Some years ago (decade...?), I published a set of fan-produced deck plans for the Enterprise-A, as well as a tech manual entitled "Starfleet Dynamics". The deck plans were strictly non-canon (although I did try to pay attention to the set/soundstage measurements).
I am finishing off a set of Intrepid-class deck plans. Again, I have paid close attention to the soundstage dimensions, as well as a fair amount of military book-knowledge.
1 - Before I make some serious snafoos, could anyone possessing the Voyager cutaway poster (I haven't been able to find one) please advise if a careful study of same indicates any hereto-unknown compartments on any decks?
2 - Has anyone scanned and posted (or could they post or e-mail) said poster? If not possible (I know the thing must be fairly large), would anyone possessing said poster wish to volunteer as a proofreader for the deck plans?
I know that my plans won't be canon, but I strive for as much accuracy as I can achieve.
(And no, I won't be using the cheap, cut & paste / blurred style of the Enterprise-D plans. These are in 128 colors - but aren't as confusing in style as the Defiant plans in the back of the DS9 Tech Manual.)
[The preceding is not intended as an advertisement. I'm not selling these yet - and in fact I may never sell them, but simply post them free as PDFs. This is an ongoing project of mine, on which I seek assistance/collaboration]
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What else are you using for source material? That "Elite Force" FPS game is supposed to have some impressive renditions of large areas of Voyager.
Mark
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"Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"
- Carl Sagan, "Contact"
Sources include:
-Soundstage Plans (how canon can you get?)
-Star Trek magazine
-Various screencaptures - mostly by a fellow technofile, who seems to enjoy scrounging about for same.
- DS9 Manual (example: 3d perspectibe view of photon torpedo launcher)
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.27 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with four eps posted)
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"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Forum Member Who Shall Be Nameless. 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
I'll also be interested in seeing how you handle the drop ship's hanger bay and various support systems.
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"You don't tug on Superman's cape.
You don't spit into the wind.
You don't pull the mask off the ole' Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim."
Aban's Illustration www.alanfore.com
Sounds like a cool project. I'd love to help out where I can... I don't have the poster although I can make some shots of Elite Force showing (for example) plans of some areas, locations of turboshafts etc.
Good luck with it! Please let me know if I can help!
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"Replicate some marmalade, Commander - helm control is toast!"
Aban Rune: Actually, the window problem wasn't all that tough, once I created the proper protocol:
Cut-in Windows: Janeway-like quarters for senior officers.
Sloped Windows: Mid-level Officers - similar to the quarters used by Picard and Riker in STTNG.
No Windows: Enlisted quarters - similar to the quarters used by Worf in STTNG.
And yes, I have a forward-lower observation deck just forward of the Aero-wing Shuttle. It makes sense when you have read enough non-trek sci-fi (The MOte in God's Eye), and realize that with proper optical sensors (telescope), non-invasive/detectable scanners can be useful to study a planet from low orbit.
Starbuck: Guilty as charged. I found this forum yesterday - and I think it's excellent. Some of you people are more nit-picky than ME.
Comments:
1) Hangar Deck. I have found enough room on the Main Hangar Deck to park the Delta Flyer and other shuttles, and still have a completely empty Hangar (as seen in several episodes). One has to study the actual size of the L-shaped set used in Paramount - and remember that the Hangar Bay can have adjoining Parking Bays. Also - in the episode showing the construction of the Delta Flyer, we saw a lower 'well' under the midships of the Flyer. In my opinion, this was not a pit such as a mechanic uses to go under a car in a garage, but rather the Hangar Bay elevator to a lower Parking/Repair Bay. I would be willing to release a portion of the deck plans showing this - but I have no idea how to attach same to a reply (damn this Windows 200 LCARS!!!).
2) I tried very hard when doing the Enterprise-A plans to remember every type of compartment. I think I succeeded - certainly no one has pointed out any glaring ommissions. However, I would welcome a complete list (deck-by-deck would be nice) of the compartments on voyager, as well as others suggested by military/shipboard necessity.
3) I am also working on the deck plans for the Prometheus-class) my second favorite vessel) - and am giving serious thought to the Sovereign-class as well.
Any help in this or other regards will be rewarded by collaboration credit on the masthead.
I have the Sovvie cut away poster, but I don't know where you're going to find any deck info on the Prommie.
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"You don't tug on Superman's cape.
You don't spit into the wind.
You don't pull the mask off the ole' Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim."
Aban's Illustration www.alanfore.com
The file is named "Intrepid Hangar Sample.gif"
Mark
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"Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"
- Carl Sagan, "Contact"
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Beverly: "I have a patient here who wishes to see you, captain.
Picard: "Welcome aboard the Enterprise-E, Mr. Worf.
Worf: "Thank you sir. The Defiant?"
Picard: "Adrift, but salvagable."
Riker: "Tough little ship."
Worf: "Little? It's 170 meters long."
Riker: "Don't be rediculous, Worf, everybody knows, after careful study of certain screencaps, that its under 120 meters long."
Worf: "I suppose now you'll tell me it is a Valiant Class vessel?"
