TAS Shuttlecraft Copernicus

[aridas sofia]

The other day I posted in Warped9's thread about his excellent Galileo research. I recommended that a person trying to rethink the shuttlecraft Copernicus from "The Slaver Weapon" should consult the shuttlecraft art of Matt Jefferies, the car designs of Gene Winfield, and their own sense of what seems "right". I decided that instead of typing a thousand more words on the subject, I'd let a few pictures do the work.

Here I've gone back to the original TAS design, and reworked it using stylistic touches garnered from Galileo designer Winfield's "Reactor" (which itself appeared as the "Jupiter 8" in "Bread and Circuses"). I've also taken a few cues from Jefferies' original shuttlecraft design, and from a few TMP designs like the tram. I've tried to blend it all into a sensible design -- something I wasn't sure when I was starting out was possible and still be able to retain any link to the TAS ship. Anyhow, here it is. You be the judge. The scale depends on how big you want to make the Galileo, which is included for reference:







You can click on the images for larger versions of the files. Comments are welcome -- it's a work in progress, of course.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Not bad.

Not bad at all.

 

[Wingsley]

Just my observation: if you look at the screencaps of "The Slaver Weapon"...

http://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=14

It appears that Copernicus is significantly larger than these comparisons to the Galileo suggest. Copernicus seems almost like a TAS "runabout" than a shuttlecraft. Maybe it's just me, but this screencap in particular...

http://tas.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=14&pos=17

makes the ship's length porportion seem greater than your rendering. Looks from "The Slaver Weapon" as if there is room for an airlock-like aft compartment, as well as the cabin amidships where Spock examined "the box".

 

[aridas sofia]

Since I'm trying to retool this design to be something that might have been able to appear in TOS, I had to deal with the size along with the shape. I was also trying to deal with the problem of fitting the ship into a realistically-sized hangar deck by reducing the size a bit. It's about as big as it can be and still fit on that deck, or just as importantly, below on the maintenance deck.

Based on later examples, I'd guess that a TOS "runabout" would not be able to come aboard. It would fly alongside and personnel would beam over.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Not bad, Aridas, not bad at all. That's essentially what I was talking about when I mentioned the tendency of things in TAS to be ... oversized (or else, for all the people in TAS to be about three feet tall???).

My only quibble would be the curviness you implemented. It's a style thing, and I see where you're coming from. But you could have made the structure more facetted (like the original presentation and like the TOS shuttle) without significantly altering what you're presenting here.

Also, the whole thing is slightly LESS massive than the Galileo (assumed from the smaller total volume) so I think that the nacelles could be slightly smaller... they "feel" a little large for the design you're presenting (though perhaps having the larger nacelles and smaller overall hull would give a faster ship?)

Just my 2cents...

Just a minor quibble... overall, this is what I was thinking of.

 

[aridas sofia]

introducing "curvi-ness" was a tough call. I wanted to get a bit of Jefferies and Winfield in the design, but the Galileo's richness is very subtle. In the little details. At first glance it looks like a box, but in fact it is a damned stylish box.

Instead of trying to go that direction, I went with the curves of the original Jefferies shuttlecraft, and Winfield's "Reactor" show car. The difficulty of making something like this would probably break the budget for a full size set piece.

And yet, underneath it all, it is still a box.

And yes... I was thinking that the similar nacelles would make this a slightly faster boat. In my cross section, the Phase 2 shuttle is for planet-falls, and Galileo is the multipurpose shuttle. The original Jefferies design is bigger, and fills the interstellar role. This one might do the same -- only for a smaller crew and/or less gear. It certainly will fit in the ship easier than the original Jefferies shuttlecraft.

 

[Sarvek]

I like your take on the shuttle. It seems smaller and more compact than the Galileo. It is interesting how you used the automotive industry look to it.

 

[Kaiser]

I like it as well the curves make it look as cool as a 1991 corvette

 

[Warped9]

Interesting and well executed aridas, but I must say it looks less like the original TAS design (in certain respects) than what I've taken criticism for (meaning my TAS adaptation rather than my Class F based TOS variant). If it's in scale with the TOS shuttlecraft then it looks like it would be rather tight fitting inside.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Warped9 said:Interesting and well executed aridas, but I must say it looks less like the original TAS design (in certain respects) than what I've taken criticism for (meaning my TAS adaptation rather than my Class F based TOS variant). If it's in scale with the TOS shuttlecraft then it looks like it would be rather tight fitting inside.

That's kind of what I was thinking... remember, the Galileo was supposed to carry 7 personnel, but the Copernicus was only shown carrying 3. So, to restate the analogy I mentioned before (that I think Aridas is agreeing with here) this is a station wagon, whereas the Galileo is a minivan.

