U.S.S. Enterprise, an on-screen reference

[Maurice]

Ah, the wee little Enterprises...

Station Approach (The Trouble With Tribbles - The Ultimate Computer) [2] - AMT kit. Aft view between the nacelles. Only ever used with K7 element. Check out the lighting cable on the connecting dorsal!

I'm going to assume you typed AMT kit on this by accident.

The teardrop shaped superstructure seen here is consistent with the 11' model, and nothing like the AMT kit's. Furthermore, the model's internal lighting is 100% consistent with the the 11', right down to the not-lit square on the top of the saucer in front of the port nacelle. Finally, you can see that the inboard details on the starboard nacelle are just planted on to the cylinder, not in an indent as on the port nacelle.

 

[Tallguy]

I'm going to assume you typed AMT kit on this by accident.

The teardrop shaped superstructure seen here is consistent with the 11' model, and nothing like the AMT kit's. Furthermore, the model's internal lighting is 100% consistent with the the 11', right down to the not-lit square on the top of the saucer in front of the port nacelle. Finally, you can see that the inboard details on the starboard nacelle are just planted on to the cylinder, not in an indent as on the port nacelle.

YIKES! You assume correctly! There's nothing about that shot that doesn't scream 11 footer! Thanks for the catch.

 

[Maurice]

I'm going to assume you typed AMT kit on this by accident.

YIKES! You assume correctly! There's nothing about that shot that doesn't scream 11 footer! Thanks for the catch.

I thought as much.

 

[Tallguy]

It makes me think of the tiny metal one made for Catspaw.

The problem is, of course, they all look a lot like the Enterprise.

 

[Green Shirt]

It makes me think of the tiny metal one made for Catspaw.

The problem is, of course, they all look a lot like the Enterprise.

Yeah, more or less.

 

[Search4]

Just found this series of posts... well first thank you for all of the hard work - amazing and impressive!

And secondly, you know Shatner would be screaming "get a life" right about now, right?

(I can't wait for TAS).

 

[Captain Robert April]

I'm going to assume you typed AMT kit on this by accident.

The teardrop shaped superstructure seen here is consistent with the 11' model, and nothing like the AMT kit's. Furthermore, the model's internal lighting is 100% consistent with the the 11', right down to the not-lit square on the top of the saucer in front of the port nacelle. Finally, you can see that the inboard details on the starboard nacelle are just planted on to the cylinder, not in an indent as on the port nacelle.

YIKES! You assume correctly! There's nothing about that shot that doesn't scream 11 footer! Thanks for the catch.

I think the same can be said for the shots of the ship orbiting the station.

The only confirmed use of an AMT model in that episode is from inside Mr. Lurry's office looking out the window.

 

[Captain Robert April]

And, my first semi-successful animation....

Not sure where that stutter is coming from..

 

[Tallguy]

I think the same can be said for the shots of the ship orbiting the station.

The only confirmed use of an AMT model in that episode is from inside Mr. Lurry's office looking out the window.

No, that one I think is the AMT kit. The shots where the ship is on the near side of the station appear to be a still of the 11 footer, but the shots where she's on the far side are not. The nacelles aren't paralel so it is not the 11 and probably not the 3 either. It looks pretty AMT-ish.

 

[Tallguy]

Just found this series of posts... well first thank you for all of the hard work - amazing and impressive!

And secondly, you know Shatner would be screaming "get a life" right about now, right?

(I can't wait for TAS).

Thanks. And I have a life, that's why it wasn't done sooner!

I might get started on TAS this week.

 

[Shaw]

I think this might be the first ever Enterprise model, the 4 inch balsa and cardboard one...

Besides the fact that I doubt that it was 4 inches in length (it was most likely about the same size as the early sketches, many of which were drawn on 8.5"x11" sheets), the warp engines were thicker and the secondary hull was completely different than the final version (the demo model wouldn't have a fan tail or hangar, and had a dome at the front of the secondary hull).

But the best way to attempt to identify these models is to do side-by-side comparisons and look at what features seem to match correctly... like this.

And it would seem that I was wrong in my original belief that the small Enterprise in Doomsday Machine was an AMT model, it has the same features (and more to the point, lack of features) as the 3 inch models made for Catspaw.

Hopefully Tallguy will forgive my earlier mistake.

But it does seem that the Enterprise shown behind the K7 space station is the AMT kit.

