Many of you know Steve Neil already. For most of his life he has been a professional makeup artist for motion pictures and television. Steve worked for Fred Phillips in the Star Trek:The Motion Picture makeup department. For the last year, working with Gary Kerr’s definitive plans, Steve has built a six foot, original series Enterprise. At the tail of the article find a video that Steve sent over, and when you’re thru with that, check the blog roll and visit his site. The man is amazing. If you have any questions for Steve, ask away, he’ll be monitoring your comments!
I hope that when humans do finally travel the stars, it is in something as beutiful as this.
Wow, that is just simply amazing. Hats off to a great looking ship Steve.
That’s freakin’ awesome. Great job on the model, Steve. I really enjoyed the video, even if your camera does over expose things.
I have a question, are the bussard collectors constructed as they were on the show, with Christmas lights, broken mirror bits, aluminum blades and frosted glass domes? They look awesome.
Ignore my question. I watched the video on your blog showing how you built the bussards.
Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
Speaking of the Gary Kerr plans, I’m pretty sure those are the Holy Grail for Trek modelers. I know there’s a list of people–including a couple of folks I actually like–that I’d disappear in order to secure a set.
Simply awesome! What an incredible labor of love, and the result is stunning. I love working with CG models (they don’t take up much space), but I’d give just about anything to work on a physical model like this. I’d spend days just sitting there staring, soaking in the reality of it. You did an astounding job bringing the old girl to life, Mr. Neil!
Craig I’d give anything to have my work on the SOTL Calendar! I have it right here. Doug brought me a copy last time he was here and that cover really got my attention.. You did great and thank you for the kind words!
Steve
Absoluty fantastic model, I’d dare say it’s close to rivaling the original!
The nacelles aren’t overexposed, Scotty’s just been tinkering with the warp drive again.
That’s a fantastic miniature, Mr. Neil, I’m envious! I wish I had room for one of those.
Bestill my heart. Just wow. I love my Master’s Replicas model, but this piece of wonderful craftsmanship makes that look like a Diamond Select tinkertoy. If anyone ever wanted to film classic Trek visual FX with a live model again, they would simply have to use this one, and the quality would make it worth the hassle. I hope you’ve designated a museum or some worthy individual for this to go to eventually, as it’s much too fine a piece of work to fall by the wayside.
You are hands-down the definitive 1701 E man of the year, U8, no ’bout a doubt it!
( hands Steve the “I’m The Man!” badge )
Just love her! Bravo, my friend, Bravo!
And thank you!
peace & bananas deg
I so love this model! It was fun to watch your progress through the videos on your blog. She really is a thing of beauty and you did the ol’ gal justice with your model, Steve!!
You guys are all to kind and I’m flattered really. Thank you.
Like Doug I started with doing make-up. My favorite job of all time was working for Fred on TMP. I got to do Spock’s ears and for me that was heaven. I worked on other ST films but that was my favorite.
If I had to do it all over again I would have gone the path Doug did. I love making models, CGI and Star Trek. Making monsters wasn’t the same.
But I’m trying to make up for lost time. I could not have made this ship without Doug’s generous contributions of his time and resources. He was always there for me in in the middle of over 2000 shots for B&C!
BTW I failed to mention anything about the chair. I built it from scratch in two weeks. Just like a movie job. LOL! It’s screen accurate and a gentlemen named Bruce Boyd supplied the arm console boards, lights and switches. Not to mention the correct plans and detailed information about the Madison chair! I had to replicate that too.
All this is being done so I can finish the last in the series of videos on building the model. I have built a CGI bridge and needed an actual chair in order to put myself on the bridge and take my model into space which will be the conclusion.
As for the model it will remain in my home. She’s a keeper.
Thanks again for all the kind words and to Doug and Gary for the help and support.
Steve
Sweet model!
As I’ve said before Steve, amazing job on this. I’m impressed beyond words.
Speechlessly beautiful
That is the most beautiful model of the most beautiful fictonal ship in television history
Simply Amazing work.
That is an absolute work of art. Bravo! Don’t know if I’d have the patience to do something like that.
Steve, what a beauty! From looking at your stills and video, it is obvious you are an artisan and a craftsman! Not to mention a “Trekker!’
What materials did you use to construct the ship’s hull? How much does she weigh?
