The scale model of the Enterprise is so tiny, that it can only be seen by an electron microscope.

Scientists Takayuki Hoshino and Shinji Matsui of the Himeji Institute of Technology, located in Japan, used a focused ion beam to cut out the model, using a process called chemical vapor deposition (CVD).

The CVD process used phenanthrene gas to etch the tiny 8.8 micrometer USS Enterprise.

The scene where the USS Enterprise rises from Titan was suggested by the Star Trek XI Science Advisor Carolyn Porco, who is the Imaging Science Team Leader for NASA’s Cassini Mission to Saturn.

Two images are available on Porco’s website. One features the USS Enterprise rising up from the atmosphere, with only the nacelles and very top of the saucer visible.

The second image is a spectacular shot of the Enterprise with Saturn and its rings in the background.

Although there is not much on Amazon in the way of description yet, the ship, which is cast in metal, is mounted on a “Federation logo” base. The ship comes with a certificate of authenticity.

According to the certificate of authenticity “This certifies that the 21.6 cm starship contained in this gift set is part of an exclusive limited-edition run of 5,000 screen-accurate replicas of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701. This replica is cast in solid metal and is modeled directly from the digital-effects files used in the motion picture Star Trek (2009).”

The certificate is signed by Roger Guyett, Visual Effects Supervisor of Industrial Lights & Magic, and Andy Gore, President and CEO of Quantum Mechanix, Inc.

As reported byLamps USA, although the so-called novelty lighting doesn’t specifically reference Star Trek, it doesn’t take a Spock-like intelligence to see from where they got the idea for the hanging light.“Fun for all ages!” reads the description for the pendant light. “These whimsical lighting fixtures will put a smile on your or your child’s face with a myriad of shapes and themes meant to stir the imagination and create a lighthearted environment.”

Selling for &_#36;189, the pendant light is made of a satin nickel finish, is 7×26x13, takes four sixty-watt candelabra bulbs and weights thirteen pounds.

To see the lighting, head to the link located here.

As reported by Everything USB fans can show their love of Trek with the replica NCC-1701 USS Enterprise webcam which can be mounted to the side of a computer monitor.
The webcam, compatible with various video chat services, including Skype, MSN, Yahoo, AIM etc., features a camera with adjustable focus. The red nacelles are lighted and the webcam is attached to a flexible bendy arm on which a Starfleet insignia is attached.

Offered by Dream Cheeky, there is no word yet on the release date or cost of the Enterprise webcam, but it is expected to be available soon.

To read more, head to the article located here.

As reported by TrekMovie.com, more choices than ever are being offered to Star Trek fans who enjoy collecting merchandise associated with Star Trek and its spin-off shows and movies.Diamond Select is offering a fifth wave of action figures which are based on characters from the original series. One set offers five figures, including Kirk (in green wraparound tunic,) McCoy, Christine Chapel, Yeoman rand and a Salt Vampire (not pictured.) This set of figures can be preordered here.

USS Enterprise fans can chose between two new ship models; the NCC-1701 with lights and with original series sound effects, including the voice of Captain Kirk. A Mirror, Mirror version of the Enterprise is also being offered, with sounds and decorations taken from that original series episode. The ships can be preordered here, and are due out in August.

Fans who couldn’t afford the life-size Kirk command chair, or who didn’t have room for it in their houses or apartments, can take heart. A small replica command chair, four-and-a-half inches tall x four inches wide (11.4 cm tall x 10.2 cm wide), is being offered for a much more modest price. The Kirk command chair features lights, sounds and phrases from the original series and includes a seven inch (17.8 cm) Captain Kirk figure. The Kirk chair can be ordered here.

More of a Sisko than a Kirk fan? A command chair will be offered starting in August and based on Sisko’s command chair in the USS Defiant. The set includes the chair and the Sisko figure. Preorders are being taken here.

To read more, head to the article located here.

As reported by Comingsoon.net, four character posters were seen at this year’s ShoWest, including John Cho as Sulu, Karl Urban as Dr. McCoy, Anton Yelchin as Chekov and Simon Pegg as Scotty. In addition to these posters, a U.S. Star Trek XI poster was released recently as reported at Myspace. This final theatrical poster is an artistic interpretation of the USS Enterprise traveling through space. The poster can be seen here.

To see the four character posters, head to the link located here.

