TOS Class F...

[Warped9]

This image illustrates what I'm talking about. The upper image is of the ship's theatre (obviously Main Engineering redressed) from "The Conscience Of The King." The second image is of Main Engineering as seen in "The Ultimate Computer." You can see the ceiling detail in both.



I don't give much credence to the ship's theatre design because it was a one time thing. But the ceiling feature is certainly distinct to Main Engineering throughout the entire series.

 

[Albertese]

I don't see this as evidence that the room is at the top of the engineering hull. The curve there is quite tight, and, if this is the roof of that structure, then this tight radius would indicate a much smaller ship, wouldn't it? I'm not necessarily suggesting why it would be that way, but in either case, you would need to justify it somehow. I'm saying that neither explanation is a better fit for what we see.

--Alex

 

[Warped9]

I don't see this as evidence that the room is at the top of the engineering hull. The curve there is quite tight, and, if this is the roof of that structure, then this tight radius would indicate a much smaller ship, wouldn't it? I'm not necessarily suggesting why it would be that way, but in either case, you would need to justify it somehow. I'm saying that neither explanation is a better fit for what we see.

--Alex

Remember that television and film sets are not always exact. The main thing is that they are trying to convey an idea. My modeling the flight deck shows plainly that the miniature set we saw onscreen cannot possibly fit into a 947 ft. ship. I am not saying Main Engineering is definitively at the top of the secondary hull, but if you're looking at how to fit things into the hull that bit of visual evidence could support you doing so assuming you need/want to clear space forward of the flight deck for something else.

Neither MJ nor TOS ever specified exactly where Main Engineering is. We have only heard that MJ stated in was in the secondary hull. That still leaves a lot of room for interpretation.

 

[Warped9]

So here is where we stand. I've taken the service deck itself as far as I'm comfortable with for now because it's essentially part of a proof of concept. I've added a few bits of machinery, but please don't ask me what they do because I haven't a clue. I can only say that they probably don't do what their appearance might suggest. (-:





The flight deck has been tweaked a bit although it might be hard to spot. The control towers have each been moved inboard 6 ins. because I thought they looked set back a wee bit too far. And studying the photos of the miniature set it does look like they are a bit more inboard than the towers of the observation level.



There are other differences between this and what we saw onscreen. The observation deck onscreen was very brightly lit from within--unrealistically so although it served its purpose. More realistically, though, if they were that bright as seen from outside it would have been painfully bright for anyone on the observation level. In "The Conscience Of The King" the lighting of the observation deck was much more subdued even accounting that it appeared to be suggested that the lighting was meant to reflect evening or night time hours aboard ship. So the lighting for daytime hours should be brighter. As is I've lighted the deck in a more subdued way and with coloured lighting as befits what we often saw in TOS. As an alternative I could brighten the observation deck, but it would never appear as bright as it did in TOS' miniature set.

Another small tweak I added was some lighting in the alcoves. Onscreen the miniature set was very brightly lighted so it tended to fill the alcoves with sufficient light to make out some detail. On my model where I'm relying soley on realistic overhead lighting the alcoves are cast into shadow largely because of the overhanging observation deck. To conteract this I chose to add a bit of overhead lighting to the alcoves to bring them out a bit more.

The bottom image of the flight deck is also a bit of a cheat to somewhat emulate what we saw onscreen. I've widened the camera's field of view a bit (from 35 to 45 degrees) and after removing the forward wall I've stretched the observation deck on both sides well beyond where they actually end.

 

[blssdwlf]

Hi Warped9 - you're doing a great job detailing out the flight deck and wonderful work on the shuttle. A couple of comments and then I'll go back to lurking The flight deck if made screen accurate will fit into a 947' hull if you remove the side alcoves or squished them in a bit. On the lighting, you can match the shadows and brightness of the original miniature lighting with just overhead lights (you'll need to use radiosity to get all the light to bounce around to do a proper fill.) Keep up the good work

 

[Warped9]

The alcoves are already up against the exterior hull so there's nowhere else to go.

I'm wanting to make a few more renders but I'm also considering the design of a workpod like vehicle that could be stored in a small area below the service deck and where they would exit the ship via the rectangle panel seen under the fantail.

 

[Mytran]

I've just realised, the door (in the Hangar Bay) is off centre to the elevator! Thanks for the new shots, I couldn't quite figure out what was wrong with my eyes

The rectangular panel seems a good spot to have secondary access doors (maybe even to some cargo decks?). I wonder, would they slide apart and open have a (vertical) airlock behind them, similar to the TMP saucer? I'm not sure how much room you've got left now, TBH.

 

[Warped9]

The image of the flight deck is slightly off centre so thats why things might not line up exactly, but I can assure you everything is exactly lined up and symmetrical.

I've measured it off and there is indeed enough space under the service deck.

 

[Mytran]

I was referring to the entry door being off centre - 2 shuttle parking spaces on one side 1 parking space on the other.

 

[Warped9]

I was referring to the entry door being off centre - 2 shuttle parking spaces on one side 1 parking space on the other.

Oh, right. Yes it is. It had to be that way to allow for three equal work stations. Also I had the idea that when you enter the service bay you have unobstructed access to walk straight through rather than have a shuttlecraft immediately in front of you.

 

[Warped9]

An angle we never saw.




There are things we see on television (and in film) that are production compromises because their primary intent is to convey an idea rather than an exact representation of a reality. But my little project here was to show what we saw onscreen would really look like if it were real and sized correctly to fit where it's supposed to go, do what we saw it do and be used in the manner we saw it used.

 

[ancient]

Here's a little fun: After consulting TOSR, I think I can clear up everything. It's all canon!

Columbus is sneaky. Now you see it...

...Now you don't.

