The Enterprise Restoration Project
- Thread starter AshGL1914
- Start date
(taps mic, gets up on milk crate... thud...) To reference a few posts back, and to be a prickle, I still call BS on 1701 being done for legibility (now, with my drafting background yeh, it actually does make sense... ) HOWEVER:
Forbidden Planet:
'We'll reach DC point at seventeen-oh-one'.
May the papier-mache flinging commence.
On an actual related note... I hadn't realized, and now with reading These are the Voyages it's a bit more-so ;-), but I've quite got my hopes up to be there when the grand ol' girl makes her entrance at the ball....
Fingers crossed for all involved, and I do hope we get to see things along the way?
Forbidden Planet:
'We'll reach DC point at seventeen-oh-one'.
May the papier-mache flinging commence.
On an actual related note... I hadn't realized, and now with reading These are the Voyages it's a bit more-so ;-), but I've quite got my hopes up to be there when the grand ol' girl makes her entrance at the ball....
Fingers crossed for all involved, and I do hope we get to see things along the way?
WinstonWolf359
Master Member
That's correct; the top surface of the saucer was not painted in the 1991 Miarecki restoration.
asalaw
Master Member
I wouldn't miss this for all the tea in China. Even if it was Earl Gray, hot.
I have approximately 5.239 billion photos of the ol' gal choking my hard drive, most of which I took myself at NASM DC over more than ten years. Of course, that means I must have more....
EDIT--
I've gone back through and read some of the discussion about the secondary hull damage caused by the sagging nacelles. Having seen it Lord knows how often myself since around 2000 or so, I can tell you there are many splits in the model along the seams in the planking, not just the large one at the level of the pylon insert. The splits do appear to follow the lines you'd expect them to if they're being caused by the nacelles' weight over time.
The position of the model, the poor lighting in the display box, and the red stripes on the top of the secondary hull have made it harder to look for splits between the pylons along the centerline, but I'd definitely expect a lot of stress there as the downward pull of gravity on the nacelles plus the angle of the pylons would pull those planks apart from the centerline towards the outboard. It's simple leverage, and it's working against the model's own structure.
From the TrekCore interviews alone, it's pretty obvious they know what they're doing, they're consulting with the appropriate Treksperts™, and they're pulling out all the stops to get this right. Just remember, it's a 50-year-old artifact (as am I, come to think of it), and it's never going to look pristine (neither will I, come to think of it). I wouldn't be surprised to see some kind of exterior bracing to arrest the outward motion of the nacelles, but I think they'll be able to keep it pretty discreet.
I'm thinking thin structural wire tightly stretched between the nacelles at the points where they attach to the pylons could help a lot with the stress on the secondary hull. Something with good tensile strength, like steel. But that's just me, I'm a lawyer not a doctor not an engineer, YMMV, void in Utah on Tuesdays.
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Midnightprowler
New Member
I would love to see some of your pics!
asalaw
Master Member
I'll see what I've got that's any different from the other 50 billion (give or take a trillion) pictures of it in the gift shop rattling around the Internet. Not sure what I have anymore because I've taken so many.
Midnightprowler
New Member
Lol. Well, one can never have too many pics of her.
I'll see what I've got that's any different from the other 50 billion (give or take a trillion) pictures of it in the gift shop rattling around the Internet. Not sure what I have anymore because I've taken so many.
I'd love to see shots from the Air and Space from before the last restoration.
Is there a "One-Stop" or "Definitive TOS Enterprise" thread? Maybe we should start one. I'll have a hundred from the upcoming restoration trip.
BrianM
asalaw
Master Member
What you're suggesting is a terrific idea, though to some extent it's already out there, just scattered across numerous sites.
There used to be a website called "The IDIC Page," created by a guy named William McCullars, that had images of the model through the years. They were very small, not well photographed, and low resolution, but they were something. There was very good information on there. The pictures can now be found at this other website, along with some pictures from the now-defunct Drex Files, but none of the articles with the information. There's also this place:
Star Trek History - Behind the Scenes. It has a whole section about the two versions of the ol' lady.
