My oldest son is a serious model builder, and competes in model shows. He’s done the Enterprise in detail, with his own lighting. Thanks for posting this. I sent him the link to the article. I’m sure he’ll get a kick out of it. I think we saw this model years ago when it was in a special Star Trek exhibit at the Air and Space Museum. We made a special trip to D.C. just to see it.
I’ve bought a couple of kits after decades of not fooling with scale models.
Next month I hope to get an airbrush rig. I never had one before.
This is the second big resto for the Enterprise model. It hung in one of the lower-level galleries (by the lunar lander) for years, was restored and then displayed in a glass case in the basement bookstore.
Air&Space Mag had a writeup on the first resto in their April\May 1992 edition (”This Old Starship”). The resto was really controversial because the Smithsonian decided to completely overweather the model, adding a desidedly green tint to it.