For models used in Star Trek production, please see studio model.

For model kits, please see Star Trek model kits.

A model is a small-scale reproduction of a large item, such as a starship or space station.

Jonathan Archer built some model starships, as a child, with his father. (ENT: "Broken Bow") One such model could be flown by remote control. (ENT: "Broken Bow", "Similitude") It had a nose and ailerons on either wing, and Archer crashed it several times. While serving as the commanding officer of the NX-class Enterprise in 2153, Archer supervised a boyhood Sim – a clone of Enterprise's chief engineer, Charles Tucker III – while the latter remotely flew the model in Enterprise's launch bay, during which the craft was also closely watched by the captain's dog, Porthos. Sim found that the model kept pitching slightly to starboard and, though he complied with advice from Archer that he should trim the craft's port aileron, doing so did not stop Sim from accidentally crashing the miniature, just as Archer had done repeatedly before him. This collision caused the breakage of the model's starboard nacelle, but Archer assured Sim that the damage was "nothing a little glue won't remedy." Sim was indeed extremely eager to fix the craft, even moments after learning the eventful news that he was a clone. (ENT: "Similitude")

Ensign Travis Mayweather kept a model of Nomad in his quarters aboard Enterprise NX-01. (ENT: "Dead Stop") He also possessed models of the clipper Sea Witch as well as Zefram Cochrane's first warp ship, the Phoenix, in his quarters aboard the ECS Horizon. (ENT: "Horizon")

Several early spacecraft were on display in Admiral Maxwell Forrest's office on Earth, including models of the Phoenix, a space shuttle and several vessels of the Apollo series. (ENT: "First Flight", "The Expanse", "Home")

Captain James T. Kirk kept several models of wooden Earth sailing ships in his apartment in San Francisco. (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan)

Captain Kirk also kept a model of his first command in his quarters aboard the USS Enterprise-A. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

In 2293, the Federation president kept a model of the Eiffel Tower in his office. (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country)

Captain Jean-Luc Picard kept a model of a Constellation-class starship in his ready room aboard the USS Enterprise-D throughout the room's lifetime. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint"; Star Trek Generations) However, this model was briefly replaced by that of a refit-Constitution-class starship at various points in 2364. (TNG: "The Battle", "Hide and Q", "Too Short a Season", "The Big Goodbye")

Groppler Zorn of the Bandi kept a model of Farpoint Station in his office in the Old Bandi City. (TNG: "Encounter at Farpoint")

Commander William T. Riker kept a model of a refit-Constitution-class starship (TNG: "Haven", "Lonely Among Us") and a miniature of the Class F shuttlecraft in his quarters aboard the Enterprise-D. (TNG: "Lonely Among Us")

In 2365, Geordi La Forge built a model of the HMS Victory as a gift for his former commanding officer, Captain Zimbata of the USS Victory. (TNG: "Elementary, Dear Data")

A model of a refit-Constitution-class starship was on display in Drafting Room 5 at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. (TNG: "Booby Trap")

A model of a Galaxy-class starship was also on display in Drafting Room 5 at the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards. (TNG: "Booby Trap")

A model of a long range shuttle was on display in the guest quarters aboard the Enterprise-D that the Brekkians Langor and Sobi stayed in, in late 2364. (TNG: "Symbiosis") The same shuttle model was also included in Wesley Crusher's quarters during the following year. (TNG: "The Dauphin")

In 2365, Worf tried to build a model of a sailing ship but was interrupted by his door chime and broke the ship's mast. (TNG: "Peak Performance")

In an illusion created by Barash, Admiral Picard kept a model of a D'deridex-class vessel in his office aboard the Romulan warbird IRW Decius. In that same illusion, Riker kept a model of a Nebula-class starship and another model of the Apollo 11 lunar lander. (TNG: "Future Imperfect")

Malcorian science minister Mirasta Yale kept a model of the Malcorian warp ship in her office on Malcor III. (TNG: "First Contact")

Wesley Crusher kept a metallic model of a Constitution-class vessel in his room on the Starfleet Academy campus in San Francisco. (TNG: "The First Duty")

Benjamin Sisko kept a model of the Daedalus-class starship in his office on Deep Space 9. In the same room, he also kept models of a Miranda-class starship and another of a Nebula-class starship and, in later years, a large model of the International Space Station, complete with a docked space shuttle. (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

Keiko O'Brien's classroom aboard Deep Space 9 featured five starship models, including Miranda-, Galaxy-, Daedalus-, and Nebula-class starships as well as one other, unidentified vessel. (DS9: "The Nagus")