Also, right here on the RPF, don't forget to go through Steve Neill's thread on his 66" Enterprise. It changed my life.
Steve knows his stuff, both about the Enterprise and VFX model-building in general. Same MUFX roots as Doug Drexler (Steve created Nimoy's ears on ST: TMP for Fred Phillips).For blueprints, these are the best available online:
The Sinclair Blueprints
Steve Neill mentioned them often in his thread as being very accurate, though IIRC much of his reference also came straight from Drexler and Michael Okuda.
EDIT -- Still, now that I think of it, the X-Wing has a sticky thread, why not the Enterprise?
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asalaw
Master Member
Well, I've put one up and asked the Mods to sticky it.
http://www.therpf.com/f10/one-stop-11-tos-enterprise-reference-thread-ncc-1701-no-bloody-232132/
Anyone who has more links, photos, videos, etc. not listed there, or has any other constructive input, please dive in and post!
asalaw
Master Member
Here's the latest post on the Smithsonian Blog about the restoration and the advisory panel of Treksperts:
Advising on the Enterprise
Advising on the Enterprise
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Chrisisall
Master Member
Thanks!!
NASM 1701 Open House Jan. 24, 2015
This was a great day. I had the walk quickly past all of the amazing displays in the open only one day restoration hall of the NASM Steven F. Udvar-Hazy facility. It would be a great stop even if 1701 were not there. Upon arriving I was lucky enough to get 20 min of the Lead Curator Dr. Weitekamp’s time to chat about the Enterprise 11 foot model’s restoration. There are still many unknowns about the model, stability of the structure the types of paint used and status of the electronics. Because of this many decisions are yet to be made. Like can it still hold up the engine nacelles on its own or will they need some external support? I’ll go over the major items we discussed.
Paint – Yes they are quite aware that the current paint scheme is a sore spot for fans and it’s going to be removed. I was encouraged at first that parts were flaking off showing grey underneath that maybe the EM paint could be removed chemically leaving the original behind, but was told the EM team sanded all of the old paint off (except the top of the dish) before they did what they did, and I was only seeing grey primer where the green paint had flaked off. What color will they paint it? They don’t know yet, the top of the dish will hopefully yield the original color. They have an amazing array of scanners to find the compositions of paint on aircraft and will bring these to task on the Enterprise. But let me tell you, it’s way more green than I ever thought. My old room mate Paul Newitt wrote a number of books on building Enterprise models and had a green-grey color chip on the back cover for a painting guide, and I always told him it was blue –grey. Paul you were right. The process of filming and blue screen compositing changed to look completely. I think film has a lot to do with it as my old photos of the same model at NASM in 1982 do not look as green as the digital shots I took. Malcom Collum the Chief Conservator assures me the top flat surface of the dish is still original, and they will try and save it, if possible. The paint on the top is cracking, maybe because of the vacuum molded plastic underneath shrinking. Remember this has to go into a case for another 25 years and not deteriorate.
Restoration – To what point? How far back do you go? Dr. Weitekamp’s goal is the last day of shooting at the end of second season. The problem is what does that look like? Does anyone have a photo? They have access to the CBS archive of film clips, but only actual phots will do them any real good. So, who’s got some? I asked if this goal means adding wires to the port side, and she said probably not because they would not be the original wires. She plans on removing all of the detail EM added to the port side, and if they pull that stuff, why would they add more? Unless they could find excellent photos of the port side from the second season.
Electronics – It seems all of the original wires and lights were removed by EM’s team and replaced with 1990’s technology. Including about a dozen power transformers, and some kind of florescent tube lights. It’s amazing how little documentation remains from any of the previous restorations.
What to add? – This is a question still very much up in the air. I got different answers from the Curator and the Conservator on this. On the one hand everyone would love to see the ship light up and the nacelles spin again, but on the other hand we mock EM for ripping out all the original wiring yet we’re ready to go rip it out again? Dr. Weitekamp is very weary of repeating the same mistakes and having future generations look back and say “what were they thinking?”