Thanks for sharing! I am VERY anxiously awaiting Polar Lights 32″ rendition of the Big E due out late next year!
Awesome job! The proportions, the details, the very decent weathering. Simply perfect!
…Actually, what Steve’s work does is provide further proof to back up my observations concerning the Abrams version of the Enterprise: the TMP version being an agreed exception, the TOS series version was a design that wasn’t broken, and damn sure wasn’t fixed by that Eero-”inspired” monstrosity. The TOS version holds up almost a half-century later, something the Abrams version probably won’t have half that much longevity to it.
Of course, if I live long enough to be proven wrong, I’ll spit the difference and mea culprit the defeat…:P
Thanks again everyone. And OM lets just say I agree about her design and how she holds up. Yes indeed.
And I wasn’t a fan of the new film at all or the new Enterprise. Enough said.
Steve
Most definitely agreed, though I’m not sure what a “Eero” is. To my eyes the 2009 version is clunky and malproportioned, almost completely lacking in sleekness or elegance in every orthographic plan view. Photographically there are a few decent angles on it (since despite Abrams’ and ILM’s botched effort it is more or less the Enterprise), but certainly far fewer than Matt Jeffries’ iconic original or the TMP version that succeeded it.
(OTOH, I have to realize that I say this as a long time TOS fan. In truth, despite my admiration for Andy Probert as an artist I never was able to warm up entirely to the D either, even after seven seasons and four films. The new ship was far uglier to me than that, but I wonder how the original, designed and constructed just score months after Kennedy’s assasination, would look to someone born after, say, 1990. Are we being unfair?)
…AIUI, the design styles of Eero Aarnio, the man responsible for the classic “Ball Chair” as seen on “The Prisoner”, were of significant influence on the Abrams version, which explains why there’s a bit more fancy curves to the nacelles than modern aesthetics might allow for. To be more specific, the nacelles are not only too damn fat starting with the bussards – exaggerating the TOS version’s natural taper – they’re supported by curved nacelles that are placed way too far in the aft of the secondary hull. This also resulted in the nacelles being too close together, which makes the ship look…well, asthetically -off-. IIRC, when Trumbull took over the model work for TMP, the refit version had similar issues with the nacelles, and – depending on which source you reference, and I’d appreciate someone clarifying this tidbit of history – the model was either scrapped and replaced with the one that the last I heard was in the NASM with the TOS version, or it was heavily reworked to change the nacelle positioning as well as some resculpting and modifications to both sides of the primary hull.
Wiki on Eero: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eero_Aarnio
…Note for the record that while I seriously don’t care for certain aesthetic aspects of the Abrams version, I do have a good bit of appreciation for some of Eero’s works. I’d even plunk down some of my SSI money on a Ball Chair, but with my luck and this damn fake leg, I probably couldn’t get back up out of the damn thing!
While JJ obviously approved the final design, Ryan Church was the designer of the 2009 E. I had the chance to speak with Ryan early last year and he told me the design was somewhat contentious, not only the proportions but also the conjectural size of the ship. Personally, I’da rather seen the original, too.
…Oh, and as far as your last point-of-order goes, I think the fact that the AMT/Ertl kit of the TOS version stayed in production 45 years after its initial release, and – depending on which reference you use – has sold more copies of any model kit produced by one manufacturer(*), probably puts out any doubts as to whether the current generation(s) would think the original Jeffries/Datin results were “dated”, much less “passe” and/or “obsolete”. About the only negative comments I’ve encountered on the modeling forums in the past half-decade about the design concerns the original size and structure of the bridge dome. As we all here know, the dome was originally about twice the height of what it is now. However, due to the use of stock footage practically every episode used at least -one- cf those clips, thus resulting in a bit of discontinuity. Especially where certain flybys are concerned. Granted, there were a lot more modifications made when TOS was sold as a series, but the only real complaints I’ve read online about the pilot version is that the original bridge dome was “too high/tall”, and that chopping it down improved the aesthetics of the overall design.
