The Lost Art of Star Trek Studio Scale Models 

Factory Entertainment FE Masterworks: factoryent.com/pages/femasterworks

Man, the refit Enterprise just has to be the most beautiful starship design of all time.

Man, those intricate interactive mechanisms on the tricorder really show the love put into the work.

god if i had money... that Enterprise D is so beautiful.

I love what he said about the tricorder and the thought that went into the design. Also in an episode of Voyager the Doctor asks for a tricorder and Tom gives him one to which he shrewdly replies "a _medical_ tricorder, please." and hands it back for the proper one so that in-universe completely justifies slightly different looking versions of the same prop so this replica is right at home

I went to their website to check them out and they have mind blowing props, models for sale. But $15k for the Enterprise! OMG! That's crazy. Obviously, only the elite and professional collector / seller will be able to afford those.

These ships were designed to travel in space, no wonder they were not thought to deal with gravity much. Gorgeous. Love the details. My favorite is the Enterprise 1701 Refit.

I've always loved the enterprise the ships always looked beautiful. Definitely what I think a ship would look like if it was real.

I know these are only prototypes, but the details on the Excelsior are all over the place. The blue lit nacelles were only on the Voyager CGI model. This physical model represents the appearance of the ship in Star Trek VI where it was the NCC-2000, but the markings are for the NX-2000, which varied quite a bit in appearance, including the bridge, impulse crystal, shuttle bay, and markings. For the price, the retail versions will hopefully be perfect and not a mishmash of reference photos.

I’ve always loved the Excelsior class of ships. Sulu commanding that ship was such a great moment for the final voyage of that crew. And that Tricorder! Astonishing how they can make something that was so much smoke and mirrors in the production and make it seem real is quite an achievement.

I've been a ST fan since the original series aired way back when, and the original ship was "my" Enterprise but when ST-TMP came out my new bride and I were totally blown away by the "refit" ship. Just earlier that day we had visited USS Enterprise (CVN 65) at Pearl Harbor as she hosted visitors. The impression the Refit Enterprise left us with was "My God, she's HUGE!" Every bit as large as the aircraft carrier. On that day the Refit became our favorite.

Look. At. How. EFFING BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!! That thing is.

The detail inside the 1701 shuttle bay. 😮

In 46 years, as a lifelong sci-fi fan, has there been anything sexier than the Constitution Class refit model? It's the perfect blending of real life form and function. Matt Jeffries really got that right in TOS, and it set the standard for the evolution of the Federation Starships in each iteration of Star Trek. A close second, for me, would be the Miranda Class (USS Reliant), which is of course based on the Constitution Class refit. If I ever win a lottery, one of these is going in the house!

Oh My God. What a beautiful model - NCC-1701. Stunning. I have to agree that I could stare at that for hours.

It's funny how they mention the way that Star Trek tends to linger on shots of their ships, as compared to other sci-fi shows and movies. In particular, the first 20 minutes of TMP is essentially Enterprise porn.

Physical filming models will always be far and away superior to the CGI we have now. You cannot duplicate what you see here in CGI. The beautiful aztecing in the pearlescent is just amazing. Bring back physical filming models for ships!!

OMG, the phaser with the removable mini phaser on top! Wonderful !

Back in the 90s. I knew this was going to be a dying art form. So wherever I went, I collected two polar lights Large-scale Star Trek ships just like the enterprise in the glass case there. I also found two polar lights star trek deep space nine terrock nor space stations. Both are still wrapped in the plastic box unopened from 1996. I just never got around to building the space station. Using the fiber optic kit that came along with it. Just like the enterprise a refit. I also designed the USS reliant and turned it into a polar light fiber optic kit back in the 90s as well as the deep space 9 Rio Grande Rouabout and Lost in space Jupiter 2. At that time, there were no fiber optic kits to be bought so I sat down and designed and created fiber optic kits for them. I contacted a accompany in New Jersey that sent me detailed and measured fiberoptics strands. A small, tiny drill and bits that I used to drill holes for the windows to create the fiber optic lights for ships. Then I went to a electronic store that no longer exist called Radio Shack and I bought all the circuit boards for the blinking lights. It was a labor of love and I thoroughly enjoyed it. To this day. I still have all of those models in storage in boxes. One day I'll have to revisit those old kits and see if I can get them working again.

The guy who made those props looks like Brent Spiner when he was in Independence Day.

I went onto their website and the listing for the Ent-refit and the first thing I saw was the big bold figure of £395.00 and thought wow, that's an absolute steal! Then I looked up and saw "Reservation Fee Due Today:" and was like "oh" Then I looked up more and saw $15,000 and noped out of there. Beautiful models but way out of my budget. Guess I'll have to settle for the Polar Lights model one day and just brush up on some model making tutorials.

