Donny's Refit Enterprise Interiors (Version 2.0)

[Donny]

For anyone wanting to see a fan-made replica of the hinged TMP tricorder, and exactly how it folds up, see here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarTrekTMPappreciationsociety/permalink/2890339357662866/

Also, I've decided I'm going to focus on props for the next few weeks, as it's nice to have low-commitment projects I can finish within a few days. I'll be re-painting some of my older props (TWOK and TSFS phasers/tricorders/communicators) as well as crafting new TMP specifics (phaser, wrist communicator) and other odds and ends. I may also take the time to craft a TUC communicator and tricorder while I'm at it as well.

Sickbay is still on the mind, it's just that environments take a different sort of patience and time commitment. So, let's have fun with props!

Also, I've been itching to model a movie-era ship soon. I'm not quite ready for the commitment a Miranda or Excelsior model would take, but don't be surprised if I start on an Oberth in the coming weeks

 

[cardinal biggles]

Now that I've seen the hinged version, that prop makes so much more sense. It always seemed like the odd man out, even moreso than the bulky TWOK tricorder (which could be seen as an updated version of that modified radiation detector they used in "The Naked Time").

 

[Christopher]

For anyone wanting to see a fan-made replica of the hinged TMP tricorder, and exactly how it folds up, see here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarTrekTMPappreciationsociety/permalink/2890339357662866/

I can't -- it's a private Facebook group. I just get the page heading.

 

[cardinal biggles]

These are the images posted in the Facebook group. He also has a short video clip of him opening and closing the hinged panel.

I'm not taking any credit for these pics; if reposting them isn't kosher, someone let me know and I'll take them down.

 

[Christopher]

^Ahh, thanks. Yes, aside from the differences in detail on the control panel, that's got to be what the movie props were meant to represent, just in some futuristic variant where the hinge and seams were invisible.

 

[137th Gebirg]

That is a very nice prop, but I don't think it's screen-accurate. The caps that Donny found make it look like the back portion folds down to lock the lower door in place. Their prop folds up and over like the TNG tricorder.

 

[cardinal biggles]

The folding one — at least the one that Spock's holding in the engine room — lacks the upper ridge or lip or whatever you want to call it that's visible on the non-folding hero prop (like in the shot with Decker transmitting the code to V'Ger), so there were definitely some differences between them.

While you're right, @137th Gebirg , that the fan-made prop doesn't match the folding one as seen on-screen, I think it's a good attempt to marry the idea of the hinged part to the shape of the "head" of the non-folding model that we're more familiar with.

 

[Tallguy]

That folding one looks like a nice extension of TOS.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

So, apparently, there was at least one hero prop that had a hinged head:

The plastic chips in the Tricorder here look like updated versions of the TOS data tapes/cards.

 

[Christopher]

That is a very nice prop, but I don't think it's screen-accurate. The caps that Donny found make it look like the back portion folds down to lock the lower door in place. Their prop folds up and over like the TNG tricorder.

I don't think "screen-accurate" is a good guide in this case, since we're talking about three different props meant to fake different configurations of the same device -- one permanently closed, one permanently open, one able to flip open. The differences in design are because they weren't meant to be seen in detail, and no single one was a perfect representation of the theoretical in-universe instrument they collectively approximated. What I'd like to see is a best-guess rendering of what that Platonic tricorder would've looked like, both open and closed.

 

[Commodore Miles]

For anyone wanting to see a fan-made replica of the hinged TMP tricorder, and exactly how it folds up, see here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarTrekTMPappreciationsociety/permalink/2890339357662866/

Also, I've decided I'm going to focus on props for the next few weeks, as it's nice to have low-commitment projects I can finish within a few days. I'll be re-painting some of my older props (TWOK and TSFS phasers/tricorders/communicators) as well as crafting new TMP specifics (phaser, wrist communicator) and other odds and ends. I may also take the time to craft a TUC communicator and tricorder while I'm at it as well.

Sickbay is still on the mind, it's just that environments take a different sort of patience and time commitment. So, let's have fun with props!

Also, I've been itching to model a movie-era ship soon. I'm not quite ready for the commitment a Miranda or Excelsior model would take, but don't be surprised if I start on an Oberth in the coming weeks

The Excelsior, might be a bit of a pain to do since it had even more intricate aztec paneling then the enterprise, plus it had a rather chameleon like color blue for its strong-backs, on a side note ILM seemed to have figured out their blue spill problem by the time TSFS because the Excelsior (and Oberth) paint returned to the alternating reflective and matte style paneling of the TMP Enterprise unlike the matte finished Reliant and dull coated TMP Enterprise paint job in TWOK.

A lot more Excelsior studio pics (TSFS and TUC) can be found here:
https://www.thetrekcollective.com/2020/02/excelsior-class-miniature-behind-scenes.html?m=1

 

[CaptainJordan]

For anyone wanting to see a fan-made replica of the hinged TMP tricorder, and exactly how it folds up, see here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/StarTrekTMPappreciationsociety/permalink/2890339357662866/

Also, I've decided I'm going to focus on props for the next few weeks, as it's nice to have low-commitment projects I can finish within a few days. I'll be re-painting some of my older props (TWOK and TSFS phasers/tricorders/communicators) as well as crafting new TMP specifics (phaser, wrist communicator) and other odds and ends. I may also take the time to craft a TUC communicator and tricorder while I'm at it as well.

Sickbay is still on the mind, it's just that environments take a different sort of patience and time commitment. So, let's have fun with props!

Also, I've been itching to model a movie-era ship soon. I'm not quite ready for the commitment a Miranda or Excelsior model would take, but don't be surprised if I start on an Oberth in the coming weeks

And the assault phaser from TUC, as well.

