"Building" the Refit 1701 Bridge

[Bill Thompson]

WORK COMMENCES RIGHT AWAY the next morning on finishing out the defense officer module. Bob sets the targeting scanner screen within the 'cave,' while Ernie hooks up the light panel and sets it in place overhead.

The large screen is a unique design among the bridge display systems. It is a flat panel, high resolution vector display with a neutral matte finish high persistence coating. It is able to display large amounts of targeting and acquisition data with lossless clarity in the sub-nanometer range. The lower part of the screen contains a viewport directed at the officer's seated eye level that can display targeting overlays and real-time 3D images via a high-resolution holomonitor mounted behind the screen.
The light box is a full-spectrum flat unit, no different from the standard general illumination used throughout Starfleet vessels. The emitter is angled forward to throw light over the shoulder of the operator. The angle and intensity of the light is adjustable to a limited degree. The assembly rests in place within a frame for ease of access.

The holomonitor mount is accessed from the corridor and fits onto brackets fastened to the back of the display screen. The monitor is long, rather heavy, and awkward to hold with no convenient place to grab it. It's very delicate, cannot be adjusted in situ, and mounts in a place that's slightly above eye level and slightly less than arm's reach away. Not to mention it's an old, obsolete, rare, and expensive component. In short, wrangling it in place is an absolute beast. Just a perfect job, in other words, for poor Ernie!

While Ernie wrestles behind the shell in the dark, cramped recesses, I have the much more pleasant job of installing the control surfaces. Here, I'm setting in the torpedo load status display. It locks into place with toggles under the face of the control board, as you can see me doing here.

The iconic shield status display fits into the corner of the cave above the control board. It's a tight friction fit to allow it to be somewhat adjustable. It, like all of the bridge control or display units, was Phase II designed to be self-contained, to the extent that it only requires one power and one data connection to operate.
Because of the wiring we're using, my work here is proceeding slower than it would be when the modules were new. Back then, all of their connections were in a nice, tidy loom that put the junctions just where you needed them. Since we're building from scratch with bare cabling and no computer core, I have to crimp all the connections myself as I go, unit by unit. Here's the shield board wired up and ready to slot in, while I hold the camera awkwardly under my chin. (You're welcome.)

The next three control units I installed are, from right to left, the torpedo staging board, the targeting computer keypad, and the phaser control board. Notice the integrated tactile switches, which are mechanical safety interlocks--the murder of the Excalibur crew by a completely automated M5 system on stardate 4731 began a design dictum that humans shall always have the ultimate call when it comes to weaponry.
The boards all clip in from underneath, and are released by slipping a shim down along the edges.

While I continue to install the controls, Sam gets to work hanging the gangway access door. Here, he's assembling the hydraulic strut and latch that operates the door. Meanwhile, Ernie and Mike are installing the remainder of the outer shell and access panels: everything we have to do back in the corridor is (finally) done.
I'm holding the last control unit to install--the shield bias control board. All that remains inside the console is to crimp the connections to the big screen and hook it up. The other controls on the panel are, from left to right: the main power switch, the assign keypad, two displays for power levels and assignment, and the comm panel. I also attached the glare hood to the holomonitor.

The time of truth has arrived! The computer is patched in, the power ramped up (slowly, with a wary eye on that battery) and, holding my breath, I touch the main power button.
I can't keep the grin off my face as the relays click softly behind the wall and the displays flicker to life. I can't wait to show you each panel and step you through just what it takes to blow a hole clean through a D7!...but alas, patience must prevail. All in its time, however! We still have much to build first.
Fortunately, most of the time-consuming modules are now behind us. The standing stations, as well as the communication and engineering stations, use standardized parts little-changed from the original Phase II design, and should go up quickly. And after a bite of lunch, we'll start on those.

 

[Bill Thompson]

BY EARLY AFTERNOON, the crew get going on the two standing stations on the engineering side of the bridge. We're installing them simultaneously due to the simplicity of their construction, as well as to save time.

Eddie and I locate the two steamer trunks on the warehouse floor that contain the security and damage control components and begin to inspect and catalog their contents.
The yellow trunk contains the security module hardware. Shoehorned within its foam interior are the console, all of the console controls, four flat displays with their shrouds, five holomonitors, and four holomonitor assign panels. Everything, in fact, except for the unwieldy holomonitor shroud, which was shipped with the module shell sections.
The blue trunk holds the damage and repair components. The console, just too large to fit, has shipped with the shells. The two triple monitor shrouds and two single monitor shrouds are tucked inside along with two holomonitors and six flat display panels, as well as all of the console controls.
Behind me out of shot are the teal trunks containing the light panels, which the crew have been pulling from as needed.
Bob, Conrad, and Eddie are handling cataloging and pulling the shells out of the cargo container, while Ernie, Sam, and Mike handle the assembly inside the bridge. I, as per usual, am taking care of the console control surfaces.

Ernie and Sam have installed the outer shells for both modules. With just a little practice, the ease of this Phase II-style modular assembly really shows. Eight separate components--cove, upper, lower, and mid-shells for both modules--go up in a matter of minutes, with just two techs. And one of those is Ernie. Ha!

With the walls going up so quick, I have to bust my hump to get the consoles assembled by the time Sam's ready for them. Bob's already chased me out of my trunk so he can start sorting the endless supply of monitors and displays, and Ernie's trotted by with an armload of light panels. I've set up my workspace on one of the science tech trunks and begun placing the security controls.

I'm not the only one busting my hump, apparently. Our teams are now apparently trying to outrace each other! Sam and Ernie have already pulled the air return hoses and cabling on the D&R module and installed the inner shell, and Sam is working on pulling the cabling for the security shell.
Just when it looks as if Sam's team will be left waiting on Conrad, Conrad and Mike arrive with the three parts of the security inner shell. Meanwhile, Bob and Eddie are assembling the displays, and Mike and I are crimping connections, running lines, and installing components; each group trying to outpace the other. It's become an engineer's game now, and the taunts have started flying.

No sooner has the last inner panel been bolted in place when Eddie and Mike start bringing in armfuls of monitors for Sam and Ernie to install. Although we're certainly no strangers to good-natured ribbing, the easy camaraderie among us doesn't preclude blurring team lines if things actually do start falling behind. Our curiosity is sparked now to see how efficiently these modules can go up, so our competition has morphed again into cooperation.

The six flat displays are an easy install and go in quickly; the upper, larger shrouds less so. They install high up, very close to the bridge dome itself, so it's a tight fit getting them fastened from the access corridor. In addition, you're installing a long, straight component into a compound-curved wall, so things get jammed up if you're in a hurry--which of course we were. Here, Sam puts his weight into the triple display which he got stuck fast, while Ernie uses a rubber mallet from behind on the edge of the shroud. In an interesting bit of technological archaeology, we noticed that it wasn't the first time this has happened, for we discovered that there were already matching hammer-and-scrape marks on the shroud. It's fun speculation to wonder if this happened as far back as the initial Enterprise refit, due to an overzealous engineer in the rush to launch from spacedock ahead of schedule. Little things that that really serve to connect you with the past.

The inconvenience of the triple flat is nothing compared to the unwieldy bank of Security holomonitors, though! Heavy, delicate, and large enough singularly; installing five at a time is definitely a two-man job. Despite the fact that the top of the shroud slots into a support tab to steady it while it is bolted in and holds it from slipping, you still have the distinctly uncertain feeling while mounting it in the negatively-curved shell that it will just fall out and smash on the deck at any moment. Mike and Eddie still took several minutes eyeing it warily and poking it gingerly after the install to make sure it was indeed held firmly in place.
Of course, we all knew it was perfectly safe, really. The curve of the shell itself makes it extremely strong, and it is designed to reinforce those very areas that support overhanging components like those monitors. The darker parts of the shell are made of a thicker reinforced composite, and the ribs surrounding them are structurally stiffening as well.