My mouth dropped at that tricorder and I drooled. THe ships were already amazing, but... WOW.

That tricorder! Even down to the sound of the hinge! That's outstanding! Beautiful!

Finally!!! After all these years, a high-end replica of the Cobra Phaser and Mark VII Tricorder from TNG!!!🖖

AMAZING! I love it more each time I watch it!

How good is norm! This coverage is great. You have a knack for bringing out the stories. Happy happy joy joy

The refit. 😍 It simply doesn't get any better. Meanwhile, right behind the D is a model of the ship from my #1 all-time favorite film, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Amazing.

Even though 'my time' was earlier, I just love the Enterprise D with a real appreciation that grew over time. The Trekkie in me is happy knowing she was rescued, restored, had one last butt kick at the Borg and floating peacefully in honor.

I just want to cry of joy! If I were there I WOULD HAVE.

The three most beautiful Star Trek ships!

Fantastic attention to detail on these models 😍

Absolutely beautiful pieces!!!! As a modeler and fan of Star Trek the work you have done is nothing short of SPECTACULAR!!!!

Hoping the finished 1701 refit has all the bells and whistles such as the classic start up sequence, nav deflector color changes, RCS thrusters firing , Phaser and Torpedo effects. Navigation strobes look a bit off and the light bleed could use some work. @ the $15k price I hope they can get the models correct.

No mention of Bill Kraus' work, of course, though I think he builds some of the finest models out there. I can't even fathom how much *his* models would cost.

Man these props are absolutely insane, I love all of them. they are all wow, the tricorder is really one of my favorite, when I was a kid, I dreamt to have a tricorder like this lol.

The STTMP Enterprise and SFS Excelsior are gorgeous.

Absolutely STUNNING!

To me these real model ships look so much better on film than CGI.

I'm pretty sure most shots of the Light Cruiser in the Mandalorian was done with a practical filming model.

This isn't a studio scale model. This is the 1:350 scale Polar Lights model kit that'a been assembled and aired with a lighting kit. The actual studio scale Enterprise miniature for the Star Trek films was 1:120 scale and was 8 feet in length.

Everything is so gorgeous… But I hope when these hit production, any visible “people” in the model are in uniform! 😉 But that medical tricorder is BANANAS! Amazing!

This is absolutely incredible. Someday I hope to have one of these.

How beautiful is that stuff!?

I grew up wanting to build models for sci-fi movies since the ILM fx documentaries for Star Wars and growing up with a dad who was a huge Trekkie ( I am too). But as stated it is all CG now. I still build kits to this day aircraft and sci-fi ships mostly, and still love the experience of building model kits. These were the ultimate Models Paramount filming models were and still are the Standard when it comes to physical models. The Razor Crest was a good example of following this trend, though it was only used for a few shots, the rest being CG, but it's the thought that counts right?

The camera man has done a great job getting some truly stunning angles on this model

I've always been amuse that these ships have tiny external blinking lights as if there is a concern of another ship crashing into it because they couldn't see it.

The Excelsior, oh yes!

Hopefully, this is a prototype that can be changed before going into production. The hanger deck of the refit, here, is incorrect. As rendered, the hanger deck is the one from Star Trek V. Will the level of detail elsewhere on the model, this is definitely something that should be corrected.

This looks so much better than the CGI and re-imagined Enterprise on Strange New Worlds.

8:27 The protrusion of two rims projecting forth at the very top of the seconadry hull of the Excelsior is very new to me. Given this is the dual impulse crystal variant ala ncc 2000 I must study star trek 6 again. its very exciting for this trek fan hah.

My refit model will be complete in october and it will be museum quality down to ever detail, lights and sound.

That tricorder... drool....

Ah... Kirk's Enterprise(s) from the movies are my favorite Star Trek ship. That's a beautiful model. USS Excelsior and USS Enterprise-B are my next favorites.

WOW! 🖖

Although I do like the refit Enterprise, the TOS ship will be forever my number one which is why I'm building the biggest TOS ship in the world.

Models always look more realistic than CGI, keep the models I say 👍🏻

Some alternate ships from rival species would be pretty cool. Bird of prey etc.

Greg "The Hammer" Valentine lost a TON of weight! ;)

Incredible detail on the ships, i just would have loved to see them smoothing the printing and layering lines before painting. It's sad to see this amount of work being put into it while the basics of model making have been neglected. Still a great model.

I need one of these just to take photos of, perhaps one day I will have the resources to attempt such a build.

That is a lovely model and I would love to have one - but why do people continue to use the word "discriminating collector" when what they really mean is "rich", "wealthy", "more money than they know what to do with". I am a discriminating collector in that I discriminate when I make my choices on what to collect but that does not mean I have a truck load of money to spend on a display model.

This video was lovely! Big high five to FE Masterworks!

