Enterprise

The Making of Enterprise E

This and the following pages detail the construction of a five foot replica of this amazing space vehicle

I need hardly tell all you Star Trek aficionados out there that there have been several designs bearing the name "Enterprise".

They vary (and I stress this is my personal opinion) from the superbly designed TV original model and "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" Enterprise, through to the latest incarnation, the Enterprise "E" -as seen in "Insurrection" and "Star Trek:First Contact"

The Enterprise's in between have been variations on a theme culminating in the Enterprise "D" (seen in "Star Trek The Next Generation") which I think is one of the poorest designs ever to have "graced" the screen! Indeed, I may not be alone in thinking this since in one particular publicity photo the panel lining on the model can clearly be seen to spell actually the word "UGLY" -Honestly!

However, we are all entitled to our opinion and I'm sure hundreds will now be writing to me to tell me how dare I say the "Enterprise D" is ugly! I was approached in Feb 2001 to build a large scale, fully lit model of the latest Enterprise, and since I think the design is one of the better versions, once prices were agreed, I set about building a model that would eventually come out nearly 5 feet long! Below are the photos I took along the way with brief descriptions to show how I went about creating my model.

Next page

2001: A Space Odyssey
20000 Leagues Under the Sea
Alien
Blakes 7
Captain Scarlet
Dr Who
Fireball XL5
Flash Gordon
Forbidden Planet
Hitch Hikers Guide
Into Infinity
Outland
Space 1999
Star Trek
Stingray
Terrahawks
Thunderbirds
War of the World’s

Tripods
UFO

Enterprise E 2

Enterprise E 1

1-4. I began by building the base of the saucer hull in perspex ("Plexiglass"). This entailed machining several layers varying in thickness from 3mm to 9mm and laying them up in a kind of "sandwich" to create the multi-level appearance of the underside of the saucer hull. Additional detailing was applied to this using EMA plastic half-round strips of varying thickness, and plastikard panelling. I also recessed, where necessary, the window sections which are set into wedge-shaped recesses in the underside of this part of the model.

Enterprise E 3

Enterprise E 4

5-10 I decided right from the start that, with the exception of the underside of the saucer hull, that I would carve the rest of the model in Jelutong wood. I would then add ALL the cladding and detailing and take the model right to the final paint stage before taking moulds from the final finished sections. This was partly to lighten the model ,as by then it would be very heavy and also to give me a thin fibreglass shell the windows could then be cut into.

Enterprise E 7

Enterprise E 6

Enterprise E 5

 Photos 5-10 show the secondary hull in various stages of carving. The front intake where the Sensor Array fits was a real swine to carve, and I ended up making a "female" mould of this section in plastic tube and pushing this into a load of P38 car body filler, allowing it to dry and then carving the model down until I got the desired shape, shown clearly in photo 10. I carved the secondary hull to fit into the slot in the underside of the saucer hull which I'd already made. This can also be clearly seen in photo 26 (page 3).

Enterprise E 8

Enterprise E 9

Enterprise E 10

11-12 These photos show the saucer hull being carved in Jelutong wood. At this stage I also glued and screwed the "perspex" underside to the top of the saucer hull. To carve this I found I had to screw blocks of wood to the saucer in order that I could hold it securely it in the vice while I carved it.

Enterprise E 11

Enterprise E 12

Next page

Email Martin at: martin@martinbowersmodelworld.co.uk