Biologist “beams” into Riverside with starship

By Mary Zielinski
By day, he is a biologist with G.E Water Technology in Cedar Rapids, but at night Mike Aucutt builds ships for sea and stars. Friday, he “beamed” into Riverside with a scaled replica of the original USS Enterprise from the Star Trek television show as a gift to the Riverside History Center/Voyage Home Museum and the Riverside Area Community Club (RACC) who sponsors Trek Fest. RACC operates the museum.
“I was here last year for Trek Fest,” he said “had such a good time that I decided to build an Enterprise for their museum.” Aucutt, who has been building models from scratch (“with found materials”) for more than a decade, rounded up balsa wood, mailing tubes, green floral sponge and in six months transformed it all into two models of Captain Kirk’s famous ship.
“I did two so I would have one for my collection, but I made sure the museum got the best one,” he said. The ship has exterior LED lights, powered not by a lithium crystal but a nine volt battery.
“I wanted to have the interior lighted, too, showing through the windows, but it couldn’t be dome,” he said, referring to the fragility of the balsa wood.
In fact, when he brought the ship to the museum, he had it carefully tucked into the backseat of his car, “doing a lot less than warp speed.”
When he gave it to the museum, he stressed it has to be handled carefully and museum board member Scott Riggan chose a visible high spot for it above displays of Star Trek memorabilia.
Aucutt said he has now built a model of every Enterprise ship and quite a few others, including some three foot remote controlled aircraft carrier models.
“I also have done the two Battlestar Galactica ships,” he said, one of which was sold at last year’s Trek Fest.
What ship is next?
“None. I’m going to take some time to do some small figures from other shows.”
The Museum is on Highway 22 East across from Railroad Park and is open Wednesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is free, but donations are welcomed.