Missing 32" Enterprise finally found...
- Thread starter Dar70
- Start date
This is the best possible outcome. The model's rather the worse for wear, but she'll surely end up in the hands of skilled restorers.
Great news!
That would be the best option, and guarantee top care going forward.
Nice that it gets a happy ending. It'll be good to see her restored to her former glory.
Doug Drexler's photo of what he calls the Verification Team, including a number of the experts who worked on the 11-footer's restoration: https://www.facebook.com/doug.drexler.7/posts/10160537367741104
Just so long as they keep the thing away from Ed Miarecki.
Oh, without question, after his wrongheaded, untalented hack job on the 11-footer. Probably the worst abuse of a historic film miniature.
Oh, I think you can look at how it was treated before Ed got to it. He might have been wrong but at least he cared.
Kind of agree. That slapped-dash baby blue they put on her in the 70s was equally bad IMO.
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Anyway, glad the 33-incher made it home.
Gary Kerr has also posted some photos of the verification and commentary to his Facebook.
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Now it can be told. Here we gathered on April 1 at Heritage Auctions in Beverly Hills to do the final authentication of the 34" Enterprise model. I'd already matched a number of details common to both the photos that had been posted on eBay and to some rarer photos of the original model in the 1960s, but the clincher was an exact match between the wood grain on the base with the grain in a photo of Gene Roddenberry at his desk, with the model next to him. An expert could fake details on a model, but you can't fake wood grain.
All I know is that I'll never wash my right index finger again!
All I know is that I'll never wash my right index finger again!
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Damage report:
Underneath the layers of grime, the model's paint seems to be in fairly good condition (and is an exact match to the Pilot gray hull color on the 11-footer).
The lower saucer is in very good condition, considering.
The decals on the upper saucer have lifted, and it looks as though a strong breeze could blow them away. I've got the artwork for the decals we used during the 2016 restoration of the 11-footer, so missing decals can be replaced.
The hangar bay doors went missing in the late 60's, and they're still missing.
The main structural damage is to the secondary hull. It looks as though the model had been dropped, with the front of the saucer being forced down and the end of the dorsal being leveraged up, taking some of the wooden sec hull with it.
Needless to say, the warp nacelles will need realigning.
Underneath the layers of grime, the model's paint seems to be in fairly good condition (and is an exact match to the Pilot gray hull color on the 11-footer).
The lower saucer is in very good condition, considering.
The decals on the upper saucer have lifted, and it looks as though a strong breeze could blow them away. I've got the artwork for the decals we used during the 2016 restoration of the 11-footer, so missing decals can be replaced.
The hangar bay doors went missing in the late 60's, and they're still missing.
The main structural damage is to the secondary hull. It looks as though the model had been dropped, with the front of the saucer being forced down and the end of the dorsal being leveraged up, taking some of the wooden sec hull with it.
Needless to say, the warp nacelles will need realigning.
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Some photos of the nacelles on the long-lost 34-inch Enterprise...
As interesting factoid: the nacelle domes were orange and translucent, confirming that we had correctly restored the missing domes on the 11-footer in 2016. Whew!
All the intercoolers but one were missing, and the surviving intercooler was installed backwards! The backwards intercooler matches the one in what was in probably the last set of photos that were taken before the model vanished.
As interesting factoid: the nacelle domes were orange and translucent, confirming that we had correctly restored the missing domes on the 11-footer in 2016. Whew!
All the intercoolers but one were missing, and the surviving intercooler was installed backwards! The backwards intercooler matches the one in what was in probably the last set of photos that were taken before the model vanished.
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An action photo of me lunging at the 34" Enterprise model. I would have made it out the front door, which was only 20 ft away, except Doug Drexler tackled me. Curse you, Drexler!
Got a 3D capture made that very day!
https://x.com/julesurbach/status/1781041912520282581?s=46&t=ShWg9DG6nPWU1Zf_5TZL2A
https://x.com/julesurbach/status/1781041912520282581?s=46&t=ShWg9DG6nPWU1Zf_5TZL2A
Wow, that is fantastic!
How was that done? Do we have the technology now to create a 3D scan of something just sitting on a table in a room? That's getting into tricorder territory.
Well @Jules / OTOY will tell us but lidar and photogrammetry come to mind as possible ways the poster did it.
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Shortly after took this picture:
Everyone cleared the table, and I Used my iPhone 15 to capture it from all angles in about 5 minutes, then turned those into a Gaussian Splat (3D point cloud with reflections) which is what you see in the video above.
Rod and I wanted to get this moment documented in 3D as best we could on that verification day, but we will do a proper full LightStage scan of the model as we did with other physical props for the Roddenberry Archive:
Oh, yes. There are apps that'll do it on your phone. It helps if the phone has a LIDAR sensor built in, but even a series of photos can be used to reconstruct an object in 3D.
Well this has been a great find!
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