original enterprise in smithsonian

The 11-footer has been hanging in the NASM since around the mid Seventies I think. They moved it a couple times, now it's down in the basement gift shop. :rolleyes

Definitely a must see! She has been refurbished in the past (only the top saucer is untouched I'm told), but wear and tear is taking its toll on this wooden and plastic masterpiece. See her while you can!

Karl
 
you should go its worth the visit also they have the mothership from close encounters of the third kind in the NASM Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. and D.C. is well worth a visit so much cool stuff to see.

so go and enjoy.

go to the national archives and get a decleration of independce like nick cage.
 
I saw it there in the mid 70's when I was there last. Wow. Looks like the nacelles are a little crooked. Guess she is getting on in years, but still looks great!
 
Yes, it's been about 20 years since it was "renovated" (or ruined depending on your view-point). It's time!!!
 
I got a little insight into how things work, I was given a tour of the museum by the curator of that section.
I think to get a new restoration, It's going to take a big donor to the museum to get things rolling.
For instance if Paul Allen made a contribution and then pressed to get the work
done it would probably happen. Anything short of that won't work in my view.

Money money money. They have bigger priorities with actual aerospace hardware then our poor little movie prop.

They also needed to correct the plaque, it had some bad info on it, don't know if that got done. The ship registry was NOT taken from Jeffries personal aircraft as is popularly thought. He got that aircraft after the show had been cancelled.

It was combining North American aircraft registrys NC and the Soviet CCCP...

Thus NCC. The numbers were only meant to be easy to read on TV so kept simple.
 
I'm sure there was an article in the magazine Fine Scale Modeler in the late 80's about one restoration the Smithsonian did. Unfortunately I no longer have those magazines so I can't help out with the article but maybe someone here does.
 
Junk Pilot said:
I'm sure there was an article in the magazine Fine Scale Modeler in the late 80's about one restoration the Smithsonian did. Unfortunately I no longer have those magazines so I can't help out with the article but maybe someone here does.
Click to expand...


I have an old Sci-Fi & Fantasy Modeler from '96 documenting some of the restoration process that was completed in '91. The author hints that the next crew to do a restoration may find a little time capsule in one of the engine tubes.
 
I get depressed seeing it there to be honest. Hanging in the gift shop is not the setting where the old girl needs to be. There is a guy in Seattle (Redmond Actually) that would give it the care it needs and a nice place to "Grow Old".
 
Sorry.
They RUINED it when they "restored it".

it looks like crap.

Im actually in DC at the moment.
 
SPOCK: AHHHH, PAIN! That paint job, PAAIN! Those gird lines, PAAAIN!

That's all I got captain, waves and waves of searing pain, its in agony.
 
I will never quite understand why these models are treated so badly.They are iconic pieces of art that should be treated as such.The new paint job on the restoration bothers me as well,not to mention shots Ive seen of both the Falcon and the Galileo after production stopped
 
Isn't the top "unrestored"? I may have to dig through my NASM pics from 2 years ago, IIRC I got some decent shots.

Sad its by the freaking bathrooms and buried


Ryan
 
We really ought to lobby the museum to move this model to a more appropriate place. I too hated the fact that it was placed in the gift shop.
 
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