2ft E-D model

Hmmm...well that rules out my second choice, the mercenary vessel from "Gambit."

AH-HA! I know...Gomtuu!!

 

Hehe... I'll throw out one more hint... it was only ONE shot, in the episode, and it was put there as a test... to see how it looked on-screen.

 

Hmmm...I confess it looks as if you've got me stumped! The initial impulse is to say it has to be a "guest ship of the week," if it was only one shot. That way there'd be no side-by-side comparison to deal with. But it can't be that obvious...can it?

It couldn't be the Stargazer/Hathaway or the Lantree, or the Hood, since those were all obvious re-uses of the shooting models from films (or, in the case of the Stargazer, kitbashing). We also know it couldn't be the Borg cube, since Star Trek production sites abound with the evils of building the miniatures for one of those. I doubt very seriously it was any of the Klingon ships, since again, shooting models and/or stock footage from the films. I also highly doubt it would be a shuttlecraft or any other auxiliary "hero" spacecraft, which rules out anything also seen as a life-size mockup.

WAY earlier than season 7. That points to the earlier years, figure no later than season 4. The triangular guest ship springs to mind (seen most famously as Kivas Fajo's trading ship, I can't remember what it was called), but since that was basically always seen from the same angle (and more than once) that one's out.

The trick here is interpreting your phrasing. It would help if I understood whether you meant:
a) the ship is only seen once, period, in this single CGI test shot and never again?
b) the ship is only seen once in the episode but was seen as a miniature in other episodes?
c) the ship is seen multiple times in the same episode, once as a CGI and all other appearances as a miniature

The potential answer is different for each one. I think I've got it narrowed down to three possibilities:
a) Professor Rasmussen's pod in "A Matter of Time"
b) the Ferengi Marauder
c) the space vessel/life form in "Encounter at Farpoint"

Am I close?

 

Okay, here is the answer...

It is the 1701-D, from this shot, in "Ensigns of Command".

 

That rendering of the Enterprise is amazingly bad. The saucer doesn't even look like it's on straight...

 

^

Which would be why we never saw CG again, in TNG.

 

Wow, in retrospect I'd have thought that was the two-footer. I had no idea!

 

Wow! unfortunately it looks alot like the ''AMT'' ENT-D Model kit. Which is why I never bought more then the two in ''Larger scale'' and the three in the smaller 1/2500. All of them had there heads down like that^.

 

Heh, it looks like Picard asked Troi to supervise a manual docking of the saucer section...

 

Wouldn't the first appearance of the "Crystaline Entity" (which was all CG) count, or are you calling the CE a creature (even though it's the size of a ship)?

BTW: was it the 2 footer or the 4 footer that they frakked up the scale on the hull greebling on so that it looked "lumpy"?

 

I believe it was the four-footer that looked lumpy.

 

Oooohh... that is a good question. Okay, I meant a CG starship... yeah, I count the CE as a lifeform.

 

I believe that's correct. Personally, I preferred the detailed four-footer over the smooth six-footer.

 

Eh, I thought the six-footer was more graceful. The four-footer looked tougher in some ways but was a bit bulbous for me.

 

The 4-footer was the one with the raised panel detailing, which is why it looked lumpy. The 6-footer was the best, until they had to mess with it, for "Generations".

 

Every time I saw the "lumpy" model, with it's oversized hull detailing and deep panel lines, I kept looking for a group of X-wings starting their attack run...

 

The model in question was indeed the four-footer, which interestingly was the one that was modified for "All Good Things." Greg Jein made that model at the start of production for season 2, with an enlarged saucer rim to accommodate the new Ten Forward set. This model was, as you've all pointed out, also famous for its increased hull detail, as well as having the most "plastic" hull texture of all the Enterprise-D models.

 

I like the more detailed ''LOOK'' of the 4-footer, but I like the ''SHAPE'' of the six-Ft. How come we couldn't have had both?

 

I imagine it was deemed more practical to build a smaller, easier to handle model than refit the bigger, more difficult to handle one.

 

Then how come they couldnt duplacate the ''shape'' of the 6-ft? Would it have really been ''That'' difficult?