Now that all the movies are in 4K, I've been thinking about doing a blog post with screencaps and photos documenting changes to the model over the six films, with a special emphasis on distinguishing traits between the refit and the -A. I was going to start a thread here to crowdsource and make sure I got everything, so, I guess, no time like the present.

Off-hand, here are some differences I know.

TMP -> TWOK:

• Dullcoat and weathering applied over the model.
• The "ENTERPRISE" legend under the shuttlebay is flanked by dashes in TMP, but those are removed for TWOK.

Refit -> -A:

• Green-gray accents on the B/C deck teardrop, neck, and the upper engineering hull surrounding the neck, and nacelle pylons are recolored blue-gray. I think there's some controversy about if this is actually the case or if it was a change in lighting/color timing in the film. The panel pattern of the gray section around the neck and pylons is definitely different, though. Based on the overlit side-shot in TUC, it looks like the deflector housing kept the original greenish color. This change seems to have been after TVH, the deflector housing and "strongback" seem to be the same color there.
• On the starboard side of the saucer, a "STARSHIP USS ENTERPRISE — UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS" legend is added, matching the text around the gangway hatch on the port side. That area was blank in the first three movies.
• A yellow circle and three geometric shapes are added to the underside of the engineering hull, referencing the same set of decorations on the TOS model.
• At least one panel on the starboard side of the engineering section had all of its windows removed. It was a cover for the mounting point on the model, and apparently had to be replaced at some point. Note that the engineering hull window pattern was already asymmetrical when the model was built for TMP.

Wow, thanks! I would love to see any sources or photos that evidence these changes. Most of them are hard to see on screen, but I haven't seen the films in 4K. I started the thread because I've started a big orthographical project on the Connie Refit & Ent-A, starting with the exteriors.

I am going to start with the TMP version as a starting point, and lean heavily on the colours of the filming model, instead of how it looks on-screen because like you mentioned, regardless of the paintjob changes, the shades of blue/green/grey are inconsistent within each movie. This can be explained away by different lighting in each scene, rushed compositing, different vfx processes in each film etc. But its still frustrating! I think its fair to assume that no changes to the model were made within each movie's filming duration (for practical reasons), but I don't have evidence to back that up either.

I just watched a 4K TMP shots compilation on YT and WOAH! Setting aside the amazing pearlescent finish on this iteration, I would like to use this space to record my observations too.

MOST of the "shaded" areas on the hull appear to be a very pale "sky blue", which is consistent with most of the orthos i've seen.

The shaded area around the navigational deflector appear pale grey in the drydock scene, and then in the space shots you can see it sometimes looks like the pale sky blue. I'm going to bet on the studio model its indeed the blue, and it only looks grey onscreen due to the lighting etc.

The triangular accents or "fins" (not sure what to call them) directly underneath the impulse exhausts appear to be a more of a green-grey colour...or "duck egg blue". I remember in an old post someone else mentioned these areas were also the same colour. Its a shame there aren't many clear behind the scenes photos of the filming model at this time under more normal "natural" lighting (not the publicity photos).

Also thanks for the list of the detail changes for its -A iteration! That helps a lot.

These are several other photos from the Christies auction, the RCS thrusters on the on the saucer still look yellow-ish, I would probably call them yellow-brown. The phaser turrets near the shuttle bay appear to be more of a beige to my eye. The lighting in all the auction photos is not great, so its difficult to know whether the colour as it appears is accurate to the paint put on the model or not. The flash of the camera definitely helps though. I'll include the link to the website here for anyone to take a look for themselves:

http://www.startrekpropauthority.com/2008/05/detailed-photostudy-of-enterprise-8.html

I will note that the first several images are not of the 8 foot filming model. Its clearly smaller - most likely a replica as all the shaded areas of the hull are the same pale turquoise colour, which is definitely not accurate.

I did some annotations for my own peace of mind. All of the pale blue areas are likely holdouts from before it was the -A. If not then they have just been repainted a similar shade.

Yellow-Beige Phaser Turrets

This photo much easier to see the colour differences on the deflector area. I think the panel with the Starfleet logo is a reflective grey or metallic silver, as in the first photo it appears a lot lighter in colour.

And lastly a poor quality image but the RCS thrusters are definitely still yellow to a degree. The camera flash does us a favour here.

I am planning on cross referencing all these images to discern the "true" colours for each area then compare those findings with 4K screenshots from ST4 - 6. Then I can work backwards to the TMP iteration. Any more high quality images of paintjob/detail changes would be amazing. I will also look out for any information from the production staff themselves, if they had anything to say about the models changes from movie to movie. Thanks all.

