Below are some photos of a small and heavily distressed 12" x 8" x 4" starship filming model of the U.S.S. Buran that was used as part of the Starfleet defensive force against the Borg in the landmark TNG Season 4 premiere episode "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II" (first airdate: Sept. 24, 1990). This model appeared alongside other Federation vessels in the impressive battle sequences featured in the episode; and was also used in some starship graveyard scenes in the series Star Trek: DS9. It was created by production from a commercially available AMT model kit; and then heavily modified to exhibit battle damage.
This filming miniature was part of the collection of Star Trek VFX Supervisor
Gary Hutzel, and was recently on display in the Tropical Room at the Rio
Suites Hotel in
Las Vegas, Nevada during the Creation Official 2015 Star Trek
Convention; where it was offered as Lot 4 in the Propworx Star Trek
Auction VI event that took place live from the floor of the Rio on
Sunday, August 9th. It realized an impressive final sales price of $4,720 (including an 18% buyers premium).