As I see it, this is essentially a "fast courier" ship, while the Galileo is a personnel/cargo transport which can be modularly refit for other purposes (giant amoeba antibiotic delivery, for instance) when necessary.

The purpose of this thing isn't to move people or stuff, it's to go really really fast.

Which is definitely consistent with the idea of it being used to transport a highly-valuable artifact. It ought to have good sensors, be very quick and very stealthy, and I'd almost be inclined to think it ought to be armed (unlike Galileo). The crew would be a pilot, copilot/navigator and a flight engineer. No "mission specialists" and no passengers.

The main tripping point on this design is that the TAS graphics showed the inside as being large enough for the characters to stand upright. But that, I think, can be attributed to the fact that Filmation was reusing existing character animation overlays and not doing all-new artwork. If you shot this in "live-action" I'd expect to see the characters stooping... almost CRAWLING... to get in and out.

Once you break the "it's gotta be tall enough to stand up in" paradigm, you can make the whole thing work. At least, that's how >I< see it.

 

[aridas sofia]

Well, I'm certainly willing to concede it might be better as a bigger, taller shuttle. But as you can see, it already is longer than the Galileo. To get the ceiling height we saw in "Slaver Weapon" you'd probably end up with a 45 foot shuttle.

This one would fit three, and some gear. It just wouldn't have a busload of space left over. Sort of like Jefferies' Phase 2 shuttle design, but with warp nacelles. If there is a need for a shuttle as big as the one in the episode, then it would likely reside on huge flight decks like that of my Ariel shuttlecarrier, or on ground or star stations. Perhaps as transport shuttles with interstellar capacity, able to hop 3-5 light years at a time. This one OTOH, might have the same range but be able to cover it in much less time. Like Cary notes above -- a courier.

Maybe I'll have to try the other, "finessed boxy" approach for a really big shuttle at some point.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Pretty sexy.

 

[Tallguy]

I'm still going over the thread, but nice work as always.

 

[Griffworks]

One of the fellas from Hobby Talk emailed the pics to me from your thread there. Excellent work as always, aridas. You captured the feel of both designs, methinks. :thumbsup:

 

[Bernard Guignard]

Very Sweet work :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[aridas sofia]

Thanks, guys.

I think these "curvy" designs make sense for an earlier generation of shuttlecraft. Designs like the Copernicus and the first Jefferies shuttlecraft...

...with its sweeping wings, look almost aerodynamic.

A design like this early Jefferies version of the Galileo...

...might mark the turn toward boxier designs. After all, ignoring aerodynamics would seem to require a higher level of technology than obeying its laws.

 

[Wingsley]

^^ I like the top one more. It just needs tailfins to make it look like it comes from an "earlier" era. And fold-in wings to make it easier to store and fit on the hangar turntable.

http://tos.trekcore.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=62&pos=11

 

[Kail]

aridas sofia said:
Thanks, guys.

I think these "curvy" designs make sense for an earlier generation of shuttlecraft. Designs like the Copernicus and the first Jefferies shuttlecraft...

...with its sweeping wings, look almost aerodynamic.

Looks Romulan to me.

 

[aridas sofia]

For what it's worth, that actually works just fine.

From the final shooting script of "Balance of Terror" --

INSERT - SHIP'S VIEWING SCREEN

The attacking vessel can now be seen definitely to be some modified version of a starship saucer main section... but with the dark markings on its underside which suggests a bird-of-prey with half-spread wings. And centered there is a threatening-looking "weapon tube" device. We see it in full size only momentarily... then it launches a torpedo-like bolt of blinding energy from the weapons tube.

HANSON'S VOICE

You see it, Enterprise?! Starship design. Warn Earth... (STATIC CRACKLE)... espionage, stolen our designs... traitors...

Then later, before the reveal of the Romulans, Kirk and Stiles' exchange in the script is:

STILES
(interrupting)

... and in a vessel remarkably similar to ours. The Outpost Commander mentioned "espionage." Add to that the fact it was a sneak attack...

Ericsson is my idea of a TOS "runabout," the discussion of which has been bandied about on this BBS in recent weeks. I have it on the hangar deck in my cross section of the Enterprise in order to fill out the ship with Jefferies designs. Whether it can actually fit there is still debatable. But as a stolen runabout, it could be the genesis of the Romulan BoP design, just as I think it was in real life the genesis for Wah Chang's BoP design.

 

[Tallguy]

Somehow I knew this was going to come up. It's a lot more interesting than I was expecting though.

And the fact that I am now as old as Spock's dad may have me depressed the rest of the day.