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TOS Shuttle "Upgrade" continuing

Ptrope

Agitator
Admiral
I've decided to completely flesh out the shuttle design I created for B.J.'s January challenge. What's here is the same render set-up as the one I submitted, mostly, but I've been detailing the design to make it more realistic. Once it's done, I'll Poser-ize it, and most likely sell it, if only because of the work involved. Stimulate the economy, dontcha know? ;)

The first thing I did was rebuild the forward windows; originally, they were basically just polys that I inset and changed the material on. I eliminated that, rounded all the corners, and created actual frameworks for the windows, complete with mouldings, outer and inner surfaces, and I figured that they should be flush with the bodywork.

I also completely rebuilt the door, creating a complete doorframe with inner flanging and modeling inside the doorjamb so that it looks like it might actually be functional. I also created an extending set of steps so one can get in and out without having to leap tall buildings ;).

The wings were rebuilt from scratch, and I plan to also do this with the fins and nacelle pylons, but haven't gotten there, yet.

Overall, I scaled the shuttle up about 5%, but it's still small enough that one has to stoop a bit to get through the doorway, especially given that I hinged the door at the top. Inside, however, is plenty of room to stand up.

Speaking of inside, I've built the beginning of a flight deck, and I'm considering what to do with the rest of the space. I think I'll stick with seating for 7, maybe 8, but instead of sitting on both sides of a central aisle, I'm thinking about using seats more like airliners have, with two or three rows of two seats, only along the starboard side; on the port side will be equipment storage lockers. I'm also going on the assumption that a shuttle of this size (somewhat larger than the original Galileo) will function as both transportation and living quarters/lab space; as such, it'll have 'facilities,' workspace, and possibly fold-up sleeping arrangements. Something like an RV for Starfleet ;). There will be engineering space below the floor, and overhead compartments, also like an airliner (after all, it's supposed to be built by the future equivalent of Airbus, right?).

NewGalileo008.jpg
 
Glad you folks like it!

I've started laying out the interior in my head; tonight I started modeling a basic seat, and threw a few extras in just to see where they fit and how many. It looks like, in addition to the two seats for the pilots (not shown), I can fit an additional 6 in the forward compartment easily.

Upgrade003_seats.jpg


I want to give them plenty of room to get in and out of the door, and to and from the front to the back of the shuttle. So far, so good!
 
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Well, you know, I had to have some ass in there to test the seats ... ;)

And while I hope to keep the interior from being too cramped, keep in mind that I still need to install equipment lockers on the port side, overhead compartments over the seats, and the rear facilities and workspace. I'm also thinking about cutting a window into the starboard side for the seated passengers - what do you think? Good idea, or superfluous in a work vehicle?
 
Ptrope: You may want to consider "raising" the floor to reduce the amount of available headspace a bit. This would increase the height of the "Engineering Crawlspace" said to be below the floor. Speaking as a engineer that's had to be in some tight maintenance crawl spaces - - - more room for repairs/work = win.!

;)

Q2UnME
 
Well, technically, the interior of the shuttle is the 'crawlspace' - any user-serviceable areas would probably have hatches in the floor, or in the outer hull, to gain access. I'm not sure that a 'deck and a half' would be the best approach to a transport no bigger than this. When I referred to below-deck 'engineering space,' I meant more for avionics, fuel storage, artificial gravity generators, landing gear, etc., than something like an "engineering room" as on a starship.

BTW, I'm also leaning toward placing monitors where windows might go beside the seating rows - they wouldn't disrupt the outer hull, could function like 'windows' when not being used, and if they were on arms, could swing out to service the entire row. Plus, if a red shirt has to go outside, they could see whether a monster was hiding on the blind starboard side of the ship, ready to leap over and kill Guy as he stepped out ;).
 
I really like this design! The only suggestion I would make would be for the wings to have a folding capability, like carrier aircraft, to allow the shuttles to park more closely in a shuttlebay.
 
Did a bit of work on constructing the interior last night; still a lot of detail work to be done, and obviously I haven't finished the seating yet, but this is a quick shot from the cockpit looking back. You can see the overhead compartments and the port-side lockers. I decided to add bulkheads, but I tried to keep the doorways as wide as possible while still making it practical to have a door that could slide shut. Just beyond the second bulkhead, on the left, you can just see the doorway leading into the head. The doorway in the rear leads to, for now, mechanical space; I made that doorway - and the one for the head - narrower than those in the general cabin. I decided to add Spock to the render to give a better idea of scale.

NewGalileo009.jpg
 
This is really awesome work. I quite enjoy it, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the project!
 
Thanks, guys! I've seen a lot better, but hey, this is fun ;).

Speaking of fun, I believe I have the seats designed:

NewGalileo010.jpg


Of all the things I can do in Lightwave - and frankly, I'm still very much a novice! - I think so far I like making seats the most, because with sub-patches, they're not only easy, they're fun! Sometimes I wonder why some modelers can make such incredible mechanical models, of spacecraft and such, and then the seats are just a couple boxes with a couple slightly-rounded boxes slapped to them for 'cushions.' Me, I'm a big fan of really sculpted sport seats, and when I discovered how easy they are to do, I was really amazed. I wish the rest of the model was that easy - I'd have it all detailed out in a day! :)

EDIT: I worked a bit more on the seat pedestal, adding the arms and an adjuster knob on the right side (not very visible here, and in 'clay' mode), and had to see how it was all looking inside the cabin ...

NewGalileo011.jpg
 
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How about a window for them there on the inside row? Might get awful claustrophobic back there.
 
Not windows, but as we discussed further upthread, here's a screen shot of what I'm working on with monitors on the starboard wall; these are for the back two rows, as the monitor for the front row will be on the bulkhead. I decided to stick with in-place monitors, and tried to design them to look similar to the overhead displays on the bridge.

NewGalileo012.jpg


NewGalileo013.jpg


These could also display an image from outside the ship, so they could function like windows, but with the bonus that the view could be changed, data added to it, whatever you would do with any monitor. But you'd never see Shatner out on the wing ... ;).
 
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Gotta say, I lust after this shuttle design a bit, Ptrope. Good work.

I'm interested to see what you do with the helm and nav/ops consoles, which were horribly minimalist in TOS. Add some bell n whistles, but keep it concert with the overall TOS design philosophy.

Looking great so far!
 
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