American model maker who built the first three-foot miniature of the starship Enterprise for the original Star Trek and oversaw construction of the eleven-foot filming model.
Richard C. Datin was a professional model builder hired in 1964 to turn Matt Jefferies's design for the Enterprise into a physical miniature for the first pilot, The Cage.
He built the first model, about three feet long, himself, working mainly in wood, and delivered it at the end of 1964. For the large filming model, roughly eleven feet long, he subcontracted the construction to a model shop in Burbank and supervised the work, later carrying out modifications as the ship was altered for the second pilot and the series.
The eleven-foot model is now in the collection of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum.