So we all know that during post-production for "The Best of Both Worlds, Pt. II," Shelby's original line, "the Chekov, the Kyushu, the Melbourne," was redubbed to say "the Tolstoy, the Kyushu, the Melbourne," because the reference to Pavel Chekov sounded too cute, even though there was a kitbashed model labeled "Chekov." So because that change was made after the graveyard scene was filmed, there was no actually Tolstoy model...at least until the pilot of Deep Space Nine. When Rob Legato was in charge of recreating the Wolf 359 battle, he shot footage that ultimately wasn't used, since the script changed later to have the ships just entering the battle instead of being in mid-fight. In the DS9 Companion, he stated that he made sure all the ships mentioned in BoBW were represented. Those would have been the Tolstoy, the Kyushu, and the Melbourne. We know that both the Kyushu kitbash and the original Nebula Melbourne kitbash still existed at the time, and the Melbourne could even be seen when the Saratoga exploded. However, because there was no original Tolstoy model, something else must have been substituted and possibly even labeled as such. My question is, what was it? I originally emailed Legato years ago about this unseen footage, hoping to get some information as to whether there were any new ships built for this scene. While his memory wasn't too good about this, he did at least confirm that the wrecked model of the Reliant from STII was used in the scene. But that model was sold at Christie's auction with the original name still on it, so that couldn't be it. So if there's anyone else out there with any knowledge about this, please speak up!
Re: Mr. Okuda, Sternbach, or anyone else in the know: Whither the Tols Unless Mike Okuda remembers being asked to do the registry markings, your best approach would be to contact members of Legato's crew for the pilot.