Warp shuttle Surak

[Bill Morris]

This is a rough start at planning a schematic of this thing. The dimensions should be okay. I used the official length and measured Andy Probert's large images to calculate the beam and height. The mass figure could be wrong.

But there are questions to be answered before I draw in the gumdrops. Am I right in taking that big tube in the aft of the shuttle as an egress port? I assume the warp sled itself to be unmanned. There sure doesn't seem to be room in there for Vulcan-sized folks. Where's the warp engine? Does my terminology on the schematic require some tweaking?

What about the names Tai class for the sled and Atai class for the shuttle? Just fanon?

Here's an interview with Andy Probert about it:

http://round2models.com/articles/probert-interview

And here's a spread about the model:

http://www.luckyredshirt.com/vshuttle/vshuttle.htm

 

[Timo]

The tube is indeed intended to fit the docking ports of the TMP starship. We see it doing so in the movie! It would make little sense to use it as a docking adapter but not as an egress port, necessitating egress by transporter or spacewalk... However, it's questionable whether it can be used for egress on planetary landings, because supposedly the "receiving" starship provides the mechanism for opening the sliding doors. Supposedly, those vertical window slits coincide with a side door that's used for planetary landing egress.

There doesn't seem to be any sitting room for pilots in the sled, as per this view:

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:Surak_shuttle,_separating.jpg

No central bump there...

One wonders if the pilots of the shuttle aren't sitting somewhat above main floor level, in that curious "peak" of the bow compartment.

Also, it might be worth noting that the shuttle appears armed, with phaser turrets similar to those of the Enterprise - above midhull and below bow.

Tai and Atai are pure fandom...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sarvek]

Looking good so far. Were you going to show the inner working of the warp nacelle/impulse thrusters?

 

[FalTorPan]

Check out this interview that I conducted with Andrew Probert in 2005. The page features a size comparison of the warpshuttle "cab" and the smaller, conjectural shuttlecraft which Probert had painted in his renditions of the TMP Enterprise landing bay interior.

http://trekplace.com/ap2005int01.html

 

[Patrickivan]

Check out this interview that I conducted with Andrew Probert in 2005. The page features a size comparison of the warpshuttle "cab" and the smaller, conjectural shuttlecraft which Probert had painted in his renditions of the TMP Enterprise landing bay interior.

http://trekplace.com/ap2005int01.html

That was a great interview...

And nice work on the shuttle, LCARS!

 

[Bill Morris]

Looking good so far. Were you going to show the inner working of the warp nacelle/impulse thrusters?

Yes. That's what I meant by "drawing in the gumdrops," which in this case comes after settling whatever issues there might be with this ship, largely because of the apparent need to show that small aft view in order to clarify separation of the shuttle from the sled and making sure there's room for all the necessry callouts within the limited space (800 x 600 pixels displayed on an LCARS computer).

Check out this interview that I conducted with Andrew Probert in 2005. The page features a size comparison of the warpshuttle "cab" and the smaller, conjectural shuttlecraft which Probert had painted in his renditions of the TMP Enterprise landing bay interior.

http://trekplace.com/ap2005int01.html

Thanks, FalTorPan. I noticed you wrote warpshuttle (solid word), as did Bernd on EAS, while in the Star Trek Encyclopedia it's warp shuttle (two words). For the schematic I have to pay attention to terminology as well as numerical values and architecture. Also, since in that interview Andy Probert suggested that the shuttle itself would become a standard Starfleet vessel, maybe I should show the shuttle in the blue color scheme I use for Starfleet vessels and keep the sled in the colors shown here.

About the warp engine, the only space I see that's big enough is forward of the impluse engine at the aft of each nacellle, meaning two small, synchronized warp engines. I also wonder what kind of propulsion the shuttle has. Does it actually have impulse power and the ability to land on a planet and return to orbit? Or is it just RCS to separate from the sled and dock with a starship and later return to the sled? It doesn't have nacelles. And can the sled get home on its own (unmanned) if the shuttle remains with the destination vessel?

The term mating/demating is used for the mechanism that mates/demates the Space Shuttle to/from a carrier aircraft.

 

[Bill Morris]

Okay, here's the updated version: