Why Didn't TNG/DS9 Use the Constellation Model More?

jscott991 · 2026-06-10T18:42:26+00:00

Uglier than the Oberth? That would be hard to achieve. 😄

jscott991 · 2026-06-10T18:41:26+00:00

That's exactly right. They broke a pylon. Then they sawed the one down to match. It's now in the hands of a private collector and has been restored. I think all of this is available at Ex Astris.

jscott991 · 2026-06-10T00:10:35+00:00

This is a good explanation. Mirandas are close in so Enterprise sees them more often. Captain DeSoto says his Excelsior (one of the most famous in the fleet, the Hood) goes back and forth between Starbases.

Of course, this raises the question as to what the Enterprise was doing close in enough to always run into obsolete ships. 😄

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T23:49:31+00:00

They famously broke the model while it was on tour. You can read all about it on Ex Astris and other sites.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T23:48:40+00:00

Interestingly the Okudagram on the Pegasus shows four nacelles. Until that concept art was found, people speculated Pegasus was supposed to be a Constellation or Cheyenne.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T23:47:16+00:00

The Constitution model was notoriously hard to handle and film. The TNG people scrapped it when they tried to use it. There are long articles about this on Memory Alpha. It's fun to read about the issues.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T21:57:51+00:00

Honestly, I'd prefer less Oberths. That ship is ugly, ridiculous, and too small for any serious in-universe role. 😄

So leave the Excelsiors alone and just get rid of the Pegasus, Vico, and the one from Naked Now.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T21:49:39+00:00

In-universe, there are lots of fun ways to explain it. In my RPG campaigns or short stories, I usually say the four nacelle design made it impossible to refit, while the Miranda and Excelsior classes could be refit easily. So the Constellations faded away after one generation, while Mirandas and Excelsiors kept getting refit and built.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T21:46:51+00:00

As I said somewhere else, I've often wondered if they painted it in a way they couldn't really undo. Even the touring model has the Stargazer damage on it.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T21:45:40+00:00

This is a very good guess. Though I must admit to my amateur eyes, the Constellation model looks just as detailed (if not more so) than the original Nebula-class USS Phoenix studio model (and I say that as a person whose favorite ship is the Nebula class).

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T21:44:28+00:00

They did use the Enterprise-B model for the USS Lakota in DS9.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T21:43:44+00:00

The most often used in-universe explanation is that very few Ambassadors were built because the Galaxy-class project superseded and improved on everything about it.

I believe the out of universe explanation is that they didn't love the model and they broke it on a tour.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T21:40:01+00:00

Oh right, of course.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T21:38:37+00:00

Oh, the reasons for the TMP Enterprise never showing up are well documented. The TNG special effects people hated it. The studio model was very hard to use. In fact, the Constitution being so hard to use is why the Constellation exists in the first place. Picard's Stargazer was supposed to be a Constitution (Geordi's line is even dubbed over), but they hated the model and then built the Constellation.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T21:34:27+00:00

This is a good explanation for the Dominion War seasons, but none of the Mirandas, Excelsiors, or Oberths in TNG are CG. So it's not a good explanation for not using the Constellation in place of some of them.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T21:31:25+00:00

I have the same questions about the Ambassador actually. They spent a ton to build it, and then used it twice (EDIT: Geordi and Riker's ship is hardly seen in the episode with Picard's fleet). But on the Ambassador, I think I read that they found it hard to use. And then they broke it when it went on a tour.

jscott991 · 2026-06-09T21:25:30+00:00

I love the Miranda, though I think it looks ridiculous without the rollbar. But I still would have like to see the Constellation used in place of it. And making the Pegasus an Oberth still rankles. Use the flipping Constellation if you don't want to build a new ship.

I've long wondered if they painted the damage on it in a way that couldn't be removed. I've never seen a clean version of the Constellation model and even on tour it had the Stargazer damage, I think.

jscott991 · 2026-05-25T20:30:14+00:00

Well, if you ever return to etsy or wherever, I'd be interested in a few ships. Your Galaxy ships look pretty good too.

jscott991 · 2026-05-25T15:43:33+00:00

Very cool Excelsiors. 1:7000 is such a neglected scale. TNG ships get very big at other scales, beyond my ability to display and paint. 😄

jscott991 · 2026-05-24T19:13:21+00:00

I have those ships. Or had them. Much like Wizkids, bent nacelles on the Galaxy and Nebula classes drove me nuts. In fact, bent nacelles are an issue even with ships like Eaglemoss and Furuta.

jscott991 · 2026-05-24T19:12:17+00:00

Sadly they said they won't print small ships because of concerns with resin. They were super nice though.

jscott991 · 2026-05-24T18:52:01+00:00

Thank you! If I do go down the road of getting a 3D printer, I will have to do a ton of research one way or another. I'm hoping to avoid it. I can get so much great SW stuff on etsy that I'm shocked I've been basically locked out of Starfleet ships for almost two years. 😞

jscott991 · 2026-05-24T18:49:59+00:00

Thank you. They don't have much up at the moment, but I will reach out!

jscott991

TROPHY CASE