NCC-1701 USS Enterprise Deck by Deck - WIP

[havoc92]

Well, vacation ends today; but, work continues:

This is my rendition of the "core". This is the primary reaction chamber feeding into
main engineering..

..and this is what it's looking like in place at the moment.

It consists of large and small segments at the moment. The smaller segments will
wind up being anchor points connecting the larger portions to the dorsal spine.
The half-round purple and gold section in view will end up being the seat these
sections rest in. I've got a ways to go in finishing the core out, obviously.
The next step is to design the connections and ejection seats.

 

[havoc92]

makes me appreciate just how fragile the design really is.
This looks just like AUTOCAD.

It was definitely a tight squeeze getting those lines up and around the accessway. I'd intended to come in underneath but there is simply no
space. The feed lines are the exact same diamater going down the pylons as what is internal to the nacelles so that they'll mate up without major problems.

I was thinking from your internal plans There might be reason to re-hardpoint the hull in accordance with these under hull details...like Air Locks in these unused and odd shaped spaces near the hull.

Fabricate primitve transporter emitters for the out side.
Emergency hatches
Small integrated flush vents
waste dump hatches
Utilities hatches could be added along the secondary hull spine for starbase hook up.
Even those famed but never seen retracting phasers.

This is just a great guide to what the exterior should look like instead of the completely smoothed surface. Infact this could actually dictate what the hull plating should look like as well...something we haven't seen on this design.

Well, for now the Hull is simply a working shell. The windows aren't cut in or anything else yet for that matter. And I hadn't really
planned on leaving it a completely smooth surface.

 

[Saquist]

Well, vacation ends today; but, work continues:

This is my rendition of the "core". This is the primary reaction chamber feeding into
main engineering..

..and this is what it's looking like in place at the moment.

It consists of large and small segments at the moment. The smaller segments will
wind up being anchor points connecting the larger portions to the dorsal spine.
The half-round purple and gold section in view will end up being the seat these
sections rest in. I've got a ways to go in finishing the core out, obviously.
The next step is to design the connections and ejection seats.

I had no idea you'd go to this amount of detail...I like it.

 

[havoc92]

Well, vacation ends today; but, work continues:

This is my rendition of the "core". This is the primary reaction chamber feeding into
main engineering..

..and this is what it's looking like in place at the moment.

It consists of large and small segments at the moment. The smaller segments will
wind up being anchor points connecting the larger portions to the dorsal spine.
The half-round purple and gold section in view will end up being the seat these
sections rest in. I've got a ways to go in finishing the core out, obviously.
The next step is to design the connections and ejection seats.

I had no idea you'd go to this amount of detail...I like it.

Well, if you're gonna get dressed for the prom, you might as well dance lol.

 

[Saquist]

Oh indeed.
My thoughts exactly.

 

[havoc92]

Not much headway in the past few days. Been playing around with all options for a core ejection and I'm right back to ejection off the spine. Just don't see any other way to do it. So the spine supports are going to have to be beefed up.

So this is the core in place now. The linkages between the modules still need to be modified; but, the base
ejection mechanism is now in place. The modules will travel perpendicularly to their posture and then be swung
up at 46+ degrees vertical for the final push. This will leave all the modules with a clear shot upward save for the
uppermost module. That said, the attitude they are left in allows for a mechanical "push" out the back and a timed
charge to propel them vertically. It seems workable; so, that's where I am.

 

[havoc92]

More progress; but, it feels like I'm crawling here.

The walled in section that holds the core is progressing. I've trimmed it and done a better job centering it to the space. The original unit I crafted from the prints
was too big for the space; so, that's been remedied now. This shows the viewports cut in for diagnostic checks. The window sections aren't in place here.

This view shows the window in place along with the placement of the wiring trunks that have been tied into the lines along the spine of the ship.

And finally an aft view.

The decks now have to be cut to fit the new Core and support structure. And the plasma runs need to be joined to the core. Still a lot of work
to do to get this where I want it. But I'm pleased with the way it's turning out.

 

[TIN_MAN]

It's neat how you're tying together FJ's original design with later established tech! And you haven't really had to change anything major.

 

[havoc92]

It's neat how you're tying together FJ's original design with later established tech! And you haven't really had to change anything major.

I think it's just a matter of FJ working at a time before a lot of the terminology had been established and certainly before there was the budget to do what was done with the later shows. So I'm just trimming back later versions to make a more simplistic looking core
to fit the existing design.

 

[blssdwlf]

I don't know if you have considered it, try using those red hexagonal screens for your "inspection viewports" as TOS used those alot. Nice work, keep it up

 

[havoc92]

I don't know if you have considered it, try using those red hexagonal screens for your "inspection viewports" as TOS used those alot. Nice work, keep it up

Thought about that; but, I needed something that could seal the internal portion of the ship off as the back side of the chamber will exit to space for ejection of the core. There won't be a direct access to the core; but, I can live with that. As long as instrumentation can be brought in close proximity, I think regular maintenance is taken care of.

 

[havoc92]

Lots of tedious work going on for the last several days.

The structural supports for the Dorsal section are in progress. Behind that, you can see the modified inner and outer
dorsal skins with newly cut windows. With the amount of odd geometry involved, these were cut in using the slice tool
rather than booleaning them out. I did a rough pass at using boolean operations on this; but, Wow....

Here's another shot showing the work to seam the dorsal structure up to the structural supports for the lower hull.
This did involve Booleans. Sucked; but, it worked out ok with two days worth of work on both structures at this point.