With Bob crimping the connections and myself locking the controls in place, we got both consoles ready to go just in time. Bob set the consoles in place from the front of the shell, and I got to clamp them in place from the corridor and run the cables down to Tomas under the deck. He ran the lines to his little computer and the EPS feed, and started initialization of the module simulations.

With everything built and in place, we can relax for a moment while we wait for Tomas, so I can tell you a little about the standing stations. This really was a revolution in Phase II design. As you know, the old Connie was fully manned at every bridge station at all times, and she needed to be. Starship development at that time required centralized control and coordination for every major ship subsystem. Computer control was limited and still required human oversight--and Starfleet was not about to change that in light of the M5 debacle. There was no question that it was largely a waste of human resources: subsystems monitoring was largely routine and monotonous unless something went drastically wrong. Phase II design considerations posited using these officers where they were needed--within the ship--thereby de-centralizing routine systems monitoring and eliminating wasted man-hours. Increased computer LAI and monitoring capability did away with the need for on-bridge subsystems and checkout stations. These were replaced with three standing stations: environmental, security, and damage/repair, with the additions of the new transporter station and unified defense station. Normally unmanned, their design emphasis was status and data displays that could be easily referenced at a glance from the lower bridge. Duty officers for these stations would normally work with the crewmen under them on board, reporting to the bridge only for changes in shift or alert status, when centralized coordination of resources and communication with substations throughout the ship required it. This had the benefit of reducing the number of full-time bridge officers from eleven to six.

Ah, there we go! Tomas has the simulation running now. The damage and repair module is showing the default monitor displays of ship exterior dorsal, port side, and elevation; interior decks 7 (impulse engineering,) 16 (warp engineering,) and 19 (cargo); and nacelle elevation. Our non-existant Enterprise is showing all systems green, which is a good thing. Any deck, area, or component on board can be called up schematically on screen, and any system or component that went offline or returned a status less than nominal would be automatically displayed on screen, with ongoing status updates. The security module displays are showing their defaults too, which are (on the left) quick overview security reports from interior and exterior sensors, and (on the right) officer on-duty status reports. These would also automatically display any security irregularity in detail.
If you think it's strange to have displays at knee-level, remember these are to be seen primarily from the captain's chair, not from the officers manning the stations! The holoscreens are for that. Although the holoscreens can display data, they are primarily for getting 'eyes-on,' viewing any location on board ship and for communication with crewmembers.
The dark band of strengthened composite across the modules was an addition to the initial Phase II design, but the shells are otherwise unchanged. The idea was to use the composite to further strengthen and tie the module shells together, while still permitting locational interchangeability. This turned out to actually be somewhat of a design overkill, and the next iteration of Refit module stations did away with the overlap and reverted to the original-style Phase II shells. This was partly to increase the module arrangement options: several captains who had served on Starfleet vessels for years preferred the familiar style of science officers on their right and engineers to their left, which negated the band's intended structural continuity; as well as requiring a slight overall redesign to the library computer station. Then there were certain high-ranking captains that didn't like people behind their field of view and demanded a standing station between the turbolifts. (Yes, I'm looking at you, Kirk.)
It's been a long week, and we've made a ton of progress, you'll agree. When the team comes back, we'll continue with the environmental and communication stations on the other side of the bridge. We have to clear out for a few days and return to the SCE offices: a crew is coming in to polish the warehouse floor and do some prep for renovations, and they don't want us getting in the way. (Or we, them, for that matter.) See you then!

 

[Donny]

I loooove this thread! I love how you create packing crates for all the console assets. Great work!

Btw, I noticed you're not using Phase II Enterprise diagrams for your Damage and Repair displays. I've re-created fairly clean versions of the Phase II top, side, and front views, if you'd like them. They aren't vectorized or anything but I can send them over in PSD form if you'd like.

