I first encountered Star Trek when I was in Elementary School. I was home sick from school, and my mother plopped me down in front of an HBO showing of TWOK. It was already in progress, and it was just starting the shuttle-pod approach to Enterprise. The absolutely stunning reveal of the ship was pure magic. No other ship, no other incarnation of the ship has been as "real" to me as that one. I went on to watch all of TOS, and TNG, and all the movies (though I admit I haven't watched as much of the spinoffs).
For years and years I attempted to build the AMT/ERTL kit, but despite my best efforts it either didn't come out right, or broke not long after completion (the last one broke free of it's moorings and plummeted to my desk below, breaking the Nacelle Pylons off. The repair was never as good as the original build.
I went on to become a Draftsman and later an Engineer, and I definitely credit Engineer Scott as my inspiration. The tools of my trade are such that I now have the skills to approach my first love spacecraft and give it the quality design and build it deserves.
My approach to this TMP Enterprise is from the inside out. I started with the Strategic Designs deck plans for NCC-1701-A, and generated 2-D CAD plans using AutoCAD. As the copy of AutoCAD I have is from my days as a Draftsman, it is not one of the modern versions (R-13 from about 15 years ago). I believe that Form follows Function, therefore the modifications (extensive) to the SD plans are based upon that idea. Much of the additional changes will be done as the ship is built. I know the rendering capability of AutoCAD is low, but it is enough to identify what is built. Once done, I plan to port it to Blender for actual quality rendering and/or animations. So, on to the first pictures (pretty basic):
You can see here U-Deck (bottom) and T-Deck (top). I am holding off on the Deflector and associated compartments until I have actually built the surrounding decks and structures. The large gray box on the bottom left is the Antimatter Fuel Container, which feeds into the bottom end of the Vertical Intermix Chamber (a discussion on the placement of that is in the Tech Forum here: http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=90908 ). visible protruding into U-Deck. The box aft of the VIC will contain the Tractor Beam. U-Deck is mostly batteries, fuel handling, and ventral Phasers, so while there is a T-shaped corridor (with Turbolift at the extreme aft end), most of it is "engineering spaces". Note the Jeffries Tube extending from the lateral corridor to the Tractor Beam Housing. The outer limits of the spaces and walls will be defined by the hull and structural components when they are filled in (after completing the remaining deck plans for the secondary hull).
T-deck has the large volume for the Botanical Garden, with two corridors extending aft on either side. Lining the outside edge and aft end of this deck are Escape Pods (yellow). Forward of the Port side escape pods you can see a piece of the turbo-lift. The Turbo-shaft is T-shaped, with the top of the T crossing laterally, crossing the shaft extending aft to connect down to U-deck and up to the lower shuttle hangar decks on S-Deck. The aft compartment contains the pool portion of the gym. While the SD plans call for a pair (one on each side) of Transporter Rooms and Battery Rooms moving from aft to fore, I am likely to convert the battery rooms (or at least part of them) into the remainder of the Gym (or at least part of it). Note the inside of the small compartments outboard of the corridors aft of the Botanical Garden: these will be heads (I am going to ensure there are multiple "public" heads on each level that will have "public" access).
In the coming days, I will flesh out these rooms, and work my way up the ship. I know I am building this backwards from how virtually everyone else appears to have done it (everyone else I've seen starts with the Bridge and works their way down - if it helps, I did the 2D drawings in the conventional manner). While she may not be much to look at - yet - I trust that over time this model will show itself to be true to the spirit of what was on screen (though if you read the tech discussion some of the scenes just are not going to be quite possible in Main Engineering - and I will discuss in detail those issues when I get to that deck). I welcome any feedback, comments, or encouragements. I especially welcome constructive criticism, as I know that teams do much better jobs at dealing with design issues than individuals.
And now, the wife is reminding me to take out the garbage, so I will leave my long-winded post here, and pick up this discussion later.
CTM
*Note to Moderator, I am using my own bandwidth for image hosting.
For years and years I attempted to build the AMT/ERTL kit, but despite my best efforts it either didn't come out right, or broke not long after completion (the last one broke free of it's moorings and plummeted to my desk below, breaking the Nacelle Pylons off. The repair was never as good as the original build.
I went on to become a Draftsman and later an Engineer, and I definitely credit Engineer Scott as my inspiration. The tools of my trade are such that I now have the skills to approach my first love spacecraft and give it the quality design and build it deserves.
My approach to this TMP Enterprise is from the inside out. I started with the Strategic Designs deck plans for NCC-1701-A, and generated 2-D CAD plans using AutoCAD. As the copy of AutoCAD I have is from my days as a Draftsman, it is not one of the modern versions (R-13 from about 15 years ago). I believe that Form follows Function, therefore the modifications (extensive) to the SD plans are based upon that idea. Much of the additional changes will be done as the ship is built. I know the rendering capability of AutoCAD is low, but it is enough to identify what is built. Once done, I plan to port it to Blender for actual quality rendering and/or animations. So, on to the first pictures (pretty basic):
You can see here U-Deck (bottom) and T-Deck (top). I am holding off on the Deflector and associated compartments until I have actually built the surrounding decks and structures. The large gray box on the bottom left is the Antimatter Fuel Container, which feeds into the bottom end of the Vertical Intermix Chamber (a discussion on the placement of that is in the Tech Forum here: http://trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=90908 ). visible protruding into U-Deck. The box aft of the VIC will contain the Tractor Beam. U-Deck is mostly batteries, fuel handling, and ventral Phasers, so while there is a T-shaped corridor (with Turbolift at the extreme aft end), most of it is "engineering spaces". Note the Jeffries Tube extending from the lateral corridor to the Tractor Beam Housing. The outer limits of the spaces and walls will be defined by the hull and structural components when they are filled in (after completing the remaining deck plans for the secondary hull).
T-deck has the large volume for the Botanical Garden, with two corridors extending aft on either side. Lining the outside edge and aft end of this deck are Escape Pods (yellow). Forward of the Port side escape pods you can see a piece of the turbo-lift. The Turbo-shaft is T-shaped, with the top of the T crossing laterally, crossing the shaft extending aft to connect down to U-deck and up to the lower shuttle hangar decks on S-Deck. The aft compartment contains the pool portion of the gym. While the SD plans call for a pair (one on each side) of Transporter Rooms and Battery Rooms moving from aft to fore, I am likely to convert the battery rooms (or at least part of them) into the remainder of the Gym (or at least part of it). Note the inside of the small compartments outboard of the corridors aft of the Botanical Garden: these will be heads (I am going to ensure there are multiple "public" heads on each level that will have "public" access).
In the coming days, I will flesh out these rooms, and work my way up the ship. I know I am building this backwards from how virtually everyone else appears to have done it (everyone else I've seen starts with the Bridge and works their way down - if it helps, I did the 2D drawings in the conventional manner). While she may not be much to look at - yet - I trust that over time this model will show itself to be true to the spirit of what was on screen (though if you read the tech discussion some of the scenes just are not going to be quite possible in Main Engineering - and I will discuss in detail those issues when I get to that deck). I welcome any feedback, comments, or encouragements. I especially welcome constructive criticism, as I know that teams do much better jobs at dealing with design issues than individuals.
And now, the wife is reminding me to take out the garbage, so I will leave my long-winded post here, and pick up this discussion later.
CTM
*Note to Moderator, I am using my own bandwidth for image hosting.
I didn't know R13 had a 3D capability.
I use 2008 at work and its 3D leaves a bit to be desired at times. Whose first born would I have to kidnap to talk you into giving me a copy of your .dwg when you're done? 
