N. Datin McDonald

N. Datin McDonald, née Noël Ann Datin , is an author who has written the posthumous biography on her father Richard C. Datin, Jr., the very first studio model builder for Star Trek, most notably the two original USS Enterprise models. Titled The Enterprise NCC 1701 and The Model Maker, the work was published in November 2015. In the book she has related how she herself, as a ten-year old and to keep her busy, was set to work by her father at Production Models Shop where the large eleven-foot Enterprise was under construction at the time, sweeping floors and sanding the wooden construction parts.
The second oldest child of Datin by his first wife, McDonald was born shortly after the family had moved from New York to California, where her father had found work as a model maker in the motion picture industry. Growing up on the beaches of Malibu, McDonald graduated from UCLA with an Art Design B.A., working afterwards as a floral designer, owning her own shop in Solvang, Ca. She later became an animal and landscape photographer, while continuing to "dabble" in the fiber arts. The biography on her father has remained her only published book to date. Prior to the publication, McDonald had been the webmaster of the official website "StarTrekMan", launched shortly before her father's passing, and which went dark after the book had been published, for which the website had actually been a prelude in hindsight.
McDonalds's younger sibling, brother Charles "Charlie" C. Datin, has actually Star Trek ties of his own, as he is the operator of "Cruise Treks", a company that organizes themed convention and/or conference cruises for science fiction fans, those of Star Trek in particular and after which his company is named in the first place, habitually accompanied by actors and behind-the-scenes staff as guests of honor. Starting in 1992, these cruises are as of 2018 still being organized, with many Star Trek alumni having attended over the years. 
Sister to three other siblings, McDonald currently makes her home in Shelton, Washington state, and is the current owner of her father's archive, which include the complete original construction plans drawn up by designer Matt Jefferies for both the three-, and eleven-foot Enterprise studio models, the only ones in existence.
== External link ==
* – archived official site
Category:Star Trek reference authors