So yeah, I think even the kids of the next few generations will have as much love for the original TOS version as we do, and arguably vicariously the TMP version as well. It wouldn’t surprise me if a hundred years from now, when everyone has their own 3D printer, the first thing that a user will print/goop will be some CAD file of the TOS Enterprise. I think Matt Jeffries and Dick Datin would’ve loved it
(*) Some sources have noted that there were more B-29 kits sold than TOS Enterprise kits, but since WWII there have been at least four dozen different kits from half as many plastic/wood/resin/paper model kit companies. So cumulatively, more B-29 kits were sold, but none of them individually sold anywhere near as many kits as AMT/Ertl sold of the TOS kit. Note that the last time I researched this, Polar Lights hadn’t come into being and taken over the license and the molds, but I seriously doubt that there’s been a major jump in demand for B-29 kits during that interim.
What makes the sales of all those AMT/ERTL kits even more of a testament to a timeless design was that we bought them in spite of knowing full well that we’d never get those damned nacelles to stay straight.
Looking at the ship critically from a 21st Century design perspective, the only thing that strikes me as really in-your-face archaic and Sixties-retro is the big deflector dish, an issue that someone obviously felt was worth addressing all the way back in ’79. The smooth exterior was well-rationalized by Jeffries at the time he designed it, and while it’s a huge contrast to the kitbashed look popularized by STAR WARS, it’s important (and a little sobering) to remember that to anyone born around the turn of the new century, Lucas’ franchise must seem almost as superannuated as Roddenberry’s. Design-wise, everything old is new again.
As for what Ryan Church and the team at ILM wrought, I just don’t know what the hell they were thinking. These are artists at the top of their game, far too bright (I would think) to believe that change for its own sake is a net positive. Hard as it is to believe, I’m forced to conclude that as with the director and screenwriters, in the end some very talented designers just didn’t get the appeal of the original source material. What a pity.
You would think that ships designed in the future would lack millions of tiny useless parts hanging on the outside of the hull to rip and tear off at high velocity. Especially hundreds of years from now. To travel at faster than light speeds I’d want my hull to be smooth and all the vitals hidden inside away from harms way.
Still I suppose in the vacuum of space these things are less of a problem. But really nothing looked like the ships in star Wars until 2001 came along. It set the look for things to come for Star Wars and every movie to follow. Suddenly everything had to have a million model parts from everything sold at the local hobby store from battle ships to tanks. It looked cool but has made a nightmare for people like myself who had to build the darn things.
She makes sense really. As for the Nacelles properly reenforced they do not sag even in a gravity based environment. Even less in free fall.
Steve
Well, I wish I’d had the benefit of zero gee when I assembled–attempted to assemble–my AMT kits, as getting those nacelles to stay upright without sagging was a source of endless frustration. For my friends, too. Presumably it wasn’t so much of a challenge for a competent modeler like yourself.
Matt Jeffries of course had a rationale for a smooth-skinned vehicle that in essence was more or less the same as yours: space is a very dangerous place, so why would you put anything sensitive on the surface of the ship when someone would have to go outside to repair it? Much better to keep that sort of activity indoors, where you have heat and light and air, and no special FX budget.
As for the design “making sense”–well, it does, but primarily in the context of Roddenberry’s fictional universe. Ultimately it’s the end product of a TV producer and an assistant art director going for a look that would strike the audience as both attractive and logical: slightly-informed speculation lacking a real conceptual framework for the kinds of yet-unknown technologies that would actually be required to make such a ship fly. In the end, it will bear about as much resemblance to an actual human starship (assuming such a thing ever comes to pass, a big if) as Da Vinci’s drawings of airships look like a modern passenger airliner. As a platform for drama, the Enterprise is a beautiful, timeless design, and that’s good enough for me.
I just couldn’t agree more. But it is my hope and dream, here are not to see it, that something we do now creates that future. We need it to happen very badly. It’s the only way the human race will ever leave the nest and grow up. The needs of the few will benefit the needs of the many in the end.
Steve
“but I wonder how the original, designed and constructed just score months after Kennedy’s assasination, would look to someone born after, say, 1990. Are we being unfair?”
(I was born in 1995)
The TOS E is one of the greatest pieces of design ever. (And Steve’s done an amazing model of it, I’ve no idea what i’d do to have something like that
)
The Abrams, by comparison, is an abomination. I’m still hoping that XII will start with scotty waking up after some bad vodka, on an actual starship Enterprise…
She is a beauty. What a lovely piece of work; thanks so much for sharing it with us!
