DIY Dad Recreates Star Trek’s Enterprise As a Playset

Set phasers to fun! David Weiberg wanted to do something special for his 8-year-old son, who recently became a Star Trek fan after discovering the beloved sci-fi series and his father’s old action figures from the early 1990s. So the DIY designer built his son an amazing replica of the bridge of the Enterprise from the original series as a playset.

“Inspired by the clean wooden design of some of his other toys, I set out to design and create a modular playset that he could use to assemble various rooms aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise,” Weiberg explained. “I wanted a set that could break down and store easily. I tried to use scrap materials where I could. The bridge was the biggest challenge so I started there.”

The mostly wooden structure was created using a variety of easy-to-find materials, including pine, PVC sheet, filler putty, RTV silicone, and Flexstone spray (which gave the floor texture and mimicked the carpeting from the original TV set). Weiberg even built several crew chairs plus railings that resemble the ones found on the Enterprise, along with a master captain’s chair that he made from polystyrene and Apoxie putty.

For the bridge’s visual components, including its computer displays, Weiberg used Photoshop and printed the images out on glossy photo paper to make them shine like glass panels. When he was finished, Weiberg sprayed the playset with clear Polyacrylic to give it a glossier and more “toy-like” finish.

Weiberg’s son is thrilled with the finished product, which he’ll no doubt be using to boldly go where no kid has gone before.

If you want to build the Enterprise’s bridge yourself, Weiberg has posted step-by-step instructions, and a materials list, at Instructables.com.