

[@maxbrandt6]

I had the Round2 re-pop of that kit back in 2009, it was missing a few parts so I gave it to a friend who then used it to kitbash it and made it look like a Federation ship of some sort with proper TOS era colors and markings and it really look the part! If I'm not mistaken, the model can still be seen in the Star Trek section of the Starship Modeler website gallery.

[@j.spencer2635]

Nice to see that the footage I shot at the Smithsonian in 1992 is being used in these historical videos! I even noticed they used a snippet of my footage in the recent eight episode series Center Seat - 55 Years of Star Trek. Glad to contribute a small part!

[@ZiddersRooFurry]

Thank you for capturing such important Trek history!

[@DavidRLentz]

Congratulations on your achievement, and thank you for your contribution.

[@ericmkendall1]

I had a glow-in-the-dark Interplanetary UFO Mystery Ship model kit when I was a kid in the 1970s. I remember it well.

[@dpsamu2000]

Fun fact; I made the clear bubble nose cone of the one man submersible in the opening credits of Star Trek Enterprise. The company I worked for at the time made a lot of them as well as large panels, and tubes for large aquariums like in The Atlantis Resort. The customer's yard where they were polished after we machined them can be seen in "The Voyage Home" scene where Scott, and Dr Macoy negotiate for transparent aluminium. The nose cones we made were made with a pantograph arm too. Funny story about the nose cones. When the company that contracted us to machine them started doing nose cones they made one by pouring the plastic into a wood mold that spun to make a bowl shape. The first casting came to us as a lopsided bowl 5 feet in diameter and 3 feet thick which sat on the shop floor for over a year. The customer came by from time to time to visit it. After a while I was walking by them, and the owners of my company flagged me down. They said they were having a problem figuring out if the casting would make the part. Asked me for my ideas on how to figure it out. I asked to see the print. It finished at 32 X 9 inches. I said it would make. They were stunned. They asked why I thought that. They haden't been able to figure it out for over a year. I said it finishes at 32 inches, and its 60 inches in diameter. They asked me to prove it. I saked for a tape measure as I didn't carry mine in my pocket all the time. I pulled it out to 32 inches, and put it down into the 5 foot bowl where it was dwarfed by the bowl. They still asked if it was thick enough. It was 2 feet thick at the thickest. I pulled out 9 inches of ruler, and put it in the bowl. I said It will make. Right? They realized what they had been doing wrong all this time. I said we could remove most of the stock with a chainsaw. They said we're not coing to use a chain saw but we started to get the job done. Sad story about some of the nose cones. All the plastic we machined was sent to a subcontractor for heat treat. The worker who ran the heat treatment machine set the timer wrong, and melted down 3 of them. $100,000 mistake. Mistakes are made, and parts are ruined. I made one myself once, and I caught a few made by others too. But that one cost the poor guy his job.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Hi there! Thanks so much for sharing this. I absolutely love it when folks bring up unusual connections. It really is a small world, isn't it?

[@dpsamu2000]

@@TREK-WORLD It is a small world. A bulletin board discussion about a movie staring Charlton Heston had a six degrees of separation thread about him. I gave it some thought and came up with I dated Joy Harmon, the buxom car washing blond in Cool Hand Luke, and the buxom blond in Village Of The Giants (she was 10 years older than me). Cool hand Luke also starred Anthony Zerbe who also starred in The Omega Man with Charlton Heston. So 2 steps from me to Heston. That might not be a solid connection because I don't know if Zerbe, or any of the actors were on the set for Joy Harmon's car wash scene. Another connection I figured out was a connection through an acquaintance I have with stripper Gina Bon Bon who was in an early HBO special "Burlesque USA" which also starred Red Buttons. He was in "The Poseidon Adventure" with Roddy Macdowel who was in Planet Of The Apes with Heston. That's 3 steps. Another connection starting with Gina Bon Bon is she was good friends with Angelique Pettijohn, of Star Trek's Gamesters OF Triskelion (you were wondering where the Star Trek connection was huh?) That connects her to Star trek, and William Windom, Commodore Decker of "The Doomsday Machine" William Windom played the president in "Escape from the Planet of the Apes". He didn't appear on screen with Roddy Macdowel but Erik Braden appeared on screen with him and with Macdowel. So that's 6 steps to Heston.

[@jv-lk7bc]

dpsamu2000 this kind of story swap is what makes these things worth doing..

[@gregorydahl]

You can heat plexiglass sheet in an insulatedhot air oven to over 200 degress farenheit or boilit maybe and compressed airwill bubble inflate it up in a jig that seals the edges all around .

[@dpsamu2000]

@@gregorydahl They're not plexiglass. They're an acrylic known as PVHO, pressurized vehicle human occupancy, and they're 4 to 12 inches thick.

[@jakerazmataz852]

Wow, memory jog. I had the Leif Ericsson model. The first one. I liked the little shuttle craft the best. It actually reminded me more of Fireball XL- 5 and Thunderbirds.

[@jamesgraham6796]

I actually still have the original Glow version somewhere amongst the boxes of models in my closet . Last time I looked at it ,the old Testors glue had yellowed.

[@StarGeezerTim]

I had all three of the main AMT ship kits as well as the Enterprise bridge as a kid. The 1701, the Klingon and the "Leif Ericson" (under the "UFO" name.) Oh to still have them today. I always fancied that top-down docking bay on the UFO.

[@frankreynolds445]

I am 63 I remember by D 7 Battle cruiser AMT models I had in 1974. I had parts of the box that had the diagrams of the D7 some where in my cellar.

[@B9M3]

Excellent video! The first time I ever heard of Klingons was when I was in the 4th or 5th grade back in the early 1970s, and a couple of my friends were talking about the "Klingon ship" and the USS Enterprise on TV. I thought they were referring to a small ship that "clung on" to the US Navy aircraft carrier. This was the first time I had heard of Star Trek.

[@TREK-WORLD]

For those of us who grew up in the 70s, those AMT model kits were a huge part of our Star Trek hobby back then. I’m probably going to do a video just about the different 1970s models and when they came out. It was a good time to be a kid!

