Donny's Refit Enterprise Interiors (Version 2.0)

[Norsehound]

That's really nice, but definitely homemade.

You can catch a brief glimpse of Mego's "Vulcan Shuttle" prototype in this commercial... like their vacuformed TMP bridge, it's more of an "impression" than a replica.

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Pretty hilarious that whoever made that mockup thought a shuttlecraft would need its own tactical station

EDIT: Then again, maybe they had reason to. This picture's from the Mego Museum website, part of a handout for the 1979 Toyfair. Looks like someone back then worked out what the interior would have looked like, before it was boiled down to what you see in the toy commercial above. That's a pretty close match to the mockup.

The thought I had was that this was the concept model that was designed to inform that Mego model. That, or perhaps it was inspired directly by it? I can't remember anymore, but it is some of the most direct shots we have into it. The Mego model looks a little more open in the back, though?

I'm excited to see how Donny decides to render this.

 

[Christopher]

Andrew Probert came up with several different modular configurations for the TMP shuttle that were intended for an unreleased(?) model kit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q42h8bely13pxtx/STTMP_Shuttle_Probert.jpg?dl=0

I referenced the modular shuttle design in my second post-TMP tale, Mere Anarchy: The Darkness Drops Again. I thought it was really cool, but I hadn't known about it when I wrote Ex Machina, so I was glad I got the chance to do another story and work it in at last.

 

[JoeRalat]

This will be my last post on this subject here and it should be yours K1productions. I don’t want to take away from Donny’s work..it’s not right..

I will say this.. again you signed up on Monday...post something about me..don’t want to say what it is..don’t want to give your name or Facebook profile..so red flags... I had someone follow me on social media sites and forum site saying horrific homophobic stuff..if you want to continue this conversion..leave Donny’s post alone..and post in my thread https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/star-trek-projects.285166/page-2#post-12726222

I would be happy to,... but I either cannot find the PM option, or it is not available to me until the 14-day probation has passed. I am not sure if it is kosher to post my real or FB name here, so I am currently refraining



Do you plan on modeling the inside as well? If so, have you found images of the forward section and its control panels? I do have an image or two, and will be happy to post them as soon as the 14-day period has passed.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Andrew Probert came up with several different modular configurations for the TMP shuttle that were intended for an unreleased(?) model kit: https://www.dropbox.com/s/q42h8bely13pxtx/STTMP_Shuttle_Probert.jpg?dl=0

Oh, that's interesting. I was just thinking of different sleds they could attach it to; those modules work even better for that purpose.

The thought I had was that this was the concept model that was designed to inform that Mego model. That, or perhaps it was inspired directly by it? I can't remember anymore, but it is some of the most direct shots we have into it. The Mego model looks a little more open in the back, though?

I suspect those were both put together by Mego's people, but it was a concept, and for whatever reason they were limited by what kind of manufacturing tech they had access to, and so these:

...one a toy vehicle that faithfully reproduces the dimensions of the filming model and has an interior that looks like it could plausibly fit inside, and the other a section of the bridge that's shaped fairly accurately, end up looking like these:

Galoob ran into some of the same issues with their TNG toy line from the late '80s; TrekCore ran an excellent series that includes details on how these sorts of things evolve; their bridge playset (that never actually saw the light of day) ran into similar changes from concept to final (intended) production model.

 

[K1productions]

This will be my last post on this subject here and it should be yours K1productions. I don’t want to take away from Donny’s work..it’s not right..

I will say this.. again you signed up on Monday...post something about me..don’t want to say what it is..don’t want to give your name or Facebook profile..so red flags... I had someone follow me on social media sites and forum site saying horrific homophobic stuff..if you want to continue this conversion..leave Donny’s post alone..and post in my thread https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/star-trek-projects.285166/page-2#post-12726222

I never intended to take anything away from Donny's work - his work is amazing and I wished to see more. I was simply meaning to reply on the Voyage Home graphics that were posted here earlier, and it got a little side-tracked. Anything else on that subject will be in the thread you pasted. But as for the Donny subject I have a follow-up question to both him and you.
Would you be willing to share the Voyage Home graphics so that Donny could potentially make a 3.0 version with the 1701-A graphics. I would imagine the model-work wouldn't be an issue since the bridge, corridors, sickbay, etc would all be similar. The hard work would be in re-coloring and of course the change in graphics. The TMP refit internals are among my favorite, but pair that with the wonderful Okudagrams and it would be absolutely amazing.

 

[K1productions]

I think it's pretty clear Joe asked you take this to another thread rather than continuing it here.

I did, and did you read what I said? It had absolutely nothing to do with the argument, and involved the Voyage Home graphics and potential updates to Donny's bridge recreation.

 

[Tomalak]

Sorry, poking my nose in where I should leave it to others...

Oh, that's interesting. I was just thinking of different sleds they could attach it to; those modules work even better for that purpose.

I suspect those were both put together by Mego's people, but it was a concept, and for whatever reason they were limited by what kind of manufacturing tech they had access to, and so these:

...one a toy vehicle that faithfully reproduces the dimensions of the filming model and has an interior that looks like it could plausibly fit inside, and the other a section of the bridge that's shaped fairly accurately, end up looking like these:

I guess at that scale, a proper bridge would have been huge! Playmates shrunk their bridge down massively to accommodate the 4.5" figures, and it's still very bulky. I feel Mego could still have made better choices, making the back right hand quadrant of the bridge with Spock and Uhura's stations, plus the centre chair and helm.

