Hi,
I've had this photo for some time now, prior to cleanup. There are others in the set too. (No, don't ask! They are not mine.)
The nacelle cap detail is not a restoration error. This version is the other version I had mentioned in an earlier posting. It is of the 11 foot model being shot
after The Cage possibly for the second pilot.
This model is still hanging in these shots. You can barely see the hanging wire which was screwed into the back of the neck about mid point here
(Spikes!)
and you can barely see this wire for about 2 frames in the opening shot of The Cage as it rolls in and pans under the camera. Look for it just behind the saucer as it passes in front of the nacelle. After the model was refit with lighting for the second pilot, it was supported from the bottom with a pole mount.
A few Cage details were changed after pilot 1 and prior to the model having lighting added for pilot 2. The end caps on this 11 foot model may or may not have had the flat panel detail on the back. The only time we saw that detail was at the end of the first pilot and it was of the 3 foot model. Instead, in the image of this version there is a small black dot at the top on center of each cap.
This may have been the inspiration for the vented caps in the second pilot. You can also barely see in that image that the arcs on the saucer top are now filled in black with a navigation light dome added. There were probably other changes made that haven't popped up yet, but I'd like to see the footage (if any) that they shot of this version!
So we have version 4. (Version 1.5 actually!)
Pilot 1 (hanging - unlit)
Pilot 1.5 (this one still hanging and unlit)
Pilot 2 (Pole mounted - lit)
Production version (pole mounted - lit)
The production version was touched up many many times. I would suspect each time it was prepped for shooting, replacing burned out bulbs, retouching scratches, and scrapes. You can see that the deflector area was definately repainted and touched up as later on there was rust colored weathering applied to the base of the deflector ring housing.