Top 40 TNG Models: 1-5

If the Enterprise-D is at number 2, what is at number 1...?

5. Type 6 Shuttlecraft

15 episodes: “Darmok”, “The Outcast”, “Cause And Effect”, “The Next Phase”, “Relics”, “True Q”, “Rascals”, “Aquiel”, “Suspicions”, “Gambit, Part II”, “Parallels”, “Lower Decks”, “Genesis”, “All Good Things…”

Considering this studio miniature does not appear until season 5, it racks up an impressive number of appearances! Like so many of the models we’ve enjoyed in TNG, this one started life in a movie - but no, not Star Trek III: The Search for Spock this time, but the much maligned Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. For that movie, a new 2½ foot studio miniature of the so-called Galileo-type shuttlecraft was created, based upon a design by Art Director Nilo Rodis and Set Designer Andy Neskoromny, with the studio miniature built by Greg Jein. Here it is escorting the bridge crew back from Yosemite!

…and here it is with a can of paint sat on top to help it glue correctly.

For TNG, Rick Sternbach planned a variety of modifications, primarily achieved by shortening the overall length of the model and adding new warp nacelles. This modified model that would become the Type 6 was once again executed by Greg Jein, and the name was officially mentioned on screen in “Parallels”. This was the last of the movie miniatures to make it into TNG, and it’s a classic that any fan of the later seasons will instantly recognise.