NCC McQuarrie

Here's something you don't see everyday, unless you're a Star Wars fan because Lucasfilm is used to exploiting EVERY corner and facet of that universe.

Anyhoo, this link to ModelerMagic.com shows a pretty awesome miniature (real life, not CGI) that was inspired by concept art by the legendary Ralph McQuarrie of the Original Star Wars Trilogy fame. It's based on designs from an aborted Star Trek film attempt in the mid-1970s. Mr. McQuarrie worked under the supervision of another legendary movie figure, noted James Bond film production designer Ken Adam (for director Phillip Kaufman).

All that was scraped for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. A few small crude study models were built but no full size ILM miniatures. Shame that (I like that big, triangular engineering section - more room for Scotty to stress and fret and pace around).

Trivia factoid (like all this isn't trivia to begin with!): a couple McQuarrie/Adams study models were used in the fleet of destroyed starships in the second half of the Star Trek: The Next Generation two-parter, "Best of Both Worlds."

And knowing is half the battle, etc, etc.