How big was the Enterprise?
- Thread starter Admiral Jean-Luc Picard
- Start date
But in this instance, there is no visual continuity. If someone from on high officially declared the Constitution class to be over 400 meters long, absolutely nothing would need to change. Same with Excelsior. Hell, the Excelsior class already looked huge when they put next to the Enterprise-D. You want visual continuity? These shots would finally make sense.
Then someone on high will have to do that and make it stick. I can't see Paramount issuing a edict that all ship sizes must make sense from now on, as its impossible to stick to. Reprinting the same old source material is cheaper anyway.But in this instance, there is no visual continuity. If someone from on high officially declared the Constitution class to be over 400 meters long, absolutely nothing would need to change. Same with Excelsior. Hell, the Excelsior class already looked huge when they put next to the Enterprise-D. You want visual continuity? These shots would finally make sense.
And of course, the obvious answer to those pictures is perspective. The bottom one makes the ship look smaller, even if the others make it look larger.
According to Memory Alpha, the Excelsior-class is 34 decks, 8 decks shorter than the Galaxy-class, but still pretty big all things considered.
Exactly what I was thinking. Without any other reference points you cannot really tell where those ships are positioned relative to each other.And of course, the obvious answer to those pictures is perspective. The bottom one makes the ship look smaller, even if the others make it look larger.
And of course, the obvious answer to those pictures is perspective. The bottom one makes the ship look smaller, even if the others make it look larger.
Well, yeah. Perspective is clearly a thing. But those shots of an Excelsior with the Enterprise-D still seem to show a larger Ship. Certainly larger than 467m.
There's also just the feel of the ship. I've always felt Excelsior to be a large ship. Its details certainly point to a bigger ship. Things like her bridge dome or even just the number of windows on the saucer imply her to be big.
It really comes into perspective when you put a model of the Excelsior next to other ships of the same scale.
Now, the NX-01 is probably the best scaled ship in the franchise at 225m. Drexler went to a lot of effort to avoid all the sizing issues that have always plagued the franchise. Here's my old build of an NX refit next to my Excelsior. Both 1/1000 scale. The Excelsior does not look very impressive next to the NX. No way are you getting 2 decks into the saucer, to day nothing of the absolutely tiny bridge.
The same can be said when putting her next to a 1/1000 TOS Enterprise, which itself should be bigger!
And again with Voyager. A ship that was referred to as a small Scout Ship.
Then we have the Defiant, a ship with a ton of scale issues herself, but still worth showing. We know the Defiant is meant to be small, yet here it looks to be the size of the Excelsior saucer.
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You put the work in, well done. Some impressive builds thereWell, yeah. Perspective is clearly a thing. But those shots of an Excelsior with the Enterprise-D still seem to show a larger Ship. Certainly larger than 467m.
There's also just the feel of the ship. I've always felt Excelsior to be a large ship. Its details certainly point to a bigger ship. Things like her bridge dome or even just the number of windows on the saucer imply her to be big.
It really comes into perspective when you put a model of the Excelsior next to other ships of the same scale.
Now, the NX-01 is probably the best scaled ship in the franchise at 225m. Drexler went to a lot of effort to avoid all the sizing issues that have always plagued the franchise. Here's my old build of an NX refit next to my Excelsior. Both 1/1000 scale. The Excelsior does not look very impressive next to the NX. No way are you getting 2 decks into the saucer, to day nothing of the absolutely tiny bridge.
The same can be said when putting her next to a 1/1000 TOS Enterprise, which itself should be bigger!
And again with Voyager. A ship that was referred to as a small Scout Ship.
Then we have the Defiant, a ship with a ton of scale issues herself, but still worth showing. We know the Defiant is meant to be small, yet here it looks to be the size of the Excelsior saucer.
I remember the shot with the Defiant above the Lakota. It was shockingly small placed above the other ship, AND with plenty of breathing space between them.
