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3DUSS Excelsior Study Model (Named USS Xavier)
calamity_si361
Posts: 370Member
During the making of the Star Trek III movie, the production designers built several study models of the USS Excelsior to show to the director, Leonard Nimoy. He chose a design that we are now familiar with. This model based on one of the study models that was not chosen. There is only one picture of this particular concept (shown with the model) and I have made several modifications. Firstly, I have completely redesigned the secondary hull into a more squared of version of the Excelsior type. Secondly, I have made the warp engines the same basic shape, but I have added grilles that are intended to look like an step in between those of the Enterprise refit and the Oberth class. Thirdly, I have thickened the pylons into sturdier versions and added impulse engines to the rear and the neck sections. I have also added several hull details seen on the final Excelsior model, such as the RCS thrusters and ventral saucer sensor dome. I have also added several phaser turrets strategically around the vessel and forward and aft torpedo tubes to provide an effective arc of fire. The registry comes from the 'Excelsior Technical Manual - Revived!' written by Praetor on the TrekBBS chat boards. As he writes:
"The initial design, SV-20A, completed in 2268, was quite unconventional in design. It featured a saucer-shaped primary hull in line with a flattened, stepped engineering section. A horizontal A“wingA†supported four twin warp nacelles, two mounted above and two mounted below each at the end of the wing. Warp power would have been provided by a horizontal intermix chamber. Impulse engines were mounted aft, between warp nacelle pylons. The warp nacelles looked radically unique but were nearly the same size as those that would be installed aboard the refit Enterprise. The ship also featured an unconventional navigation deflector A“podA†mounted on the ventral side of the engineering hull."
uss_excelsior_study_model__named_uss_xavier__by_calamitysi-d817m6m.jpg
This is the picture of the original study model which I used to create the model:
"The initial design, SV-20A, completed in 2268, was quite unconventional in design. It featured a saucer-shaped primary hull in line with a flattened, stepped engineering section. A horizontal A“wingA†supported four twin warp nacelles, two mounted above and two mounted below each at the end of the wing. Warp power would have been provided by a horizontal intermix chamber. Impulse engines were mounted aft, between warp nacelle pylons. The warp nacelles looked radically unique but were nearly the same size as those that would be installed aboard the refit Enterprise. The ship also featured an unconventional navigation deflector A“podA†mounted on the ventral side of the engineering hull."
uss_excelsior_study_model__named_uss_xavier__by_calamitysi-d817m6m.jpg
This is the picture of the original study model which I used to create the model:
Post edited by calamity_si on
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Actually, it may be! Although it's not technically canon, Praetor's 'Excelsior Technical Manual" goes on to mention the following:
"While the transwarp criteria introduced the next year would ultimately prompt designers to pursue a more conventional design direction, Starfleet was still very interested in the previous design work done, and asked Dr. Tokogawa to hand over his designs for use on a number of other projects. SV-20B itself served as inspiration for the design of the SV-19 Constellation Class Deep Space Cruiser project that was in work. The Constellation team would seize the promising four-nacelle configuration as its direction. With further work, the final design would see first production as U.S.S. Constellation, NX-1974, in 2284."
As I'm sure you know, the Excelsior study models actually made it into a few TNG episodes where they had "graveyard" scenes. This particular model was definitely in a few scenes of the Zakdorn Salvage Depot in Unification, Pt. 1.
Thanks Evil_G! Yep, I've researched this model extensively as part of the background work on it. Mainly, I was trying to find more pictures of the original study model. (As it happens only one other shot of it exists as part of it's auctioning off...and even then it was missing two of it's warp engines). It's amazing the interesting tid-bits of background info you find out on these things- like the one you mentioned. Did you know that there was another 4 nacelled study model variant that also made it into the junk yard scene and that it was jokingly referred to as the 'Alka-selsior' by the production staff? I almost named this one the same name, but I thought 'Xavier' sounded a bit like 'Excelsior' and was way cooler sounding.
I don't recall hearing that about the nickname, but it's funny.
USS XAVIER orbit.jpg
Thanks Saquist, always great to hear from you mate! Yeah I had fun on this one. I only had that original prop photo to work from and wanted to make sure that my final model looked as close to the original as possible from the top down. Luckily, if you put a parallel dorsal shot of this one next to the prop photo, they both look almost identical (apart from the nacelle details). It's really the underside that had the most bugs that needed to be worked out, but like I said, it was a great design conundrum to sort through.
Hey, thanks Starship. It's always great to hear from the old gang when I return here after my long breaks!
You might want to pull them up a tad (say no more than 20% of the length from the wing, maybe even just 1/6th) and see how they look from the front.
Otherwise, while it's an odd design you're doing a cool job with it. I LOVE the nacelle design themselves.
Thanks Schimpfy, tbh, I wasn't entirely happy with those saucer windows either but you know how it is when you've been working on one of these things for ages, and you're not sure if it's just your eyes being funny if there is a genuine problem? That's why I like to get second opinions like yours on these forums. Now that someone else has confirmed that they're not quite right, I will get round to fixing them eventually...perhaps after a wee bit of a break.
Thanks Sanderlee, yeah the top nacelles are just on the tip of the saucer line from the front point of view. The only problem with your suggestion is that if I only adjust the upper or lower pair, then it would look off from the aft angle (as one set of pylons would definately be longer than the others. I did try lengthening both sets of pylons at one point, but tbh, they both looked too high. Here's the real geekiness for you, I did actually check the 'official' ruling on the ex astris scientia website about warp engine design. They are as follows:
Rule #1 Warp nacelles *must* be in pairs. (Check)
Rule #2 Warp nacelles must have at least 50% line-of-sight on each other across the hull. (Check)
Rule #3 Both warp nacelles must be fully visible from the front. (Check...only just for the top pair)
Rule #4 The bridge must be located at the top center of the primary hull. (Check)
Link:http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/design.htm
Sorry, I'm sure you didn't expect such a lengthy response, but there it is lol.
Thanks, they're essentially the same size and shape as the original study model. I just added the vents and detailing which I thought added that nice 'intermediary' touch between the refit connie and the oberth class.
Me too. MOAR!