Warped9's Concept Shuttle

[BolianAuthor]

Hi, all...

A while back, I became intrigued by one of Warped9's concepts for the Class-H shuttle he's working on, and I had asked him if it would be okay with him if I kind of played with it, and fleshed it out a bit.

So... now that I'm taking a small break from my Gemini plans, I started to give the shuttle a go. I took the basic form of his concept, and installed the details like windows, doors, and greebles from his more recent concept onto that existing frame, to see how it'd look.

I have also enlisted the help of my good buddy backstept, to build the shuttle in 3D, so we can see how it'd look as a viable 3D craft, in full color and markings, so I will use this thread to post his WIP images.

Below is my guide for the fore and aft details, and below that, is the first WIP shot. Enjoy.

Shuttle parts by Warped9, arrangement by BolianAuthor

3D shuttle model by backstept

 

[kkozoriz1]

That looks great! Very TOS like. I can't wait to see the finished product.

My one concern is the landing skids. The look a little flimsy. Perhaps a slight flare on the bottom?

 

[BolianAuthor]

Thanks. Yeah, I will leave the response about the landing gear to Warped9 himself, since he has a better idea of what he has in mind in that regard than I do.

 

[kkozoriz1]

D'Oh! You're right. Forgot it was his design.

 

[Warped9]

As I PM'd BolianAuthor although I had done numerous perspective sketches from different angles to get a feel for the design seeing it as a 3D render gives it a whole other dimension which I quite like. I'm thinking I will have to revisit the design. I mighn't necessarily re-incorporate back into my TOS shuttlecraft plans, but I could work on both designs in tandem because I might have just struck onto something decent with the design.

And candidly it is conceptually similar to what I have in mind for the actual "real" version of the TAS shuttlecraft from "Slaver Weapon."

One little thing I notice is off on this 3D render is that the leading edge of the bow is straight whereas on the drawings it is slightly curved. But then this is just getting started.

 

[backstept]

yeah that render was super super early, and super rough

 

[Warped9]

^^ No probs. Yet already since this has come back to my attention I'm envisioning details that I had not really thought about since setting it aside. I'll get some drawings done.

Essentially:
- spar like attachments for and aft of the main stabilizers near ground level that will incorporate a bit of flaring or thickening of the stabilizers where they touch the ground. They'll be part of the antigrav system
- a forward landing strut with its own shorter spars.
- three panels on the upper forward hull (space & planetary sensor arrays) that mimic the three forward viewport panes seen on the TAS shuttle.
- triangular like indentations on the lower forward sides of the hull evoking the elongated triangular shapes on the forward sides of the TAS shuttle.

 

[backstept]

here's where I'm at:

started from scratch since the last pic
still to come: bottom half of the hull, nacelles, details, and lots and lots of smoothing

 

[BolianAuthor]

That looks great! Very TOS like. I can't wait to see the finished product.

My one concern is the landing skids. The look a little flimsy. Perhaps a slight flare on the bottom?

I looked at my refs, and found this drawing Warped9 did, that illustrates a type of forward landing gear for this type of shuttle... I think it could work well, as well as look good.

Drawing by Warped9

 

[backstept]

Warped9, would you mind posting some of your perspective sketches?
the orthos I have are fine, but without perspective or shading it gets a little mind numbing at times

 

[Warped9]

^^ I'll look for them.

That looks great! Very TOS like. I can't wait to see the finished product.

My one concern is the landing skids. The look a little flimsy. Perhaps a slight flare on the bottom?

I looked at my refs, and found this drawing Warped9 did, that illustrates a type of forward landing gear for this type of shuttle... I think it could work well, as well as look good.

Drawing by Warped9

The above image is what I have in mind for the "real" version of the TAS design from "Slaver Weapon." Note some of the main details are very similar to what is to be incorporated into my TOS Class F3 that backsptept is working on.

 

[TOS Purist]

The nacelles should definitely go UNDER the "wings." Putting them on the top and making them that stubby is just giving me nasty flashbacks to ST09. Oh, the horror...

 

[Warped9]

^^ Then I'd lose the visual connection and similarity to the TAS design. After all the whole point of the exercise was to create a more credible live-action version of the TAS shuttlecraft from "Slaver Weapon."

 

[USS Mariner]

The nacelles should definitely go UNDER the "wings." Putting them on the top and making them that stubby is just giving me nasty flashbacks to ST09. Oh, the horror...

Oh for the love of Xst.

 

[kkozoriz1]

Loving the reworking of the TAS shuttle. It would be interesting to see the same thing done with the Aquashuttle. I'm not sure the big shuttle from Mudd's passion would even fit in the shuttlebay.

 

[TOS Purist]

^^ Then I'd lose the visual connection and similarity to the TAS design. After all the whole point of the exercise was to create a more credible live-action version of the TAS shuttlecraft from "Slaver Weapon."

Well then...at least make the nacelles longer.

Have you thought about how you plan on attaching the nacelles? As they are now, they're just kind of "floating" there, and the TAS episode doesn't really make it clear how they're bolted on.

 

[Warped9]

^^ Yes, I've got that covered.

Loving the reworking of the TAS shuttle. It would be interesting to see the same thing done with the Aquashuttle. I'm not sure the big shuttle from Mudd's passion would even fit in the shuttlebay.

I've got ideas. But suffice to say that my interpretations of the TAS shuttles will out of necessity be smaller than how they were depicted onscreen.

 

[TOS Purist]

^^ That makes sense, since if those shuttles were built as live-action props, they would certainly be smaller. A larger area is easier to animate moving characters in, which is why a lot of the TAS shuttles were so huge. It's kind of funny that you make the TAS shuttles smaller, since one of your projects was scaling the Galileo shuttle to be larger (a cool project, btw).

 

[Sarvek]

I love where this project is going. Great work.

 

[Warped9]

^^ That makes sense, since if those shuttles were built as live-action props, they would certainly be smaller. A larger area is easier to animate moving characters in, which is why a lot of the TAS shuttles were so huge. It's kind of funny that you make the TAS shuttles smaller, since one of your projects was scaling the Galileo shuttle to be larger (a cool project, btw).

No choice in it. The full size exterior mock-up of the Galileo was simply too small (at about 20-22ft.) to have an interior even remotely resembling what we saw onscreen.

My impression is that few people have ever really made a serious effort to render an integrated TOS shuttlecraft. I feel most people kind of shrugged it off or simply made the exterior big enough to fit the fullsize interior seen onscreen, and then of course you have another set of problems accommodating a number of 32ft shuttlecraft within the E's limited space.

As for the TAS designs no one really thought of the ramifications of such large vehicles. Hell they even drew the hangar deck waay oversized that it couldn't possibly have fit within the E's hull.