Well... my hard drive died and it's taken me a while to get everything back up and running. I was able to recover my work with a backup drive fortunately. That said, I wanted to shift gears and revisit some old stuff before getting back to what I was working on previously. When I watched TNG and TOS as a kid, I was always fascinated with the shuttles and smaller ships the crew would use. So I figured I'd try my hand at some of them here before I get back to the larger, more complicated work.
I know a lot of folks don't like the Type 7 shuttle too much :P but I was reading about Mr. Probert's original design and paintings of it and thought it would be interesting to see fleshed out. Though it was a pain to get the basic shape set, I think it's fairly accurate thus far; albeit with a couple of spots and the undercarriage I haven't worked out yet. (Also, I never really liked that the windows were always opaque on the filming models, so I feel compelled to do at least some of an interior to make these realistic)
Posts
I really like your model, it looks fantastic. Probert's design is great.
I have to agree that there are some... odd angles for this particular shuttle (I'm a Nissan man and I lol'd at the Micra comment), and I remember how painfully horrid that full-size "mockup" of the Type 7 was. But yes, the panels in the middle of the forward end of the shuttle is actually a ramp opening, with the top half sliding up. The hatches on the sides open up like gull-wings to add/remove cargo. There is also the top hatch, which I believe is on the canon version as well. I think that and the warp powertrain configuration are the most forward-thinking aspects of this craft. More on the interior as I get that part cleaned up.
There were a few other designs for TNG shuttles that never got realized, i reckon you'd turn some heads if you pull them off too.
but so far, your Type 7 is very nicely shaped, quite accurate to the studio model (the mockup was terrible IRL), can't wait to see which ones you do next.
Current Projects:
Ambassador Class
This is the shuttle that started it for me, for sure.
Indeed, I'd like to get to some of those other concepts as well. Since I haven't rigged this model yet, I mocked up how the hatch would look open, based on Mr. Probert's sketches. Again, I'm still piecing together the interior, based on his paintings, rather than the interior we saw in the show.
cool ship though, glad someone's done it
No, they never did a hatch like this on the show. When they did the Type 7, the closest ship on the show to this one, they put the hatch in the back. Too bad, because it does look neat having it in the nose.
I like that, but the complaint with that approach for the receding window piece is that there is a control panel on it (in the real set), so what you should do is rather than have it retract, a nice blend with "canon" would be to make it flip up, just like the ramp flips down. And you can leave the control panel in place as well as reconcile the interior set and the exterior model (Think, like the side hatches for the Type 15 shuttlepods).
Current Projects:
Ambassador Class
Really nice seeing it redevelop here. Excellent modeling!
Thanks man, it's a lot of fun building something like this and seeing how different it was from the show. I'm only working off of about 5 references that I've found from paintings and a schematic or two. Would you mind sharing some of what you've found?
I think the big windows reflect the luxury style and vision of the Galaxy Class too; it's almost like one of the lounges, but with nacelles
I agree that's the most practical approach to it. I'll try rigging it once everything is done to see how it works. I'm trying to keep this as close to the concept as I can, but that's a compelling argument for sure.
Here's a shot of the cabin. From what I've been reading, the interior was supposed to be fairly low-lit, but I've only been able to add the floor lighting thus far.
ecqw.jpg
I think it only looked poorly lit in the original SDs, if you check out the interior appearances in TNG blu-ray's screenshots it looks a lot easier. I am pretty sure BOBW showed at least a "big" roof light in the cargo section, I don't know about the cockpit though, but the blu rays of Q Who and Unnatural selection should help there.
Edit: It's not a lot, but it's the start of something to extrapolate: http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x07/unnaturalselection_hd_306.jpg
You can see the big square light panel, judging from reflection in the rest of the scene, I think that's either it or they were using key lights from outside the shuttle. I'll keep looking.
EDIT2: Found some cockpit roof shots:
http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x16/qwho_hd_042.jpg
http://tng.trekcore.com/hd/albums/2x16/qwho_hd_044.jpg
Not as good a reference as US because, but you can see, there's no light in cockpit past the door's bulkhead. But... the roof is completely featureless, so you could extrapolate the rear sections' light fixture and put it forward, at least partially (I'm thinking, forward of the bulkhead until the door hinge at least), and that should lighten the interior up a touch while looking canon-ish.
Current Projects:
Ambassador Class
Andy had really great vision and as its often happens, they toned it down. He did best to transfer that idea to the more "boxed", official version (which they butchered as well at the end).
Original shuttlecraft.jpg
No worries. I talked to Mr. Probert and he gave me some really good reference shots to work with. I appreciate your help though.
Now that one I did find! :P Because it was preliminary and they had him change it, I think he didn't have much of it fleshed out. That is a shame, and his finished prototype does look smaller as well.
So as mentioned, I got some guidance from Andrew on the shape and interior details of the shuttle. I refined the shape of the fuselage a bit, and cut in most of the paneling. I also rebuilt the seats to match the painting he did for the SOTL calendar. Still lots to do, but it's almost done.
fwoc.jpgsits.jpgobvn.jpgkyar.jpg