posted
This started a few weeks ago when Mark Delgado contacted me and showed me the well-known shot of the vertical ship at Wolf 359 which most of us thought it was the Excelsior study model. He pointed me to the saucer rear end, and there it was: the Bussard collector of the *third* nacelle.
I would be interesting in getting your votes. Niagara/three-nacelled ship or Excelsior study model? Isn't there a possibility to include a poll box into the Forum?
Actually, I can send you different versions of these for you to use. If you check Sternbach's group, you'll notice that there was a bit of a problem with people not realising that those images were from my page...
Either way, I'm pretty sure that what looks like a nacelle is actually part of the secondary hull, but looks that way due to the shadows of the nacelle pylons. What looks like the bussard collectors is probably that back part of the saucer. It is an interesting case, though.
------------------ Frank's Home Page "We're going to take a five minute break...we'll be back in twenty minutes." - John Linnell
Actually, I have received most of the images by e-mail. I have put them on a preliminary page for internal use, until I was able to complete the page and check the origin of the images.
posted
hmm, looks like you got the Niagara right on the head. Except, in both views, the nacelles look like they are all on the top of the hull, instead of 2 below the hull (or the other way around).
As for the 4 nacelled ship, in Unification II, I think that's actually any Oberth with the saucer ripped off. The back of the nacelles is black, which looks like the grating on the Oberth's nacelles. It also looks like the front of the saucer has been ripped off, but most of the saucer can still be seen intact. Below the right nacelles you can barely make out the Oberth's slim engineering hull.
------------------ "The things hollow--it goes on forever--and--oh my God!--it's full of stars!" -David Bowman's last transmission back to Earth, 2001: A Space Odyssey
posted
Thanks to Bernd's page, I got a great image of the aft part of the quad-nacelled ship. Judging by the size of the secondary hull, it's probably not a Cheyenne.
Also, here's an interesting image from the Qualor 2 scenes...in the upper right we have a T'Pau-type ship (which I consider to be the Apollo), and in the upper left is...an Excelsior? Study model? Dunno.
------------------ Frank's Home Page "We're going to take a five minute break...we'll be back in twenty minutes." - John Linnell
posted
I've always thought that unknown wreckage with the Galaxy nacelle next to is was a Nebula Class. I still think it's a Nebula Class to this second. Anyway, does anyone think that the sturdy models used for the graveyard scenes are somewhere in a storage locker in Paramount Studios?
------------------ Sometimes I run Sometimes I hide Sometimes I'm scared of you But all I really want is to hold you tight Treat you right, be with you day and night Baby all I need is time
posted
I'm voting for the vertical ship NOT to be an Excelsior study model. I definitely see the third nacelle now. As for it being an upside-down Fact Files "Niagara"... No way.
But of interest is that the center nacelle seems to only barely obscure the nearly cylindrar secondary hull, suggesting the latter indeed is based on the Constitution model kit secondary hull, the only such narrow component available without customizing. Perhaps what we are seeing is the real Rigel? The third nacelle would be in the wrong place: this ship cannot be upside down unless the saucer is "centered" on the Constitution hull (which I think would look too silly) instead of "resting atop" the hull (which would make it the only Starfleet ship to have such a configuration). But perhaps the reports on nacelle placement were wrong?
In the end, I'm all for calling the "badly damaged Galaxy saucer in flames" a Rigel, as people have generally done so far. Instead of tiny nacelles, I see "de-nacelled" pylons there. This ship is my leading candidate for the origins of FF "Niagara", even though the FF got all the details wrong.
I was extremely intrigued to learn Ed Miarecki takes credit for USS Chekov. Apparently, all the known BoBW ship classes did exist in model form after all!
BTW, Bernd, have you asked Miarecki or Okuda directly to comment on your page? In an old conversation, Okuda once asked me if I'd learned anything new about the origins of the FF "Niagara", and I thought this would be a good time to reply. So I pointed him to your page...
posted
Does anyone have BoBW or Unification on tape? If so, take a look at the actual scene with the Excelsior study model/potential Niagara. If there's a nacelle there, it would need to be flat and attached directly to the hull somehow.
BTW, Miarecki has an email address...has anyone emailed him about the models? If not, we should have someone send a short message (emphasis on short) asking him if he remembers anything about them.
------------------ Frank's Home Page "We're going to take a five minute break...we'll be back in twenty minutes." - John Linnell
posted
Frank: I guess the nacelle is relatively close to the hull. IIRC the camera position isn't moving very much in the scene, so I wouldn't expect to see a 3D movement.
Timo: Chris was in contact with Miarecki and Okuda, and he got some answers, but I can't exactly tell who said what. Perhaps I may get exact quotes for the next update.
The most interesting thing would be to learn how the Springfield looks. Miarecki should know.
posted
Nice pic from Qualor 2, Frank. Wouldn�t happen to have more? My screencaps from that scene are generally poor. My snappy isn�t functioning to good :-( BTW, I emailed Miarecki and got an answer today about the springfield-model. He doesn�t have any pics of the model :-(
------------------ "The Starships of the Federation are the physical, tangible manifestations of Humanity�s stubborn insistence that life does indeed mean something." Spock to Leonard McCoy in "Final Frontier"
posted
Is it me, or are this ship and this ship one and the same? The detail seems to match, especially with the dark panel attached to the back of the saucer.
------------------ Frank's Home Page "We're going to take a five minute break...we'll be back in twenty minutes." - John Linnell
posted
Actually, Frank, I was thinking the same thing. However, and you may think this is crazy, I think the "Unification" 4-nacelle shipalso looks like that Ex. study model. Ignore for the moment the extra nacelle(s). Look at how the secondary hull seems to come straight back off the saucer. It sort of looks like it might be the ESM2 flipped upside-down. But, as for where the extra nacelles come from, I don't know.
And, regarding the Challenger on Bernd's page... In a decision between the Chal. and the ESM2, I would definitely have to go w/ the Chal. The nacelles are way too close together for it to be the ESM. Of course, itcould be something completely different, too. But I do think that the evidence is strong enough to make it the Challenger.
------------------ Lisa: "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Bart: "Not if you called them 'stench blossoms'..." -The Simpsons
Topic Closed
Printer-friendly view of this topic