Model maker’s creations on auction

Collection ranges from spaceships to ‘Batman’

From an early model of the iconic alien mothership from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” to a complete Stormtrooper costume from “Star Wars,” bidding opens Friday on thousands of pieces Hollywood model maker Greg Jein collected over his lifetime, including many he created during his nearly half-century career.

The collection amassed by Jein, who died last year at age 76, will be offered up by Heritage Auctions next month in Dallas. Jein, who had an Oscar and Emmy nominated career making miniature models, was also a collector of costumes, props, scripts, artwork, photographs and models from the shows he loved.

“He spent his entire lifetime in a movie industry at a time when practical effects and models were the way that magic happened,” said Joshua Benesh, Heritage’s chief strategy officer.

Jein, who grew up in Los Angeles, began his career in the mid-1970s, and over the decades worked on movies including “The Dark Knight Rises,” “The Hunt for Red October” and “Avatar.”

A fan of “Star Trek” from the start, he later worked on pieces for the franchise.

Jein was still early in his career

when he led the team that created the mothership for Steven Spielberg’s 1977 film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” The model that appears in the movie — just over 5 feet long but appearing gigantic — is now part of the collection at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. But a small preliminary model, which is about 5 inches long, is among Jein’s creations that will be offered at the auction.

Other creations from Jein’s career going up for auction include a miniature wrecked spaceship from the 1997 film “Starship Troopers” and

a miniature shack, airplanes and newspapers from Spielberg’s 1979 war comedy “1941.”

Also being offered up are a dizzying number of items Jein collected from the 1960s “Batman” television show and the “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” franchises. The “Batman” memorabilia includes Batarangs, utility belts and a Bat radio. There are phasers, communicators and tricorders from “Star Trek: The Original Series” from the 1960s, in addition to many costumes, including the formal dress tunic William Shatner wore as “Captain Kirk.”

Tony Gutierrez The Associated Press Joshua Benesh, Heritage Auction’s chief strategy officer, talks to reporters about Greg Jein’s work and collection on Aug. 30 in Irving, Texas.