Wow!
There's no comparison in those shots of the 11-footer (left pics) vs the 3-footer (right pics).
The extra detail on the 11-footer and possibly better photography makes a huge difference. The 11-footer looks like a real ship while the other model looks like a quality kid's toy.
*******
As far as the Ed Miarecki repaint of the 11-foot Enterprise/hero model.... Everything that needs to be said has been said. The guy is a professional and has been contracted by people who own various historic shooting miniatures (the original Galactica, Star Trek movie miniatures, etc.) and generally seems to do an excellent job on restorations.
Why the repaint was messed up so much on the original 11-foot Enterprise, I don't know. Arrogance? Miscommunications, flawed research, people-in-the-know wanting to keep information to themselves (that happens a lot more often than people think in many fields), who knows...
Most of us do think that it was overpainted, details added for details' sake, and that comments by the restorer about how "most of the details were washed up by lighting" sound like hogwash. I really don't understand why that job went so bad 20 years ago...!
Obviously, a lot of us think the model does need touch-up again (pics within the past 10 years show cracks around the bridge area and worn off/partially broken decals) and that if NASM didn't have a million other things to worry about, they should probably contract someone else who has additional information and is an artisan to do the repaint (if it's in the budget or can be privately financed). With those bluescreen pictures popping up from "Space Seed" it just boggles the mind WHY the restoration went so horribly wrong where the paint-job is concerned...
Spockboy