Ok, one final word today is a little special. I'm going to name drop a bit here in a good
way. Some know that there has been an ongoing debate on other sites and via email as to whether this beasty should have a warp core. I started building mine based on evidences of
it in the FJ plans and based on arguments from the Geek squad that it should be there. Thanks
guys. That didn't settle it for more than a few. I won't knock them as their arguments were
good and a couple argued to play devil's advocate for me. Ultimately, I decided to try and
settle the matter by getting an official word on it. Sooo... hail Mary through another individual who loves bananas, and there was an official response.

“Warp core is horizontal under the floor of engineering. Exits out the back.”

..words as good as gold. I've thanked the man privately and will now thank him for the
record publicly for chiming in when he probably had better things to do than settle this little
dispute lol. As it happens, this fellow took up the Matt Jeffries plans and got the official
okie dokey from the Star Trek Art dept on the matter. Definitive.. I think so. So, Thanks
go out to Doug Drexler for the assist. Very much appreciated sir.

The one caveat is that we're talking, still, two different sets of plans with main engineering
located in entirely different places. So, some investigative work is in order and I may have
to alter the main engineering floor again to do what I'm intending. We'll see.

NOTE: No, I do not have direct access to Mr. Drexler.

So, Once again, Thanks a mill Drex. And I'm off to bed and back to work.
More to come

 

[Saquist]

I didn't think these cores were ejectable.
Well Drex is a good source for this, glad he gave you his time.

 

[havoc92]

I didn't like the way the dorsal structure was coming along; so, I reworked it. It looks a little more sound to me at this point.

There's a little left to do to finish it up yet; but, I should be finished with this tonight.

 

[Saquist]

Can you illuminate on why this particular grid patter was chosen?

 

[havoc92]

Can you illuminate on why this particular grid patter was chosen?

Certainly. There is a lot that went into the decision; but, ultimately, "chosen" is an apt term to apply.

I started with the horizontal and vertical beams seen in the earlier pics. Two problems began to evolve as I moved forward with this idea. One, the placement of the windows began to dictate where the structural members could be placed such that it seemed it would result in a weak design. That nagged at me but not as much as what ended up happening on the leading edge of the dorsal neck. Carrying that design to conclusion would have resulted in more than half the structural load sitting on a single spar in the front. And it would have called for a lot of really odd sized and shaped panels for the skins. So, I pitched that idea, griped, reimported my mesh and started
from the base form again.

From here, I decided the spars should be on the diagonal with some horizontal and vertical members. But, in the process, I also moved
the placement of FJ's windows. He had them almost literally sitting on the floors. I moved them to mid deck level. Did a structural reinforcement with a mid deck horizontal spar and then scratched my head as to how I would handle the forward section. Everhart presented the answer there. So, the design ends up being an interpretation of Everhart. It's not without its problems; but, it's far superior to what I started off with.

 

[TIN_MAN]

Ah, as soon as I saw that I thought "cool, this matches Everhart's construction B/P's" but I thought maybe it was just a fortunate coincidence? Good job there, this just keeps getting better and better!

 

[havoc92]

Ah, as soon as I saw that I thought "cool, this matches Everhart's construction B/P's" but I thought maybe it was just a fortunate coincidence? Good job there, this just keeps getting better and better!

Trying to incorporate the best of everything into her to make her as good as she can be. Where ever I can draw from external sources to improve what I have, I'll do it. She's going to have to live up to my imagination or this is a waste of time lol.

Edit:
Here's a pic of the newly cutout windows in the dorsal skins. Hadn't posted it yet I guess..

 

[BolianAuthor]

As always, beautiful work.

 

[Saquist]

Can you illuminate on why this particular grid patter was chosen?

Certainly. There is a lot that went into the decision; but, ultimately, "chosen" is an apt term to apply.

I started with the horizontal and vertical beams seen in the earlier pics. Two problems began to evolve as I moved forward with this idea. One, the placement of the windows began to dictate where the structural members could be placed such that it seemed it would result in a weak design. That nagged at me but not as much as what ended up happening on the leading edge of the dorsal neck. Carrying that design to conclusion would have resulted in more than half the structural load sitting on a single spar in the front. And it would have called for a lot of really odd sized and shaped panels for the skins. So, I pitched that idea, griped, reimported my mesh and started
from the base form again.

From here, I decided the spars should be on the diagonal with some horizontal and vertical members. But, in the process, I also moved
the placement of FJ's windows. He had them almost literally sitting on the floors. I moved them to mid deck level. Did a structural reinforcement with a mid deck horizontal spar and then scratched my head as to how I would handle the forward section. Everhart presented the answer there. So, the design ends up being an interpretation of Everhart. It's not without its problems; but, it's far superior to what I started off with.

I thinks thats a great explanation of what I see.

It's a common misconception that in space there is no gravity and that thus gravity isn't a factor which is far from the truth.

Is it me or does the cage concept for the dorsal section just seem structurally weak? I'm imagining torsional stress between the Primary hull and the Secondary hull and can't break the perception that the cage is going to be far too flexible considering the masses at either end of the neck...especially the entire secondary hull acting against those thin piles.

I thought there should have been 3 very large single section stiffners at the top and bottom of the neck as well as one in the middle for rigidity. I figure those sections would be at least 3 times the thickness of the current sections.

Then to actually control the torsional stress 2 direct vertical sections Running from the front of the base of the neck directly to the Saucer and the other running from the Back of the Crown of the Neck down to the middle of the neck base meeting the Secondary hull.

Since the problem with the neck is the awkward angle and running structural supports, I feel not even that is enough and that a one more stiffener is necessary to run from the middle stiffener section down in the back and another in the front from the middle stiffener section up...

That should remove a lot of play if the Primary and Secondary hull decide to go in two different directions.

Even then I think the Dorsal also needs to be buried in the (so to speak) in the Secondary hull....but I'm no Engineer...just a drafter.