Enterprise-A Questions

[DSG2k]

BoBW: [...]

The Sound of Her Voice: [...]

TVH: [...]

One of those examples is not like the others, though.

For 2006, Chevrolet used the new headlights off of the Monte Carlo for the Impala, which was funny because the sculpted plastic didn't quite match the Impala's lines so they stuck out strangely . . . and then the Impala outlasted the Monte Carlo.

Those headlights are parts that, by themselves, do not make the vehicle they came from identifiable. However, make it a headlight and a Monte Carlo fender, and you're on to something. We can try to conjure an image of some other Monte Carlo derivative in our minds, but if one of our suspects drives a Monte Carlo his lawyer would look awfully silly saying "no, no, it could be a remarkable coincidence due to the reuse of the headlight *and* the fender on yet another derivative model that we don't know about."

 

[Dukhat]

So no other ship Starfleet built has a TMP refit secondary hull? You know this how?

 

[DSG2k]

So no other ship Starfleet built has a TMP refit secondary hull? You know this how?

Huh?

A partial secondary hull? That gets tricky. We've never seen another like it, but given the list above it certainly isn't impossible, and it gets less troublesome the more precise we are with acknowledging what we *can* see.

 

[Dukhat]

You’re saying that it would be a coincidence that what we saw on screen could be anything but a refit Connie based solely on seeing 1/3 of what looks like a refit Connie secondary hull. I’m saying that it’s perfectly reasonable to assume that, but it’s not 100% a given. Because we have no idea if Starfleet built other ship classes using that component.

Or if you’re referring to that nacelle and pylon from TVH, same difference.

 

[David cgc]

Is there a program that can turn a physical model scan into blueprints?

I’m pretty sure it’s a standard feature of professional-grade 3D scanners. They’re intended for architecture, construction, and engineering, so tight integration with CAD software is probably a given.

My old job involved processing 3D scans of building interiors, the program we used had a feature that automatically used the point cloud data to generate orthographic floor-plans (and I believe I could’ve gotten a side-view as well, it just wasn’t necessary for our purposes).

I think in ST VI they used a 1/537 but made it more accurate—no 3D print aftermarket bits there—that deserves a tale.

IIRC, they used the same “smoothie” TMP 1/537 kit built for TWOK for all the following TOS movies (except TVH, which didn’t have any distant shots of the ship that required a smaller model). There are some tell-tale details you can use to recognize it, but the two biggest shots it’s used in are probably the first shot of the ship flying towards Spacedock in TSFS, and the shot of it on the Excelsior viewscreen during the space battle in TUC.

 

[Dukhat]

They did not use a model kit for distance shots in TMP and TWOK. They used a specially designed model that was smaller. And they certainly did not use a model kit in TUC.