[bigjimslade]

Does anyone know of a refit plan that shows an accurate cross section through the saucer?

Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise has a section but it makes the lower, outer ring (the flat area) *MUCH* too wide. All the other cross sections I have found have the same flaw -- presumably a having a synoptic ancestory.

For example, compare the thickness of the flat area on your refit kit or the the motion picture to

http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/enterprise-deck-plans-sheet-4.jpg


If you have those pictures from the auction, compare eaDSC07575.JPG to the above.

 

[Shaw]

presumably a having a synoptic ancestory.

The problem can be traced back to the production of ST:TMP... the model of the Enterprise had been largely constructed when the scene (and set) in the recreation lounge was added (same with the officers lounge). The model was altered with the addition of windows, but the place where they wanted the rec lounge wasn't truly able to handle the dimensions of the set as built and filmed.

Consequently, people have altered the blueprints of the Enterprise to fit some form of rec lounge in that area.

If you want to blame someone... I'd suggest Robert Wise. The art department tried to show him what was wrong with his set plans, but he felt that dramatic effect was more important than technical details.

Most blueprints are less for building reference than for familiarity. While I've always enjoyed all the Trek blueprints, I don't think I would build any model from ones that attempt to shoehorn sets into the model... they almost always end up altering something making them different from the actual studio miniatures.

 

[Ruckdog]

And also, I would be willing to bet that not only is the rim too wide, it is too tall in that cross section as well. I remember hearing some where that the sacuer is, infact, not tall enough for two full decks at its rim.

On a side note, the Enterprise-D suffered from the same problem, I believe. The model's sacuer isn't thick enough to encompass the Ten-Forward set.

 

[Griffworks]

The problem can be traced back to the production of ST:TMP... the model of the Enterprise had been largely constructed when the scene (and set) in the recreation lounge was added (same with the officers lounge). The model was altered with the addition of windows, but the place where they wanted the rec lounge wasn't truly able to handle the dimensions of the set as built and filmed.

Consequently, people have altered the blueprints of the Enterprise to fit some form of rec lounge in that area.

If you want to blame someone... I'd suggest Robert Wise. The art department tried to show him what was wrong with his set plans, but he felt that dramatic effect was more important than technical details.

And what's sad is that Andrew Probert came up with a very nice RecDeck that fit in that area quite well. While it would have required the re-working of that particular set, I think it an improvement, visually and dramatically, over what we got in the end.

Most blueprints are less for building reference than for familiarity. While I've always enjoyed all the Trek blueprints, I don't think I would build any model from ones that attempt to shoehorn sets into the model... they almost always end up altering something making them different from the actual studio miniatures.

True, that. A great many come very close and definitely get an "A" For Effort from me, but then I'm pretty easy about such things, so don't mind them all that much. It's more the Geek-Value for me.

 

[goose814]

One other thing to remember is that when Andy Probert designed the Refit Enterprise, he designed it with only 8 decks in the saucer.

About the deck height, if the Refit is 1000 ft. long as Probert designed it, that would make the saucer about 21 ft. thick at the edge. Subtracting space between decks and hull thickness would still give you almost 9 ft. from floor to ceiling.

 

[frontline]

Mr. Probert spoke to me at length about the "head banging against the wall' moments he had with not only the E but many other aspects of his work for TMP. He really knows what he is doing design wise and then he had to deal with set designers altering his work to fit their perceived cinematic needs. I offered to buy the poor guy a beer after listening to him

 

[StarshipClass]

Attitudinally, I'm not sure I really care that such things occur. They always have and probably always will. (I know, I know--very obvious statement :freak: ) I've seen I don't know how many westerns with impossibly large wagon interiors but unless they had more than two extra rooms in there, I've never let it bother me.

For the most part, I've noticed that the folks on this board treat the miniature as canon so that if there's any finagling to do, the stage sets lose out. The notable exception seems to be the Galileo shuttlecraft which is usually standardized in plans and models to the full size mockup--at least in proportions if not actual scale. Seems reasonable to me.

 

[bigjimslade]

So does anyone know of any such plans that don't try to shoehorn the interior???

 

[Griffworks]

Check out Andrew Proberts most excellent site for his views on the Rec Deck:

Probert Designs

 

[StarshipClass]

Check out Andrew Proberts most excellent site for his views on the Rec Deck:

Probert Designs

Oh, yeah! That's great stuff!

OT: Check this out: http://probertdesigns.com/Folder_ILLUSTRATION/Probert_ILLUSTRATIONS.html