3DAd astra per aspera

wibble

Thread Thumbnail: Subject to change



Hallo everyone, since I have been working here on one single project for a decade now, I thought it might be time to show you what else I have been doing over the years.
I'll start with the two projects in the most presentable state.

First: the inevitable Enterprise Redesign


























And Second: the matching K7

publiusr

Similar to the third from the right (top row) here

https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/1-1000-nx-0002.351975/#post-5435110

I might have made the pylons a tad thicker..but love the ready room instead of the turbolift

wibble

Thank you @publiusr for your reply.
The pylons are just placeholders at the moment. Therefore they most likely will still change a bit. But making them thicker? I'm not sure if I would like that. Maybe I try, we will see.

Glad you like the "ready room". That was an idea floating around in my mind for quite some while now and therefore a very important feature to me. It's not supposed to be the ready room, though. It's my interpretation of the circular conference room that we have seen in The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before.
And just in case you are wondering how it is accessed: I did add a second door to the bridge and a small corridor behind it.


While the turbolift itself now is where it actually belongs. I admit that this is a bit tight, but as long as it isn't sticking out of the hull I don't care that much.

evil_genius_180

Nice work so far. According to the old blueprints as well as Matt Jefferies' intentions, the bridge was always supposed to have an access corridor around it. It was just never shown on screen.

publiusr

Speaking of Jeffries, the side view of TOS Enterprise above the D-7 has an odd lower dome...Other than just a notional sketch...I wonder if there may not be another explanation.

Remember the grainy, aft 3/4 view of Enterprise as it just begins to "round" the planet during an orbit?

That lower dome looks almost pointed.

I have this theory that the use of the green screen "ate" into the outline of Datin's 11 footer such as to change it's outline on screen.

One possible project might be to get a true Kerr/Casimiro model, line up that 3/4 view... and morph it to match that screen outline and see what you have there. I bet it matches that side view sketch then.

A good future project.

TOS Enterprise had a lot of looks.

wibble

evil_genius_180 wrote: »

According to the old blueprints as well as Matt Jefferies' intentions, the bridge was always supposed to have an access corridor around it.

That's really interesting. I didn't know that. Well every time i think I had an idea of my own. As long as you don't tell me that it was Jefferies' original intention to have the conference room behind the bridge while everyone thought that tube would be the turbolift housing.

evil_genius_180

wibble wrote: »

evil_genius_180 wrote: »

According to the old blueprints as well as Matt Jefferies' intentions, the bridge was always supposed to have an access corridor around it.

That's really interesting. I didn't know that. Well every time i think I had an idea of my own. As long as you don't tell me that it was Jefferies' original intention to have the conference room behind the bridge while everyone thought that tube would be the turbolift housing.

No, no conference rooms in the bridge turbolift. I'm not even sure that was on his original plans. Jefferies was an Air Force veteran, and he hated when he had an equipment issue and he had to move away from his station for someone to come in and fix it. His idea was that there was an access corridor around the bridge so that techs could fix things without the bridge officers needing to move from their posts.

Here's a link to the bridge schematic from the 1970s tech manual:

https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/sftm/01-06-10.jpg

wibble

That's odd, I even know this schematic, I just never noticed the service corridor. And there is even the second Exit Door that I always thought was an addition just for the animated series.

evil_genius_180

The second door was added for the Animated Series. That book came out in 1975, TAS ran from 1973-75. Franz Joseph also got a lot of cooperation and material from Gene Roddenberry when he was working on the blueprints and tech manual. So, it's possible he had inside information on the door. I think it may have been planned as early as TOS season 4, which never happened.

wibble

I just saw the latest Episode of Strange New Worlds season 2 ... and holy shit was that good. I wasn't really sold on season 1 (except of the finale) but the last 3 episodes totally restored my trust in that production team and Star Trek as a franchise overall.
Admittedly I don't like the exterior appearance of the Enterprise itself. Which is a shame 'cause the spaceships have been the reason why I liked Star Trek in the first place. But in every other aspect this show is just grand.

Sorry, a bit of topic but I just needed to get that out.

evil_genius_180

I still haven't made it through SNW season 1. As for the Enterprise, I like it but it could better. The design is kind of simplified compared to the ST ships of old. But that's a complaint I have about a lot of the newer ships. Using things like the neck of the new Enterprise as an example, the neck sides are straight up and down, not bowed out like the TOS and TMP Enterprises. Plus, everything is just tacked on, not much flows together in complex curves. I know why they're doing it, to make the ships easier (and cheaper) to build. Plus, there's the issue where they scaled up the ship. It's now 442m long, which makes it hard to convince me that the ship would be refitted to 305m for TMP.

wibble

evil_genius_180 wrote: »

I still haven't made it through SNW season 1.

Keep on. Sure taste is debatable, but I say it's worth it.

And the Enterprise, yes I don't hat it, but I don't like it either. Although I don't have an issue with the size, given I'm just working on a version that is considerably larger itself. It's what it is now and not worth braking ones had about it. And I have to say that I didn't like the TOS Enterprise either (have been introduced to Star Trek trough the Motion Pictures). Considering that, they did a good job in making an Enterprise that is just like the original.

wibble

I probably should still finish a few things before I start cutting in windows. But I just couldn't wait to see how it would look.

ashleytinger

Oh that's fantastic

wibble

@ashleytinger: thank you

Unlike Picard I didn't need that reunion of the old TNG crew onboard the 'D' to know that the carpet is one of the things I miss most from 90's Trek. Therefore ...



