While I am getting finished the model for the viewscreen, some early shots of Engineering from Feb 1, 2014 for those interested.
Amazing "you are there" quality to your photos, despite the subject being pencil-annotated white foam! Another amazing thing is how small the real set was. No bigger than the bridge's diameter, "mobile power units" included. And yet it gave the ship's interiors the large expansive element GR had wanted (per a TOS memo prior Eng's construction). Again, kudos to your work & research. I'm sure no one has read into your analysis of McMaster's any insult to what he did. He did his best, which was extraordinary. You, sir, are of that lineage.
TY. There is 0 % foam in these models. It is all 100% #110 white index business card stock. Same stuff you print business cards with. I chose card stock cause it would allow for the precision I needed in this scale. Foam core is used only on the bases the models are mounted to so they won't bend.
Wow. I just read this entire thread and ... wow. I mean, I obsessed over every detail when I was drafting up a set of deck plans, and my OCD wasn't one-percent of what you must have to do this kind of work. Nice to know there's someone more insane than me out there. I do mean this in a good way, of course.
Dunno where I got the foam core idea from. Among other things, I'm not looking too closely, as the card material is evident at a glance. In addition to compliments on all aspects of your work, my sincerest thanks for your VERY generous sharing of readable size-notated photos. The service this alone provides to the "community" is inestimable.
I've been meaning to do this but have been too busy but it's overdue to be done. From the outset of the beginning of the 9 PDF project I have intended to dedicate it to a Trek fan who died in Dec 2011 named Jim MacArthur. Many knew him as the friendly jdmn1969 user name on different Trek boards. He was a fan who helped a local club build a bridge and was shown the door when completed. I despise fans who ask others for help in awesome projects to then use their sets or whatever as a glorified clubhouse to elevate them to the status of Uber fan fraternity only letting in who they deem worthy of their company. I had the pleasure of talking with Jim a few times on the phone and he was pleasant and eager to accommodate to assist in Exeter bridge reconstruction. There was only one problem....his poor health, severe lymphadema in his legs. He was most apologetic to me over the phone that he could not come down and help due to his health issues. I followed him on his Facebook page as a friend and saw the horrible setbacks with his legs in the photos that were posted. Jim's story as a Trek fan strikes a chord in my heart of a kindred spirit, and my disgust at those who would do similar to other fans as was done to Jim. Fans like Jim should be celebrated as the backbone of fandom who represent the eagerness to help each other despite what difficulties they may be facing in their own lives. I like to think people like Jim are the standard for fans, and not the exemption. So in memory of a fan who never got fully appreciated in what he was willing to offer, 9 PDF is dedicated to his memory to promote the type of fandom he represented. The outsider willing to knock himself out for others but never let in. I hope one day all fans will not be shut out by other fans who use their special status like elite royalty. This project is dedicated to those fans on the outside wanting in. And this project is intended to put in their hands the plans to build their own club fort and screw off the elites with their "you're not good enough to hang with us" attitudes. Jim...this is for you. I wish I could of handed it to you personally when you were still alive. That is my only regret about my 9 PDF project.
I've been butterfingers building this version. Wasted a bunch of time mismeasuring, and miscutting parts. Decided to dress this one out since it is supposed to be a final model. Couldn't find the superglue to anchor the wood frame to the backplate. The wood is pressure fitted and bowing out for now. Still have to make the lower lights. Impressions? Does it feel right? I think it does. Interested in seeing how it flies with you guys....
It looks very close to perfect. At first I thought the screen aspect may have been too wide, but I layered it over a screencap from Spocks Brain where the camera is shooting over the back of Kirk's chair and it looks right on. M.
Good. One thing I forgot to mention is that when you guys download the files on the new releases, share them with everybody and their dog. As far and as hard as you can. No charging. And make sure each person down the line understands and respects that. I don't want any fan hit in the wallet over this. We all have many things trying to get their hooks into our wallets and I don't want this to be one of them. Can do? Here's one guy wanting to cut fans a break. I think we all should be looking out for each other.
OK finished up the bottom lights on the viewscreen… Now turning my attention back to the outer ring consoles resizing them from 7 ft 2 inches to 7 ft 4 inches. This is how I have done the entire process from the beginning of 9 PDF using this method for every single measurement. Opened up my trusty go to still when I need to have a full length shot of the turbolift thresh hold next to the consoles to measure elevations to. To ensure minimizing measuring errors I rotated the image and enlarged it as big as I could on my screen to where the definition was not broken up by seeing the individual pixels. Marked it with a pencil. Then measured it on my pressmans pica pole. I used the special version which has the point sizes on it since the increments are less the thickness of a pin. The result for the magnification is 412 on the ruler. Then broke out the calculator and did the breakdown of 412 by 7 ft 4 inches which came to the numbers seen here. I use this sheet to build my rulers with my pica pole on the point scale. Then used those values to build the ruler down to 1 inch. If a measurement on the screencap still is less than 1 inch I eyeball it's value. Then take the ruler and line it up and measure the vertical elevations on the outer ring consoles from floor to ceiling. I'll be laying in the angles from the previous acetate traces to the new elevations this weekend. And hope to have a new onionskin profile built a week from now ready to be cleaned up to be released. When that is done then I will have the numbers I need to build a console to the new 7ft 4 inch / 35.5 degree measurements and have the necessary info to blueprint it.
Thanks. Vertical console measurements done. Starting to draw up the grid and laying in the vertical elevations.
Decided to put a hold on the consoles for a short bit. When I decided to sit down with all 3 seasons of TOS Trek and map out the main viewscreen light sequencing, it became apparent to me real quick that I'll need to devote a whole separate release page listing all that. ( I'm not talking where the lights go from left to right from 1 - 12, but where the lights jump randomly back and forth. ) I'm hoping all that data will be useful for anyone who builds the main view screen physically or CGI for a production. I was hoping to log all that down and find a regular long master pattern, and work up a master blink sequence that cycles. Worked through the first 3 DVDs in season 1 and typed all that in to a master list text file That when done will list the blink order for all 3 seasons. Decided to release that with page 3 corrected scan before proceeding with the console profile. Goal is to have all the episodes sequencing recorded down ready to be scanned by the end of this next week. Example....the longest main view screen blink sequence from Balance of Terror : 7-4-10-5-7-2-7-3-7-5-11-3-6-11-4-6-5-10-7-3-6-4-10-6-7-3-12-4-9-7-5-11-4
Why yes, yes it does. But given him you would think his password would be Spot. Thank you for the compliments.
I'm kicking myself because both of these books are in storage, but I remembred reading somewhere -- either in Whitfield's Making of Star Trek or Solow & Justman's Inside Star Trek -- that there was no consistency to the blink pattern because it was just some stagehand running a wired nail against contact points. And yet that doesn't make sense, because they were able to program consistent blink patterns into all the consoles around the bridge and on the other sets. Maybe I'm imagining this, or maybe the story was apocryphal.