I think your NX, Enterprise, and Defiant are properly scaled. I think it's just your Excelsior that's off, and yes, a little too small. The Excelsior-class has always been one of Starfleet's larger ships despite being old by Picard's time.Well, yeah. Perspective is clearly a thing. But those shots of an Excelsior with the Enterprise-D still seem to show a larger Ship. Certainly larger than 467m.
There's also just the feel of the ship. I've always felt Excelsior to be a large ship. Its details certainly point to a bigger ship. Things like her bridge dome or even just the number of windows on the saucer imply her to be big.
It really comes into perspective when you put a model of the Excelsior next to other ships of the same scale.
Now, the NX-01 is probably the best scaled ship in the franchise at 225m. Drexler went to a lot of effort to avoid all the sizing issues that have always plagued the franchise. Here's my old build of an NX refit next to my Excelsior. Both 1/1000 scale. The Excelsior does not look very impressive next to the NX. No way are you getting 2 decks into the saucer, to day nothing of the absolutely tiny bridge.
The same can be said when putting her next to a 1/1000 TOS Enterprise, which itself should be bigger!
And again with Voyager. A ship that was referred to as a small Scout Ship.
Then we have the Defiant, a ship with a ton of scale issues herself, but still worth showing. We know the Defiant is meant to be small, yet here it looks to be the size of the Excelsior saucer.
Yeah, this shot...
I hesitate to use the Defiant as any form of measurement. Mostly due to her size still being up for debate. But that shot certainly does point to a larger Excelsior class.
We also have the Bozeman making contact with the E-D's nacelle so we know the exact position of the ships. Makes the E-D look smallish or the Bozeman very large...
And Jellico's Excelsior in front of the E-D giving a maximum size of the Excelsior.
And Jellico's Excelsior in front of the E-D giving a maximum size of the Excelsior.
I forgot about that! You're right, that makes the Bozeman a fair bit bigger. Especially when going by the "official length" of the Soyuz / Miranda being 243 meters, about the same length as a Galaxy class nacelle.
Something to note: Miranda-class and Nova-class: blast off a warp nacelle, and the ship remains intact. Voyager somehow still flying by the end of "Year of Hell, Part II." Then there's the Galaxy-class, stub your toe, warp core goes critical, can't eject the core, KABOOM!!! 
Something to note: Miranda-class and Nova-class: blast off a warp nacelle, and the ship remains intact. Voyager somehow still flying by the end of "Year of Hell, Part II." Then there's the Galaxy-class, stub your toe, warp core goes critical, can't eject the core, KABOOM!!!
I blame this to a bad batch of power couplings
"Must of been that last torpedo. Coolant, we've got a coolant leak! Bridge, we're 5 minutes from a warp core breach, there's nothing I can do!" (dives and rolls under that big door)I blame this to a bad batch of power couplings
I’d like to see an overlay of that and the FJ Booklet of Plans (Achernar) with the bridge dome the same width.
Achernar/Booklet is the closest to the 947 ft. length.
I don’t have it handy, but I know it’s been done. I can’t for the life of me recall who did it though.
That's actually the same shot of the Hood from 'Encounter at Farpoint,' only with the
As you can see by the window scaling for both ships, the rescale doesn't really fly. The shot from EaF more accurately portrays the correct scale. So either Starfleet made two identical-looking ships with different scales, or somebody tried to pull a fast one over on us.
Yeah, the Excelsior was always a big ship. I like to imagine it was a "not broke, don't fix it" design (in-universe), explaining why it's still around in Picard's day. For all we know, it could even still be in production with modern tech inside.
Chronologically, I think the last time we saw an Excelsior was in the early 2380's. By the time of Picard, they seem to have finally been retired after a hundred years of service with a new Excelsior II class taking their place.Yeah, the Excelsior was always a big ship. I like to imagine it was a "not broke, don't fix it" design (in-universe), explaining why it's still around in Picard's day. For all we know, it could even still be in production with modern tech inside.
Remind me, what's the Excelsior II?
