In some ways, it doesn't fit with the overall aesthetic of the show (the rounded front, for example), but it has an elegance to it which fits just fine.
Yes. IIRC from The Art of Star Trek or whichever other 90s book it's in, it was less expensive to build the full-size version with flat panels so that's what they used.
If I also recall correctly, that's why the first full-size TNG shuttles we saw had that boxy wedge shape (though it's be a very long time since I've read material on TNG's early days so I could be misremembering).
I vaguely recall when I was a kid, taking a wood rod with a square cross section, and cutting off a piece at an angle. A little bit of embellishment with a marker and--voila!--Galileo shuttlecraft!
That's one of Jefferies' original concepts, and way cooler then the shoebox. The concept sketch was in The Making of Star Trek book, released after the 2nd season. But yeah, nobody was going to try to build that full scale in 1966. I've seen both CGI models and physical models of it that fans have built over the years.
I used to know someone who owned the "shoebox." Kept it in a hangar at her local airport. Don't know what ever became of it...or her.
We had a thread about it, but I can't find it now. Anyway, it's been restored and is in a museum. https://www.space.com/21784-star-trek-galileo-shuttlecraft-restoration-unveiled.html
The original runabout. It's look to big to be in the Enterprise shuttle bay. You'd need to fold those nacelles up.
Um, you've seen the back of the Enterprise, right? The front of the shuttle is very reminiscent of the rear shuttle bay section.