[@fridayray8891]

@@TREK-WORLD yeah, we blew up at least a dozen AMt's...K-7 went up "Gloriously"

[@thermalreboot]

I don't remember my first sighting of the Klingon ship, but I do remember the very first time I saw Star Trek. It was a Saturday afternoon in 1972, my dad was watching TV in my parents bedroom so I joined him. He was watching "Tomorrow is Yesterday". No Kligons or Klingon ships in that one, but I was hooked on Star Trek.

[@charlesbard2331]

The Klingons ship remind me of a praying mantis....

[@gordondavis6168]

The Klingon cruiser got a lot of air time in the Star Trek Animated series.

[@RRL110]

I was born in the mid 60s so in the 70s I pretty much built every sci fi and monster model on the market. Fun times.

[@MoonjumperReviews]

Nicely done research! It’s interesting to note that the Lief Erickson has a very similar conning tower to the Botany Bay-which I think is probably not a coincidence. That suggests an era for this vessel to have existed.

[@berendharmsen]

I felt like a proper nerd when I knew that the mystery ship you were talking about was going to be the Leif Ericson ship. I never actually saw the model for real, but I knew it existed from old catalogues, but I never knew the exact story behind it, other than knowing that it was a fantasy ship that seemed designed to hike along on Star Trek's popularity.

[@JLange642]

Gene would be proud to see all of the Star Trek videos, interest and content on the internet. The world has definitely benefitted from his creation, and we would be a sadder planet if he had never brought this franchise to life!

[@jayb8369]

I had all the AMT models including the mystery UFO ship complete with mini scout ship. They hung from my bedroom ceiling for many years gathering dust until I left home for college. Matt Jeffries was pure genius.

[@FAMUCHOLLY]

I had all three of the models discussed. The original Leif Ericson and its shuttle were both glow-in-the-dark. The problem with the original Enterprise model was the instability of the Warp Nacelle struts to support the Nacelles evenly and keep them properly oriented....

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

Yep, that always disappointed me as a kid...

[@ntvypr4820]

They snapped off REALLY easily. Tried to glue them back on and wound up with a mess of melted glue and styrene at the join point to the hull. I had easily bought so many of these I could have made the whole FLEET back in the day. I still have one of the engine nacelles with strut, and the accompanying saucer and lower hull somewhere. The nacelle I see everyday don't remember what I did with the other part.

[@msh6865]

@@ntvypr4820 same here. Very frustrating to a 8 or 9 year old!

[@mikedicenso2778]

Rick A Cigel of the infamous Unobtainium Ltd. company that offered 33" replicas of the Enterprise had owned the Poe model and I got to see it at San Diego ComicCon in the early 2000s. It was in beautiful condition, like she'd she been finished yesterday, the 2-toned paint scheme untouched, and the photos you show here or are available on the internet elsewhere just do not do it justice in any way. I'm sorry that I no longer have the photos I took of it and the lit prototype Enterprise replica. Given Unobtainium's legal problems in the wake of a number of the Enterprise replica models being defective, it's not surprising that Rick was forced to sell off that model to recoup some of his losses. But the one thing that stood out to me was just the incredible craftsmanship of the model, and like the 11 foot Enterprise, all the little details that never could be seen onscreen with it's sister ship nor the subtle aspects of the paint job, including little red and black markings that were never made available in the kit's decal sheets. When Jefferies, Winfield, and AMT were building these models, they took so much care. There was also another difference, I believe, between the two. The hole in the bulbous bow section's nose that later became the photon torpedo launcher had a small cylindrical piece, like a ray projector device, inside it while supposedly the other model did not. The cylindrical piece was very similar to the one offered in the commercial kit. Finally, the tear down and lack of care with the D-7 model by Robert Abel and Magicam doesn't surprise me and it's likely that lack of concern is why we don't have the original 3 foot Enterprise model anymore.

[@thomasackerman5399]

Yeah, sadly, I'm thinking that some A-hole threw the model out after breaking it. At least with someone stealing it and taking it home, there's a chance it'd turn up at an auction or estate sale. But it probably instead is buried in a landfill. :(

[@johnatsf1564]

Thanks for your hard work for all of the love we have for Star Trek!

[@johnhege6502]

More than anything, the Klingon ship looks to me like a goose in flight

[@williamcurry4868]

Glad to see this here. You know, it always looked to me like the battle cruiser looked like a gun slinger getting ready to draw down on you.

[@willmfrank]

It also looks rather like an angry goose. Angry geese are freakin' scary, man -- Even Klingons are afraid of 'em; maybe that's why they made their ships look like them.

[@johnchristopher20]

The “Leif Erickson” was the model for Niven and Pournell’s “McArthur” battle cruiser in “The Mote In God’s Eye” perhaps one of the most classic modern science fiction stories. And you didn’t mention that!

[@willmfrank]

Some of those boards on Pinterest that I mentioned have a few photos of MacArthurs, some of whose builders use the Leif Ericson straight out of the box, while others use the Leif as a base for kitbashing.

[@DavidRLentz]

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle? I am testing my memory.

[@majorneptunejr]

Ever noticed that it's shaped like a bottle ?

[@willmfrank]

@@majorneptunejr That was the FIRST thing I noticed! It's like some exotic. flat-sided whiskey bottle, with that characteristic long neck perfect for grasping...And the deflector shield is like some kind of decorative bottlecap.

[@logandarklighter]

Yeah - I think Niven actually explained how they based the "McArthur" on the Leif Erikson model in one of his collected essay books. One of the ones that was published in the 80s or 90s (I THINK - I'd have to go back and check. I could be wrong.) I remember that the "tower" that came 90 degrees off the main forward boom provided somewhat more simulated gravity when spinning the ship on it's long axis for the benefit of officers. (though you could argue that there are portions of the back of the ship that would produce a similar effect due to their own distance from the mid-line COG) If you read The Mote In God's Eye" and have a reference to the Leif Erikson (either the model or image downloaded from Google etc) then all the references to the ship line up perfectly. Naturally of course, they never provided a PICTURE inside the novel for reference. They played it safe that way for trademark/copyright purposes.

