On Facebook, Mario Perdue posted a link to the restoration of the USS enterprise model used in the Star Trek TV series. To see the video, CLICK HERE
Airbrushing, lots of masking tape and water slide decals - Horrors!
The restored model is now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
I visited last month, it's near the street entrance and it looks great. They decided not to light it so it look subdued.
ReplyDeleteI do recall seeing the miniature when it was in the display case in the basement level at the back of the gift shop - several months before the recent restoration was performed. She was looking a tad worn due to age. In some areas the paint had started to flake off, some of the glass pieces had come loose (and nearly falling out), and most worrisome were areas where stress cracks were apparent.
ReplyDeleteI do also recall noticing how the painting performed in a prior restoration didn't quite match the untouched portion (e.g. the top of the primary hull) -- the weathering and panel effect were a tad overdone (in my opinion).
I'm glad that in this most recent restoration, they installed some support to stabilize and reinforce the structure. They also corrected some long-standing problems of the prior restorations (e.g. incorrect dish, incorrect endcaps on the front of the warp nacelles). Although controversial, the replacement of the lighting makes sense to me -- much of the original wiring had already rotted away, finding replacements for the old incandescent light bulbs would be harder to find nowadays, and the heat-cycling from incandescent bulbs and motors would've posed a risk to the structure from the heat cycling).