If you have the chance, I strongly recommend getting inside a ship yourself. Any ship will do...car ferry, large sailing boat. But the stuff that so obviously inspired so much of the accepted "look" of SF movies would be warships (and to a lesser extent, warbirds). If you have a large port around you chances are there is something like "Fleet Week," when the Navy comes to town and has open house on several ships. My town is lucky enough to have several major pieces of WWII hardware floating around -- the Hornet, a small aircraft carrier that saw service up into the 60's (it was a recovery ship for Apollo 11!), the Jeremiah O'Brien, the last remaining Liberty Ship in original condition (go down to the engine room sometime when they are firing up the boilers!), and the Pampenito, and small and interestingly cramped WWII submarine. Or, if you are inland, chances are big there's an airshow somewhere. Especially fun to poke your head into something like a C-141 Starlifter or goggle at the C-5a Galaxy. Actually, honestly, much of my SF scenery (which only exists as sketches and diagrams for plastic model dioramas) came more than anything out of large modern airport interiors.