Star Trek: 10 Secrets Of The Enterprise A You Need To Know

Throughout the motion pictures, the refit and USS Enterprise-A was primarily represented on screen by an elaborate, eight-foot long motion control model. While behind-the-scenes crews have alternatingly described the model as too large and too small, many VFX scenes in the series required specialty models to achieve specific shots.

Some of these special models included large sections of the Enterprise like the impressive 48-inch large-scale section of the ship's neck for the battle sequence in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Other additional models included the rear shuttlebay from Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and a small-scale model used in the many, many V'Ger flybys in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

By the time Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country went into production, the Enterprise-A was a best-selling model kit by AMT so, rather than going to the expense of custom building a smaller-scale ship, ILM simply went to their local hobby shop. This "off the shelf" Enterprise-A was used in only one shot in the film and appeared on the USS Excelsior's viewscreen during the Battle at Khitomer.