Floppy disks are a thing of the past. However, that doesn't mean you have to toss them out. Pay a tribute to another thing of the past (or, the future?)--The Starship Enterprise--and you can reminisce and recycle at the same time!

Show Ads

[edit] Steps

An old floppy disk (c. 1997)

Find an old floppy disk. You've got them somewhere at the bottom of a dusty drawer. For this project, it has to be the kind with the metal shutter - not plastic.
The dust cover and magnetic disk of an old floppy disk

Take the old 3 1/2" (90 mm) floppy disk and break it apart so you can use the metal shutter and the hub of the magnetic data disk.
Snip the tabs of the opening of the shutter on the wider side of the two sides of the opening.
Fold the wider portion of the shutter at 90 degree angles to just above the shutter opening.
The dust cover, bent to form the warp nacelles

Fold a portion of these pieces back up (again at 90 degrees, but opposite the original folds) to form the warp nacelles. (Note: For more realistic looking nacelles, place a no. 2 pencil on the edge of the dust cover and roll the metal around it instead of bending it at a 90° angle. This will create a tubular shaped nacelle. Slide the pencil out of the metal tube and repeat on the other side.)
Make little snips halfway through the narrow sides of the shutter to facilitate placement of the disk hub (the saucer section).
Place the hub on, putting the neck up through the hole closest to the edge of the hub, and inserting the edge of the hole in the hub through the slits you made.
Fold the portions of the neck protruding through the hole in the hub down and around the hub to secure.

[edit] Tips

With a little patience and extra love, your Enterprise will look a lot better than the one you see here.
To give your Enterprise the genuine "floating" appearance, use the spring that held the shutter closed to fashion a nearly invisible stand that will amaze and confound your peers.
Warp 9!

Regarding the shutter spring hint above: looking down into the fold on the horizontal section (fuselage?), you'll see a small rectangular hole. Pinch the spring together and insert it from the bottom through the hole, "coil" or closed end first. Now hook the coil onto the small tang adjacent to the hole (this is all very obvious if you're looking at it) and release the open ends of the spring. You should now have "legs" protruding from the bottom of the fuselage, which you can stick into any handy stand of suitable weight (large eraser, wad of gum, office wall, etc.). Insert the legs through the write-protect hole on the top half of my donor/now destroyed floppy disk, which provides enough counter-weight.
Use a various color sharpies to add markings to the nacelles and the saucer such as "NCC-1701", lights, etc.

[edit] Warnings

The edges of the metal dust cover and disk hub are extremely sharp. You can cut yourself on them, so be careful.
Doing this will destroy all data on the disk: do not use a floppy disk with important data on it.
Do not attempt to place your new model into a floppy disk drive.
You can only use the ones with the metal slider, plastic sliders won't work.
Keep floppy disks out of reach of babies and small children.
This is just a toy. Do not try to fly it.