Richard Compton said:
At what point in reference to the building of the model, were the Making Of diagrams drawn?
Hi Richard,
I've been studying this problem for some time now and have plans to publish a website on the subject. The drawings in TMOST are not the construction drawings. They are from the Star Trek Guide (writers' guide or series bible) and were drawn by Jefferies to give the writers an idea of what the ship would look like. They are different from the final model, but not so different as most of us have thought. The TMOST reproductions are quite distorted, however, and this has added to the charges of inaccuracy. The issue to keep in mind is that both the small "three-footer" and the large "eleven-footer" were created from the same plans. The differences between those two models are attributable to two different causes. 1) Roddenberry asked for some alterations after seeing the small model (but before the large model was built), and 2) each model was a hand made artifact that presented unique problems for the fabricators -- resulting in minor differences in how those were solved.
In essence, there are three "official" Enterprises: The "eleven-footer," the "three-footer," and Matt Jefferies' own concept represented on the construction drawings.
I believe the drawings in TMOST represent a further variation due to a problem similar to that faced by the fabricators of the models. In this case, it was the compromise required in preparing a small scale drawing of the ship. Jefferies would have faced the task of taking a drawing of the ship that was 33-3/4" long and re-rendering it at about 9-7/8". Keep in mind that this is before the day of enlarging/reducing photocopiers, scanners, computers or the like. In those days, if you wanted to reduce a drawing, you had a more limited set of tools available. There were mechanical means, like a Pantograph, or there were optical means, like an opaque projector or a copyboard camera; or there were manual means, like calculating the measurements and redrafting from scratch. I believe what we see in the TMOST drawings is the result of a redraft from scratch, based on reducing the measurements. The overall dimensions of the main components match up quite well with the large model/construction drawings (the exception being the height of the dorsal pylon). The variations occur mainly in things like the contours of various components and their attachment points. I am still making inquiries that may explain the biggest difference: the shape of decks 2 & 3: Teardrop or egg-shaped.
Look for a full discussion of these, and many other issues on the website. I'll announce its launch on the board when the time comes, of course.
Mark