For years, I've been a fan of spaceship designs from the Star Trek and Star Wars films.
Hands down, my favorite spaceship model design is the refit Starship Enterprise NCC-1701 from Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). An elegantly design, extremely detailed and well-painted miniature (the main 'hero' model is actually 8 feet in length and weighs 200 pouunds[!]), it takes the basics of the original Starship Enteprise from the 1960s TV series, distills those basics, adds its own flairs (aft-swept nacelle pylons, noticeable weapons mounts and docking ports), and gets rid of what I consider the original design's weak points => weak looking nacelle struts, lack of detail for noticeable weapons mounts, and the more obvious Christmas tree lights in the nacelle caps.
(I love the original NCC-1701 design but it's only today with superior lighting and better paints that the design can be fully realized. Ironically, the original 11-foot has never seen these improvements but they have been realized with recreated CG versions of the 11-footer. They prove that sometimes all an old design needs for general improvement is a new paint job and better lighting!)
As for Star Wars, the iconic ship designs are definitely from the first Trilogy and bear the stamps of Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston and the rest of the ILM/design staff.. The most iconic Star Wars vessel is definitely the Millennium Falcon followed by the X-Wing and TIE-series fighters. Vader's signature TIE-fighter is really the only individual fighter in the first three films. For that matter, I generally appreciate the Imperial designs to the Rebel Alliance... The Rebels have no cruisers to equal the Imperial Star Destroyers, let alone anything that matches the iconic original Death Star!
Here's a link to a fansite.... http://ncc1701.us/index.html
This guy obviously has some money to burn but has collected some neat pieces from the different Star Trek series. Notable in his collection are the enlarged portions of the Enterprise Refit/A and the Enterprise-D. A favorite of mine is the forward enlarged bit of the Enterprise that was repeatedly scarred in Trek II, III, and VI. Classic model indeed!
Glossary Terms -- applies to Models and Props
Hero = a prop or model that conforms to an ideal. This should be the form of a weapon or ship that's iconic and appears the most in advertising and official tie-in books.
Screen-Used = exactly what it means. A prop or model that was shot and appears in the final movie edit. Screen-Used props and models can command very high prices in the collector's markets at auction.
Stunt = a prop or model built for action sequences. This may or not be a 'Hero' item. Stunts regularly get destroyed during the course of filming depending on the needs of the production.
The Reliant starship in Star Trek II has both Hero and Stunt models. The Hero model was preserved after filming and used to represent various Reliant-class (re: Miranda-class) Starships over the courses of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and the Trek movie series.
Full Reliant models were built to be blown up as well as enlarged sections for detailed destruction (like the enlarged Enterprise sections). Scale models of this design with various modifications were being built and blown up during the production of DS9.
Some Stunt props actually evolve into near-Hero status. For instance, Mark Hamilll actually used three different lightsaber handles during the production of Return of the Jedi. One 'Stunt' handle with blade was a reuse of an Obi-Wan Kenobi stunt handle from the original Star Wars. This handle was also used for training both Prowse and Hamill in their choreographed duels for both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. This 'first' stunt handle appears prominently in Luke's holographed message to Jabba and peeks out the head of Artoo's dome just before it catapults into Luke's hand during The Battle of the Sarlacc Pit.
A second 'stunt' saber handle appears noticeably after Luke defeats Vader in their duel on the Death Star II. It has a projected cylindrical knob through the emitter and a knurled knob near the pommel at the handle's base. It also a Graflex clamp equipped with electrical strip like the TESB sabers.
The third Luke saber seen in ROTJ is actually the second 'Luke saber' handle seen in the film and the one with clearest presentation on-screen. This is the lightsaber handed to Vader by an Imperial officer after Luke gives himself up. (Vader and Luke are seen in a gantryway that leads from a parked AT-AT/snow walker.) This was what Luke's saber was clearly intended to look like and be the actual Hero prop but because of production schedules and the necessities of stills (mustn't destroy the Hero prop!) it ended up being part of the "evolving onscreen" saber handle saga!