The thing to keep in mind as of January 2015 is that many things are in flux and still unknown. They have a direction and a hopeful goal, but many things can change once they start pulling screws removing wires and paint.
I’m still sorting and uploading the over 200 photos I shot including the port side that Chief Conservator Malcom Collum was kind enough to shoot for me. I’ll post those soon.
This was a great day. I had the walk quickly past all of the amazing displays in the open only one day restoration hall of the NASM Steven F. Udvar-Hazy facility. It would be a great stop even if 1701 were not there. Upon arriving I was lucky enough to get 20 min of the Lead Curator Dr. Weitekamp’s time to chat about the Enterprise 11 foot model’s restoration. There are still many unknowns about the model, stability of the structure the types of paint used and status of the electronics. Because of this many decisions are yet to be made. Like can it still hold up the engine nacelles on its own or will they need some external support? I’ll go over the major items we discussed.
Paint – Yes they are quite aware that the current paint scheme is a sore spot for fans and it’s going to be removed. I was encouraged at first that parts were flaking off showing grey underneath that maybe the EM paint could be removed chemically leaving the original behind, but was told the EM team sanded all of the old paint off (except the top of the dish) before they did what they did, and I was only seeing grey primer where the green paint had flaked off. What color will they paint it? They don’t know yet, the top of the dish will hopefully yield the original color. They have an amazing array of scanners to find the compositions of paint on aircraft and will bring these to task on the Enterprise. But let me tell you, it’s way more green than I ever thought. My old room mate Paul Newitt wrote a number of books on building Enterprise models and had a green-grey color chip on the back cover for a painting guide, and I always told him it was blue –grey. Paul you were right. The process of filming and blue screen compositing changed to look completely. I think film has a lot to do with it as my old photos of the same model at NASM in 1982 do not look as green as the digital shots I took. Malcom Collum the Chief Conservator assures me the top flat surface of the dish is still original, and they will try and save it, if possible. The paint on the top is cracking, maybe because of the vacuum molded plastic underneath shrinking. Remember this has to go into a case for another 25 years and not deteriorate.
Restoration – To what point? How far back do you go? Dr. Weitekamp’s goal is the last day of shooting at the end of second season. The problem is what does that look like? Does anyone have a photo? They have access to the CBS archive of film clips, but only actual phots will do them any real good. So, who’s got some? I asked if this goal means adding wires to the port side, and she said probably not because they would not be the original wires. She plans on removing all of the detail EM added to the port side, and if they pull that stuff, why would they add more? Unless they could find excellent photos of the port side from the second season.
Electronics – It seems all of the original wires and lights were removed by EM’s team and replaced with 1990’s technology. Including about a dozen power transformers, and some kind of florescent tube lights. It’s amazing how little documentation remains from any of the previous restorations.
What to add? – This is a question still very much up in the air. I got different answers from the Curator and the Conservator on this. On the one hand everyone would love to see the ship light up and the nacelles spin again, but on the other hand we mock EM for ripping out all the original wiring yet we’re ready to go rip it out again? Dr. Weitekamp is very weary of repeating the same mistakes and having future generations look back and say “what were they thinking?”
The thing to keep in mind as of January 2015 is that many things are in flux and still unknown. They have a direction and a hopeful goal, but many things can change once they start pulling screws removing wires and paint.
I’m still sorting and uploading the over 200 photos I shot including the port side that Chief Conservator Malcom Collum was kind enough to shoot for me. I’ll post those soon.
Tiberius Kirk
Sr Member
Great report Brian! Thanks.
asalaw
Master Member
Malcolm Collum said the cracking was "traction cracking," which can be caused by improper drying of layers, or maybe other chemical processes over time that cause the top layer of lacquer to shrink and crack like that. They're not going to repair it, but they might try to stop or slow down the process. No determination on that yet. Can't wait to see your pictures!!!!
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