That Spacedock "shuttle" is actually a Tug

[USS Jack Riley]

Please sir, may I have some more?

[Maurice]

Search4 wrote:

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As a big fan of filming miniatures - i collect them - thank you for the detailed close up. What a beauty.

USS Jack Riley wrote:

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Please sir, may I have some more?

I have six more photos, but I made a captioning error on them so I want to redo that before I post any more. But I will do so shortly.

[Dukhat]

Maurice,

While I'm very excited to see your Spacedock tug pics, I was wondering if you happened to see any other models during your visit with Bill George. I know he built a lot of study models for Star Trek III, but I didn't know if he was actually still in possession of any of them.

[Maurice]

I didn't see this tug model. He doesn't have it. He built a smaller scale version for himself, which I saw. The pic I posted was a scan of some photos he took in the past.

He told me he has a study model or two someplace, but they weren't convenient to pull out on the times I've been to his house.

[lennier1]

Starship Freak wrote:

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Ask Bill George about the mystery "ship" with oberth-like qualities that´s "hanging" to one of the main central walls in spacedock!

Strange, I only remember these:

http://www.smikesworld.dk/smworld/st...-spacedock.jpg (concept model left over from the "Planet of the Titans" days)
http://onlyhdwallpapers.com/wallpape...per-400191.jpg (cargo ship docked below the Connie's deflector)

[Maurice]

Okay, here they all are:

[MacLeod]

Timo wrote:

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They don't appear to be the world's most practical SAR choppers - no evidence of a recovery hatch or even sufficient internal space for holding rescuees. Yet one of these (and exactly one) is sent to meet our heroes after they crash their Klingon BoP.

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/a.../tvhhd2132.jpg

Does this perhaps mean a single tug could recover a starship of BoP size against one-gee pull? Tractor beams do appear to be rather non-Newtonian in other contexts: perhaps there's no strain placed on the tug's lifting engines, say, and the only limiting factor is the amount of power pumped into the tractor beam?

Timo Saloniemi

Perhaps there is an entry hatch on the underside.

[Timo]

Not according to these pictures. Indeed, the vehicle appears to be intended to be boarded only by trained personnel who can squeeze in through the twin dorsal hatches, which is a rather silly arrangement.

...All the more so since the cabin visible through the forward dome does not appear to include any sort of doors to the back compartment(s)! Perhaps we are instead supposed to think that the transparent canopy opens up somehow, in which case the question goes, how are the pilots supposed to climb out? Crawling over their dashboards? This is rather rare for real vehicles accessed through an opening canopy.

Timo Saloniemi

[Maurice]

I could ask Bill next time I see him, but I suspect the entry/egress is via the round thing on top, and that the decals that represent the hatches are more access panels than anything, or, given that the model was never intended to be shot in closeup, no effort was made to add hatch lines or other practical details.

[Timo]

If the principal role of these things indeed is towing starships around, then it would make sense for the entry systems to be built with space and zero gee in mind. A dorsal docking hatch isn't a bad idea in such a case.

Indeed, the vehicle appears incapable of landing anywhere! Instead of sporting landing gear, it rests on an external pedestal in the ST4 matte painting describing some sort of maintenance work on two of the craft.

...Although why not just one but three utilitarian starship tugs would come down to Earth and appear in the same picture with supposed dignitaries walking to their important meetings, one can't readily tell. I appreciate the movie wanted to get mileage out of the beautiful model, but the matte work there doesn't really make all that much sense in general, and even less in light of George's artistic intent.

Timo Saloniemi

[Crazy Eddie]

Retractable landing gear remains a strong possibility, Timo (and no, I'm not just saying that because I can tell the engines are pieced together from F-14 and F-16 model kits ) especially considering the older Type-F shuttlecraft on the TOS enterprise was apparently equipped with the same.

Also, there DOES seem to be a visible hatch on the side of the ship where that square window appears between the fleet delta and the "7". Probably gulwing style, and you have to climb in feet first like a submarine hatch. After all, those dock tugs are built for heavy duty, not comfort.

[Timo]

I'd have no problem with those "air intake" "nose gear hatches" hiding some proper landing gear as such. And the pedestal could be an antigrav tractor for ease of tarmac movement, just barely capable of sliding beneath the shuttle when it is standing on its putative landing gear (a bit wide for that, though).

But the side hatch business is iffy as that part of the craft looks too seamless. And the big round thing is far too delicious as some sort of a heavy duty mechanism that enables this little craft to achieve big things that I'd take it for a docking port.

The one problem with this model is that the cockpit does not appear to have doors on the back wall. The one problem with how the model is used is that it is seen in some numbers in an area where one would instead expect "civilized" shuttle types that can carry passengers. Why are we seeing the sordid back lot of a key Federation conferencing building? Or if we are seeing its classy rooftop helipad, why are there no appropriate shuttles there to balance out the inappropriate ones?

Timo Saloniemi

[USS Jack Riley]

Maurice - Thanks for posting these. I love these old miniatures. When I watchd "Blade Runner" with my son not too long ago it blew his mind that everything was an actual, physical model, not a computer generated image.

[Maurice]

USS Jack Riley: You're welcome!

Timo/newtype: Although it's not in-story logic, I'm pretty sure the reason we see those tug shuttles at Starfleet HQ and zooming in to the rescue at the end was a practical consideration of budget: build a new model or use the existing one we have. Since the landed shuttle is a painting, they could have painted any design there, but I suspect they matched it for the sake of expediency.

I don't have a problem with the model lacking practical details like hatches and stuff. These things were never meant to be studied closely. They were built to service the shot, so I think it's fine to assume there really is a hatch or door there, just the modelmakers didn't take the time to delineate them because all that matters, really, is that it look convincing on screen.

[Crazy Eddie]

Timo wrote:

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I'd have no problem with those "air intake" "nose gear hatches" hiding some proper landing gear as such. And the pedestal could be an antigrav tractor for ease of tarmac movement, just barely capable of sliding beneath the shuttle when it is standing on its putative landing gear (a bit wide for that, though).

But the side hatch business is iffy as that part of the craft looks too seamless. And the big round thing is far too delicious as some sort of a heavy duty mechanism that enables this little craft to achieve big things that I'd take it for a docking port.

It could be, but don't let the lack of seems fool you, especially on a model this small. I'd just assume the seems play some sort of Whovian vanishing act when nobody's looking, sort of like the starboard hatch on the Enterprise's torpedo deck (sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not).

The one problem with this model is that the cockpit does not appear to have doors on the back wall. The one problem with how the model is used is that it is seen in some numbers in an area where one would instead expect "civilized" shuttle types that can carry passengers. Why are we seeing the sordid back lot of a key Federation conferencing building? Or if we are seeing its classy rooftop helipad, why are there no appropriate shuttles there to balance out the inappropriate ones?

Even conference buildings have to have parking lots, right? I don't think the Federation is uptight enough that their security guards act like club bouncers saying "Sorry, Sir, this lot is for limos and luxury shuttles only... you're not getting in here with those thrusters."