|
Star Trek USS Enterprise Home By Tony Alleyne
|
Mrs Alleyne, 52 — who has paid the mortgage since they split in 1994 — said: 'I want to sell it as conventional property.' Her former husband started building the amazingly accurate spaceship replica after his friend gave him a magazine based on the TV show. He told the Daily Mail: 'My friend gave me a Star Trek mag and I became obsessed with having my own space ship. He laughed when I told him - I think he thought it was all a joke, but I knew I was going to achieve it one day. 'It all started as therapy after we split up,' he said. 'Building every bit from scratch really helped me to deal with the stress of it all.'
Initially Mr Alleyne decked the flat out in cream and metallic colours as the USS Enterprise from 1979's Star Trek: The Motion Picture. But he found that 'a bit boring' and has now upgraded by recreating the starship Voyager from the 1990s series of the same name. A copy of the ship's command console controls the lights and sound effects in the apartment in Hinckley, Leicestershire. Every morning, a voice-activated computer system turns on fluorescent tubes that illuminate bleeping panels and a replica of the 'beam me up' transporter - all reflected in the mirrored ceiling. The windows have been fitted with layers of perspex and wood so that they appear to look out on outer space. Even the doorbell has been customised. It plays a sample of Patrick Stewart in his role as captain Jean-Luc Picard. Sourcing and building everything himself has cost Mr Alleyne around £4,000, but he said it would have cost hundreds of thousands of pounds for labourers to do it. He said: 'Building this has been like a dream. I had a vision and I'm really amazed at what I managed to achieve with just hard work.'
He added: 'Some people might think I'm a bit of a sad individual, but I'm not. I'm just really into Star Trek - it's my only vice.'
|
|