It's commemorating the 40th anniversary of the present Air and Space Museum main exhibition hall, which opened on July 4, 1976.

Of course it doesn't look like it appeared on TV, but when he did the restoration, Ed left the top portion of the saucer as it was originally done, minus touch-ups to hide where repairs had been made. Comparing the top and bottom of the saucer, it's obvious that while the original paint scheme did have very faint grid lines and weathering, it wasn't airbrushed to the extent of being overbearing like he did to the lower saucer and most of the rest of the model. He also added details to the model that were not present originally.

There is some debate as to whether the model was actually one of those Revell models we used to get as kids at the local Gemco

It was a hacked-up AMT model, just like you'd get at the local hobby store. More than you'd ever want to know about the AMT kit can be found here.

Beats me. Samzenpus altered the original title, which was "Original 11' Enterprise Model Being Restored, Yet Again"

And then on top of that, you have to admire the trust the actors had in their work. It's got to be hard to put on a convincing performance when holding one of those silly things, accepting on faith alone that it's going to look pretty damned good when it's in the can.

Bingo. I bet the one-off single-show models were done as well as required- and no more.

The ones I was referring to specifically were props like phasers, tricorders, etc. that were used throughout the production run, but as you say, no studio wants to spend more money than absolutely necessary. If the prop guys can hack out 10 phasers in a day that will look acceptably on screen, instead of spending a day on each one making them museum-quality, it's not hard to figure out which route the studio will choose.

This is part of why I was so impressed with the Star Wars miniatures. There's detail there that's too fine to show up on even on 4K, and I really respect the obvious pride and effort that went into them.

Models built for TV in years past often weren't built with much detail, simply because it wouldn't show up on screen anyway. That said, the TOS Enterprise did have a lot more detail than one would expect for a TV show (there are markings and such that are too tiny to see on TV), but it pales when compared to the Enterprise built for "The Motion Picture" which has much, much finer detail. A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to see a lot of the Star Wars filming miniatures - the Millenium Falcon hero model built for "The Empire Strikes Back" was just jaw-droppingly gorgeous, and holds up to inspection from just inches away. Compare that to some of the ST:TNG props that I've seen that look fine on screen, but when examined closely look like someone gave a 5-year old a couple of shots of vodka and turned them loose with a paintbrush.

Not to mention you'll have the TSA rifling through your wallet's contents in the pattern buffer.

I saw it there around 1980, probably before the first restoration.

The restorations took place in 1974, 1980, and 1991. I agree that the pre-1991 treatment the model got wasn't that good. As I remember they just hung it from the ceiling and mostly ignored it afterwards. The model had some major structural issues when Ed got hold of it, mostly because the model was designed to be mounted on a stand and couldn't deal well with the stresses from being suspended from above.

You know what else would be an extremely useful tool for home-defense? ED 209.

Yeah, but you'd have to get one for each floor. I hear they don't deal well with stairs.

Take the money you were going to spend on this smart gun and take a basic gun safety class.

If it's priced like the existing smart guns (Armatix, etc.), you'll likely be able to buy a week at Gunsite or similar training program, where you'll also learn important stuff like identifying/using cover, off-hand shooting, clearing malfunctions, retention, and tons of other skills that will be far more useful than an electronic lock.

A jammed gun is about as useful as an electronicallty controlled gun that has its electronics fried.

Most people with any experience can clear a jam in less than a second. Tap, rack, bang.

Where does it say that its purpose is to allow the people to violently overthrow a corrupt government?

It's mentioned several times in the Federalist Papers. From Federalist #28: "If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no resource left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government, and which against the usurpations of the national rulers, may be exerted with infinitely better prospect of success than against those of the rulers of an individual state. In a single state, if the persons intrusted with supreme power become usurpers, the different parcels, subdivisions, or districts of which it consists, having no distinct government in each, can take no regular measures for defense. The citizens must rush tumultuously to arms, without concert, without system, without resource; except in their courage and despair. The usurpers, clothed with the forms of legal authority, can too often crush the opposition in embryo."

This made me think of Steve Martin in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels":

Passenger: "Miss, may I go to the bathroom now?"
Flight Attendant: "Of course, sir."
Passenger: [pause, then contented facial expression] "Thank you."

(yeah, yeah, I know that's not how catheters work...)