Star Trek: The Next Generation Build The USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D
Star Trek: The Next Generation Build The USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D is a British partwork that debuted in  in the UK, the US, select EU countries,  and Japan.  

Available by subscription from Eaglemoss Collections' websites  and published under its Hero Collector imprint, collectors can build their own seventy centimeter-long (~27.5 inch-long) replica of the , constructed from hand-painted  and  parts, and featuring electronic lighting.

Each four-week period, subscribers typically received with each issue four kit "stages" with parts for the model and a (220 × 284 mm) 32-page magazine containing the relevant sections of the assembly instructions.

Special Issues featuring art prints and die-cast shuttlecraft models are also in production for the line.

The 1:916-scale model was designed as an amalgam of a number of the USS Enterprise-D studio models that appeared in TNG episodes and on film.

Its sculpting most closely followed the six-foot studio model's design while its paint applications approximated the four-foot studio model's on-screen appearance.

The assembled  model could have been displayed in saucer separation mode with fully illuminated lighting, allowing both the primary and secondary hulls to remain lit when displayed separately. Both nacelles contain independent lighting units and were also to be powered by AAA battery packs.

Kit parts were designed to easily snap together and only a screwdriver, included with the first issue, was required for (some) assembly.

Simon Hugo, a contributing author to the project, added that the magazines include "a complete TNG episode guide, with behind-the-scenes insights, rare concept art, and whatever other interesting nuggets we can get our hands on. They’re really fun to research and write, and hopefully a lot of fun to read, too!" 

Ben Robinson, a veteran of the Star Trek Fact Files and a number of other popular Star Trek publications and partworks, had been the senior project manager for this line.

A sister publication of the Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, Star Trek: Discovery The Official Starships Collection, Star Trek Online Starships Collection, and Star Trek Universe: The Official Starships Collection, it was authorized and licensed by Paramount Consumer Products.

On , Eaglemoss was declared bankrupt, after all company activities had already been suspended indefinitely the previous month. This meant that all Build The USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D partwork customers were left with an incomplete model – as were all Eaglemoss' other franchise "build" partwork customers incidentally – , no matter how early they had started with the collection. Robinson has confirmed that the earliest partwork subscribers were close to completion as they had been sent issue 25 of the planned 31 issues shortly before Eaglemoss had to cease all its activities. Having been caught entirely unawares, as Eaglemoss kept their customerbase completely in the dark about their difficulties, frustrated customers complained bitterly on numerous social media outlets about their models now remaining incomplete, forever as most of them feared. The in the meantime fired Robinson sided with these customers having stated that he, "(...) hate[s] the thought of anyone being left with an incomplete model (...)". He furthermore divulged that he was on personal title in the process of talking with third parties interested in taking over some of the Eaglemoss product lines with the buildup lines (such as the Build The USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D collection) given absolute priority, though conceding that he was unable to give any guaranties, merely that he was "hopeful" and "optimistic". 

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Issues

Special Issues
Special Issues may be purchased (or declined) by subscribers and are exclusive to company web shops. Scheduled for the milestones listed below, they are slated to reoccur every three (standard) issues.

Limited Edition art prints include Certificates of Authenticity signed by the artist(s) and are produced in limited editions of 1,500 units each. The graphic for the first release measures 19.5 × 26.5 cm and is printed onto a 30 × 40 cm sheet of 310 gsm Hahnemühle German etching paper.

As Special Issues, models of the USS Enterprise-D's shuttles will also be manufactured in die-cast metal and ABS, sized similarly (120-140 mm) to the Standard Edition starships from the company's first starship collection.

Pin badge set

In March 2021, the USS Enterprise 1701-D metal pin badge set was offered to retail by the company's US webshop.

Enterprise D Shuttles Packs
Paid double-model packs offered to subscribers. Larger scaled than the ones from the Official Starships Collection, each shuttle model came with its own 20-page magazine, which was actually twelve pages longer than the ones that accompanied those from the Official Collection shuttle sets. The extra content is taken up with background production information that was not included in the Official Collection shuttle set magazines, which only contained in-universe information.

Deluxe display base

Subscribers who opt for a premium subscription will receive a LED-illuminated mirrored base for the model, measuring over two feet long, for a small additional ongoing fee.

Gift premiums (UK)
Gift premiums are delivered to subscribers at specific subscription milestones. These intervals (and the products offered) vary in different countries.

Background information

After the limited release of two test issues to retail in select areas of southern England, on 25 March 2019, the UK division of the company announced that the partwork had been suspended but stated that it hoped to resume publication "soon".

UK collectors who had purchased the test issues at retail were given the option of returning them for a full refund,  while UK subscriptions were not dispatched before the suspension of the partwork. This type of test release is a common practice for partwork publishers, in order to gauge consumer interest.

A second message was sent to UK subscribers on 9 May 2019, stating that the line was still suspended and that further upgrades would be made to the Enterprise-D model, adding that a "special gift" would be sent to early subscribers, if the partwork resumed.  Issues for US subscribers were ostensibly scheduled to ship in late March 2019 but did not reach customers.

In September 2019, Ben Robinson stated that the partwork would re-launch in "about a year", following further refinements to the model.  A retooled model (and a revamped magazine design) appeared on the partwork's US website in December 2020 and a 2021 relaunch date was announced.

This publication and its model were not directly related to De Agostini's similar (but short-lived) The Official Star Trek The Next Generation: Build the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D partwork from 2011. The Japanese publication's model was executed at about the same scale as Eaglemoss/Hero Collector's but was an entirely different build that involved the participation of Rick Sternbach. Ironically, those Japanese customers who had invested in the (test-)issues were also left with an incomplete model, as that collection too was cancelled prematurely, though for extraneous reasons outside the control of the company instead of the self-inflicted business failure as had been the case with Eaglemoss eleven years later.

Test issues
The two released test issues and associated promotional artwork from 2019 featured images of an early USS Enterprise-D model prototype. Included with the first (sixteen-page) test issue, a folded (685 × 990 mm) glossy poster (not shown) depicted a life-sized dorsal image of the model. An additional USS Enterprise-D poster was also offered to early subscribers.

Appendices

Footnotes

See also
Star Trek starship miniatures
Star Trek model kits

External links

Official sites
 – defunct UK website
 – defunct US website
 – defunct Europe website
 – Japan website
 – official collector portal (still live, but no longer maintained as 6 July 2022)
 – official YouTube playlist with promo and build videos - defunct

Collector sites
 – unofficial fan forum
TheTrekCollective.com - "Eaglemoss Build the USS Enterprise-D part work launches" article
Wixiban.com - Eaglemoss/Hero Collector Build the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701- D index
Retro Trek Ralph - Eaglemoss Model Reviews, and Builder of this Series. Also Editing This Page.

Magazines
Collectibles