[@mannyestacio8658]

Gosh, I had the Leif Erickson kit as well (although it was just called the UFO Mystery Ship), and I'm 59 years old now. I remember it fondly and played with it incessantly as a kid, especially at night! I painted the inside of the hangar bay and put dots on the outside for windows, but essentially kept the glow in the dark hull intact. Years after it fell apart I had pieces of it in my spare parts boxes. I have been looking in hobby stores for years hoping that it would be reissued, but I guess I missed it coming out in 2009. This video brought back great memories, and I'm amazed to now hear of its background. Imagine if it had been used in any Star Trek series! It would have been amazing.

[@patrickwilson1459]

I always loved the Klingon D-7 Battlecrusier design.

[@martinevans9757]

Very nice! Thank you for shedding light on this most iconic of 'baddie' starships. I didn't know the origin of the 'D7 / D6' argument, but it is amusing that to this day, the Trek-inspired boardgame Star Fleet Battles continues to insist that the D7 is, indeed, a D6.

[@manmonkee]

I've done quite a bit of design work, mostly in Video games but I have repeatedly argued with my colleagues that the Klingon D7 is a pivitol turning point in Media design. For the time it's quite a complex design and again at the time the predominant trope in Movie spaceship design was the flying saucer or rocket. The Enterprise does have a flying saucer as it's main focus but the D7 is a complete change taking little to no influence of previous designs, in that respect it's unique, genius, the first and nothing afterwards is quite the same. It opened the door to the less restricted more detailed design that was the hallmark of the 70's. And it's not dated, it still looks bloody brilliant.

[@TREK-WORLD]

You are quite right abut the D7 design. When you look at the design, it is recognizably Star Trek (two warp nacelles, etc). But the over all design really came into it's own when Matt decided to use the Manta as an inspiration. The result was strikingly beautiful. As was just about everything else he designed. The only flaw I ever saw in it was the exposed boom between the bridge and the main section of the hull. But to be honest, I was more than willing to suspend belief just long enough to fall in love with the design.

[@ooklathemok]

There are lots of Trek channels out there, but these videos are great as they are extremely well researched and contain detailed information that id never heard elsewhere.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Thank you for the compliment. I'm trying to dig into corners that I feel haven't been completely uncovered by the multitude of other channels and websites. It actually amazes me that I have learned so much while doing this.So many things I had assumed turned out to be wrong. But it also gives me that same thrill it did when we just discovered Star Trek all those years ago.

[@ooklathemok]

@@TREK-WORLD You're welcome. Like I said KZbin is replete with star trek videos but upon watching yours I realized just how much history that I knew nothing about. Absolutely fascinating video. I must confess Star Trek hasn't really inspired me of late but efforts like this keep the flame alive

[@TheShornak]

That Interplanetary Mystery Ship also was Glow in the Dark in the 70's by AMT. I had it. I got it at around the same time I got the Enterprise, Klingon, Shuttlecraft kits. Had to be early 1976 because I was living in Albuquerque. I remember having it there and I moved back to California in Sept 1976 to start the 8th grade. So safe to say the glow in the dark was around at least in early 1976. I never understood back then the connection with star trek I just though it was a cool model.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Actually, comments like your have made me want to make sure I do a video on the AMT models next Season, when we move on to 70s Trek. Growing up in the 70s; these model kits were one of the very most exciting things we got as children.

[@thomasackerman5399]

@@TREK-WORLD First run on the ship was in 1968. The model was originally regular polystyrene plastic, so no glow-in-the-dark, and was the 'Lief Ericson' to be part of a whole series of non-Trek related science fiction models, each with a unique chapter of a story. It also was a lit kit that came with wires and bulbs and fittings for batteries as well as an on/off switch. The next run on or about 1976 changed the kit to glow-in-the-dark plastic and dropped the lore (and the lights) in favor of it being the 'U.F.O. Mystery Ship'. Round 2 re-released it in 2010, keeping the U.F.O. motif.

[@willmfrank]

@@thomasackerman5399 Round 2 re-issued BOTH variants. I know; I bought one of each. The Leif Ericson has transparent red plastic "Ion Engines," with LEDs to illuminate them, replacing grain-of-rice bulbs included with the original kit; the "Interplanetary UFO Mystery Ship" version has no lights -- apparently, as a glow-in-the-dark kit, it doesn't need them. The instruction sheets have the short stories included, and the box art on the bottom features photos of assembled models, built and photographed by E. James Small, of Small Art Works.

[@tarkas566]

@@willmfrank is right. The original 1968 kit was white plastic with translucent red pieces for the engines and a load of chrome greeblies, plus the light bulbs and associated parts for the lights in the engines. It also included the first in a planned series of short stories featuring a young trainee officer serving aboard the ship and a thin plastic record with "space sounds" on it. The UFO version left out the engines altogether. Round Two put out both versions -- first the UFO with a new decal sheet that allowed the model to be made as the SSC Yuri Gagarin, either as launched or after becoming the mystery pirate ship; and then as the Lief E, with the engines back, but not, IIRC, with any lighting; I think they assumed that modellers could add their own. As @Thomas Ackerman says, the Lief Ericsson was intended to be the first in a series of kits based on the idea of the Strategic Space Command. Each kit would be of a different class of ship and would have a story about the same young cadet/officer (Lance somebody?) and his adventures while serving on the ship, but the Lief didn;t sell well enough and the idea series was dropped. The Lief has gone on to be the inspiration for several designs used on book covers, in games, etc., and there's even a version that has anEnterprise-like saucer and warp engines! For an "unknown" ship, it sure has got around...

[@willmfrank]

@@tarkas566 Midshipman Lancer Scott -- I wonder if his crewmates called him "Scotty." Oh! And my re-issue actually DID come with four LEDs -- two for each engine; you're supposed to run the wires down the stand and mount the battery pack in the base, which has a slot for the switch...But there's JUST enough room behind the shuttle bay to mount the battery pack inside the ship itself, should you want to suspend it from wires instead -- the rear end cap is suspiciously conveniently like a removable cover.

