The Enterprise NCC 1701 and The Model Maker
The Enterprise NCC 1701 and The Model Maker and the Founding Curator of the Nevada State Railroad Museum at Carson City is the title of the posthumous biography of the very first Star Trek studio model builder, Richard C. Datin, Jr. Self published, the work was written by Datin's daughter, N. Datin McDonald.

Summary 
Blurb
The Star Trek  began its journey in 1964 in my father's model shop, most of us had our first sighting of it in 1966 when it flew across out TV screen. No other cinematic vessel is nearly as famous and is still the most recognized and successful "starship" in history. It was donated by Paramount Studios to the  in Washington DC, where it will once again be on display for all its fans to view, in the summer of 2016. From Gene Roddenberry's imagination to Matt Jefferies ability to draw what was in Gene's head, to the Howard Anderson Co. for special effects, to my father's ability to read, decipher and construct from those blueline plans to what we see today, my father had a wonderfully specialized talent and this is his story to tell.

Contents 
Preface, pp. 6-7
Introduction, pp. 8-10
Chapters
01: Just a Little Family History, pp. 11-15
02: On His Way To Hollywood, pp. 16-27
03: Star Trek, The Enterise, pp. 28-30
04: The Blueline Drawings, pp. 31-37
05: The Three-Footer, pp. 38-47
06: Paint Discussions, pp. 48-49
07: The Eleven-Footer, pp. 50-58
08: The Decals, pp. 59-62
09: The First Revisions, pp. 63-70
10: More Revisions an More Paint Stories, pp. 71-83
11: The Hanger Deck, pp. 84-88
12: The K-7, pp. 89-95
13: The Ageing of the Old Spaceship, pp. 96-97
14: Hollywood Recognition and the Unions, pp. 98-103
15: Meeting Gene Again, pp. 104-105
16: Other Modeling Jobs, Petticoat Junction, pp. 106-116
17: Moving to the Beach, pp. 117-121
18: After Hollywood, pp. 122-123
19: The Writer and Historian, pp. 124-126
20: Always the Railroads; The V  & T Railroad, pp. 127-138
21: The Final Restingplace of The Enterprise, pp. 139-141
22:  Memories, Letters & Discussions, pp. 142-162
23: Saying Goodbye and Happy Birthday, pp. 163-164
Bibliography, p. 165
Acknoweldgements, pp. 166-168
Author profile, p. 169
Appendix, pp. 170-171

Background information 
 McDonald decided to write the biography after her father had passed away in January 2011 and was sent his archive – thereby becoming its legal custodian – fully aware of how much his work had meant to him in his lifetime. In essence McDonald expanded upon the family's official StarTrekMan.us website, launched shortly before Datin's death, and which went defunct after the book was published.
 While McDonald covered her father's entire career in her book, she was also fully aware of the cultural significance of his Star Trek work, resulting in this work taking center stage in the book (exemplified by the fact that the "museum" subtitle is printed in smaller print on the book cover), around which all his other accomplishments are organized.
 The book features black and white photographs throughout, mostly family-owned, as well as excerpts from the original Matt Jefferies construction blueprints of both  Enterprise models, currently owned by the Datin family and the only ones in existence.
 As McDonald based much of the biography on her father's notes and correspondence, much of which were reproduced verbatim in the book, the work as such became in part a posthumous autobiography as well.
 For context, McDonald also made use of secondary literature, which has appeared in several publications, from a number of Star Trek aficionados who had taken a keen interest over the decades in Datin's Star Trek work, many of whom having corresponded with Datin in person, and some of them also providing McDonald with additional notes and clarifications after the fact as well. These included, among others, Bjo Trimble, Dan Fiebiger, William S. McCullars, Gary Kerr, Dayton Ward, and Curt McAloney, all of whom were dutifully acknowledged by McDonald.
 Noteworthy is the inclusion of Datin's correspondence with the National Air and Space Museum (Chapter 22), in which he tried to regain recognition for himself and the other builders of the Enterprise models, in vain as it turned out, as the museum flat-out refused to believe his claim. Further correspondence with the museum divulged that Datin's efforts to donate his Star Trek holdings in his lifetime failed miserably because of museum red tape and unwillingness to attend to administrative chores themselves.

Cover gallery

External link 
  – archived official site

Enterprise NCC 1701 and The Model Maker, The