The Enterprise Restoration Project

[WinstonWolf359]

Ouch is right.

Sadly, that opening seam forward of the engine pylon has been there for years. The peeling paint seems new, or at least within the two years since I saw it in person.

What worries me is that while it looks bad and the opening seams/drooping pylons point to a possible structural failure it still "looks pretty good" for an almost 50-year old television show model. ...At least to someone that isn't emotionally invested or someone that knows it has already been restored several times.

I fear it is going to sit as-is until the engineering hull has a total failure and then it will go into storage again, and not get a restoration.

 

[vaderman1701]

I agree. I was just there last week. We need Steve Neil, Doug Drexler, Rick Sternbach and Mike Okuda to fix this mess.

Here is a sample of cracked paint on the nacelle.

Scott

 

[CessnaDriver]

Ouch is right.

Sadly, that opening seam forward of the engine pylon has been there for years. The peeling paint seems new, or at least within the two years since I saw it in person.

What worries me is that while it looks bad and the opening seams/drooping pylons point to a possible structural failure it still "looks pretty good" for an almost 50-year old television show model. ...At least to someone that isn't emotionally invested or someone that knows it has already been restored several times.

I fear it is going to sit as-is until the engineering hull has a total failure and then it will go into storage again, and not get a restoration.

Again, something really bad like a total failure would likely attract attention to Paul Allen or such to pony up.

 

[NCC1968]

Steve is local to me................cool guy.

Be great if he had a hand in it.........

(Steve - if you read this.....hope she is recovering well)

 

[Michael Bergeron]

(Steve - if you read this.....hope she is recovering well)

Steve is no longer on the forum. Also, if you're meaning his wife, she passed away a couple of months ago.

 

[AshGL1914]

Indeed.

So while this project has been dormant, it's not dead or forgotten by Steve, Mike, or any of us. I've been undercover for awhile with some real world issues, notably a move to Las Vegas, and taking on a new job as a social media manager for ANOVOS. But I've been making some new friends along the way and they are as interested in seeing the Enterprise restored as we are. I'll also be meeting a few people at SDCC, and this year's Vegas con (both now working gigs for me), and hope to perhaps set up formal meetings for this project at both cons.

John

 

[NCC1968]

Steve is no longer on the forum. Also, if you're meaning his wife, she passed away a couple of months ago.

That sucks.....and really sucks.

When I was recovering (still am I guess) from cancer we talked on the other facepalm) site.

I've not been in contact since then........

 

[Apollo]

Wow! Can't believe it has already been over 20 years since the last restoration.

Ah the 90's those were the good years especially for the Franchise

 

[metal wood]

we could get the rpf to get 1 dollar from every member, buy a load of lottery tickets, win, then buy this treasure. no no, dont think that will work.

 

[p51]

Here's a couple of shots I took the last time I was there in 2009. I didn't have much time to really get a good look, but I'd spent a lot of time looking it over a couple of years before that. The weathering is downright criminal as it clearly didn't have that in the series filming...

 

[iae652]

I'm so glad to find this site. I have long grieved over the gross alteration to the model. I never could understand why anyone would do such a thing. The very reason people want to see it is to be reminded of how it looked in the show. That's why it is in a museum. I wonder if anyone knew what Ed was going to do in his "restoration"?

I'm in full support of restoring the Enterprise back to its former glory. I hope the NASM board will come around. I cant' wait to read the ongoing story!

 

[AshGL1914]

Ok folks. Things may be happening here. While I'm not at liberty to discuss too much right now, efforts are afoot. I'm going to be at both SDCC, and The Las Vegas Star Trek Convention with Anovos, and would love to find a time to meet with as many members as we can to discuss plans, and what our next step should be. I'd like to thank Doug and Steve for their continued patience with me on this project, and Brooks Peck (of the World Science Fiction Museum at The EMP in Seattle) for suggesting a heading for a course of action that might move us further towards seeing the old girl in drydock!

 

[greatwazoo42]

YAY!!!!

 

[Angelus Lupus]

Anything that can help give the old girl the care and respect she deserves is good! I'll be watching this with interest (sadly from afar, as there's no chance I'll be at those cons).

 

[ILMwannabe]

Let's not forget, Matt designed the basic shapes of the ship (with Rodenberry's approvals), but Richard Datin provided a lot of the interesting practical details. I'm all for this project, but if it gets done, someone will have to decide which of the "original" versions to restore it to (final version, initial 1966 reweathering, larger bridge dome or smaller bridge dome, white lower flashing lights on saucer, or red and green, etc.) I've read that it was Jeffries who wanted to add the controversial gridlines, and it sounds like Datin was not too fond of them, so he saw to it that they were added only as thin pencil lines (so they would not be seen on screen), and only to the saucer section. Even the original creators had some differences in opinions as to how it should look . . .

Hope this happens - the ship as is now, is NOT the Enterprise in all her original Matt Jeffries glory & genious . . .

 

[CessnaDriver]

I think the top of the saucer being mostly untouched would determine that the final version would be the form of any restoration should take.
The rest of the ship has to fit that top saucer weathering.
And that is how I personally want to see her again.

 

[Treadwell]

Its condition on the final day it was shot on stage. Only thing appropriate.

 

[AshGL1914]

We will stabilize her structure, fix all of her internals (including an uber-fantastic surprise or two), and fully restore her to her final televised appearance, which I'm fairly certain would be an absolute requirement of our restoration (and should have been last time).

John

 

[NakedMoleRat]

The old girl deserves respect. I would love to visit her in person, AFTER she's been restored to proper condition.

 

[ILMwannabe]

Its condition on the final day it was shot on stage. Only thing appropriate.

I agree. It would be interesting to be able to find out when that date was - I'm guessing one of the early 3rd season episodes with new footage? (If there really was any new footage shot in the third season?)

I'm glad to see a lot of people are interested in this project - I could make a small contribution myself. And yes, model making talent aside, it's about time that the message gets out there that restoration does not mean changes or artistic license - that has always been my beef with what they did to her since it arrived at the NASM.

For any future restoration, in order to be able to display the model "lit" for many years, wouldn't it make sense to use L.E.D. technology? The have a much lower temperature and a much higher service life, not to mention lower current requirements (less wiring, thinner gage). However, if LED's are used, i would see to it that they are properly selected for color and filtered to replicate the original effect. The original lights were apparently incandescent (tungsten filament) and had a characteristic "orange" glow associated with glowing tungsten. A standard photographic color filter could adjust a "warm white" LED color to look like tungsten, in theory.

Also, some of the lights had adjustable flash rates (as can be seen in series footage) and some portholes could be selectively be turned on and off. Ideally, a circuit could be designed to control this, and have different alternating patterns so that viewers can see the various configurations over a period of say, 5 minutes (just like some modern day Christmas light sets have variable flash patterns).

But is this too ambitious and premature?