CultTVman’s Enterprise Smithsonian photos 1992

Back in 1992, long before I dreamed of becoming CultTVman, long before we really knew what the hell the internet was, there was a big Star Trek exhibition at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.   Being the Star Trek fan that I was, I talked my wife into a trip to DC.

On display was the “restored” studio model of the TV Enterprise, along with the refit Enterprise from the Star Trek movies.   Several other models were on display including the Tholain and Aurora ships, the TV Klingon Battle Curiser, and the K’Tinga.    Overhead was the Botany Bay and and Galileo shuttle.  There were plenty of Trek costumes, props (at least some were reported to be fakes) and much more.    I didn’t have much opportunity to take photos, but here are a few.  These were posted  to the site way back when it launched in 1997 or so.    I need to find the original photos and rescan them.   Not many here.

I knew that considerable effort was put into restoring and repainting the Enterprise.   I was pretty excited that they had done this.   However, when I first saw the ship, my initial thought was “I didn’t realize that it was that heavily weathered.”    Guess what?  I was right.   We now know that the restoration added a layer of heavy weathering that really didn’t exist on the studio model.

Here’s a few factoids that we know about the appearance of the studio model.

• The Enterprise was repaired when it arrived at the Smithsonian.   The nacelle domes and deflector dish were missing.   At least part of the model was repainted, obliterating the “grid lines” on the underside of the saucer.
• The “grid lines” do exist on the studio model, drawn with pencil.  They were added to the top and bottom of the primary hull prior to the second season of the series.   They were possibly added in the middle of the first season when more extensive effects shots were filmed.    The whole model was subtly weathered.
• Much of the model was repainted by Ed Miarecki durring the 1991 restoration.   The top of the primary hull was largely preserved in it’s original state, as it was when originally filmed.

No matter how you feel about this “restoration,” we need to give Ed Miarecki for the work he did.   The structure of the model was stabilized.  The internal lighting and nacelle fan effect were recreated.   The model was able to be photographed, measured, and documented by Gary Kerr.   And the model was now able to be displayed to the public, after being locked away in storage for years.    The documentation by Gary Kerr was utilized to produce many of the licensed replicas including the Polar Lights 1:350 Enterprise kit.

Now I just wish I had taken more photos!