The Vulcan shuttle would have been one big toy, and also a very fragile one if it used the same thin vacuform plastic as the bridge. Still very cool to see these glimpses of products that never happened. It's quite impressive how vast a toy line TMP had, given it wasn't exactly a kid-centric film. You had to wait until Star Trek Generations to get anything like that scale again.

 

[cardinal biggles]

I guess at that scale, a proper bridge would have been huge!

Oh, definitely! I'm just saying that what they planned in the concept sketch above — which looks fairly accurate to the design and proportions of the set — ends up being this crazy thing with random consoles everywhere, and the consoles don't even really try to replicate that shape that was unique to the TMP style.

Playmates shrunk their bridge down massively to accommodate the 4.5" figures, and it's still very bulky.

It ultimately boils down to a trade-off between "how closely can we replicate the set?" and "what will parents be willing to fork over for this thing?", and for what it's worth, Playmates did about as well as they could with it. (It also didn't help that the way their figures were articulated, everybody sat in this weird spraddle-legged position.)

I feel Mego could still have made better choices, making the back right hand quadrant of the bridge with Spock and Uhura's stations, plus the centre chair and helm.

Even if they had rearranged the stations so Science and Communications would be in the area of the bridge they were making, I think I would have been OK with that. Again, if it weren't for the chairs and the stickers (which, though random in their placement, at least look to be inspired by the actual bridge displays and consoles), there's nothing that makes that playset scream "this is the Enterprise." They weren't able to reproduce the unique shapes. Then again, I'm an adult looking back at this 40 years on; if I had been a kid in 1979, I probably would have been all over that set.

 

[Tomalak]

What's particularly odd about the design sketch is that it appears to omit the captain's chair! I think the final version fits in all the main positions, with enough consoles for all the figures they'd released to have a station. The graphics are pretty cool for the time, but I agree it doesn't quite nail the shape of the thing in any meaningful way.

The thing everyone knows about the bridge is that it's circular!

 

[K1productions]

The thing everyone knows about the bridge is that it's circular!

Was this perhaps an odd perspective choice by the artist who made the sketch, or were there plans in the initial stages to make the bridge oval instead if circular? It saddens me that amazing sketches like these were not found in the "Star Trek Phase II: The Lost Series" book. That's not to say there wasn't already a lot of wonderful stuff in there. There just seems to always be so much more wonderful stuff missing

 

[cardinal biggles]

If you look at Mike Minor's color illustrations showing how the Phase II bridge would look (which, IIRC, are included in the PII book), by the time they started building sets, they had committed to a circular floorplan. If there were any thoughts about doing a radically different shape for the bridge, they were probably discarded early on. Both the concept sketch and the final toy looked like they were trying to do approximately 1/3 of the room; the concept sketch has a more squarish floorplan, while the toy ends up more wedge-shaped.

 

[Donny]

Man. So. Many. Side. Threads.

Anyway, here's the test bake results of the Travel Pod. I've exaggerated the shadowing just to show the details, and the docking ring is appearing far more white than the rest, but will fix all that soon. About to start painting!

 

[K1productions]

Looking very gorgeous indeed. Do you plan on making the Orbital Office complex at some point as well? Simple matter of flipping it upside down and removing some segments to turn it into Regula I later :P

 

[Donny]

Looking very gorgeous indeed. Do you plan on making the Orbital Office complex at some point as well? Simple matter of flipping it upside down and removing some segments to turn it into Regula I later :P

I've got some plans for it bouncing around in my head, but dunno when I'll get to it. I just kind of go with whatever I'm motivated to do, day by day.

 

[K1productions]

I've got some plans for it bouncing around in my head, but dunno when I'll get to it. I just kind of go with whatever I'm motivated to do, day by day.

hehe I know how that goes. Its also hard to not get super distracted from time to time. Like, you have a project you should be finishing, but another idea pops in your head, so you shift over and work on that for a while,... then here comes another LOL

 

[Norsehound]

I'm chiming in about the TMP shuttle because I'm still really looking forward to seeing the treatment and love you'll give it. A lot of the cool, rare stuff doesn't see the light of this kind of attention and it's neat when it does.

And Mego's take on the shuttle is the only place I've seen the interior for this vehicle described.

 

[K1productions]

I'm chiming in about the TMP shuttle because I'm still really looking forward to seeing the treatment and love you'll give it. A lot of the cool, rare stuff doesn't see the light of this kind of attention and it's neat when it does.

And Mego's take on the shuttle is the only place I've seen the interior for this vehicle described.

Oh especially if/when we get some gorgeous beauty shots of the TMP shuttle in that exquisite shuttlebay/hangar/cargo deck complex that fills most of the Refit Connie's hull. Easily one of my favorite shots in the whole movie

 

[Maurice]

@Donny may have them already, but Doug Drexler recently reposted pix of the Travel Pod from the Drex Files here (link), including the interior sans actors.

 

[K1productions]

@Donny may have them already, but Doug Drexler recently reposted pix of the Travel Pod from the Drex Files here (link), including the interior sans actors.

Ahh yes, that is the interior shot I was referring to. It is amazing that they went to the effort of making all those details even though you never actually see them on screen (at least not that I can tell). Hmm... now I'm imagining Final Frontier / Undiscovered Country display upgrades in there. Perhaps some similar as we see in the STV shuttlecraft. Just a thought ^_^

 

[Donny]

Got a ton of painting done tonight, but still a bit left to do (the details which appear white have yet to be painted)

It also looks so naked without the red pin striping and decals....