 

[Bill Thompson]

Thanks, Donny, both for the offer and the high praise! I did consider using the Phase II graphics, but decided not to because of my 'in-universe' design dictum for the build. Logically, the ship's computer (in this case, Tomas' simulation) would recognize the ship configuration and display accurate real-time schematics.
I did use parts of the Phase II nacelle elevation, (as I'm sure you noticed!) because full-toroidal warp coils make sense but wouldn't drastically change the look of the Refit nacelle externally.

 

[ashleytinger]

I love all the work you're putting into this AND the wonderful little assembly story going along with it. This is great.

 

[DanGovier]

I love checking back on this thread as it progresses, it's wonderful to see the bridge being built step by step in so much detail.

 

[BK613]

Great work. And the quirky meta-story really makes the thread memorable.

 

[Bernard Guignard]

Fantastic work keep it up

 

[Bill Thompson]

THE FLOOR FAIRLY SPARKLES in our warehouse when we come in after the cleaning crew has done their work. The deeper divots and gouges are still there, but the surface scars and decades of grimy dust and crud have been scoured away, and the newly-exposed surface has been scuffed, acid-washed, and polished.

It almost makes up for the fact that the crew moved all my crates to the front of the warehouse and didn't put them back when they finished. It's nitpicking, I know, but it means I'll be walking back and forth a lot more today between here and the bridge docking port at the other end of the building. (I can't imagine how Conrad will react to noncoms moving all his stuff!)

Meanwhile, in the opposite corner, Sam and Mike re-open the bridge. Here, they're lifting off the lifeboat blowout panel. Sam had the foresight to seal the bridge up before we left, so the dust that went airborne off the floor wouldn't settle inside and make a mess. Bob's the one up at the front with our rapidly-depleting shipping crate....which at least was (almost) returned to its proper location. When Bob opened the doors, he was in for a surprise strapped to a wood pallet that none of us expected. More about that in a moment, but some good news first...
The renovations team made a thorough materials integrity inspection of our little warehouse while we were gone, and the verdict is that while it is scruffy, it has good bones. It is plenty sturdy enough to handle a true second floor over the wings! We have been doing some brainstorming about what we can do to make what started out as a rather basic "evolution of control interface" project into a real gem of a full museum destination for the area. Originally we were just planning on a few side displays, some interactive exhibits in the wings, and of course the walk-through Enterprise bridge re-creation. With nearly double the display space, the sky's the limit. Heck, we could be looking at a gift shop! The mind boggles...

Mike and Bob unload the two module sections from the crate while Sam catalogs the inventory. The equipment strapped to the wood pallet you see here was our surprise of the morning, and here's why. We have had an absolute devil of a time tracking down the comm module's display mount, hood, and topscreen. As near as we can determine, the topscreen was never actually replaced on 1701, but retained and transferred to updated comm modules as they were installed. Thus, it was one of the few truly original Refit components that went down with Enterprise. The display mount was for some reason discarded and lost, rather than cataloged and stored with other replaced and updated components. This is inexplicable, because the rest of the comm shell, from the base to the cove, was stored away. Conrad has been pulling his hair out for days chasing vague data trails trying to find where that original 1701 display mount had got to! In the end, he's still not sure he'd got it: although it does match the original production run, there were no records on which unit was actually on Enterprise's 2272 install. He was able to find an original-style topscreen, though, which itself was no mean feat: those five-foot discrete displays have been totally obsoleted. It's hard to find one nowadays in any sort of condition, and they're getting rare and pricey. Conrad promised the missing parts would be delivered by the time we got back to the warehouse today. Well, they were shoved into the shipping crate when we got here, all right! The mystery is why on earth were these rare gems so roughly thrown together and hastily strapped to a pallet with only a few sheets of cardboard to protect them? I suppose the fewer questions we ask, the better.