[@ericgen5022]

These videos are hidden gems. I just found your channel. You all do a great job researching and creating these videos. Great! Thank you.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Thanks so much!

[@maximillianexcaliber6593]

Actually, the name D-7 was used long before the Tribbles episode mentioned during this video in the tactical board game Starfleet Battles, originally created in 1979 by Stephen V. Cole of the gaming company Amarillo Design Bureau. Also used in the game are the D-5, a War Cruiser, C-8 Dreadnought, the D-10 Battleship and others.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Correct. The fan publications and gaming companies had used the name for years. However, Star Trek itself never used the name at all until DS9. In the case of Star Fleet Battles, they "named" many ships in their games. Some came to be, others did not. For our purposes, I try to stay away from "canon" questions due to their polarizing effects on fans. But I will only reference things that actually appeared on screen on this channel. Everything else will be considered part of "fandom".

[@maximillianexcaliber6593]

@@TREK-WORLD Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post.

[@TREK-WORLD]

@@maximillianexcaliber6593 Actually, *thank you* for viewing and posting. It's the conversations in the4 comments that I love the most!

[@willmfrank]

Fun fact: The mouth-like opening at the front of the bulb is the ship's main sensor and navigational deflector, identified in the AMT kit's instructions as "Antenna." It's the Klingon equivalent of the Enterprise's dish antenna. It didn't become a torpedo tube until the Motion Picture.

[@ChristopherCobra]

In SFB - it was multi-purpose in illustrations and game play. Tractor beam, torpedo, high energy disruptor (to take out cities), etc....

[@willmfrank]

@@ChristopherCobra Probably why it's called simply "Antenna:" it's sufficiently generic as to fit various applications.

[@darkwood777]

Deflector dish. It deflects asteroids and other debris while traveling at warp speeds.

[@stevetheduck1425]

Made the AMT Klingon ship as a kit decades ago, and have never seen any painting instructions do it the way the filming model was painted, in purple and green, instead of pale blue-grey the way it looked on TV here in Britain. Glad to see that ancient rumour laid to rest. I might build one again, now.

[@Rigel_Chiokis]

I had the glow in the dark mystery ship in 1974, so the 2009 model you mentioned was a reissue. You mentioned that the Klingon battlecruiser was never called the D7 until Deep Space 9 episode. That may be true for Star Trek on the screen, but it's been known as a D7 since 1979 thanks to a war game called Star Fleet Battles. Any fan who played that immensely enjoyable game has known it as the D7 since then. The game actually had everything from (if I remember correctly) the D5 to the D10.

[@CZ350tuner]

Actually the SFB game covered from D4 to D7X (K'tinga prototype). It also had the D5 / D6 / D7 derived C5, C6,, C7, C8 & C9 dreadnaughts & massive B10 & B11 battleships. I still play the game, occasionally.

[@stevenewman1393]

🖖😎👍Very cool and very greatly well done and very nicely informatively explained and executed in every detail way shape and form possibly provided indeed, I myself have built all of the original Startrek models, Enterprise, Shuttle Galileo, Klingon D7, Romulan bird of prey and even the Lief Ericsson and the 3 set of the phaser,tricorder& comunictor,plus the 3 ship Tos set and so forth, I'm 65 and still building all of the present Startrek models as well today👌.

[@adventuresincampingwithcar8622]

That's pretty cool about the Leif ericson. I had that model as a kid. Alas it is long gone just like my Enterprise and my Klingon battle cruiser.

[@thomasackerman5399]

The interesting thing about using the Lief Ericson/Mystery UFO model ship in TAS is that it actually progressed to the point of it being in the animation storyboards! By the way, something you missed in your video about the D7 model kit. As with the original 1967 version of the Enterprise kit, the battlecruiser was originally set up to be lit, hence the open windows (ironic given the tooling models were mostly solid!) and came with wiring and light blubs!

[@TREK-WORLD]

Interesting! Thanks for the info. I actually plan to do a video in the future that will focus on the AMT models and not on the studio models. They were such a huge part of our lives back then.

[@thomasackerman5399]

@@TREK-WORLD I'd post links to them, but YT is blocking posts with hotlinks. That being said, there are online copies of the original AMT instruction sheets showing the wiring diagrams and such. Basically, it's the same general idea as the earlier Enterprise kit: the batteries are mounted in the engineering hull on brackets with the switch for the contact piece jutting out through a narrow slit in the bottom near the mounting stem slot, then the wires are run up through the neck and into the ovoid cobra head-shaped command section, which in addition to the open windows on the side, also had those clear 2 green lights on the oval superstructure as well as the green grill pieces that the lights are meant to shine through as well. When the lighting option was removed from later editions, the features for them, including the slit for the on/off switch was left on the model! Probably confused a lot of modelers new to the kit in later years who didn't know why those things were there!

[@mikedicenso2778]

@@TREK-WORLD G Louis has a copy posted up on Pinterest, if you want to see a 1968 instruction sheet. Very informative and takes me back when the model was still in its first run.

[@chrisddawson]

Great little documentary!

[@TREK-WORLD]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@tsarbomba1]

Holy crap... I had a Leif Erickson. It was a glow in the dark - pretty sure I got it in the 1970s.

