My TOS Shuttlecraft...
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
Great job, overall.
A couple of minor points. I think real blueprints use terms like "Section View" or "Centerline Section" instead of "Cutaway."
Also, I'm not sure it's ever been definitively established that Jefferies really designed the shuttlecraft. He was on record in at least one place as saying that he didn't. I've heard a particular auto designer credited instead (the name escapes me).
I've often wondered if Jefferies really did design the version depicted in TMOST as an easier to build option after his streamlined design was ruled out. If you look at it you can see that it is a much more complex shape, with many tapered and curved details that the final design lacks. This is pure speculation on my part, but I can see AMT thinking the design was still too difficult to build and sending it to someone else for a redesign. By the time the "flying cheese box" was delivered it would be no wonder if Jefferies was less than pleased. And by the time the interior was bastardized to incorporate a higher ceiling, he could not be blamed if he disowned the whole mess. I say again that this is mere conjecture, but it might explain some of the contradictory information we've had over the years. I'd love to see someone really dig into the primary sources available to us and get to the bottom of this.
It that's what they were pitching all over the place, no wonder the anthropoids were so mad.
M.
A couple of minor points. I think real blueprints use terms like "Section View" or "Centerline Section" instead of "Cutaway."
Also, I'm not sure it's ever been definitively established that Jefferies really designed the shuttlecraft. He was on record in at least one place as saying that he didn't. I've heard a particular auto designer credited instead (the name escapes me).
I've often wondered if Jefferies really did design the version depicted in TMOST as an easier to build option after his streamlined design was ruled out. If you look at it you can see that it is a much more complex shape, with many tapered and curved details that the final design lacks. This is pure speculation on my part, but I can see AMT thinking the design was still too difficult to build and sending it to someone else for a redesign. By the time the "flying cheese box" was delivered it would be no wonder if Jefferies was less than pleased. And by the time the interior was bastardized to incorporate a higher ceiling, he could not be blamed if he disowned the whole mess. I say again that this is mere conjecture, but it might explain some of the contradictory information we've had over the years. I'd love to see someone really dig into the primary sources available to us and get to the bottom of this.
It that's what they were pitching all over the place, no wonder the anthropoids were so mad.
M.
FANTASTIC work, Warped9! :thumbsup: With your permission I'd like to use these blueprints as the basis for the shuttlecraft I need to build for my "Doomsday Machine" project. (Now all I need are plans for the hangar deck, hint-hint 
)
btw, does anyone know which shuttlecraft (name & number) Decker flew into the planet killer?
)btw, does anyone know which shuttlecraft (name & number) Decker flew into the planet killer?
My understanding is that the shuttle was designed by the aforementioned auto designer and refined by Jefferies.
That being said, what shall we make of this?
That being said, what shall we make of this?
Is it a preliminary sketch, or a sketch showing "what came back" since it differed so much from his drawings? Note it says "as redesigned and built by AMT. Interior also by AMT." That doesn't sound "preliminary" to me; the thing's already built by the time this sketch is made.
And while this is only a sketch (and not a scale drawing), the details of the wedge shape with straight sides are much more accurate to the set piece than the very much more detailed scale drawing by Jefferies in TMOST. If the TMOST drawing came later, why wasn't it as accurate to the set piece as the sketch? I think it's more likely that the TMOST drawing is earlier and shows Jefferies' own redesign of the craft to make it easier to build. The sketch documents the deviations from that design; how AMT bastardized it. Take another look at the TMOST drawing; not only at the side view and top section view, but the small aft view that shows up in one of the Hangar drawings. The sides look definitely rounded in rear view. Jefferies may have had to set aside his ealier teardrop design, but he still planned some aerodynamic curves for the "easier to build" shuttle. Unfortunately, AMT wanted "elementary," not "easier" and wound up delivering something shaped more like a cheese box.
I'm betting that this is a case of MJ disowning the shuttlecraft after seeing what had been done to both his interior and exterior designs.
M.
And while this is only a sketch (and not a scale drawing), the details of the wedge shape with straight sides are much more accurate to the set piece than the very much more detailed scale drawing by Jefferies in TMOST. If the TMOST drawing came later, why wasn't it as accurate to the set piece as the sketch? I think it's more likely that the TMOST drawing is earlier and shows Jefferies' own redesign of the craft to make it easier to build. The sketch documents the deviations from that design; how AMT bastardized it. Take another look at the TMOST drawing; not only at the side view and top section view, but the small aft view that shows up in one of the Hangar drawings. The sides look definitely rounded in rear view. Jefferies may have had to set aside his ealier teardrop design, but he still planned some aerodynamic curves for the "easier to build" shuttle. Unfortunately, AMT wanted "elementary," not "easier" and wound up delivering something shaped more like a cheese box.
I'm betting that this is a case of MJ disowning the shuttlecraft after seeing what had been done to both his interior and exterior designs.
