For those of you (like me) who find yourself with more than a couple extra Constitution-class models on your hands, may I suggest this exercise in forced perspective. I acquired them over several years, then found myself at a loss as to what to do with them. This is the final result. Most are built stock with very little accurizing or modification. Even ships of the same class have variations in systems and components from time to time. I thought the differences would give them a bit of individuality. The names and registry were pulled from the Starfleet Technical Manual.

The Big E herself is, of course, the 22-inch cutaway that started as a half-finished Ebay salvage. Closed up and repaired with more effort than expected, she turned out nicely with Testor's Aircraft Gray...if I remember correctly.

Constitution (above and behind) is the 18-inch Ertl from sometime in the 80's. Eagle (bringing up the rear) is the 11-inch Polar Lights kit. Hornet (forward and below) is from the Original-series 3-ship set. All have the same paint scheme as Enterprise.

The destroyer Cochise, above and to port of Big E, was a salvaged 18-inch model from my childhood that took entirely too much time and effort to restore. Never again. Harder to see is Columbia, converted from the electronic 3-ship "Enterprise Incident" set. The destroyer class seemed to merit a darker color scheme, so I went with Gunship Gray and all-black markings more suited to their role. Semi-artistic license, I suppose.

Barely noticeable, and almost an afterthought, is a trio of very small gaming models I picked up on impulse long ago and finally completed for this project-- a dreadnought, transport, and another destroyer to flesh out the task force.

All of it mounts nicely, if a bit snugly through trial-and-error on a large wooden oval base from Michael's.

What started as a varity of orphans from different sources and clearance bins ended up together in this display that was supposed to be a space saver but turned into a bit of a space hog.

Never settled on a back story for this display, although there are several possibilities to choose from.