[@ntvypr4820]

I was born in 1960 and recall seeing ST in first run but being so young could not really understand it. LIS was more my speed at less than ten years old and it had a cool robot and flying saucer J2! Anyway by early 70's at 10 or 11 ST began to gel for me in after school reruns and I bought every kit they ever made and multiples of each using every bit of chore money I could earn. I still have a couple of the starship Enterprises, though they suffered the nefariously weak engineering of the nacelle strut join to the hull and they broke pretty quickly. These were also kits not offered locally very often and had to be ordered by mail usually which took FOREVER and I mean MONTHS. I had the early versions of both the Enterprise and the Klingon BOP in which each one had grain of wheat TINY bulbs. And green colored clear plastic phaser and bridge domes for internal lighting. The E had them in the nacelles too behind clear orange domes. The bulbs burned out easily and it was a short lived option. I have none of those left. But I also still have some original film cells from the editing process that Roddenberry's Lincoln Enterprises marketed WAY back then. I'm 62 now and you can buy ANYTHING ST you might want nowadays but I'd have loved to be able to get 1/10th of what they offer now back then, when it was all so few and far between it was a misery. Wait every DAY for the postman and ... NOTHING. And Star Wars is a Star Trek knockoff to me too, BTW. Still if they hadn't made it, Paramount might never have revived Star Trek so I give em an attaboy for that..

[@dallas49m]

I built that Glow in the Dark model when I was about 14 so around 1974. Great memory.

[@goldenpacificmedia]

Thanks for the cool explanation of the history of this particular epic ship of sci-fi! Sharing your video work with two Star Trek Facebook groups.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Awesome, thank you!

[@dansmusic5749]

Highly recommended is Herb Solow's and Bob Justman's book "Star Trek The Real Story". There is an abridged audiobook copy on KZbin. It is the real, first hand story from the people who made it. Best thing ever published on Star Trek.

[@nicholasklangos9704]

I also had one of those Mystery UFO ships, I don’t remember seeing the name Lief Ericsson on it though. Anyway i was around 13 so it must have been 1973 or so. Mine had the glow in the dark plastic too and few decals which I never used. I loved the design of it because of the submarine conning tower kids look and the cool little attack fighter inside. I wished it could have been used in a tv series and even wrote some stories around it with illustrations. I wish it hadn’t disappeared one day I think someone stole it when I was a teen. Didn’t know there was a refit in 2009.

[@MatthewCaunsfield]

Good collection of information. I for one had never heard of the Lief Erickson, so appreciate learning that too

[@gordondavis6168]

Having the Klingon engine nacelles hanging down gives the ship design “weight” and a menacing look. Since the Klingons use slave races on their ships, the long neck makes it nearly impossible for revolting slaves or Klingon mutineers to storm the bridge; the Klingon cruiser command module is separated from the ship and can be easily defended. Basically, the Enterprise is a Cadillac while the Klingon D7 is a Toyota Tercel.

[@ooklathemok]

I enjoy observations like these Gordon such as the neck making it difficult to mount an assault on the bridge. An unintended plus to the design

[@j.s.connolly8579]

@@ooklathemok I LOVE your moniker "Ookla the Mok". They are one of my all time FAV "Fandom Bands" and their song "View Master" is my Fav! It's about the loss of Child hood and Innocence.

[@ooklathemok]

@@j.s.connolly8579 hi J.S. Thank you. Im not familiar with that group but i will look them up. I got the name from a cartoon i used to watch called Thundarr the barbarian.

[@nortoncomando3728]

In the 1960s I thought it looked like a Soviet ship with that bulb shaped front.

[@ooklathemok]

@@j.s.connolly8579 that song is brilliant. I listened to it

[@GwonkReefkeeping]

Thank you for this video. I don't think that I ever would have remembered that I had that mystery ship as a child. Thank you so much!

[@warp7.852]

Fantastic to learn this new info about the Klingons legendary battlecruiser. I never knew about the Leif Ericsson model. Indeed, the design is GREAT. She looks always ready for an attack and I like that a lot.😍👍

[@robertsherman7978]

What a wonderful video! Just when I thought I knew everything about these models, I learn something new from your videos. Great job!😃👍📺🐕

[@StarTrekShipExplorer]

Amazing, Star Trek has such a deep rich history that seems unending.

[@gregorydahl]

I had the mysteyship UFO model glow in th dark in the 1970's . Its main hull shape reminded me of a whiskey bottle . Sort of a cheap trash-bash model . I tried to paint the landing bay black and leave the window panels inside it glow as in the box art .

[@richardsweeney197]

Also, the front section was used in the design of the "Botany Bay" the ship khan and his Followers were exiled on.

[@PatJones82]

I don't know where or how you come up with all of these facts, but they are gold. Much appreciated sir. :)

[@TREK-WORLD]

Thanks, Pat. I appreciate it. My old teachers would be very happy with me. I do research the old fashioned way: dig, study, look for more clues, read some more. 😀😀

[@joshslater9835]

This is where all those kids went who grew up building models of everything. What a cool job.

[@mythdusterds]

Never realized that D-7 was never mentioned until DS9. I always thought it was mentioned somewhere in the Original Series or animated series.

[@jonmiguel]

I had a 'Leif Ericson' AND a glow-in-the-dark UFO version. Loved them both. Lost to "growing up".

[@MissKarenB]

I can't remember where or when I read it, but I remember reading an interview where (I think it was with Jerry Pournelle) where it was stated that the Leif Ericson kit was basically the design of the INSS MacArthur in the book "The Mote In Gods Eye". I had that kit and buried in storage I still have 4 original (large box, w/lights) unopened D7 kits. The list price of the D7 and Enterprise kits was $2.25 and Penny's sold them for $1.99.

[@TeargasHorse]

I had the 1701 and a D6 hanging from my ceiling in the mid to late 70s when I was between 6&10. I don't remember the model manufacturer. I had the Leif Ericson too, under the UFO name, it was glow in the dark, with the doors and shuttle too, just as it is shown!! Wow, I thought I'd never see that again, and never knew its connection to Trek; I thought that it was from the TV series UFO, although I had never seen it on that show.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Here's an interesting trivia point - in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Roy Neary's son has both the Enterprise and the D7 hanging from the ceiling in his room.

[@TeargasHorse]

@@TREK-WORLD I will check it out! Somewhere I have photos of them...Somewhere.

[@IMRROcom]

I had the Leif Erickson model as a kid, I think I still have the little tad pole shuttle thing floating around in a box. I still have my AMT Enterprise too, I screwed it up years ago think it would be a good idea to drill out all the winds and try and light it.

[@mythdusterds]

I had no idea about two models and such big differences.

