The shooting model of the original series Enterprise...

[Dennis]

...as it appears now, at the Smithsonian Institute's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The model's currently displayed with the interior lights turned off, in the lower level of the museum gift shop, in a glass case.

The model is mounted with the engineering hull forward sensor dish at about eye level, which means that the upper surface of the saucer can't be seen directly (unless maybe you're Michael Jordan :D). The only way to photograph the top is via a mirror mounted on the top of the glass case.

My camera is a simple 35 mm with automatic flash. Because of the glass case and various focus problems it's proving difficult to reliably get good shots with this camera. My attempts to photograph the top of the saucer have thus far been unsuccessful.

What follows are the first few images of details and odd angles I was able to get. Most of the photos have flash flare obscuring one part or another, but all have some clear, useful information I think.

I have a few more photos which I'll scan and post in the next few days.

I expect to return frequently over the next few months (hopefully with another camera at some point) and add to the photo collection. Anyone who has questions about specific aspects of the model that I can eyeball and report back on following my next visit to it please feel free to post them in the topic.

Here are links to eight detail images -- all are *very* large:

http://www.3dgladiators.net/phoenix/1701_engineering_hull_1.jpg
http://www.3dgladiators.net/phoenix/1701_engineering_hull_2.jpg
http://www.3dgladiators.net/phoenix/1701_engineering_hull_3.jpg
http://www.3dgladiators.net/phoenix/1701_nacelle_1.jpg
http://www.3dgladiators.net/phoenix/1701_nacelle_2.jpg
http://www.3dgladiators.net/phoenix/1701_nacelle_3.jpg
http://www.3dgladiators.net/phoenix/1701_impulse_1.jpg
http://www.3dgladiators.net/phoenix/1701_landing_bay_1.jpg

[thomas7g]

wooo!

:kimba:

Thanks very much for going and giving us some pics. :)

When you do go back I'm still curious about those areas I mentioned before.

The shuttle bay thingie you shot looks like there is nothing there. But if you look at this page http://members.aol.com/IDICPage2/84Enterprise2.html and look at the third photo down, it looks as if there is something to the immediate left and right of the clamshell, between the clamshell and the engineering hull's skin. So I guess there is no such structure now right?

And the impulse bar helps, But can you get the top view? Is the ceiling mirrored by chance? Or can you get up there?

Damn I envy ya!!!;)

[Dennis]

I see what you mean, but the structures in question (also in the fourth photo) don't match the surrounding area at all -- they're much lighter and would have stood out in any previous photography of the model (including on the stage). There are other photos at McCullars' site and at Phil Broad's that were taken prior to the 1985 exhibit that don't show anything in that area. I don't know what they are -- maybe exposed fastenings of some sort?

Bear in mind that up until Miarecki's restoration in the early 90s there'd never been a good attempt to research the model and to restore it accurately to the appearence it had during its lifetime as an active photographic minature. I talked to Ed and to the curator who worked with him on the restoration, Ken Isbell (who interviewed Richard Datin extensively and collected a lot of photo materials from him) and I'm convinced that with the exception of the *intensity* of the painted "weathering", the model as it appears now is as accurate a reconstruction as can be acheived.

[thomas7g]

Ah! Thanks for clearing that up!

I swear this ship plays tricks with ya. Its out to confound anyone who wants to be accurate. :)

I'm just glad the model is still around. Unlike the Romulan and the 4 footer. Paramount was so frustrated with Roddenberry they easily could have destroyed the model afterwards, instead of just denying him the right to it.

After all, all the 2001 models were destroyed on Kubrick's order. :(

[Dennis]

Here's an overhead shot of the impulse bar courtesy William McCullars:

http://www.uah.edu/~jim/nasm9.jpg

[thomas7g]

thankies Dennis. :)

I'm pretty familiar with the idic photos. They show the impulse bar. But not enough to do detailed accurate work. :)

[Darrell Lawrence]

:) Awesome, Dennis. More ref, the merrrier.

[Dennis]

Unfortunately that's probably the best look you can get at it with the current display set-up. My attempt didn't come out that well.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Sounds like you need to slip them a few... bunch... whole lotta $20s... :laugh:

[Dennis]

Originally posted by Warrior
Sounds like you need to slip them a few... bunch... whole lotta $20s... :laugh:

Yeah, it's really just the right part of the decade to be trying to bribe guards in a government facility in Washington, D.C...;):D

[Darrell Lawrence]

That's why I went from a few to a lotta :naughty:

Tell them the truth: You're doing it for a CGI "company" (3DG) and you need measurements and close up photos, and you have to do it there since they won't let you borrow it like they did the Refit for F.I. :laugh:

[thomas7g]

Originally posted by Dennis


Yeah, it's really just the right part of the decade to be trying to bribe guards in a government facility in Washington, D.C...;):D


BWAHAHAHAHAA! LOL

Well... just say you need to do a security inspection on the top of the ship :)

[meshula]

Simply awesome! Some of these details (particularly the closeup of the nacelle aft ends) have been shrouded in mystery. Thanks! I wish I had had these photos when I built my mesh.