 

[Christopher]

Okay, just to sum up, how many different miniatures were used to represent the Enterprise during TOS? There's the 3-footer, the 11-footer, the AMT kit, now apparently the "Catspaw" model... am I missing any?

 

[Captain Robert April]

Point conceded on "Tribbles"; I'm content to be half right on that one.

Three-footer, eleven-footer, 18-incher, pendant....no, I think that covers it.

 

[Tallguy]

And it would seem that I was wrong in my original belief that the small Enterprise in Doomsday Machine was an AMT model, it has the same features (and more to the point, lack of features) as the 3 inch models made for Catspaw.

Hopefully Tallguy will forgive my earlier mistake.

But it does seem that the Enterprise shown behind the K7 space station is the AMT kit.

Wow, what a find! Nice catch Green Shirt, and thanks for hounding this down, Shaw (as always). This is the sort of thing that makes this project really rewarding for me. I'll update the docs on Google accordingly.

And, my first semi-successful animation....

Not sure where that stutter is coming from..

That's just nice. I was a little worried that I'd put those shots together and see my theory totally fall apart.

Okay, just to sum up, how many different miniatures were used to represent the Enterprise during TOS? There's the 3-footer, the 11-footer, the AMT kit, now apparently the "Catspaw" model... am I missing any?

That does seem to be it (not counting refurbishing of the models into various states) . So now the Catspaw ship is a "real" Enterprise! Shiny!

 

[Psion]

Y'know, I've always assumed that tiny Enterprise shown in "The Doomsday Machine" wasn't a model at all, but simply a picture. You'll notice there's no perspective shift as the ship moves closer to the planet killer's mouth. It's as though someone took a photo (perhaps of that first model) or a painting and filmed it.

 

[trevanian]

Y'know, I've always assumed that tiny Enterprise shown in "The Doomsday Machine" wasn't a model at all, but simply a picture. You'll notice there's no perspective shift as the ship moves closer to the planet killer's mouth. It's as though someone took a photo (perhaps of that first model) or a painting and filmed it.

Yeah, I tossed that out a page or two back but I don't think there were any takers.

Since the company credited on this isn't one of the principal ship shooters, I'm thinking most of the distant CONSTELLATION shots are still cutouts.

 

[cbspock]

WOW, this is fascinating. Great stuff!!!!

So do you plan on doing this for the remastered versions


-Chris

 

[Tallguy]

Y'know, I've always assumed that tiny Enterprise shown in "The Doomsday Machine" wasn't a model at all, but simply a picture. You'll notice there's no perspective shift as the ship moves closer to the planet killer's mouth. It's as though someone took a photo (perhaps of that first model) or a painting and filmed it.

Yeah, I tossed that out a page or two back but I don't think there were any takers.

Since the company credited on this isn't one of the principal ship shooters, I'm thinking most of the distant CONSTELLATION shots are still cutouts.

I think that they are either stills, or (in the case of the 11 foot model with nacelle and running lights working) a locked off shot that is slid through the frame. (Please, somebody translate this into actual film terms.)

I think the most fascinating use of stills for a very dynamic shot is the "surrounded" shots from Enterprise Incident.

But they are shots of models in any event. We're just trying to figure out which ones.

WOW, this is fascinating. Great stuff!!!!

So do you plan on doing this for the remastered versions

No, for two reasons. 1) these are the originals. Anything else is at best a distant second. And 2) the remastered shots don't lend themselves to a catalog of re-use they way that the originals do, just because for the most part they don't have to. I'd be more than happy for someone to use my catalog as a jumping off point for a TOS:R shot list. It would be interesting how often they got into the spirit of "stock shots" and how often they said "well, they would have used a new shot if they had been able to". I would also be curious how many of the library shots they duplicated (even once) and how often they used them. Obviously they did Planet Away and Planet Towards. But how much beyond that?

 

[Captain Robert April]

Well, I'm having fun...

 

[Maurice]

But the best way to attempt to identify these models is to do side-by-side comparisons and look at what features seem to match correctly... like this.

And it would seem that I was wrong in my original belief that the small Enterprise in Doomsday Machine was an AMT model, it has the same features (and more to the point, lack of features) as the 3 inch models made for Catspaw.

Looking at these, it looks like the neck is different from image 3 and and Catspaw toy.

The second image sure looks like a 1:1 match for the Catspaw toy!