[@davidvega1212]

Thank you for another highly enjoyable video. The front of the Leif Erickson looks similar to Kahn's ship shown on Space Seed. Wonder if the LE model influenced the Kahn's ship. But then again, both look like the sail/fin of a submarine of the 60s.

[@starsiegeplayer]

Both were designed by the same person (Jeffries)

[@Argelius1]

Hands down my favorite Star Trek ship, from the original and subsequent iterations.

[@crazexskater]

Need to do a video about the Romulan bird of prey filming model and the designer who also designed the communicaters and tricorders AND hand phasers. Wen Chun? I believe was his name, although he was never given "official" credit for his work. Studio workers unions were pissed because he wasn't in their union. In the end he wasn't paid for the model and reportedly took it home and destroyed it and buried the pieces in his backyard. That's why it was never used again in the original series. Romulans were later shown in Kilingon D9 battle cruisers painted with the bird of prey.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Yup. He's on my production list as we speak. His story is also pretty wild and amazing. It is an absolute crime that he never got the recognition he deserved in Hollywood. The man designed the Time Machine!

[@montescott59]

As I understand it, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle used the "Leif Erikson" model as the conceptual model for their own ship, the INSS MacArthur in their classic novel "The Mote in God's Eye." Niven specifically mentioned the model in an essay in his collection "N-Space." I didn't know it had been designed by Jeffries.

[@irenecraggs6123]

thanks for the info love all the star trek series😁

[@TREK-WORLD]

Hi Irene Craggs! Thank you so much for the kind words. I have learned so much from viewers like you over the past year or so. It is so wonderful for us to be able to share our love for Star Trek. Hopefully, I will continue to find new and unique things to talk about.

[@FlyingCrow]

Great story. Enjoyed it.

[@bobbova8708]

Thank you for another very informative and entertaining history video.you somehow seem to illuminate many facts and able to provide many interesting pics.The differences between the 2 models are fascinating to see.I find it also both interesting and somewhat baffling as to how amt Corp. being the builders of the shuttlecraft miniature and the (almost) full size versions could have turned out the plastic kit with many inaccurate details.Thanks to the current round 2 for offering the newer and much more accurate kit.I am looking forward to your next video and wish all a live long and prosper.🖖

[@TREK-WORLD]

Thanks Bob! always good to see your comments here. I think that I'm going to do a video when we cover 70s Trek that is going to go into the various AMT model kits that were important to us back in those earliest of days.

[@ken1w]

I remember building that gold-in-dark mystery ship. I recall it had a smaller ship, guess it was like a shuttle craft. I liked the design. Never knew there was a Star Trek connection.

[@tomlewis4205]

Awesome video! 😎👍

[@davidgaul572]

Great job!

[@thestorm99]

I had the Interplanetary UFO kit as a kid. My memory may be corrupted after all these years, but I think it came in an AMT Star Trek box. Which baffled me, because I'd never seen it in an episode. Now I know where it came from.

[@willmfrank]

It wasn't an actual Star Trek box, but the graphic design was identical to the Star Trek kit boxes, including the Matt Jefferies orthographic drawings printed on the side panels. The box art had all the elements of a Star Trek kit box but without the Star Trek nameplate. Your bafflement is perfectly understandable, and your memory's not corrupted

[@scifiguy26]

Informative as always great video🖖🏾

[@williammitchell4417]

One other difference... On the "Roddenbury model, miship behind the neck and forward of the impulse vents, there is a bit of a curve to it. The "Leif Ericson ship" could have been the prototype for the toy Starbird

[@RayRay-mj6pn]

Just a note the klingon ship was also seen briefly in "trouble with tribbles"

[@TREK-WORLD]

Actually, in the original series they didn't show the ship because they didn't have any budget for it. But when they did the remastered CGI later on, they added the ship to several episodes, including this one.

[@RayRay-mj6pn]

@@TREK-WORLD oh your right been spoiled on dvds. Been too many years since Ive seen TOS. Guess your memory fades as you get older lol

[@edwardevans7219]

I HAD THE MYSTERY SHIP!!!!!!!!!!

[@karlkammer3050]

Another great one, I couldn't download it so I could stop shops in helping me in doing my painting version.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Write to me at [e-mail] and I can send you some original photos I found.

[@willmfrank]

"Most Star Trek fans have no idea it even exists." I dispute that, sir! There are entire boards on Pinterest dedicated to the Leif Ericson and its "Interplanetary UFO Mystery Ship" variant that attest to its impact. And I'm pretty sure that the re-issue of the Glow-in-the-dark variant inspired the creation of the "Tholian Web USS Defiant" kit.

[@georgesartiano3559]

Around the year 2002 we had the Roddenberry model, which I got to hold multiple times- this was the purchase that get's mentioned as the in between one in the video. I was surprised that it really was just solid wood, but it appeared just as it did in the pictures, and was in really nice shape. By that time it travelled around in a nice wheeled plastic case with custom foam- no need for its neck to stick out of a bag. We also had one of the Tholian ships, which were about a foot long (maybe a little shorter), and were essentially a hunk of wood- I made a smaller version of one as an ornament for the company Christmas tree that year given the simplicity of the Tholian doorstop, it was relatively easy to make. I guess about a year or two later it had to be sold.

[@Daimo83]

This channel is a goldmine - thanks!

[@TREK-WORLD]

Thank you so much for the compliment. I've really enjoyed the research and production. And then the best past is getting to talk to folks like yourself after the video is released. We're currently in what I call "Season 1"; which focuses primarily on 1960s Star Trek. There's still quite a bit left to do before I can close out the season. "Season 2" will focus on 1970s Star Trek; which I think is actually going to be far more interesting than most people think. But I guess we'll have to wait and see!

