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Construction Plans

33 inch U.S.S. Enterprise Reproduction







Used with express permission from David Shaw

Illustrator:Copyright:Summary:First, the obvious questions... "What are these plans of? Why are these better, different or more/less important than other plans of the Starship Enterprise?"To begin, these plans are an attempt to provide one-to-one plans for the original three foot (33 inch) model of the USS Enterprise constructed by Richard Datin back in November of 1964. To my knowledge these are the first serious attempt to faithfully detail this version of the Enterprise. It seems that because of the loss of the model, most people who have looked at this subject have past on making any attempt because of a lack of information.These are not intended as plans of the 11 foot model (on display at the Smithsonian) as that is a totally different subject which has been quite well documented by very talented people. If you are looking for detailed plans of that model, I would highly suggest the plans drawn by Alan Sinclair (www.angelfire.com/scifi2/wizardofflight/) and Charles Casimiro (home.earthlink.net/~casimiro/).These plans are presented as an aid to modelers (in both physical and computer generated mediums) to help build reproductions of the original model. This isn't meant to represent a fictional set of plans from the future of a future spacecraft, but rather an attempt to document a piece of our shared history which is currently missing.As such, I have included no reference to "scale" with a "real" Enterprise. The plans are one-to-one with the original miniature when printed at 24 inches by 36 inches.The subject of these drawings is the model as it appeared around 1968. The model was altered to look like the series production version of the 11 foot model and was intended to serve as a display piece (even though it did make it back on screen towards the end of the original series). Part of the reason for this is that the best photos for study were of the model after it's alteration, and also personal preference on my part.At some point in the future I may document how it looked when used as a filming miniature in "The Cage", but I didn't feel that that research warranted delaying these plans.No direct color information about the model will be detailed in these plans. I suggest using photos of the original model for reference. As most of the decal elements match those of the 11 foot model, it would also make a good reference. As for the overall color of the model, I suggest the article "What Color Is The Classic Enterprise?" by Paul Newitt on the "Cult TV Man" web site www.culttvman2.com).According to Datin the model was built using a kiln-dried sugar pine. It would appear that most of the major elements turned on a lathe. Anyone considering making a faithful reproduction may want to use similar materials.On the last sheet I have included as much of reference measurements as I have been able to collect on both models and the original construction plans. They are included more for historical purposes than anything else. The 33 inch model was supposed to be a one-to-one build from the original plans, with the 11 foot model being four times those dimensions.I may revisit these plans at a later date to make corrections. Part of my motivation from drawing these plans in the first place was to attempt to build a replica of this model. I would guess that during that process I will find flaws in these plans and uncover more details about the original.