Might have to tweak it a bit more, though.

evil_genius_180

I really like the insets you did for your windows, and that glass dome looks fantastic. (I like the carpet too)

evil_genius_180

wibble wrote: »

Although I don't have an issue with the size, given I'm just working on a version that is considerably larger itself. It's what it is now and not worth braking ones had about it.

The problem with size is this: you're messing up what came before for no good reason. For whatever reason, they decided to make Discovery 750m long. That's longer than a Sovereign class ship. In order to not have a >300m ship not look puny beside it, they scaled up the Enterprise to 442m. I already mentioned the issue with the refit being 305m. In Star Trek VI, McCoy says "My god, that's a big ship," in reference to the 466m Excelsior. But, it's not that much bigger than the Constitution class that they all served on, according to retroactive continuity, and it's absolutely dwarfed by the Crossfield class. (I know, that was supposedly classified) But, it makes even the Galaxy and Sovereign classes smaller by comparison.

Now, in the grand scheme of things, none of this really bothers me that much. I don't lose sleep or anything over it. It's just irritating. They said from the beginning that Discovery (and now SNW) was meant to fit into existing canon, yet they do stupid stuff like this for no good reason. There was no reason the Crossfield class couldn't have been 350m or 400m long. Then they could have still made the Enterprise around 300m and left the rest of canon in good shape.

wibble

Okay last post for tonight. If you just ignore my model for a moment and look at the plane in the background. That's how I would like my hull material to look like in the end. If anyone has valuable information about how to achieve that, it would be highly appreciated.

wibble

The room behind those windows. I don't know how far I'm going with this, 'cause you really don't see much of it from the Outside.




Edit: did tweak materials a bit. Still not satisfied with the carpet, though.



Edit 2: Another day, another material test. Might leave the carpet now as it is.

publiusr

evil_genius_180 wrote: »

wibble wrote: »

https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/sftm/01-06-10.jpg

We got to see that exit by the screen in TAS
http://www.danhausertrek.com/AnimatedSeries/Bridge.html
https://www.google.com/search?q=TAS+star+trek+bridge&rlz=1C1GCEB_enUS1064US1064&oq=TAS+star+trek+bridge&aqs=chrome..69i57.6671j0j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:5312609c,vid:Posia6-NP04


You have given the secondary hull a deep chest---thank you for that.

wibble

publiusr wrote: »

You have given the secondary hull a deep chest---thank you for that.

Not really sure what you mean by 'deep chest' but you're welcome anyway.

wibble

A few close-up's that I also wanted to share.








And a closer look to the bridge. Obviously still a lot to do here.

StarCruiser

Okay - ergonomics comes into why the original bridge had the consoles shaped as they were.

The viewing angles need to be such that a user doesn't have to twist their neck too much to see what they're doing. Same goes for accessing control panels - having them sloped more makes it easier for human hands to reach out.

While I'm not a complete fan of the Strange New Worlds Enterprise - and there are serious issues with the design - some aspects of the new bridge are fairly close to Matt Jefferies' original concept.

wibble

@StarCruiser: I'm almost afraid to ask but are you suggesting that I have to redo the consoles?

StarCruiser

Just saying what I think.

It's entirely up to you, it's your project!

wibble

Okay thanks @StarCruiser. I probably won't change them just yet, 'cause it's only meant to be seen in exterior shots and for that it's not worth the effort. Although your critique was valid. I intent to use this bridge later as template for a high poly model. If I come to that I will definitively follow your advice.

Another bridge shot with new and better carpet and - more important - new hull material. Not yet what I was looking for, but looks pretty cool nonetheless.


Although, on second thought, it can also look somewhat awkward.

wibble

And I did add a row of red lights to the hangar doors. 'cause they obviously where missing a row of red lights.

Warp Propulsion Laboratory

I like the detail around the planetary sensor dome very much.

publiusr

Agreed.

By deep chest—I mean a teardrop…not just a cylinder.

By having the nacelle supports forward—it gives you a larger shuttlebay.

wibble

wibble

Warp Propulsion Laboratory wrote: »

I like the detail around the planetary sensor dome very much.

Thank you. I took inspiration by 2009's Star Trek for this one. The Greebles inside the lit rings I took from a stargate that I attempted to build a few years ago and never finished.

publiusr wrote: »

By having the nacelle supports forward—it gives you a larger shuttle bay.

Yes that is one of the benefits. I am actually planning a pretty large shuttle bay. Like this one from the motion picture: here and here
The other reason why I chose angled pylons - besides the aesthetic one - is that I wanted it to line up with the engine room. Which in my version is above the yellow circle thing, that I intend to be the antimatter storage hatch.

New Set of Windows. Some of the few windows the original studios model saucer actually had. This time without inset, those I want to spare for crew quarters.



I also find out interesting new things about materials every day. For example the dark grey metal around the windows has the exact same colour like the blueish grey stripe below it. That it appears so much darker seems to be only due to its metallic value.

The room behind those windows is some sort of crew-lounge I guess. Where they play 3D Chess and listen to Spock playing the lyre.


Pictures on the wall are the first two renders from the previous post, while the one in the middle isn't from me. This one I found online and used it as environment map for the other two.