[@redjupiter2]

I absolutely love every video of yours that I have watched. I have often wondered if anyone besides myself ever noticed that the top center portion with the curved vents from an AMT Klingon battle cruiser model kit was part of the prop that Dr. McCoy places on Chekov’s forehead in the hospital scenes of The Voyage Home. It is impossible for me to watch that scene and not think about 10 year old me building that model way back in the 70s. Next time you watch it remember to pay close attention as Deforest places it on Walters head. Somehow I imagine you have already noticed this though :-)

[@TREK-WORLD]

Thanks for the kind words. I hadn't noticed that about the instrument McCoy used. I will most certainly go look for it.

[@farkinarkin5099]

Greg Jein, R.I.P. is a scale modeling legend.

[@TREK-WORLD]

So true. And it is a field with fewer and fewer master artists as the years pass. With CGI these days, there’s just not enough demand to justify new artists investing their time to become really talented. Just imagine how special effects would look today if George Pal had gone into a different field when he was younger. There would have been a direct impact to Star Trek.

[@subliteral]

Great video , and I don't think this information is compiled anywhere else. I'm wondering if there's any information on the Romulan Warbird filming model available. I built the model kit as a kid , but I've never seen any behind the scenes information on it at all. I mean NONE. Is there any information available at all?

[@TREK-WORLD]

That story is covered in this video : kzbin.info/www/bejne/hJKWZp2HmZiWaa8.

[@DarthMcLeod]

I am pretty sure Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle used the UFO Mystery Ship as the basis for their ship the MacArthur in their book, "Mote in God's Eye."

[@willmfrank]

Yes they did; there's even a photo floating around out in the interwebverse showing one of them posing with a fan tribute model of the MacArthur built from a Leif Ericson kit.

[@jackbohn232]

Great video, but still so many questions! The kit had features I'm not seeing on the Roddenberry model. (I say had, because Round2 reworked the molds for the most recent re-release to more closely match the screen version. Back when I thought there was only one model, traced for the kit, then sent to be filmed, I would make myself obnoxious by suggesting the kit was MORE accurate than the screen version!) Three details are the tube extending from the front ovoid, a pair of pipes running along either side of the neck, and the big one, a pair of panels on the top of the main hull, on either side, running along the line where the body first narrows down into wings. These panels are on Jeffries drawings of the ship, but I don't see them on either model! Incidentally, from these details, you can tell the Filmation crew used an AMT kit for reference in drawing the Klingon cruiser for the animated series. Even the pipes are apparent, though they are thin and the cartoon is drawn with a thick line. The Klingon ship appears in "More Tribbles, More Troubles" and "The Time Trap," and in Romulan service in "The Survivor" and "The Practical Joker."

[@TREK-WORLD]

I hope to do an AMT specific video in Season 2. But from what I've seen of AMT, they were constantly changing the molds of all the ships every time they needed new batches produced. So a later model of the D7 having more details and differences from the Master Tooling Model doesn't really surprise me. But at the same time, it excites me for my research. Now; I'm no different than any of my viewers. And I am most certainly not a qualified expert of Star Trek. But I'm pretty good at research and I get more and more astounded when I discover there are so many things that either I didn't know, or I thought I knew and didn't, or I should have known. Researching these videos takes me all the way back to how I felt about Trek in the beginning. I guess it's like how sniffing a Yankee Candle in the store will always trigger a memory in your mind.

[@Clay3613]

The Smithsonian should pull the D-7 out of storage, give it the proper paint and display it near the Enterprise!

[@msh6865]

Heartily agree!

[@warlordmacilvernock1979]

Remember, the sketch drawings of both ships were used in the original television series, in a briefing room scene.

[@TREK-WORLD]

You are correct! They actually used the drawings that Matt did for AMT's box artwork. They used them in the series, and Stephen put them in his book.

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

Iirc correctly the writers got around the problem of why the Klingon ship design was the same as the Romulan by saying the Klingons "borrowed" from the Romulans... or am I remembering that wrong?

[@TREK-WORLD]

@@hurdygurdyguy1 Close! The Romulan ship was actually built first, and was seen in the 1st season's Balance of Terror. By the time they had the D7 built in the 3rd season, they decided to use it as the Romulan ship in The Enterprise Incident. Since it actually appeared as a Romulan ship before we saw it as a Klingon ship; they came up with the idea that there was a Romulan-Klingon alliance. The Romulan's got the Klingon ship. and the Klingons got the Romulan Cloaking Device.

[@vilod]

My second favorite ship from TOS

[@michaelbastraw1493]

Nicely done, indeed... Best. Leo.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Thanks for listening

[@ZacLowing]

8:39 some other differences, the section on top extends further off the stern, the front of the main section is curved on the left, straight on the right.

[@KPSquared2]

I had a UFO glow in the dark model. My father built it for me as I was young and could do snap together models, but hadn’t done a model with glue yet.

[@davidtyler2012]

this was GREAT. I learned a lot of behind the scenes trivia. AND..I HAD AND HAVE THE LEIF ERICSSON. i love that model so much that i recently bought an unfinished kit to go crazy adding all kinds of new lights and brass parts. Little known fact.. the ERICSSON is the inspiration for the USS Douglas MacArthur from the novel The Mote I'm God's Eye by Larry Niven.

[@TREK-WORLD]

You know; I read the book - but I didn't know the connection. Heck, I wouldn't even had known the Jefferies connection back when I read the book. But I've received a bunch of comments about it being the basis for the MacArthur. So obviously I may not have been paying enough attention way back when. BTW I loved Niven and Pournell's work back then. And I geeked out when I realized that Pournell was the same guy how had the monthly computer column in BYTE.

[@adamkorin5863]

Nice work🤩

[@danielhurley7047]

I always thought the Klingon ship had the profile of a Canada goose in flight.

[@hurdygurdyguy1]

3:27... I still have my copy of the first print of "The Making..." ! It's in bad shape, read and re-read it so many times, the spine is cracked and I "preserved" the cover with strips of tape 😆 ... in the '80's I bought a new reprint and took it with me to the only StarTrek convention I've ever gone to in Spokane Washington and had it autographed by Roddenberry! Majel Barrett was sitting with him and as I gave him my copy to sign he looked at it closely and then showed it to her and said, "wow, look at this! They're keeping it in print, whaddaya know!" ❤ 7:53 ... my original copy! After I covered the the cover in tape my brother (the little bastard) drew a moustache on Spock with a Sharpie! I tried removing it but you can still barely see it 😆 18:21 ... OMG! I still have my Leif Erickson (though it may be missing the little shuttle craft)!!!!