Looks pretty good for a model that old - although I kind of wish they had it behind glass or something, like the TOS-E at the Smithsonian. I'd hate for some ass-clown try to take a selfie with it and accidentally knock it over. It feels like it could be a little precarious on that stand.

All the information we have on the model at Blue Origin is over ten years old at this point. It’s possible it’s still right there as it was, but we have no real way to be sure.

Actually it was (and as far as I am aware, still is) in the corporate office offices of Blue Origin, one of Jeff Bezos’ other, non-Amazon, companies (the rocket company that sent William Shatner and other celebrities to space)

M

I can just see someone stumbling into it.

The style

1/350 issues?

Yep. It just feels wrong sitting out like that. I am hoping @David cgc is right and that the photos are out of date and the model is now being displayed more… responsibly. But, then again, it’s Bezos and if it did get damaged under his ownership, he’d just shrug and have a new one commissioned without understanding (or caring about) the historical significance of the original.

I'd prefer it to be better protected too, but I can understand wanting it out. I saw the OG in the Smithsonian recently, and it is very difficult to get a good picture of it due to all the glare coming off the glass around it. It would work if it was in a darkened room with the lights coming from inside the display, but it's near some windows, so a lot of natural light is being reflected.

The style

I understand that I am completely blind to if the TMP Enterprise looks in anyway dated. Uniforms, sets, props, dialog, FILM STOCK? I get all of that.

But how does PERFECT ever look DATED?

And yet, I'm sure to many younger than me... It does? Yikes.

Does that constitute... A joke?

No…folks have been so used to the TNG+ era return to TOS’ glowing nacelles that it has been ingrained.

Cygnus perfected the self-lit aesthetic anyway.

I always thought Aridas Sophia’s Balson secondary hull was more fluid than that of the refit itself, and (12 years ago?) sought to have a wider disk shaped saucer to match it:

Now I would put Kelvin-style turrets atop the saucer (no dish in it though) and the Disco-Enterprise Impulse/torpedo arraignment…except looking more like the Abbe’s split impulse.

Lastly, the spear-like tip of the longer Raan nacelles I might want to glow…maybe like the TMP/Voyager intermix chamber.

Now to either side of that center section…I would keep something that looks like the static vents—but actually be these:

Now those bent rods could be lit.

So, if the TOS nacelles can have one kind of glowing turbines, flat TMP nacelles can have their own kind.

In place of the arboretum, I’d have each opening (triangular here) be INTO DARKNESS type missile/drone/torpedo tubes.

This 1701-A would keep the refit’s elegance, but freshened up a tad, and made a bit more dynamic.

The 1980’s movie-era ships had a bit of a more Section 31-ish militaristic feel to some.

The lower dome of the TOS saucer was a “smile”…where the refit wore braces. Dark nacelle vents on it, Grissom and especially Excelsior gave that film-era’s ships a NORAD vibe….colder, perhaps less inviting.

Enterprise-D was more “alive” with light, and is to younger folks what the refit is to us blueprints-fans of the 1980s.

I felt the-D’s secondary hull a bit undersized at first, but have come around to it.

I think the stretch-refit I tried to come up with would have external lines that match Kirk’s 1701-A bridge from ST 6:TUC…brighter and more high-tech.

Huh... yeah, they do look a bit yellowish there. Interesting. I kind of wish it was a little more obvious, like the VERY yellow (almost orange) markings that ILM put on the Reliant miniature:

I always assumed those were phaser emitters, but they never put in the nipples.

Like, if you watch TWoK, the beams don't come from the parts on the front (Mega Phasers, as some call them), but instead those rectangles.

Like, if you watch TWoK, the beams don't come from the parts on the front (Mega Phasers, as some call them), but instead those rectangles.

I don't think that's true. Screencaps?

I always assumed those were phaser emitters, but they never put in the nipples.

Like, if you watch TWoK, the beams don't come from the parts on the front (Mega Phasers, as some call them), but instead those rectangles.

The yellow blocks are indicators above and beneath the emitters, which are clearly shown in between on the rounded swivels, just painted blue, smaller than the front/rear emitters. ILM did paint schemes a bit differently between the Enterprise and Reliant. While the actual phasers (to me) seem to come from the emitters (fore, aft & lateral), their alignment may have been a little bit off in the compositing process.

The way the opening shots are framed, I assumed for a long time that they were meant to be the forward barrels and just weren't quite aligned right in terms of the SFX (as the Reliant does fire forward later in the nebula).

But having seen the model details, which we could never properly see on film, it makes more sense to me that they're meant to be coming from the angular bumps that would allow a much wider firing arc.