I'm building the entire Starship Enterprise interior at 1:25 scale

[feek61]

The issue with horizontal turbolifts shafts is that you effectively have a barricade anywhere the turbolift runs horizontally; cutting the decks into smaller, maybe even isolated sections that you can not traverse without getting into the turbolift or taking the long way around the shaft. There would be no other way to physically get around the horizontal shaft at all which seems like a bad idea; especially under emergency conditions when the turbolifts are not functioning. For example, if there is a horizontal shaft from the center of the saucer section on say deck 7 to the dorsal area, if you were on the port side of the tube, you would have to walk all the way around the deck, nearly 360 degrees to get to the other side since the shaft would block access to the starboard side depending on how long the shaft is,

 

[ZapBrannigan]

The show portrayed horizontal shafts to wow the audience with how big the ship must be, and it was done in a production mindset of "Nobody (including us!) will ever work out the details, so it's fine." Same as the "freefall" elevator drop in "Wolf in the Fold."

Here's a proposal to get a nearly-practical set of deck plans, with a lot less in the way of turbo elevator cars, while still respecting the aired portrayal of horizontal tube travel:

1) Reduce horizontal shafts to the bare minimum, meaning one single shaft, that runs from near the center of the Saucer back to the connecting neck.

2) At a couple of points along this horizontal shaft, put little stairs or a ladder that you can use to climb over the shaft (up one side, over the top, and right down the other side).

3) There should be no horizontal shaft in the Secondary Hull, and only one or two vertical elevators, at most, for pedestrian use. We're able-bodied spacemen.

4) As I write this, I suddenly realize a problem with the sleek, two-hull ship design: there is no way to fit a freight elevator in there. At all. Unlike pedestrian elevator cars, freight and machinery movement is not a luxury item.

But wait a second: the implied solution in Franz Joseph is to use cargo transporters instead. I have to remember it's Star Trek, not the Navy, and then it all works out.

 

[blssdwlf]

2) At a couple of points along this horizontal shaft, put little stairs or a ladder that you can use to climb over the shaft (up one side, over the top, and right down the other side).

What if on the horizontal turbolift shafts you had stops that opened to both sides? You enter in on one side into a turbolift, door closes, the turbolift rotates 180 degrees (which will look just like horizontal movement on the wall movement indicator) and open to the other side?

4) As I write this, I suddenly realize a problem with the sleek, two-hull ship design: there is no way to fit a freight elevator in there. At all. Unlike pedestrian elevator cars, freight and machinery movement is not a luxury item.

Curious, how bulky is this freight? Is it wider than the width of a tubolift door? Or the A frames in the corridors?

 

[Mytran]

For example, if there is a horizontal shaft from the center of the saucer section on say deck 7 to the dorsal area, if you were on the port side of the tube, you would have to walk all the way around the deck, nearly 360 degrees to get to the other side since the shaft would block access to the starboard side depending on how long the shaft is,

But with horizontal tubes above and below, there's no need for the one on Deck 7 to run the full length of the radius of the saucer.
A while ago I mocked up this example using Deck 6 but the principle is the same:

 

[ZapBrannigan]

But with horizontal tubes above and below, there's no need for the one on Deck 7 to run the full length of the radius of the saucer.
A while ago I mocked up this example using Deck 6 but the principle is the same:

So the horizontal tube bobs up or down one level, so neither deck gets the shaft. Just part of it.

 

[Tallguy]

And lookee at the size of the flight deck that doesn’t intrude much under the support pylons. Thats the lead I followed.

Ahhh but the Thermians would never build it that way because it doesn't fit the dimensions we saw on screen!

The issue with horizontal turbolifts shafts is that you effectively have a barricade anywhere the turbolift runs horizontally; cutting the decks into smaller, maybe even isolated sections that you can not traverse without getting into the turbolift or taking the long way around the shaft. There would be no other way to physically get around the horizontal shaft at all which seems like a bad idea; especially under emergency conditions when the turbolifts are not functioning. For example, if there is a horizontal shaft from the center of the saucer section on say deck 7 to the dorsal area, if you were on the port side of the tube, you would have to walk all the way around the deck, nearly 360 degrees to get to the other side since the shaft would block access to the starboard side depending on how long the shaft is,

Depends how you do them and where they go. There should be some areas (especially on the living quarters deck) that should have less lift access.

I would think they would be needed / used for getting essential personnel from important point A to important point B AND moving equipment around the ship.

