BRINGING THE GALAXY HOME IN A BOX
Restoring the Voyager Centrifuge for TREKCETERA MUSEUM part 1.
I had the wonderful opportunity present itself in being asked to restore the screen used centrifuge from Star Trek:Voyager for the
TREKCETERA MUSEUM. Having seen several examples of SMT original and restorative work over the years, the owners of the TREKCETERA MUSEUM knew the prop was in good hands and would be given back its former glory.
It had been redressed at some point to make an appearance as a Klingon set piece. The device was covered in a paint on grime,
the flourescent lights had stopped working and the front panel was chipped and cracked. The original artwork that had been present on the front left side was missing. Rubber bumper feet had been stuck in place on the device all over to act as Klingon control surfaces. The liquid vials themselves, while in good condition overall needed the brass polished and buffed out and replacement rings of clear acylic created around the vial edges. |
The centrifuge body itself is made of MDF with an acrylic front with two recessed control areas. The base is a 1/2" thick aluminium plate that is held on with screws to the body. The recessed area on the right holds the physical controls for the lights and motor of the prop, while the left had a Lcars (Okudagram) type display. On top is a black acrylic plate onto which there is mounted an aluminium ring with white acrylic insets for lighting the centrifuge itself as it spins. On the right hand side was another small box, detailed with a large white diffused acrylic and two blinking LED's on top. Behind that sits three cutouts for holding vials of various sorts.
The challenge I had was to restore it back to its shiny Starfleet look on Voyager and repair the working features of the device itself.
The second challenge would come in matching the paint. The paint used on some of the props and sets of Voyager has not been available in a retail setting for awhile. While some common ones like the 1701 gold have just moved numbers (1706) others have been phased out, especially those that were automotive lacquers.
But somewhere in my mind....so after some digging in the paint cabinet, I found to my great delight that I still had a nearly full can that I hadn't used!
So the first order of business was to measure and document critical parts so they could be placed back properly or documented in the event of damage during removal. Luckily nothing was damaged more than it already was deconstructing the prop. Following that was a quick determination of the methodology to achieve the best result. I broke it down into steps so the job stayed on schedule. I determined that :
The challenge I had was to restore it back to its shiny Starfleet look on Voyager and repair the working features of the device itself.
The second challenge would come in matching the paint. The paint used on some of the props and sets of Voyager has not been available in a retail setting for awhile. While some common ones like the 1701 gold have just moved numbers (1706) others have been phased out, especially those that were automotive lacquers.
But somewhere in my mind....so after some digging in the paint cabinet, I found to my great delight that I still had a nearly full can that I hadn't used!
So the first order of business was to measure and document critical parts so they could be placed back properly or documented in the event of damage during removal. Luckily nothing was damaged more than it already was deconstructing the prop. Following that was a quick determination of the methodology to achieve the best result. I broke it down into steps so the job stayed on schedule. I determined that :
- Documentation of exterior
- Identify needed repairs
- Clean exterior surfaces
- Disassemble prop and further cleaning
- Identify needed repairs after cleaning
- Fix and patch exterior surfaces
- Paint exterior
- Trace and identify non working lights and related electrical.
- Test electrical and assemble prop
- Create panel for left hand side recess
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