I've really enjoyed watching this come together! Thanks for sharing this, David.
Thanks!
I'm having a lot of fun doing the research on the original design and learning new techniques for building models. And hopefully in the end I'll have a cool model to look at too.
When she's complete, you really need to make the trip to WonderFest and enter her.
I could imagine bring her to display and share, but I don't think I'd enter anything I build into a contest. I build so few models that I never really get a chance to perfect or practice my skills, and it seems like I don't really do the types of subjects that judge well.
But the idea of sharing my stuff at an event where I could be sure that there would be people actually interested in seeing it would be worth making that type of trip.
Hey, just wanted to link this in case you missed it. Some very interesting pics…
Thanks for the link!
It is funny, but a number of things popped out at me while reading the interview and looking at the accompanying images.
First was that Brick Price and the Enterprise aren't in any of them. It seemed like the Abel and Associates guys were at Magicam at a different time than when Price had brought the Enterprise over to show a test assembly of it.
Second, and most striking, was this quote:
"The model that was being built really didn’t have that — I can’t remember any lights that were built into it but it was about two and a half, three feet long or something."
He isn't describing the Phase II Enterprise (a model almost five and a half feet long designed to be fully lit), he seems to be talking about the 33 inch TOS Enterprise model loaned to Abel and never returned. And as someone who wasn’t particularly a Star Trek fan, and was pushing to
"scrap everything and start over", I wouldn't be surprised to find out that the original model of the Enterprise met it's demise at his hand.
Also, why is it that I keep seeing him and Probert getting credit for the new design when almost all of the major design changes were in place on Jefferies' Phase II design? I mean in this quote:
"I totally redesigned the nacelles so they weren’t, as in the original television series, like cigar containers, or circular. They were much more rectilinear and longer, a lot of parallel lines"
... it sure sounds like Taylor is taking credit for the design of the nacelles when in actuality he only made some modification to them from where Jefferies had them for the Phase II design.
To me (based on his account), Taylor sounded like a
bull in a china shop. He had no previous experience (other than having seen Star Wars), and was sure everyone was wrong before even knowing what he was looking at. It is quite amazing, and sad at the same time.
The color images of the models done by Magicam confirm what I had seen in similar images and had suspected for quite some time… the color of the Phase II Enterprise was going to match the color of the original TOS models (based on the color of the 33 inch Enterprise model which they had on hand).
On to an update...
I finally got some time together to start in on the box I'll use for making the nacelle molds...
When I'm ready I'll fill the remaining gaps around the nacelle with clay and pour the rubber. When it sets I'll remove the center board (and clay) around the nacelle and pour the other side. Even though these are going to be used to make two different sides of each nacelle, I'd still like to get as straight a seam to rejoin the sides as possible.
This diagram shows how I plan on building the nacelles.