Guys be sure to g to my You tube channel and catch the 47 part video series I did on the construction of this model. It goes into blow by blow detail about everything from making the molds to the lighting. This model was built in traditional studio style. Get it done yesterday! So you might enjoying seeing how we use to do things before I got by face glued to this screen and Newtek!
http://www.youtube.com/user/darkuboot?feature=mhee
Steve
Heh. I’m a Max user myself, Mr. Neill. But I know what you mean.
What ever floats your wire frame works for me!
…In my case, almost all of my professional 3D CAD work occurred around 1993-1996, and all of that was in Bentley MicroStation, which at that time was superior to anything Autodesk was overpricedly huckstering on the market for PC users. We used it extensively at SummaGraphics along with Autocad, as our tablets had template support for both included with the driver packages. It was an essential primary beta test tool, and did some superior rendering compared to what Autocad had to offer without having to resort to any additional rendering engine plugins. The only reason I quit using it was that when I moved to D*ll, the tool of choice in the test plans was always 3D Studio, which I found to have a bit steeper of a learning curve compared to MicroStation.
…The sad part is that the CD I’d burned with all the DWG files I’d done – including a rather interesting take on the TMP version as well as a certain Battlestar – wound up getting scratched through the boot sectors, and all of God/Yahweh/Roddenberry’s powers that come with the title of Great Bird of the Galaxy couldn’t retrieve any of those files off the disk. The only remnant of those years of work – professional and rendering tinkerer – was a D-sized landscape render I’d done for my mOM of my TMP version. Rendered in a by-today’s-standards-semiepic-fail 300 dithered DPI on what was essentially an HP Deskjet with a gland problem, mOM stored it away somewhere until she got what she felt was a proper frame for it. It’s still out there in the garage somewhere, and one of these days I’ll dig it out and snap a picture of it so I can share it -somewhere- after all these years.
Of course, I’ll probably try out whatever Bentley’s done with MicroStation by then, and I ain’t making too much progress in that direction…:P
Funny–after ten years of playing with CGI pretty much just for fun, I’ve yet to make a serious attempt at modeling any version of the Enterprise (though I have done a shuttle and some other items from the ST universe). The interwebs are full of renderings both amazing enough to make you think it’s 1968 all over again (Dennis Bailey and Daren Dochterman in particular have done some great stuff), as well as truly terrible (the vast majority). So with all the work involved–modeling, texturing, lighting, animating–I figured, what’s the point? Better to spend my limited time working on something that hasn’t already been done to near-perfection by others.
While part of me dearly misses the experience and end-feel (aka holding) of practical model building, I’m oh-so glad me ‘puter screen doesn’t emit toxic fumes.
peace & bananas | deg
Fantastic work! Just seeing it all lit up in the video makes me feel warm and fuzzy
It would be amazing to see it in person.
Matt I’m sure one day someone will drag my rear out of my cave here and to a Con or something. Until then it resides in my office after shooting.
steve
…The fun thing would be to take your – is “Magnum Opus” too excessively accurate? – to the NASM, put it next to the original model on display, and then poll visitors to pick which one they think is the real McCoy. Considering the current paint scheme of the original, it wouldn’t surprise me one iota if the majority of those polled picked your version as the “real” one on the grounds that yours looks so damn pristine. Hopefully you’ll be in a position to display it at a con or three, with an even greater hope that I and the rest of us here following the exploits of Deadshot Drex, can actually see your work in person, and shake your hand for a job well done!
I’m with OM Steve. Getting the (new) old girl out there so the public can see her in person would be wonderful. I think most people would be hard pressed to decide whether it or the original is the “real” one, judging from these photos. I haven’t had time to explore your videos yet…
That is one sexy model of the Original Enterprise!!! I did have a question for you regarding this work of art. Did you design this model with the “Kirk fires only forward” philosophy many adopted to the 1701 never firing anything backwards, or did you take into consideration the Constitution Class vessel shown on the series “Enterprise” which supposedly put that myth to rest. If you have an aft launcher on model, could you point it out. Thank you.
Brian Cebula
Starship Freak who can only draw on paper.
Brian thanks! There are no aft launchers I could find on the Kerr plans.
So no I didn’t put any on. Turn hard and full spread!