M.
Well, the drawing in TMoST doesn't quite match either the full-scale mockup or the miniature.
It's definitely a preliminary thumbnail made prior to the more detailed drawing that showed up in TMoST, but I suspect it was after being shown what AMT was doing and getting some general measurements, without having the actual construction plans on hand. Odds are, the drawings for publicity materials and the construction of the mockup and miniature was all going on simultaneously, as well as the usual workload on between five and seven episodes at any given time, with Jefferies' familiar drawing being finished before the shuttle itself was even delivered.
In other words, it's not so much "what came back" as "what's coming back." Otherwise, things would match up better with reality, both in this sketch and the final drawing. Might also have been made to answer a writer's question regarding their still-undelivered shuttle in an upcoming episode.
It's definitely a preliminary thumbnail made prior to the more detailed drawing that showed up in TMoST, but I suspect it was after being shown what AMT was doing and getting some general measurements, without having the actual construction plans on hand. Odds are, the drawings for publicity materials and the construction of the mockup and miniature was all going on simultaneously, as well as the usual workload on between five and seven episodes at any given time, with Jefferies' familiar drawing being finished before the shuttle itself was even delivered.
In other words, it's not so much "what came back" as "what's coming back." Otherwise, things would match up better with reality, both in this sketch and the final drawing. Might also have been made to answer a writer's question regarding their still-undelivered shuttle in an upcoming episode.
It was the same guy who designed the Avanti automobile. The name escapes me at the moment, but I know I read it somewhere.
No problem. And, no, we never clearly saw which shuttle Decker bought it in.Professor Moriarty said:
FANTASTIC work, Warped9! :thumbsup: With your permission I'd like to use these blueprints as the basis for the shuttlecraft I need to build for my "Doomsday Machine" project. (Now all I need are plans for the hangar deck, hint-hint
btw, does anyone know which shuttlecraft (name & number) Decker flew into the planet killer?
^I sent you a scan of Jefferies' original, rudimentary, shuttlecraft sketch a while back, along with a profile/bow/aft view from that drawing that I made. That is -- I believe -- the genesis for the design that AMT developed further.
Something to look at just for the hell of it. I've since tried fitting my 25.88ft. shuttlecraft into both aridas' and CRA's cross-section drawings and it seems to fit comfortably in both. And so unless some unforseen and compelling issue arises I see no reason at present to not stay with a 947ft. Enterprise.
Nope. This Loewy guy apparently was doing some work with AMT at the time (remember, they did, and still do, a lot of model cars), and part of that involved doing the shuttlecraft.
MJ's designs were all very aerodynamic, looked very nice, but were prohibitively expensive to build, so as a part of the deal that got AMT the rights to the Enterprise model kit, they also got to design and build the shuttlecraft (and of course, got to do the model kit). And, as has been stated in interviews and cited by me previously, at any given moment in the art department, you could find yourself working on between five and seven different episodes (the one currently filming, two or three in post production, and two or three in preproduction). Farming that project out to someone else in such a way that it frees up MJ and his small staff and doesn't cost the production anything could only have been seen as a blessing.
MJ's designs were all very aerodynamic, looked very nice, but were prohibitively expensive to build, so as a part of the deal that got AMT the rights to the Enterprise model kit, they also got to design and build the shuttlecraft (and of course, got to do the model kit). And, as has been stated in interviews and cited by me previously, at any given moment in the art department, you could find yourself working on between five and seven different episodes (the one currently filming, two or three in post production, and two or three in preproduction). Farming that project out to someone else in such a way that it frees up MJ and his small staff and doesn't cost the production anything could only have been seen as a blessing.
Hmm. Damned shame that AMT's production shuttlecraft model kit bore little but superficial resemblance to the vehicle we saw onscreen. I still recall my bitter disappointment upon opening that box back in the '70s and thinking. "What the hell is this?" upon examining the contents.
Hence my interest in drawing a shuttlecraft that strikes me as somewhat more authentic or at least credible than what else I've seen before.
BTW, CRA, I've tried my 25.88ft. shuttlecraft in your E cross-section as well as aridas'. It looks like it could still work although your maintenance area beneath the hangar deck proper would have to have a greater ceiling height.
*Sigh* Looks like I'm gonna have to do a take on the hangar deck and related sections afterall. (-:
Hence my interest in drawing a shuttlecraft that strikes me as somewhat more authentic or at least credible than what else I've seen before.
BTW, CRA, I've tried my 25.88ft. shuttlecraft in your E cross-section as well as aridas'. It looks like it could still work although your maintenance area beneath the hangar deck proper would have to have a greater ceiling height.
*Sigh* Looks like I'm gonna have to do a take on the hangar deck and related sections afterall. (-:
Let's take a closer look.
Here's my guesstimation:
How's it fit in that?
Here's my guesstimation:
How's it fit in that?
