Ships of the Starfleet Reference Series: Star Trek starship parts kit expansion #22

[Note: You can also find this project on my Google Drive mirror.]

This is the 21st expansion parts kit meant to complement my original Star Trek Constitution Class Parts Kit, providing parts and ship models drawn from the 1980’s fan work Federation Reference Series by Todd Guenther and Aridas Sofia, et al.

See my Cults3d Profile for the full list of parts kits I’ve released so far. Each of these kits includes combined ships and ship parts STL files, along with blender source files used to create them. Ship files should be ready to print. Part files are provided so you can import into your 3d modelling software of choice to combine and modify to easily create your own ship designs. All parts are meant to be cross-compatible between kits.

My special thanks on this and previous projects to Art Braune, who has been instrumental in testing and quality control on these models.

Update 2025-01-01: Another update to the original Constitution refit model means I’ve updated the Federation ships in this kit with similarly upgraded saucers, windows, and mesh quality improvements. You can find the previous version archived here.

Update 2023-03-23: Following my updated Constitution refit models, I’ve updated this kit with similarly upgraded saucers and nacelles. In addition, I’ve added a new nacelle variant, the LN 68 which was used in several of Guenther works. This kit also adds some additional ship models mixing some of this kits parts with existing models from older kits.

Included Ships

Note several ships from the Federation Reference Series have been featured in previous kits:

This kit includes the following ships:

K'teremny class destroyer

From FRS Volume 2, the K'teremny heavy destroyer, is essentially a flattened K’t’inga.

Variants of the D-10 and K’t’inga models using the K’teremny command module are also included in the kit.

Belknap class strike cruiser

From FRS volume 6, the Belknap is meant to be a tactically oriented variant of the Constitution class refit. A variant featuring the Guenther style LN-68 variant nacelles is also included.

Ascension class dreadnought

From FRS volume 3, the Ascension is essentially a three nacelle version of the Belknap. A variant featuring the Guenther style LN-68 variant nacelles is also included.

Decatur class strike cruiser

An intermediate design bridging the TOS era with the TMP era stylings that are used in the Belknap. Includes a more-TOS styled “prototype” version, and a more TMP styled “operational” version.

Constitution class command cruiser variant – Gallant type

This new variant comes from the mind of Art Braune. It uses the Guenther style LN-68 nacelles, and replaces the standard Constitution refit command module with version found on the Ascension dreadnought.

Menahga class battlecruiser

The Menahga class has a somewhat tortured fandom history. Originally designed by Michael Morrissette (also the creator of the popular Detroyat class) and was included in FRS volume 3. The Menahga was modified in later fanon works by FRS editor Aridas Sofia as the Mittanic class. Later this was further modified by David Schmidt (who was behind the Starfleet Dynamics, Starfleet Prototype, and other fan works) as the S’harien class.

Mittanic sub-class

S’harien sub-class

Renner class corvette

A fairly chonky corvette, from FRS volume 6.

Zip Files

Zip files are included in the following google drive locations:

• federation-reference-series-v3-ship-stls.zip – Contains the combined, ready to print, ship files.
• federation-reference-series-v3-parts-stls.zip – Contains all of the individual part STL files used to create the combined ship files.
• federation-reference-series-v3-blender-files.zip – Contains the source blender files used to generate the parts, as well as files with the parts assembled as used to generate the combined ship files.

Notes on scaling and working with Blender

All default sizes are based on the stats referenced in the original FRS reference.

My target scale for all source files and output STL files is 1:1000, However, I generally recommend 1:2500 or smaller given the detail level of the model. Although these files have not been extensively tested through printing, they are intended to be resized to match common modelling and miniatures scales.

Blender

Blender is free, which to be honest was the primary factor in my decision to learn it. There are many fine video and text tutorials available online if you're interested in learning more. For a basic tutorial on moving and joining objects in Blender(which should be the minimum you need to know when working with these parts), see this instructables tutorial.

You can use File -> Import -> Stl (.stl) and File -> Export -> Stl (.stl) to load or save STL files in blender.

Note: This kit was built using Blender 3.1.

Post-processing STL output

Although all of the STL files included have been tested as valid watertight meshes, joining the parts together and exporting new STL files can introduce small errors that may cause issues with slicing programs. I recommend any STL files you create are checked using a program like Netfabb Basic free edition. Doing a simple "Close All Holes" repair has fixed most of the issues I've run into so far. If you do run into issues with mesh quality, please let me know.

File manifest

Parts

The federation-reference-series-v3-parts-stls.zip file contains all of the part STL model files listed below. Note some parts will be shared between ships, for instance the engine parts are used in all variant. There are also “Thick” variant parts that are meant to be used in smaller-scale prints.

Combined ship STLs

The federation-reference-series-v3-ship-stls.zip file provides the printable ships created using the parts included in this kit. “Thick” variant ships are included support printing at smaller sizes.

Blender files

The federation-reference-series-v3-blender-files.zip file contains parts files, containing the STL parts arranged as used in the sample ship designs, and parts source files, containing the raw blender objects used to create the parts.

License

I'm releasing this under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. You're free to distribute and modify these files (even for commercial use), provided you attribute the creator and distribute your contributions under the same license.