Federation mission scoutship model The Federation mission scoutship originated out of a 12 March 1998 script requirement of , " " On the viewscreen the attacking ship moves suddenly into view from a low density gas cloud like a destroyer emerging from a fog bank . . . it is a Federation Scout ship - - small but impressive , with windows at the forward cockpit . . . " ( Scene 33 ) " . " " Production Designer Herman Zimmerman has noted in this regard , " " The script motivates everything . We create what is needed to tell the story . In this scene , we have two craft that must appear very different from one another in order for us to understand this part of the story . Visually , we have to know that Data is in a Starfleet scoutship , but not a scoutship that came from the " Enterprise " . That presents a problem . We have to design the scoutship in a way that identifies that ship and separates it visually from the second ship , which is the " Enterprise " shuttle . The audience must be able to know immediately whether they are looking at one ship or the other , both inside and out . The exchanges that are taking place between the ships are very short and abrupt , but there must be no mistake that you ' re either in the scoutship with Data or in the shuttle with Captain Picard and Worf . " " ( " " , p . 188 ) Design . Giving form and substance to the scoutship was a task that befell to Illustrator John Eaves . Eaves , as designer , stated , " " What they asked for was kind of a combination of a runabout and the " Defiant " . So I kind of used the overall " Defiant " shape , where the nacelle s are encased as opposed to being external , as they are on the " Enterprise " and other " Star Trek " ships . That gives it an aerodynamic kind of shape . I gave it a wraparound canopy . It ' s pretty mich a mini - defense ship , and Data makes use of those qualities . " " ( " " , p . 190 ) Further elaborating , Eaves has stated , " " I repeated certain shapes throughout the federation designs , so the ships all seemed to extend from a single technological base . The scout ship flown by Data is a good example , as it used the cowled enclosed engine nacelles seen on s starship , the " Defiant " . That look suggested heavy shielding , which went well with streamlined , high - performance fighter appearance . " " ( " Cinefex " , issue 77 , p . 72 ) Eaves is also on record stating , " " We also had a scout ship for Data , which was kind of based on the " Defiant " lightly . The producers wanted to see something that followed something from the Federation and Starfleet . And so we kind of based it roughly on the " Defiant " . It is more of a single , two - man ship , as opposed to a big fighter like the " Defiant " is . We used the same kind of color schemes , the bare metal look , and it was actually designed in a way , so both ships " [ remark : with the Type 11 shuttlecraft model ] " could interact together . " " ( " " DVD - Special feature " Production : " The Art of Insurrection " " ) On another occasion Eaves noted , " " The scout was very fun . They just said a type of Defiant - class ship , so I designed it around the same elements . The nacelles were built inside the ship - they are encased as opposed to to being exterior - and everything has heavy armament around it . I kind of went with more of a streamlined look . The side really has a bulky feel to it ; it ' s meant to be an attack vessel so it has a heavy profile , but from the top it is very streamlined . For the outline I wanted to go with something that was very distinct from tradition on the top and more aesthetically pleasing shape from the side . " " ( ) Eaves finished up upon the design work in January / February 1998 . However , a very small adjustment was made to his design , " " The windshields are very significant , because Picard sees Data in the window of the scout and vice - versa ; Data sees Picard in the shuttle . At superspace speeds that ' s probably stretching things a bit – but we ' re going to do it . " " , Zimmerman added . As a result Set Designer Nancy Mickelberry added mullions to the cockpit of Eaves ' design , which were carried over to the final CGI - model , shown in an early 1998 top view orthographic design view . ( " " , pp . 189 - 190 ) It , years later , solicited this response from Eaves , " " Yes the defiant was the lineage for the architecture ! ! ! The smaller cockpit area was script driven although it is kinda nice to have a smaller piloting area unlike so many of the other ships that have huge amounts of room with very little glass to see outside ! " " CGI models . For " Insurrection " , the producers decided to complete the transition into the digital realm and that this feature would be the first movie completely without the time honored . However , in this stage of the technique , that meant that the CGI - workload had to be divided between two VFX - houses , Santa Barbara Studios ( SBS ) for the outer space shots , and Blue Sky / VIFX for the planet bound effects . Though the scoutship was prominently featured in the in - atmospheric locked together scene with the Type 11 shuttlecraft model , its first appearance was in outer space , so the task of building the CGI - model fell to Santa Barbara Studios . Being a relatively early outing at the time into the realm of CGI , solicited the following remark of Eaves , " " The CGI guys needed every possible line drawing . They wanted all the details in advance – which differed from the way I usually work with traditional modelmakers , leaving areas open for them to contribute . But Santa Barbara did not want to have to go through an approval process on every aspect of these ships – which made sense , because there wasn ' t time to make that happen while still getting the ships modeled and animated and rendered out . It was a learning experience for me to provide these detailed technical drawings . " " ( " Cinefex " , issue 77 , p . 72 ) Detailed scale comparison charts , originating from this desire has made Eves set the in - universe dimensions of the scout at 80×50 feet . The model was executed in the CGI software . ( " Sci - Fi & Fantasy Models " , issue 34 , p . 29 ) The scoutship was never again featured in later later representation , beit on - screen or in print . There actually was a reason for this , as " " project manager Ben Robinson has indicated in 2015 that the original model computer files were no longer in existence , due to Paramount Pictures ' s failure to maintain ownership over these , as well as due to Blue Sky / VIFX ' own demise , " " Never found the CG models from Insurrection . . . so we ' re rebuilding them ! Makes me feel like Dan Curry . " " , he explained , " " I ' m working on this " [ remark : Son ' a ships for the " Collection " ] " at the moment . It ' s tricky because the company that made the CG - Santa Barbara Studios didn ' t archive them and used their own software . Nothing is impossible though and I do have perfect reference " [ remark : referring to renders he had received for the " Fact Files " years earlier ] " . " " Still , Robinson had slated the scoutship to become one the first two " Insurrection " outings in his collection , based on newly reconstructed CGI models . True to his word , the issue for the scoutship was released on 31 August 2016 , with the CGI model constructed by Fabio Passaro , becoming the second one of the " Insurrection " ships thus released .