While Mike, Sam, and Bob are unloading the shells, Eddie, Ernie, and I set about pulling our steamer trunks down where we can get to them. We've got the orange comm trunk on the floor, and the green enviro trunk is next. This is a good shot of our trunk tote at work: that's a manual grunt-work version of the null-gee trunk tote as used on board starships. The two halves of the tote clasp together and fit snugly into the diagonal grooves on the sides of the trunk. The handles make it a breeze to maneuver the thing around. (Well, okay, not exactly a breeze, but at least marginally easier.)

Bob, meanwhile, discovers that closing an unpowered set of docking doors is a lot easier than opening them again! By design, of course: a door between you and hard vacuum should "want" to be closed. Under ordinary operation, the doors are locked and sealed: they only open in concert with the retracting mechanism that pulls the doors of a docked shuttle open and into the hull. There is also a powered retractor that can open the doors for emergency EVAs. (This is not yet hooked up, but we'll probably use it when our bridge is on display.)

While I'm at this end of the bridge, I'll show how easily the modules can be loaded through the docking port. Although Ernie is lending a hand, Bob can easily handle the pieces himself. Ernie's showing pretty bad form by supporting the cove while he holds a wrench in the same hand--that's a pretty easy way to end up scratching a panel. Bob, by contrast, is wearing gloves to prevent oils and fingerprints from getting on the panel.

I get back to my trunk and crack that baby open. I'm guessing it will contain not just the control console and enviro controls, but the four display shrouds and fully eleven --count 'em-- displays.

Yep, looks like I called it. The shrouds are in the lower compartment, and pulling back the foam reveals the control console. The controls are off to the sides, so the displays are, I'm sure, packed away inside the shrouds.

Shrouds and panels unloaded, and the many displays are neatly slipped in their protective slots. I'm holding one to show you the method of connection. Each panel has four SD4(a) connectors, two in each lower corner. The outer connectors are for the EPS; the inner ones are the ODN. This 'outer power, inner data' configuration is largely standard for display components. Two sets of each allow for daisy chaining displays together. Which of the connectors functions as 'input' and which as 'output' is determined internally, which makes hooking them up pretty much foolproof.

The method of assembling the shell and displays is largely identical to the D&R module, so while the guys tramp back and forth with parts I'll stay with the control console. Here it is ready to be slotted into the finished module.
Since you've seen several of these consoles assembled so far, you've noticed that there are many standardized parts common to all of them. These allow for easy interchangeability, and are located in the same relative positions on the consoles. Four of these are on this console. On the bottom right, by my thumb, is the power switch. A slightly misleading name, because it doesn't actually turn the power off entirely: it puts the console on standby and disables input except for the switch itself. All control consoles can be 'powered down' when they are not directly attended to, preventing accidental activation, but this is more a standard convention than an operational guideline. The power switch also incorporates a general alarm, which indicates any power-related fault. This is triggered when the ship's computer does not receive a signal return from all the components on the board.
Above the power switch is the transfer panel. This keypad unlocks the console for a specific crewman, and enables that crewman to transfer (hence the name) bridge-level control to a subsystems board within the ship. Use of the transfer panel puts the board on standby until a new assign code is entered.
In the top-right is a panel with three sliders called the trim panel. Each trim panel is individualized per module, but the method of operation is the same for all; it enables fine-tuning of various internal sensor returns and alarm thresholds.
The unit with dual red lights is the jam sensor. Monitoring, interception, or jamming of signals is an ever present danger in conflict situations. Direct taps, datacracking, subspace scanning, blocking, etc., can give a hostile opponent access to sensitive data or cripple ship's operations. The computer core monitors data transfer and parity carefully. (Just how is a guarded secret, of course.) When it detects data variance, it trips the jam warning and shuts down the console. The lights alternate in a coded pattern that reveals the source of the jam: a data block, for instance, results in a .5 second alternating flash.
One might think that keypad panels are standardized units, but actually the number and arrangement of keys can vary widely per station. Each keypad is streamlined for rapid and intuitive use for specific applications.
Likewise, the intercom panels all have similarities--call buttons, incoming message lights, integrated speaker/mic, and a slider for initiation and recognition of various alert statuses--but their form and function varies a bit per station.
I'll show you how they all work later, but Eddie's come to fetch my console, and we have a lot of work to get that full-size comm console prepped! Let's get stuck into the comm trunk after lunch, and I'll show you some subsystems components, too.