But with horizontal tubes above and below, there's no need for the one on Deck 7 to run the full length of the radius of the saucer.
A while ago I mocked up this example using Deck 6 but the principle is the same:

If that were the way to go I would think that there should be angles rather than 90 degree brakes. Then the cars could navigate them at full speed without stopping.

THIS is what ignites our passion for detail!

 

[Mytran]

If that were the way to go I would think that there should be angles rather than 90 degree brakes. Then the cars could navigate them at full speed without stopping.

It would consume more space but given how long it takes a turbolift to change direction in TOS, I can see the advantage!

 

[aridas sofia]

We know why they didn’t do it, but just removing the lifts and turning the gravity off in the tubes would carry more people more places quicker. Let them just float from place to place propelled by a push off. You’d certainly get the point that these people are in space.

Of course, they’d need to be careful about collisions. But we learn to be careful about collisions on the road so I’m good with it.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

If that were the way to go I would think that there should be angles rather than 90 degree brakes. Then the cars could navigate them at full speed without stopping.

With inertial dampeners on, they can navigate a 90 degree corner with only the most minimal of rounding, full speed without stopping, and the passengers won't even feel a thing.

On thing I like about STXI is how quickly Spock gets from one end of the ship to the other in a turbo elevator.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

We know why they didn’t do it, but just removing the lifts and turning the gravity off in the tubes would carry more people more places quicker. Let them just float from place to place propelled by a push off. You’d certainly get the point that these people are in space.

Of course, they’d need to be careful about collisions. But we learn to be careful about collisions on the road so I’m good with it.

Yes! I've been arguing that for years, but there's always somebody around here to shoot it down.

It seems clear to me: if we really had warp drive, inertial damping fields, artificial gravity, and "shields" to protect us against the loose hydrogen atoms we'd be flying through at high speed, our starship design would not include elevator cars. Zero-G vertical passageways would do just fine, unless the artifical gravity could not be zoned for that.

 

[feek61]

It's not the pushing that's the problem, it's the stopping!!!!!

 

[Poltargyst]

We know why they didn’t do it, but just removing the lifts and turning the gravity off in the tubes would carry more people more places quicker. Let them just float from place to place propelled by a push off. You’d certainly get the point that these people are in space.

Of course, they’d need to be careful about collisions. But we learn to be careful about collisions on the road so I’m good with it.

But on the road we have steering wheels so we can turn away from oncoming traffic. How does one do that when flying through zero G after a push off?

 

[caveat_imperator]

If I were Matt Jeffries…I might have had stairs running down to the engineering hull…with the vertical tube in front of that.
The vertical tube we saw in Doomsday Machine…trinary ladder.

Secondary hull more closed off…most of the neck as bracing.

The gravity in those shafts with the three-sided ladders could be less than 1g to help crew and passengers climb up or down faster.

 

[PCz911]

The gravity in those shafts with the three-sided ladders could be less than 1g to help crew and passengers climb up or down faster.

For whatever reason, I never thought of that. It’s brilliant.

 

[aridas sofia]

But on the road we have steering wheels so we can turn away from oncoming traffic. How does one do that when flying through zero G after a push off?

I think the bigger problem would be getting stuck in the middle of a tube and not being able to reach the wall to push off. Maybe the better float tube would be the tri ladderways. Narrower- you’d always have something to push against.

As for steering, I suppose you are stuck in the direction opposite what you pushed against.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

As for steering, I suppose you are stuck in the direction opposite what you pushed against.

It looks practical enough in The Martian (2015). They scoot through those zero-G tunnels like anything.

 

[Richard Baker]

The gravity in those shafts with the three-sided ladders could be less than 1g to help crew and passengers climb up or down faster.

Love that idea. We are Earthbound and tend to treat gravity as a constant but on a ship gravity is created and controlled, no reason at all why it can't be selectively applied to make things easier

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It looks practical enough in The Martian (2015). They scoot through those zero-G tunnels like anything.

That was really well done.

 

[Tallguy]

It looks practical enough in The Martian (2015). They scoot through those zero-G tunnels like anything.

I love The Martian. It's one of my favorite movies. Certainly of the last 10 years.

But the scene where someone hovers over one of the hallways and kind of gets sucked into it with no force on their part takes me out of the movie every damn time. (Yup. THAT'S the hill I'm going to die on with that movie.)

 

[Warped9]

He is definitely building his own version—a speculative.4th-5th season version “never before seen” as he states right up front.

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