The Original Series U.S.S. Enterprise

• Meshula Lab

History

The Enterprise was designed by Matt Jeffries under the direction of Gene Roddenberry. The model was created by Richard C. Daltin Jr. An excellent account of the process can be found in Stephen Witfield's book, The Making of Star Trek, and many more development sketches may be found in Star Trek Sketchbook - the Original Series by Herbert Solow and Yvonne Fern Solow. William McCullar's IDIC pages have a few rare conceptual images as well.

Photos

Click any of the photos to enlarge them.

I took these two pictures of the Enterprise during a visit to the Smithsonian in 1990. I wish I had taken more!

Todd Daggert took a few pictures for me in the Smithsonian Giftshop in 2000.

And finally, a bonus!

Dimensions

According to the Smithsonian Institute these are dimension of the model (thanks Thomas7g):

• Saucer diameter: 152.4 cm (60 inches)
• Nacelle length: 183.5 cm (72.25 inches)
• Engineering hull length: 124.5 cm (49 inches) without antenna, with antenna: 135.9 cm (53.5 inches)
• Distance between centerlines of nacelles: 96.5 cm (38 inches)
• Overall length: 342.9 cm (134 inches)
• Overall height: 81.3 cm (32 inches)
• Weight: 91 kg (200 lb)

Schematics

The schematics linked here use the Federation font.

These schematics are rendered from the 1.0 mesh and texture set, and the text has been formatted to fit in with the Franz Josef Starfleet Technical Manual. Enjoy!

Color

The Enterprise is commonly represented as being a uniform grey color. In fact, the original model had a slight greenish hue, and weathering that basically didn't show up at all once the model appeared on a 1960s era TV. In prints from film stock, and stills from the recently released DVDs however, the coloring shows quite clearly. The latest renovation of the original studio model by Ed Miarecki features strong weathering. His theory was that under bright studio lights, blooming would wash the detail out, resulting in the original look. The original model maker, Richard C. Datin, has said that the model was smooth, without any lines or engraved marks. The panel lines and weathering were added in the studio after the pilot was shot, and before TOS went into production as part of an upgrade.

I have created the image below from a photograph of the top of the primary hull taken when the Enterprise was unpacked upon arriving at the Smithsonian. You may be shocked at the amount of weathering on the hull, but I believe this reconstruction to be very accurate (except for some white spots around the lettering that I haven't cleaned up yet.) The whole ship was painted with a similar palette of weathering and hues.

Click to enlarge

The Nacelles

There is a very detailed description of the construction of the Enterprise nacelles on this page.

The Nacelle Effect

This image, courtesy of Jeff Lee, shows how the model's nacelle end cap is constructed. From outside in:

1. The real thing has a brass screw right in the center, not depicted in this diagram.
2. Frosted white dome, fairly thin.
3. 12 aluminum vanes. I'm pretty sure the vanes spun, not the lights.
4. 25 Christmas light bulbs affixed to a disk. As far as I can tell, they were red, green, blue, yellow, and orange, and arranged somewhat haphazardly.
5. A reflective plate.

The Font

The font appearing on the Enterprise's hull is the US Air Force standard font in use in the early 1960's.

This font is available for download here as an Adobe Illustrator file. Another resource is AmarilloUSAF Pro from Tsai Enterprises. I highly recommend this font.

Click to enlarge

References

Books

Star Trek Mechanics, published by Bunka sha, Tokyo [ISBN4-8211-0588-8]. I got my copy from Sasuga Books.

Ships of the Starfleet by Todd Guenther, Mastercom Data

The Starfleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph, Ballantine Books, 1975

Charles Adams' website, and article in FineScale Modeler, Feb. 1998

The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield and Gene Roddenberry, page 82.

Star Trek Phase II by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, Pocket Books, 1997

Thomas Models' schematics.

Star Trek Sketchbook - the Original Series by Herbert Solow and Yvonne Fern Solow, Pocket Books, 1997

Reference Links

The Smithsonian's Enterprise page

William S. McCullars' IDIC page.

The best place to find Trek meshes is at Erik Timmermanns' Star Trek Meshes and Objects collection.

Agatha Chamberlain's schematics on CultTVMan's site.

Charles Adams' website, and article in FineScale Modeler, Feb. 1998. Currently offline.

Phil Broad's photographs taken at the Smithsonian and other locations. Currently offline.

PC Modeler has about 200 photos of the studio model. The photos are currently offline. The site is excellent, nonetheless.

Mike Trice's photographs from the Smithsonian.

Other Renders and Models

Jeff Lee has some beautiful renders.

Starship Modeler

Glen Stewart's CGI Star Trek Drawings at the IDIC pages

Petri Blomqvist's CGI Enterprise Drawings at the IDIC pages

One of the only downloadable TOS Enterprise meshes (by Dave Charnow) may be found at this page.

Mateen Greenway has some nice renders.

Check out Tom's model at his page.

Synchromesh has made an Elite Forces TOS Enterprise map!

Scott Gammans is working on a Povray rendition.

 


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