 

[Donny]

Glad to see you back at it!

 

[publiusr]

I don't trust workmen. See what they did to Buran and Notre Dame?

 

[Bill Thompson]

I promise we'll be careful. Can't vouch for Ernie, though...but we don't let him near the antimatter.

 

[Bill Thompson]

<realworld>
Hi, guys! I didn't want to break the illusion we've set up so far, but I figured it was only fair to y'all to explain why it's been so long since I've posted any new activity. I appreciate that you don't mind waiting for new posts, but I also didn't want anyone to think I've dropped off the edge of the earth or lost interest in my little project! Quite to the contrary, actually.

Part of the delay is in how I'd set up my workflow. When I started out, my "render machine" was a rip-snortin' 2012 Dell Optiplex 380 with a Pentium E5400 and 2Gb RAM, so not exactly what you'd call top o' the line, even for its day. When my Sketchup skillz became too much for it to handle, I maxed out the board with a Core2Duo E8400, Win10, and 8Gb of DDR3. This has been working fine so far. Twilight renders a shot in 12-16 hours. I set the render at night, and finish it off after school the following day--no problems.

The problem lies in my virtual crew of workers: the maquettes have a limited number of poses that I can work with. So far, I have been able to selectively, tweak, scale, and rotate parts of the jumpsuits in Sketchup to give 'em all an acceptable range of motion. But now that Bob and the gang are assembling the major bridge stations, they need to sit, crouch, kneel, and sprawl in various ways. Manipulating the figures manually just isn't giving me the flexibility I need, and as you know, Sketchup doesn't support any sort of character rigging---so I bet you know where this is going! Daz3D, MakeHuman, and Blender all need GPU oomph and an OpenGL greater than, oh, say, one. A major update to the hardware loomed on the horizon.

I'd love to make my own system with one of them new-fangled Ryzen APUs on a B350M motherboard with 64Gb of DDR4....but as a teacher, my budget for this project is approximately $0.00. Plan B is to max out the ol' Optiplex with the biggest, baddest graphics card that would play nice with the E8400. One used GTX1050 later, and we're off to the races! Except the card doesn't fit the Optiplex case. No problem, I have my secondary system, an even-more-paleolithic 2009 Dell Inspiron tower. Also maxed out with an E8400, but only 6Gb of DDR2. Well, we make allowances where we can.

The good news is, everything works. I've been doing all sorts of research with MakeHuman and Blender, and how they play together. Now I have an existential problem. Sketchup Make 2016 is an old platform, and doesn't like Blender at all. Make'16 exports as .dae -- period. Blender can import and export .dae, but badly. So my possible workflows are:
1.) Rig a jumpsuit in Blender, make a pose, import into Sketchup, and proceed as normal.
2.) Make the transition to Blender, import the entire world piece-by-piece, UV map, etc., etc.
Benefit of plan 1: Familiarity with the system, and no change to the 'look' of the renders.
Benefit of plan 2: Blender!, and the possibility of vastly more realistic renders.
Major issue: I am a Sketchup L33T, but a total Blender N00B. The learning curve of Blender is insane--and the school year is about to start. Not the time to begin a completely new workflow.

So that's the situation as it stands. Lots of work behind the scenes but no shiny new renders to show for it. At this point, all I can say is-- Watch This Space!
</realworld>

 

[Psion]

... Major issue: I am a Sketchup L33T, but a total Blender N00B. The learning curve of Blender is insane--and the school year is about to start. Not the time to begin a completely new workflow....