Steve
Thanks Steve and good luck with those Nacelles. I collect Art Assylum/Diamond Select and Playmates Starship toys. I tended to use too much glue building models! Thanks for answering my question! And keep your work cool (as in temperature)!
Brian Cebula
Ship Freak who at one time tried to glue a model of an ME-262 together and melted the engines : 0
Brian it’s a true pleasure.
Steve
Steve this is a fabulous model and it is evident you put much much work love and tears into it. I have a question though. Are the Bussards spinning backwards (as in “outwards” rather than inwards) or is this a camera distortion?
Again, fabulous!
Ahhh…..good question but I studied this in detail. I had them spinning outward, inwards, the same direction right and left and nothing was right. I looked at the show season by season. Sometimes fast they turned, slow, counter rotate inward, outward.
Being a film effects and visual effects guy around shooting on the stages for so long I wasn’t thinking clearly. When shooting effects we would often shoot in reverse, slow motion and single frame on models and creatures. And in the edit bay we would do the same thing. So footage shot forward with the nacelles turning inward might be reversed. This made it hard to know for sure what was the right direction.
One thing is for sure they counter rotate. As to which way for me anyway remains a mystery. However I do have control over which way they turn should anyone ever figure it out.
Steve
Steve,
Nice work on the Enterprise! That’s also a nice Captain’s chair that you made. Is the chair comfortable to sit in? All you need right now to go with the chair is a food synthesizer, so you can order the foods that you want to eat or drink while sitting in the chair.
Spencer
I’d prefer a beautiful yeoman to bring my lunch while I’m on duty.
Actually it’s not that comfortable but then again the captain needs to be alert I would suppose. It is fun to sit in and watch Star Trek in though!
By God, that’s a big ship! But not so big as her captain, I think!
I’m turning Red here Jay. Thanks!
its an amazing piece of work, been following it for a long time and glad you shared the finished ship, So…………….whats next ? (-:
many Thanks
Chuck my film and another one after that longer and better I hope. Although I am planning a large Galileo.
Stunned. Speechless. Amazing.
I’ll give you $1.37 Billion for it. Or my house, wife, and Beagle.
Question (That may be answered on your blog so shame on me for not checking their first.)
Polar LIghts is coming out with a “giant” 350 scale version of the classic Enterprise. They have decided, much to my chagrin, to include grid lines on the saucer. I’ve never, ever seen any grid lines on the original studio model in photos or plans. However, Polar Lights says they came upon evidence (which they would not share) which indicates that lines were penciled in on the original studio model. What is your take on those lines?
They were pencil. They weren’t there until after the first season. You can’t see them on film. They are wrong they were never scribed in.
Giant? It’s half this size. Little really.
I’ll take a check today.
Keep the wife and dog. LOL!
Steve
It’s just sad that they’re practically chiseled on the model now. I don’t want to beat the dead horse of that “restoration” all over again, but I just saw her last year, and man, do they look awful.
I love this design and agree with your comments on having the guts of the ship on the inside and keeping the hull as smooth as possible…
There’s nothing like the original “Big E” design by Matt Jeffries.
Steve, I have to agree with everybody else and say that you did an absolutely incredible job with a wonderful design to work from. She is gorgeous. By the way, OM, I believe that “Eero” is supposed to refer to Eero Saarinen. Personally I don’t see any connection between Saarinen’s architecture and the JJprise – which is a good thing, since I am a big admirer of Saarinen and his architecture.
Thanks you guys it’s all kind of you to say. Be sure to go to my blog and follow along on the TOS film I’m making now that will use this model in some of the effects shots. you can now also see a few clips from the film in progress with the chair on the bridge I built.
Thanks again!
steve
I imagine it’s a bit frustrating when the video makes the lights look way overblown like that, but don’t worry, we’ve all used digital cameras and can appreciate how the model must look in real life. And even with the automatic settings making things look overly bright, the detail and accuracy of the model still shines through (if you’ll excuse the pun). Great to see the impulse engines lit up too!
John thanks a bunch for the kind words. If you watch the video which is the last image you click on you can see the Nacelles lighted some what properly.
Thanks again,
steve
WANT.
This is seriously awesome. And I’m with buckaroohawk… there are definitely a few people I would gladly disappear to get my mitts on the elusive Gary Kerr plans. >:) But seriously, this is a true work of art… bravo!
Scott thanks sooo much!
Steve