That sounds interesting. Does "retractable elevator style sections" refer to the same part of the ship I mentioned, or is it something else?
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Hangars and small craft
- Thread starter Unicron
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That sounds interesting. Does "retractable elevator style sections" refer to the same part of the ship I mentioned, or is it something else?
For some reason your reply did not come up in my alerts, even though the thread is marked as watched.
IIRC, they didn't use the triangle sections as doors on the saucer underside. I've seen some that are on the top of the saucer and others where it is on the bottom (but using part of the triangle sections.)
So if they did not use the triangles was it just random hull sections that "secretly" opened? Kind of like the additional hatches used for exiting the ship in TMP?
It is a rectangular hull panel that is replaced as a shuttlebay hatch.
Top hatch:
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/jac-anubus-class.php
Looks like the hatches where Kirk leaves in the thruster suit. Interesting.
It's more a runabout type elevator on the saucer section that accommodates small craft.
OK. It was hard to see without the full size images. Still a similar concept to the idea I was suggesting, and it explains how ships with no shuttlebay could still use support craft. I like the idea that these are smaller craft, not like the full size TOS shuttlecraft. That would allow these smaller ships to have more of them.Actually it's on the top of the saucer...
I imagine something like the travel pod, used by these ships for exploring within a solar system. Not to restart this argument, but the TOS shuttle must be capable of faster-than-light travel based on episodes like "Metamorphosis" where they were far from the ship. Travel pods or something similar sold be used by these smaller ships for the most part, with slower-than-light usages. That sort-of works with TNG, where the large shuttles had nacelles similar to those of the ship and were faster-than-light, whereas the so called "shuttle-pods" were supposed to be slower than light (although those had small nacelles that must have only been for impulse power).
While the hatches people are talking about in this thread were in the upper saucer, Donny put shuttlebays there on his versions of the the Saladin and Ptolemy.
I think he got the idea for those hatches were from the old fanon Saladin/Hermes blueprints, that’s where I first saw them.
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/uss-saladin-destroyer-scout.php
The function of the triangles on the lower primary hull were never implicitly stated in TOS. Fanon generally considers them to be locations where retractable landing legs are stowed away when not in use. Considering the dorsal interconnect stub after separation would form a third leg, this makes sense. In my head canon, not only are they landing leg pads, they are planetary sensor arrays. During separated flight mode, especially during atmospheric operations the arrays serve to scan the surface for potential landing sites and to provide flight and navigation information.
It's been interesting to read through some of my ship books. The Jackill's series definitely has fairly large hangars for many designs, with ships like the Miranda frigates having close to 100 small craft. It seems a bit more reasonable in some ways to me than some of the comparable small craft stats in sources like FASA, where the average size is maybe more like 2-6 at the most.
The Dakota class shuttle carriers of course have a huge volume, but they're more specialized.
The Dakota class shuttle carriers of course have a huge volume, but they're more specialized.
I think one set of fanon blueprints had them as subspace radio antennas. I always kind of liked that idea (or your sensor array one) better than landing legs. I was always under the impression that while the saucer could be separated, it still was never intended to make a planetary landing.
My thoughts: The round, cylindrical portion on the ends on the triangle features do looks like hinges, but I prefer to imagine them to drop "open" as the ship's reverse impulse thrusters. The triangle shape is a coating to protect the hull from the exhaust. Additionally, these vectoring thrusters can be directed downward to help blast the ship out of orbit in emergencies. YMMV 
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I think the idea of having the ship make any kind of landing fluctuated throughout the development of the show, and was only added back on as a latter day revision. Initially, Jefferies' development sketches alluded to the hero-ship being able to land, much as the C-57D had in Forbidden Planet. From what I remember reading (In Whitfield's Making of Star Trek I think) this was considered too expensive to film on a regular basis for weekly network episodic television. The workaround, the creation of the transporters, resolved how to cheaply have the crew leave their vessel to go on adventures planet-side without killing the effects budget. It seems likely to me (although Gary Kerr, Mark Gagen or Shaw would definitely be more up on this, or have the facts at their disposal) that Gene Roddenberry asked Matt Jefferies to add the triangle features to the construction blues for Datin to allude to the saucer having that ability. Inferences, call outs and dialogue from the "The Apple" and other episodes seem to have swayed Andy Probert's thinking in that regard as indicated here- but he never states that Gene or Matt Jefferies made any definitive statement, one way or the other. So, while the TOS Enterprise doesn't definitively have that feature, it certainly does post TMP. So again, YMMV.
You make a Interesting point - it's a similar idea to what's in the SHIPS OF THE STARFLEET Volume II Akyazi class perimeter action ships on the bottom of the primary hull of the Akyazi ships with Guenther's Emergency Impulse Engines. As for the design of the triangles, I would consider them to almost act as aero-braking flaps, but since I've never taken a any courses on modeling in any kind aerospace/aerodynamic aspect, I can't speak to whether that would work in regards to the TOS Enterprise primary hull. Still, not a bad idea.My thoughts: The round, cylindrical portion on the ends on the triangle features do looks like hinges, but I prefer to imagine them to drop "open" as the ship's reverse impulse thrusters. The triangle shape is a coating to protect the hull from the exhaust. Additionally, these vectoring thrusters can be directed downward to help blast the ship out of orbit in emergencies. YMMV
You just reminded me of my favourite unasked/unanswered question for Richard Taylor and/or Andy Probert: Did someone consider providing alternate optional photon torpedo and impulse engine assemblies for the Refit Enterprise during the redesign process and are these features a result? On the Refit Enterprise the unmarked thrusters ports bear a strong resemblance to torpedo doors on a submarine. The existing photorp launcher assembly bears a marked similarity in structure and design to the impulse engine assembly. Was it perhaps an idea for the photorp launcher assembly to function as the forward impulse engines in an alternate effects configuration? Probably not, but I made a example of what I'm talking about below just for the fun of it.
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Maybe not one-and-the-same, but maybe both uses similar impulse propulsion technologies; one to push the ship, and one to push/launch a photon torpedo to speed. YMMV
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