Well, Bill, there are plenty of people around here with Blender experience who can help you out. I recommend going straight for 2.80 now, before any muscle-memory gets committed to the old way of doing things. My work suffered greatly when 2.49 transitioned to an almost totally new interface with 2.50 on. I found myself using it just to rough-out meshes for Second Life and for very little art. 2.80 brings with it another such speed-bump, but this version feels right somehow and I find it a lot more exciting. The only downside is that you might loose a few add-ons. It's also a shame we've lost the game engine, but I'm optimistic about Godot or Unity as alternatives.

As far as your choice of computing platforms: be on the watch for closeouts, refurbished units, and used machines. A machine built in 2012 is severely out-of-date by now. Those new AMD chips are much cheaper than equivalent Intel processors and that will have the effect of knocking down processor costs as the summer wraps up. Watch Newegg, MicroCenter, Amazon, and Walmart like a hawk and you can snag wonderful deals. Also: DRAM prices are expected to crash by the end of the year; there's a glut on the market.

Another consideration is that Dell tower of yours: an ATX case will support any ATX motherboard -- keep an eye out for cheap ones and pull the old, Dell motherboard to make room for your new one. That saves you the cost of the case and the power supply.

I'm just starting to spec out a new Ryzen-based system to replace my aging main desktop, and I'm planning to invest in an X570 motherboard, but instead of putting the latest Ryzen wonder in its socket, I'll likely opt for a cheaper, generation two processor. I'll keep the RAM light for now, maybe only 8GB, but come Christmas, I'll replace that with 32 or maybe even 64GB when it's cheap. I can upgrade to the latest generation three processors at that time, too. That won't save me any money, but it will spread the cost of making a kick-ASCII system much easier to endure than doing it all at once now.

 

[seanr]

YO!!!!!!
Sorry for the necropost, but how in the EFF have I not seen this before!?!?! This is BRILLIANT! LOL

Fantastic work, sir! I dearly hope you're able to get back to this at some point as it is one of the most awesome and hilarious approaches to this set I've ever seen. I'm working on this set myself, but only a few segments (I'll probably only ever do the full build for the TVH version).

 

[seanr]

BTW, more where this came from if you need a stand-in.

 

[Bill Thompson]

YO!!!!!!
Sorry for the necropost, but how in the EFF have I not seen this before!?!?! This is BRILLIANT! LOL

No reason to be sorry...I'm glad to see the thread back on the front page, to be honest. The thread's not dead...just sleeping.

Here's an update for you (and everyone else who's been following the narrative, and waiting for me to get on with it already--)
It's been a busy couple of years, what with the unnamed virus of unspecified origin a few years back. I haven't had a chance to build the narrative structure with the rigged models, but I have been building lots of stuff in my spare time.

...The warehouse in its updated form, with the second floor, entry, all the museum exhibits, and yes, gift shop, is done. That was a lot of fun. I even gave it a real, physical location in Blue Lake, California; and advanced the whole city to the 23rd century.
...The LIFEBOAT is completely realized, and stuffed with all the unseen mechanical bits that make it real. The lifeboats were never seen, but I'm really, really pleased with how it turned out, and how it works with the aesthetic of the era. I can't wait to show you!
...I've tried a Phase II-style update on a Starliner, deck by deck, just to see if Franz Joseph's deck plans translate to 3D.
...The reason I've held off on the narrative aspect of the build is down to one reason: Unreal Engine 5. Oh, my freakin' goodness. I so want to do this as a photorealistic series with a video component. It's a steep learning curve, but I think it's do-able.

Oh, my workflow got an update, too. The old Dell got an upgrade to a Precision 5810 workstation. Not new, but new-ish. Xeon 8 thread 3.5 GHz processor, 32 gigs of DDR4 RAM, and the old GTX 1050. It can handle anything I throw at it without even breathing hard. Got it on Ebay for a song, and it makes me giggle at what a rip-snortin' system it is.

 

[publiusr]

Still don't see the union label