 

[Donny]

And the assault phaser from TUC, as well.

Have you not seen my assault phaser renderings I did back in October?
https://flickr.com/photos/61505200@N02/sets/72157711431575238

The Excelsior, might be a bit of a pain to do since it had even more intricate aztec paneling then the enterprise

Yeah, Aztec-ing is the biggest turn off to tackling the Miranda or the Excelsior at this time. I eventually want to do both, but just not now. Not until my excitement for doing either is strong enough to talk me out of it any longer

 

[Norsehound]

A lot more Excelsior studio pics (TSFS and TUC) can be found here:
https://www.thetrekcollective.com/2020/02/excelsior-class-miniature-behind-scenes.html?m=1

An even better site was shared in the "Excelsior Technical Manual" thread over in Trek Tech.

https://sites.google.com/view/excelsior-thegreatexperiment/home?authuser=0

Has images from the NX version, including some behind the scenes photos of its fleeting appearances in early TNG in the NX configuration.

 

[Commodore Miles]

An even better site was shared in the "Excelsior Technical Manual" thread over in Trek Tech.

https://sites.google.com/view/excelsior-thegreatexperiment/home?authuser=0

Has images from the NX version, including some behind the scenes photos of its fleeting appearances in early TNG in the NX configuration.

Ok, now thats cool.

Edit: thanks to these pictures I just noticed for the first time that the paneling on the rear of the nacelles is sloped like on the Constitution and Miranda.

 

[Norsehound]

It's also got some of the best looks we can see of the NX's bridge pod (which contrary to some models, is not a one-piece dome but has some lights built into it) and the rear shuttle bay's dome.

It's also a nice reminder that all of the orthos of the excelsior are conjecture, and many of them get the details wrong.

 

[Donny]

Allrighty, folks. I'm going to enlist the knowledge of you people here in determining what color the TMP Phasers were painted.

Replicas of the TMP Phaser (both the Roddenberry replica and the Diamond Select Toy version) are depicted as being about a light-medium to medium grey plastic. Because of this, and because of some older pics of the phaser, I've always believed this to be true.

This B&W image doesn't show much, but I'm including it here anyway:


The following photos, I believe, are all of the same hero phaser unit, as the tape around the trigger seems to be present and in the same position in all of them.

The phaser looks grey here, but this could be the quality of the photo. It's written on this photo that the phasers are painted BMW Anthracite Gray, but I don't know the validity of this note, as a google search for BMW Anthracite Gray shows a much more darker, metallic gray.

Here the phaser looks tinted ever-so-slightly blue, and definitely looks plastic.

Here the phaser looks slightly blue as well.


I don't have many other color photos of the phasers as they existed on TMP, so if anyone else has any reference of the actual screen-used props (before they were painted metallic blue and modified otherwise for their appearance in TWOK), please let me know.

We don't see the phaser much in the movie at all, but the clearest image we get is in Ilia's quarters, and here the phaser looks far more blue and a bit darker than it is usually depicted in replicas. This leads me to believe that the TMP phasers were definiltey painted a bit darker and a bit bluer than we commonly believe. This phaser could be a stunt phaser, as it appears to be missing the translucent cylinder in the well behind the control pad, and may be painted differently than the others.


And then, of course, for TWOK, the phasers were painted much more blue and much more metallic. Just providing this image for contrast:


And here is a pic of the Diamond Select Toy:


And the Roddenberry Replica instruction manual, which shows a grey TMP variant, and a metallic blue TWOK variant:




Thoughts?

 

[Christopher]

Here the phaser looks tinted ever-so-slightly blue, and definitely looks plastic.

Here the phaser looks slightly blue as well.

To my eye, they both look pure gray.

We don't see the phaser much in the movie at all, but the clearest image we get is in Ilia's quarters, and here the phaser looks far more blue and a bit darker than it is usually depicted in replicas.

One thought: It's fairly shiny, so it could be reflecting the blue of Spock's uniform. Or maybe the shot was lit or color-corrected to bring out the hue of Spock's uniform and the blue-gray walls.

Another thought: The human perception of an object's color is influenced by its surroundings. Our brains tend to correct for context, and so a gray object worn next to a beige and brown uniform might be perceived as bluish by contrast, since blue and yellow are complementary colors.

Have you tried sampling the colors with the eyedropper tool in a graphics program and seeing what their RGB values are? That's more accurate than eyeballing. Although it wouldn't tell you about how the shots might have been lit or color-corrected differently.

 

[Donny]

Have you tried sampling the colors with the eyedropper tool in a graphics program and seeing what their RGB values are? That's more accurate than eyeballing. Although it wouldn't tell you about how the shots might have been lit or color-corrected differently.

Of course. I'm getting bluish values when sampling color on all the photos. But this doesn't say a whole lot, as generally when color sampling anything that is grey in a photo, you get slight tints of color anyway.

Regarding the Ilia's quarters screencap, the phaser appears blue contrasted to the pure grey of the foyer walls behind it, and compared to the blue-grey of the walls of the quarters proper. While I agree the color grading and such could account for some of this, contrasting it with something that is grey in the photo is further evidence that the phaser is blue-grey.

Also, you can see the butt of the phaser on the far right bottom of the frame, and here it appears blue-grey as well, contrasting with the corrugated light-grey panels behind it:

 

[Workbee]

I originally thought the blue hue from the pic in Ilia's quarters was from the lighting. But looking at other pictures makes me think it does actually have a slight bluish hue. Here are some other links where you can see the prop.
Screencaps of from after Ilia got digitized:
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=594&pid=64044#top_display_media

http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=594&pid=64043#top_display_media

Tops Trading Card "The Phaser Battle"
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61UnyAPxqSL._AC_SL1000_.jpg