I want a studio scaled Klingon Bird of Prey. The 2nd Coolest Spaceship of all time IMO

wow! the shuttle bay details are AMAZING. i mean look at the shuttle approach/landing guidance lights, even the thrusters on the saucer section are lit up, and you can see the interior of the officers lounge and arboretum. wow! i should have kept all my original star trek models. i had the enterprise A, D and E. I also had the battlestar galatica cylon fighters. it was fun building them, painting it, and detailing it with lights and all. yes it is a lost art.

I would love to see Deep Space 9

IMO, models still look better than most CG ships we see, especially in Star Trek.

Those are absolutely gorgeous!!!

Great work

1701-A and D are my top 2 but I'd take a Reliant, a Voyager, and a Bird of Prey if I could afford this kind of thing.

Wish I could see them in person.

15:28 - Ah, the medical tricorder, according to the TNG technical manual Gates McFadden had the prop-designers create an instruction manual for its' use so she would like like she knew what she was doing.

Seeing this and the $15,000 makes me thank my lucky stars that the TOS Enterprise is by far my favorite and that Tomy came out with an amazing but not perfect Enterprise model for $599 when they made their one and only batch. I couldn't afford fifteen large, or even the four or five grand they're asking for the old master series ship. It makes me feel like I have a model worth thousands too, but on a regular guys salary.

Are there mold gates under the saucer? What the hell is that?

The tricorder hinges sound like someone pulling their finger along the teeth of a comb!

The navigation lights aren't even red and green, which one would expect from a "studio scale miniature". Sure, these are incredibly beautiful models, but for those prices I would expect a bit more attention to detail. But these are just prototypes, so I expect all errors will ultimately be corrected for the production models.

And here I'm wanting to get my hands on the refit Enterprise for myself.

*cough* polar lights NCC-1701 refit model kit with some green strawberry aftermarket *cough* Have that model kit in the house. Assembling it slowly. Nav lights are not right. Granted it takes a lot of work to get it looking that good, will take ages but they are probably 3D printed version of the original out of stock kit, can still see the seams in the sensor array panels and the shuttebay internals look identical.

Good that you kept in mind to prevent drooping over time. At 400h hours of labor, they must be rather expensive.

I hope they make the NX-01, I can't afford any of these but I always loved that Enterprise.

THeir models look great, I built a 350th 1701-A and its like building 5 ships at once with all the lighting and aztecing, my only gripe is that the decals they used show up badly (3:25), they are not under a top coat like mine, or if they are they were really thick....

I WANT that First Contact Phaser Rifle!

These are amazing! Oneday I'd love to be able to own one. Do they purely do Trek? A Firefly or The Orville would be awesome in model form

love these mini models, bigger the better , spaceX should start considering to build them for real :) Should be ready when the Impluse and Warp propulsion are worked out.

3:50 Great camera work!!! Just glided past.

I wish I had the cash going spare to buy some, yes, some of these wonderful models. A Romulan warbird would be nice to see.

Lol who wants to see Motorola make a Razr that looks like a TNG tricorder? Me!🖖

I want these so badly

Id like a electronic model of the uss vengeance from into darkness.

That’s a polar lights 1:350 kit. I’m building one. And to prove it. The front of the lower sensor dome is flat. Polar lights make it flat. The actual studio model is at a angle.

I would love to see Voyager with the Delta flyer I just love those shops

That Dr Crusher medical scanner is very good. Query: in TOS with the salt shaker scanners, there is no display. How did Bones interpret a reading? I've only been able to fill that plot hole with he then looks at his tricorder or medical computer beside the bed...but there are many scenes where he doesn't or is not in posession of either. Bones doesn't seem to type to allow a neural link installed in his brain.

Guys at Factory Entertainment, a fantastic job on the Props, and the ships. can't wait for the final production props and ships to land, then I might just spend a little money. Just curious, would there be any plans for movie prop tricorders, or are you guys just sticking with the series prop?

That tricorder.... holy $@^#

I'd love to see them build a TOS TV Enterprise, as well as a large scale Strange New Worlds Enterprise.

If they did any of the Star Trek online ships or ships from the books like the USS Aventine or the Odyssey Class Enterprise F or Riker's USS Titan, I'd seriously consider mortgaging my house to get one lol.

I would love, love to have that refit Enterprise model. But dang, the price is way out of my range. Maybe if I win the lottery.

Yeah I’m gonna need an Enterprise TOS, refit A-G

RU-vid videos like this make me wonder... WHY ? Why doesn't RU-vid have a "LOVE !" button in addition to the Like button ? And why can't you click that button 10-20 times ?

I thought the EXCELSIOR windows gave it a grand sense of scale whereas the ENTERPRISE D windows were too big. Made it look like a toy.

I just wish they had a 1/1000 to scale line for the OCD star trek fan...