As reported by The New York Times, fans, some of whom were not even born when Star Trek first aired, have incorporated part of the Enterprise into their home decor with full-sized replicas of the captain’s chair from the bridge of the USS Enterprise.One of these fans, 27-year-old Scott Veazie, has his replica chair set up in a corner of his townhouse. An original series fan, he watched reruns of the show with his mother in the 1980s. “The original show is was the first one I saw,” he said. “It was so idealistic. A lot of us kids wanted to be Captain Kirk, and part of that was the chair.”

So Veazie built his own chair and found it to be quite the conversation piece. “When someone comes in, it’s the first thing they comment on,” he said.

Building a chair is easier due to the spread of digital video, where shots of the chair can be freeze-framed and examined from all angles to get the details correct. “The closet command-chair Trekkies have come out of the closet,” said 45-year-old Keith Marshall, whose own yet-to-be-completed chair sits in his brother’s garage. “For a lot of people in the last few years, the pieces have come together.”

For some, building a chair is a natural progression from the days of building model kits. “I loved the show,” explained 42-year-old Mike Paugh of British Columbia. “I had all the model kits and that stuff, but when I moved, I had to get rid of them. Now I’ve started to build again.” Paugh’s chair cost about &_#36;1,000, and now graces his family’s rec room.

Herbert F. Solow, former vice president of Desilu Studios, says that Kirk’s chair was made from scratch, as does John Jeffries, brother to set designer Walter “Matt” Jeffries. Jeffries remembers his brother constructed the chair’s extended frame, swivel base and pedestal from plywood, then coated it with dove-gray paint from the Desilu stores. “It was a function of what we had to work with and the ability of the people we had,” explained Jeffries. “Cost was a factor. Today, it would probably be made of fiberglass or carbon fiber material.”

But do the builders actually sit in their creations? Yes, according to auto parts manager Bruce Boyd. “Everyone wants to sit in it,” he said. There’s some charisma there. It’s hard to explain.” Boyd sits in his chair when he needs to address his family on discipline issues. “When we have a little family powwow,” said the father of four, “I sit in it to lay down the law.”

Even though the hobbyists sit in the chairs, they’re the first to admit that the captain’s chair is not for long-term lounging. “It’s not the most comfortable of chairs,” said Veazie. “The arms are too low and they’re too far apart. Now I know why William Shatner was always leaning forward in it.”

To read more, head to the article located here.

As reported by TrekMovie.com, from an article in Sci Fi Now, while Chambliss wanted to work with J.J. Abrams, he was leery of Star Trek’s baggage. “My reaction was really all over the place,” he explained. “Of course I wanted to do J.J.’s next movie and I was excited that it was something we’d never done before. But at the same time, I also felt a lot of trepidation because of all of the history and baggage that the franchise has. That was a little troubling, but then we figured out how we had to approach it and moved forward. From a creative standpoint, there’s a real difference between approaching a piece of new material that doesn’t have any history and expectation based on what’s come before, and this only has history and expectation. It’s got a fervent group of believers in the material and there’s just so much that you had to be aware of beforehand in terms of what’s come before, which had to be considered before we even approached how we might want to do this newer version.”
Once he got past that and got to work on Star Trek XI, Chambliss wanted to do it right. “You wouldn’t want to go on the Enterprise and it not look anything like you remember from the TV show,” he said. “You want to make sure you have the heart and soul. We did three different passes on what this thing should be, and one of the things we focused on, of course, was the bridge. Particularly the captain’s chair and his relationship to Sulu and Chekov and their consoles in front of them. That was such a given. We wanted to keep Spock and Uhura in the places, physically, that we were so accustomed to seeing them in the old show. It was about recreating the physical relationship of these characters on the ship in a way that was familiar; we wanted similar spatial relationships and the rail that wraps around the central core of that area, without slavishly duplicating the color palettes. We wanted to update the technology in such a way that was super cool without being cheeseball.”

To read more, head to the article located here. To subscribe to Sci Fi now, head to the link located here.

As reported by Quantum Mechanix, fans wanting more details of the model USS Enterprise will be delighted with the new content provided recently by Quantum Mechanix on their website.The Quantum Mechanix model was one of several Enterprise models that are being shown at the Arclight Theater in Hollywood, as reported by TrekToday recently, that will be on display until March 29.

Two short videos show the model lighting effects. A photo gallery of almost two dozen pictures show the USS Enterprise model from every conceivable angle, allowing fans to see the model detail.

To read more and see the photos and video, head to the article located here.