Admiral Leyton kept several silver-plated display models in his office at Starfleet Headquarters, on the Presidio. Amongst others were a refit-Constitution-class, a refit-Excelsior-class and a Galaxy-class. (DS9: "Paradise Lost")

The observation lounge aboard the USS Enterprise-E contained display cases with golden models of all six Federation starships named USS Enterprise. During the Enterprise's trip to the year 2063, some of the models were broken when Captain Picard slammed a phaser rifle into the case. (Star Trek: First Contact) The models were eventually replaced. (Star Trek Nemesis)

Captain Picard also kept a transparent model of the USS Enterprise-E in his ready room aboard the ship. (Star Trek: First Contact; Star Trek Nemesis)

Jake Sisko, as a child, played with starship models. When he took an interest in Bajoran girls, his father playfully asked him, "Wasn't it a few weeks ago that you were playing with model starships?" Jake, however, corrected him by reminding him that it was more like "a few years ago." (DS9: "Move Along Home")

Miles O'Brien spent many years of his childhood building model starship engines. (TNG: "All Good Things...") By his adulthood, he had moved on to creating historical models, including a scale model of the Alamo compound in 2375. (DS9: "The Changing Face of Evil") When his daughter, Molly, was attempting to touch the model, Miles shooed her away and told her that "it's a model, not a toy." Keiko sarcastically added that, if that was the case, "then maybe it belongs in a museum." (DS9: "What You Leave Behind")

Rain Robinson had a model of the SS Botany Bay on display in her office at the Griffith Observatory. (VOY: "Future's End")

When Neelix was young, he built accurate, scale models of orbital tethers. He later claimed to have "worked on an orbital tether". (VOY: "Rise")

Young Annika Hansen sometimes played with a model of a Borg cube that belonged to her father. (VOY: "Dark Frontier")

The Malon Pelk built a model of an old Malon ship for the son of his colleague, Fesek, but he also enjoyed playing with it himself. (VOY: "Juggernaut")

Worf built models during his off-duty hours aboard the Enterprise-D, including a model of a D7-classKlingon battle cruiser. (TNG: "Peak Performance")

The Bajoran Teero Anaydis had a small model of a Maquis raider in his house. (VOY: "Repression")

Tom Paris put together a baby crib mobile with models of Voyager, a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, and a D7 battle cruiser for Miral Paris. (VOY: "Prophecy")

Joseph Carey was building a model of the USS Voyager, the ship to which he was assigned, in a bottle up until his death in 2378. At the time of his demise, he had almost completed the model and only had one nacelle left to finish. (VOY: "Friendship One")

In an alternate timeline, Jake Sisko kept a model of Deep Space 9 in the living room of his house in Louisiana. (DS9: "The Visitor")

Appendices Edit

Background information Edit

Archer's model Edit

Jonathan Archer's model starship was one of the few starship designs that only showed up as a model and not as an in-universe starship. The script of "Broken Bow" characterizes the model as "a scale model of an early 22nd century Starfleet transport." The vessel's name and number were scripted to have been painted on the model's hull. [3] However, this is not the case in the final version of the episode.

The remote-controlled toy was one of several props from "Broken Bow" for which illustrators John Eaves and Jim Martin were instructed to create alternative designs. Eaves illustrated a rough concept sketch of the toy as well as a slightly more detailed diagram of the model (along with a concept image of its small zero gravity device), but it was Martin who was ultimately responsible for designing the model. [4] He based it on the design of the Lockheed Martin X-33. ("Broken Bow" text commentary, ENT Season 1 DVD) (Eaves' conceptual artwork can be seen here.)

The model was built by the Paramount Pictures prop shop. ("Broken Bow" text commentary, ENT Season 1 DVD) It measured 27x33x7 inches and was custom-made out of plastic. [5] Some shots of Archer's model in "Broken Bow" were visualized with a CG version of the starship, created by Eden FX. The digital replication had to match its real-life counterpart exactly but it also had several advantages, the most significant of which was that it could fly more convincingly than if the physical model had been suspended from a wire. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 2, Issue 10, pp. 28 & 29)

Manny Coto, writer of ENT: "Similitude", was extremely pleased that the model reappeared in that episode, hearkening back to the pilot episode, "Broken Bow". Coto also liked the parallel between a boyhood Archer flying the model in the earlier installment and a similarly-aged Sim flying the same model in "Similitude". ("Similitude" audio commentary, ENT Season 3 DVD)

The practical model of Archer's toy starship showed up in the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction as Lot #167. Although it was estimated between US$500 and US$700, it was sold on 5 October 2006 for US$2,200 (US$2,640 including buyer's premium).