(from Galileo Seven of course)

Seriously though, nice work on this, the shuttle storage looks amazing.

 

[Warped9]

Another view.

 

[Warped9]

I had to go back and finish an alternate interior for my shuttlecraft. Here we see a shuttlecraft fitted for an extended excursion.This one is a bit of a mash-up because there are three chairs and two bunks (maybe they nap in shifts?) One chair could be removed allowing for more room for added equipment. Or if there was no need for the added computer cabinet than a third bunk could be added on the port side. I could also have added a small table to the port side between the computer cabinet and the access hatch.





The bunks are designed to fold up against the bulkhead (if so desired) when not in use. And, of course, they are easily disassembled when needing to be removed. Indeed the bunks are an obstacle to access the starboard fold-out equipment drawer as well as the behind-the-bulkhead storage compartments (housing emergency equipment such as lifesuits), but the sleeping pallets can easily be removed. The entire bunk setup is basically an assembled kit than can be installed or disassembled in mere minutes. although it has its own means of support it also fastens to the bulkhead for added sturdiness.

The bunks could also be used when the craft is required for medical transport wherein in one could install four and perhaps even six pallets although space might get a bit snug with six. This could be used when using the transporter is unavailable or unadvised.

 

[Wingsley]

^ Like a space-borne Huey med-evac copter?

Shades of M*A*S*H.

Clever.

 

[uniderth]

Through early ion storms I see
Visions of the things to be
The pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see...
That suicide is illogical
If you are biological
And I can take or leave it if I please....

 

[Albertese]

^^^^
BWAHAHAHA!!!!

--Alex

 

[Warped9]

So I'm presently facing a creative bump: what could a TOS era workpod look like? The only in universe example we have is the TMP era workbee.

Now one could make an assumption that the TMP workbee could have been in use for quite sometime and thus there's no reason that a variant of it couldn't have been berthed on the TOS Enterprise during its service life or at least its 5-year mission before being refit ijust prior to TMP. The flaw I have with that logic is the workbee is a product of late 1970's design perspective. It's not reflective of something Matt Jefferies might have come up with during the 1960s. And although it can be challenging to keep oneself trying to view things through that lens it's something of a necessity if you want your designs to look like something you just might have seen onscreen back in the day.

As much as I like TMP it has to be acknowledged that it's not really aesthetically consistent with TOS. We can squint and handwave it away, but TMP shows us a Starfleet infrastructure that simply couldn't have sprang into being overnight in universe. Of course, we know TMP showed us a level of detail that couldn't be achieved for television a decade earlier, but in terms of coming up with something reasonably authentic looking you pretty much have to ignore TMP.

I have studied MJ's sketches (what samples I have access to) to look for some kernel of an idea. MJ did sketch out some ideas for a "space truck" of some kind and there is one drawing of "space tug" that could be interpreted as a workpod, but I find it looks more 1950s than something more likely to have been seen on TOS.

And so presently I'm trying to find an overall concept as a starting point before proceeding onto working out the details of the last section dealing with the Enterprise's auxiliary craft: the bay housing the two or three workpods situated under the service deck.

 

[Albertese]

I see what you're saying, but I kind of disagree with you. While the surface detailing certainly seems like a post-Star Wars vehicle, the basic lines of the workpod aren't so removed from the TOS shuttlecraft. It's made out of nice easy flat panels and I assume that if such a vehicle had been needed as a full-size prop on the show, it would have been made of flat panels also. We see the same legacy in TNG, the shuttlepod was all flat panels because it was easier and cheaper to make.

I would probably start with a TMP workpod shape and backdate the surface details to tie it to TOS more closely. Less rectangular box plant-ons and more smooth walls with curled edges at the top and bottom.

You could, alternately, try something that looks more like a Mercury or a Gemini capsule, but then you may be treading on Roddenberry's "nothing that looks like Today's NASA equipment" edict.

--Alex

 

[Warped9]

I see what you're saying, but I kind of disagree with you. While the surface detailing certainly seems like a post-Star Wars vehicle, the basic lines of the workpod aren't so removed from the TOS shuttlecraft. It's made out of nice easy flat panels and I assume that if such a vehicle had been needed as a full-size prop on the show, it would have been made of flat panels also. We see the same legacy in TNG, the shuttlepod was all flat panels because it was easier and cheaper to make.

I would probably start with a TMP workpod shape and backdate the surface details to tie it to TOS more closely. Less rectangular box plant-ons and more smooth walls with curled edges at the top and bottom.

You could, alternately, try something that looks more like a Mercury or a Gemini capsule, but then you may be treading on Roddenberry's "nothing that looks like Today's NASA equipment" edict.

--Alex

Actually your suggestion is something that has occured to me, and in light of something else occuring to me it might make the most sense. Essentially make the workbee design look a bit more retro.

While it could be berthed on a flat deck I envision it (them) berthed in some sort of cradle or cavity in the deck or platform. The bay door (part of the red rectangle seen on the exterior of the ship's fantail) then slides or swings open to allow the pods to exit/enter.

How many workpods housed will depend on the space available under the service deck. The conical secondary hull starts to get smaller under the service deck and you start losing significant room width wise.



On another note. While I have tried to remain true to MJ's overall design for the flight deck I can't help but see one small shortcoming. On the towers attached to the observation deck there are no windows facing fore or aft. The windows face only inboard which rather limits the view. Now while we never saw (onscreen) the aft facing sides of those towers one could speculate that there is indeed an unseen window there.

The same is also true on the control towers. It has windows facing inboard and forward, but no apparent windows facing aft. Again one can speculate about the unseen side, but the filming minature definitely shows no windows facing aft. Mind you it seems apparent that those sides were never meant to be seen so it didn't matter to add windows there, but it leaves me wondering whether I should add them.

Thoughts anyone?