This filming miniature is composed of wood, fiberglass and resin and features hand-painted detailing throughout. The graphics for "3," "USS Enterprise," "Copernicus," and "NCC-1701-A," have all been stenciled onto the sides of the shuttlecraft. Wire fastened at the top of the model would allow the ship to be hung from the ceiling for exhibition purposes.
This model represents one of three models of this scale that were created by Associates and Ferren, with supervisory work by Greg Jein. These models were built to 1/6 scale. This model is the only known filming miniature at a six-foot scale of the Copernicus from the production of the film. While the two models of the Galileo that were produced were auctioned off in the past as part of Christies' 2006 "40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection," this prop was retained by the studio and continued to be exhibited at various museums up until 2012. Six models of varying sizes were created for different purposes during the production of the film, to be used in crash sequences, and included 2-1/2 foot models.
