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Conceived in the fertile imagination of Gene Roddenberry, NCC 1701 USS Enterprise has become one of the most enduring icons of popular science fiction.
The original model was constructed for the pilot series of Star Trek back in the 1960’s by Richard Datin and a team modelmakers in Van Nuys, California. The completed model was mostly solid wood, with the five foot diameter primary hull, or saucer, being made up of vacu-formed plastic over plywood. The whole model was 11 feet (3.4m) long and the largest ever constructed for a television series to that date. So heavy was the model that a hefty pipe frame was needed to support it for filming.
Since that first version of the starship, Enterprise has evolved though 5 more variants (six versions in all), models A though E, which have starred in numerous television episodes and movies. The original model first used for the television series now hangs in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
This model was commissioned as a thank you gift by a graduating Ph.D. student for his faculty advisor and mentor. It is the most difficult model I have under taken to date. I mean, how in the world do you get a 2 inch diameter (54 mm) seamless saucer though a 3/4 (18mm) inch hole. Well, in a few words, as the old ship-carver said, it ain’t easy!
Some 70 hours disappeared into its construction. The most difficult part being the assembly of the saucer - entirely inside the bottle. This last caused many hours of sweaty nerve-wracking work. Sometimes ten minutes was all I could stand before I had to take a break and “de-pressurize”.
The saucer is built in two layers, like a cake. The bottom of the “cake” being in five longitudinal segments; the top in four. All held together with steel pins and glue - five kinds of glue to be exact. The saucer was pre-assembled outside and painted with three coats of paint. Then disassembled and run though the neck. After assembly and waiting for the glue to dry, the seams were filled and sanded - which is something like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time - only harder: A most difficult, stomach wrenching operation! Ten minutes of this and you feel utterly drained. Once the seams were smooth, two more coats of paint were brushed on and allowed to dry. Then the decals were applied. Running them through the neck on the point of a needle, positioning them, and finally rubbing them down. After that the saucer received a coat of resin over the top and the bottom to smooth everything together.
After final assembly the Enterprise was suspended over a cratered “lunar” landscape from two tiny brass hooks let into the top of the bottle. I would have preferred not using the hooks but could figure no other way of suspending the starship - that would survive the rigors of transport.
Clamping the Saucer
Painting the Saucer
Sanding
The Finished Saucer sitting on the temporary workbench
Displacement: 190,000 tons (9,800 kg) Length: 947 ft.0 in. (11.6 m) Beam: 417 ft 0 in ( 4.3 m)
( dimensions obtained from the 1968 book "The Making of Star Trek"
Scale: 1 in 2300 Length of Model: 5 " (128 mm) Bottle Size: 20oz (750 ml)
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