Sam McCord
Lieutenant Commander
There have been many threads and debates about the exact color of the Enterprise. But what about the shuttle? What are the exact two shades of color on the TOS shuttle?
Exact Color of the TOS Shuttle
- Thread starter Sam McCord
- Start date
White.
Upper half gray, lower half darker gray.
Sam McCord
Lieutenant Commander
So in other words, nobody has ever tried to nail down the exact shade of the gray shown on the actual shuttle mockup.
Correct. Probably because it doesn't matter. Models made using the 'exact colours' more often than not look odd, because they are not lit and processed in the exact way they did it on TV. You'll often get better results doing this by eye rather than relying on exhaustive research of minutiae. If it looks off-white on telly, make your model off-white.
I think the most likely color is standard gray primer. I also suggest repeated viewings of "The Galileo Seven", "Metamorphosis", "The Way To Eden", and any other episode where the full size mockup is seen.
This is also being discussed over on Hobbytalk, mostly because I brought it up because I'm planning a scratchbuild of the TOS shuttlecraft based on my drawings.
When you really look at it in screencaps it could be taken as two-tone with the upper hull light grey and the lower hull and nacelles a slightly darker grey. In some models I've seen folks have made the difference in tones more noticeable. But one could also think the upper and lower hulls are the same tone bit look different because of lighting. That said the nacelles definitely look darker in tone.
Can anyone recall how they coloured the vehicle in TOS-R and perhaps where did they get their information?
When you really look at it in screencaps it could be taken as two-tone with the upper hull light grey and the lower hull and nacelles a slightly darker grey. In some models I've seen folks have made the difference in tones more noticeable. But one could also think the upper and lower hulls are the same tone bit look different because of lighting. That said the nacelles definitely look darker in tone.
Can anyone recall how they coloured the vehicle in TOS-R and perhaps where did they get their information?
I lost my copy in a flooded basement (first edition...sob!), but if I remember correctly, The Starfleet Technical Manual (TOS) had a paint scheme color chart for the shuttlecraft on the schematics page. Not sure if you can find that page online, but might be worth a shot.
I still have an original hard bound copy as well as a soft cover reprint. I'll look it up, but I'm not sure how much credence to give that source given some other things FJ was off on.
Anyway in these things one can be unsure. Do you try to recreate what you see onscreen or do you try to recreate what it actually was knowing that it may not look like what you saw onscreen due to different lighting circumstances? The TMP Enterprise doesn't look like it does onscreen if you paint it exactly as the filming miniature was painted. The TOS Enterprise in TOS-R usually looks darker than it ever did in the original f/x. A perfect example of that is the the TOS-R version of the opening shot in "The Cage"---the ship looks a lot darker there than it does in the original. And "behind the scenes" shots of the TOS 11 footer don't make it look very dark either.
For some crazy reason I remember the nacelles looking more like exposed burnished metal rather than grey. Weird.
Anyway in these things one can be unsure. Do you try to recreate what you see onscreen or do you try to recreate what it actually was knowing that it may not look like what you saw onscreen due to different lighting circumstances? The TMP Enterprise doesn't look like it does onscreen if you paint it exactly as the filming miniature was painted. The TOS Enterprise in TOS-R usually looks darker than it ever did in the original f/x. A perfect example of that is the the TOS-R version of the opening shot in "The Cage"---the ship looks a lot darker there than it does in the original. And "behind the scenes" shots of the TOS 11 footer don't make it look very dark either.
For some crazy reason I remember the nacelles looking more like exposed burnished metal rather than grey. Weird.
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I might give FJ a bit of a nod in this case, since his daughter Karen had direct access to the mockup while it was in that LA salvage yard. Granted, it was pretty beaten up by that point, but it's still something.
I still say you're beating yourselves up over nothing. Do you make it look like it did on screen, or do you make it 'accurate' and spend all your time explaining to people why it looks all wrong? Seems like an easy choice to me.
Even if by some miracle you turned up the exact Pantone or RGB values for the hull, I would not hesitate to alter it if it looked too dark. On screen trumps behind the scenes every time. On screen it's the starship everyone remembers, on the backlot it's a dirty wooden model.
Even if by some miracle you turned up the exact Pantone or RGB values for the hull, I would not hesitate to alter it if it looked too dark. On screen trumps behind the scenes every time. On screen it's the starship everyone remembers, on the backlot it's a dirty wooden model.
Sam McCord
Lieutenant Commander
Look, the reason I posted this question is simply because I know that in many Trek boards, the debate over the Enterprise's hull color has oft come up, and has been a source of much attention and discussion with modelers. I was simply curious if any modelers had ever devoted that attention to detail to the shuttle colors or not, and if not, then why? Simple as that. Especially now, with discussion about a new release of the Galileo kit, and some people scratchbuilding larger version of it on their own, I wanted to know if anyone had researched the exact shuttle colors.
The TOS Enterprise is possibly the most widely made model from Trek, either as physical or 3D, I'd say. That would explain why its exact colour has been the subject of discussion so often. The TOS shuttle I would think not so much although it, too, is popular enough in its own manner.
I'm figuring since it was built in Gene Whitfield's shop, auto primer is the most likely color choice. If it was built by Desilu or in Richard Datin's shop, I'd guess the same shade as the Enterprise miniature, but it wasn't, so...
It may not be possible to determine the exact colour as there are many factors that could influence what you see on the screen.
For example brightness of the lighting, its colour (is it tungsten lighting and therefore yellow biased). The colour of the surrounding environment. Has any colour been introduced by recording onto film and the camera hardware? The only way to know for sure is if somebody photographed the shuttle against a colour correction chart.
So you're more likely to be looking for an approximate colour that looks right against approximate lighting conditions and so on....
It doesn't mean you shouldn't try. I'd look for particular things that might hint at some of the above. In the absence of a colour chart, hue and saturation of crew uniforms might help.
Cheers,
S.O.
For example brightness of the lighting, its colour (is it tungsten lighting and therefore yellow biased). The colour of the surrounding environment. Has any colour been introduced by recording onto film and the camera hardware? The only way to know for sure is if somebody photographed the shuttle against a colour correction chart.
So you're more likely to be looking for an approximate colour that looks right against approximate lighting conditions and so on....
It doesn't mean you shouldn't try. I'd look for particular things that might hint at some of the above. In the absence of a colour chart, hue and saturation of crew uniforms might help.
Cheers,
S.O.
I used the lower hull color Dark Gray FS36176 Light Gray upper? May use 36440 or Russian Topside Gray.