[@TREK-WORLD]

And *this* is why I love doing these videos! Everything that you and I share as fans is deeply rooted in our childhood memories. And it is as ingrained in our personalities so deeply that we can truly feel empathic when someone shares a story like you just did. I swear, this is why I am so PROUD to be a Star Trek fan!

[@torikazuki8701]

Regarding the name of the Klingon Cruiser 'D-7' never having been officially used, my friends and I, knew it as the D-7 a decade before 'Deep Space 9', because of FASA's Star Trek Combat Simulator. In their main rules book they used that name, as well as creating a 'D-5 Heavy Cruiser' Creatively derived from that original model. The FASA Game was incredibly well thought out, especially for the time and in both Background History and Ships. From a host of Federation designs, to Klingon, to Romulan & even Orion and Gorn, each Race's ships were identifiable as belonging to that Race and distinctive within each Race. (I use 'Race' Generically, obviously the Federation is not a single species.) Like the Gorn ships being built like bricks, with the warp nacelles being close to the main hulls, FASA's team imagined the Gorns being highly radiation-resistant, so they could protect their nacelles by putting them almost inside the hulls. Sadly, the FASA game went from almost-canon to completely negated in the late 1980's, as when Gene became aware of it, he hated how the game was 'too warlike', and his disapproval was a heavy blow to the legitimacy of the production.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Yup! The FASA people were true Star Trek Nerds back in the day. I remember them using the name. And I'd always assumed it was because of the story in The Making of Star Trek. Also, I think that one of the prime motivation for Gene to do what he did was that computer and video game licensing was just begiining to become a valuable source of income. Since they were unlicensed, and unsanctioned, letting them continue would make it more difficult to prevent someone from trying to make a game based on FASA's Star Fleet Battles and therefore bypass him from earning royalties on the license. In fact, I do remember at least one Star Fleet Battles game way back then. But their biggest impression on the casual fan wasthe little cottage industry that grew up around making the little metal ships to use int he game.

[@torikazuki8701]

@@TREK-WORLD Yup yup! Though 'Star Fleet Battles' and FASA's 'Star Trek Combat Simulator' were two entirely different games. Task Force Games created SFB back in 1979. It was a decent enough game, though it didn't really care about being lore-friendly or consistent. The thing I loved most about FASA's iteration, was how the boardgame could combine with the RPG and when it came to the players crewing a Starship, it effectively became a PnP version of the much later unofficial 'Artemis: Spaceship Bridge Simulator' something I have never been able to try. :-/

[@michaelnolan6054]

The D-7 also appears in "The Trouble With Tribbles."

[@TREK-WORLD]

Actually, in the original series they didn't show the ship because they didn't have any budget for it. But when they did the remastered CGI later on, they added the ship to several episodes, including this one.

[@TwistedSisterHaratiofales]

What is interesting to me and what I am finding out that when Michael McMaster was allowed to set up deck plans and blue prints for the D7 later on, the portholes on the ship are not in the right alignment and in some cased not in logical places to the interior compartments on the ship. A few are even intersecting bulkheads. So I have to slightly alter where the portholes are places. and in the case of the front 6 round portholes on the center of the teardrop, I had to raise them slightly and decide how large to make them. They are smaller on the filming models then they are on the line drawings and blueprints. They look better IMHO being a bit larger, however I think that they slightly change the look of the ship as compared to TOS screen shots. I am oh so careful in not altering the ships, and I want them to be accurate, however in some ways the original d& was also so lacking in detail, because of the rush to make it, and the budget that they didn't have to make it. Here is my first Build plan video. It is long but it explains what I have in mind. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q4DPfGiCprOdmNk

[@classz123]

THe back of the leif erickson looks like the comm badge from tng except it lacks the point at the top of the starfleet insignia @18:54

[@silvervibranium2832]

I recognize the little ship coming out of the hanger bay at 18:40. Looks like fightercraft in Filmation's Flash Gordon cartoon. It was used by the Arboreans. I think in episode 4.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Amazing what connections you can see when you look at something from a different viewpoint. It's like the time I discovered the the theme for Kolchak : The Night Stalker had been lifted straight out of the beginning of the Questor Tapes. 😀

[@willmfrank]

I've always thought that it looked as though it might be a Klingon shuttle.

[@M60gunner1971]

Wow who knew Boltar started with the Kingons...

[@momokomiyafuji396]

That last story, about DS9 being the first place the Klingon ship is called the D7. That CAN’T be right. I knew as a kid in the mid-70’s that is was called the D7 Battle Cruiser. I can’t remember where I learned the term. It was 47 years ago after all. But I know what I know. I remember the term coming up in a discussion with the other fans when I went to see James Doohan speak at the SUNY Binghamton campus. That would have been 1975-ish. (I know I wasn’t wasn’t old enough to drive. My mom had to drop me off at the college). I don’t know where it was mentioned, but it was somewhere that obsessive fans at the time were able to know about it.

[@TREK-WORLD]

Star Trek fans actually started calling it a D7 because of the story in the Making of Star Trek. And I'm pretty sure some early novels did as well. But the term was never used by Star Trek itself until many years later. By finally using it in DS9; it became canon at that point. Prior to that it was simply called a Klingon Battlecruiser.

[@darkwood777]

You are correct. Common usage back in the early days. It may have come from the animated series.

[@johnmullholand2044]

There was also the ST:RPG in the late '70s, early '80s, if I recall correctly, using information and photos from the OS, and the Klingon expansion pack, using photos from SFS. It was referred to as the D7 there as well.

[@whelk]

@@TREK-WORLD The table top game also featured D-6 and D-7 battlecruisers (with different stats). It appears the numbers were well established among the fandom early on. I wonder if the DS9 folk at the time even realized they were the first ones to make it canon?