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-Kyle Batson
[This message has been edited by Black Knight (edited February 15, 2001).]
If you desperately want the poster, you can always order it directly from SciPubTech. Personally, I have better things to do with $20.
[This message has been edited by Tech Sergeant Chen (edited February 15, 2001).]
Anyhow, I suppose I have gotten pretty far off topic now.
I wasn't able to before, but I just took a look at the shuttlebay deck plan of yours, and I have to say that is better than anything I have seen previously (even better than the Galaxy 'blueprints'). Simple enough to be understandable, but detailed enough to show what counts and what we want to see. Great job thus far, I can't wait to see more!
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Beverly: "I have a patient here who wishes to see you, captain.
Picard: "Welcome aboard the Enterprise-E, Mr. Worf.
Worf: "Thank you sir. The Defiant?"
Picard: "Adrift, but salvagable."
Riker: "Tough little ship."
Worf: "Little? It's 170 meters long."
Riker: "Don't be rediculous, Worf, everybody knows, after careful study of certain screencaps, that its under 120 meters long."
Worf: "I suppose now you'll tell me it is a Valiant Class vessel?"
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I will shout until they know what I mean.
--
Neutral Milk Hotel
****
Read three (three!) chapters of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Then, go insane!
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takeoffs are optional; landings are mandatory
Regarding Black Knight's comment:
Thank you.
When I was a teenager (oh yeah - I'm an old original fan!), I remember the release of the Franz Josef (FJ) plans and Tech Manual. The level of detail at that time was riveting. However, as time progressed, I assumed that these products would as well. The Galaxy Plans were an TREMENDOUS disappointment. I believe the artist's professed reason for the lack of detail was that his computer could not handle it all, and so he was forced to utilize small scraps of printed paper - oriented by hand.
When I created the Ent-A blueprints some 10 years ago (to which Starbuck so graciously referred), I had no problem achieving a greater level of detail and line precision/shading - with an old PowerMac (Although I have since gone over to the Dark Side (P3)).
So in a way, these Intrepid deck plans are an attempt to push the envelope as far as possible with today's software/hardware capabilities. When I saw the Defiant deck plans in the back of the DS9 Manual, I fell in love with the colors (even though the plans were as confusing as heck).
Has anyone found an updated listing of compartments?
By the way, I read in one of these BBS that my old work is listed on eBay. I really wouldn't know - I've never checked out eBay, nor do I understand how it works. Should I give someone a call? I've got BOXES of those things left...
They look like they're turning out really nice. I guess I'm going on the assumtion that you plan to have these printed up. It sounds like that's what you did with the E-A plans.
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"You don't tug on Superman's cape.
You don't spit into the wind.
You don't pull the mask off the ole' Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim."
Aban's Illustration www.alanfore.com
[This message has been edited by Aban Rune (edited February 16, 2001).]
1) Paramount has a dog-in-the-manger policy
[yes, your homemade product is better than ours (or we don't even have one), but HOW DARE YOU] And they will track you down. They spend far more money and effort on this than on writing scripts. And believe me, in my youth I did try to get them to publish my Ent-A plans (which you will note they still haven't competed with). Fortunately, I did it under a pseudonym. The Lawyer-rant letter I received would curl your hair.
2) Printing requires money.
3) Getting one of the established mail-order houses to print and sell the plans is somewhat precautious. I had an arrangement with some companies once, but I don't even know if any of them are still around (except the ones which are associated with Paramount).
Could you please refer to my posting on page 10 of the Wolf 359 section. I would welcome your input.
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.27 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with four eps posted)
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Omega 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
****
"The candidate who slimed John McCain in the primaries and smeared Al Gore in the general election is now the president who pledges to elevate the nation's tone and bring civility to our discorse. Kind of like Michael Corleone brought peace to the mob by killing the heads of the other four families."
--Paul Begala, Is Our Children Learning?
[This message has been edited by JeffKardde (edited February 18, 2001).]
Long Tom
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"Do we have any experienced 3d modelers in the group? Most of the vessel types involved in the Battle of Wolf 359 appear to be established types - with a few "kitbashes" included in the mix. So...
After downloading the official ones, and 3d cut-&-pasting a few more (which would allow a role for the nit-pickers who know what model pieces were utilized), it would it be possible to reconstruct the junkyard, using as many different parallax-views as possible. By rotating the POV, the 3d modeller could make sure that the layout does not conflict with the known screenshots. Then, by placing/rotating the 3d models, we could slowly eliminate the unknowns - or at least identify same AS unknowns.
This project (once cleaned-up and rendered) would probably be of value to Mr. Okuda (who might use it in his book) - and it would be a fan-generated piece of research which could serve as a pay-back for his many contributions and patience. For an insight into the rabid fanaticism of techo-fans, he could include the text of this 9 page discussion.
It would also allow fans to see the junkyard from several POV's - the only way to actually visualize a 3d space properly (although I would certainly love to have the finished 3d file for viewing).
Given proper assistance (X/Y/Z coordinates, Pitch/Rool/Yaw values, scale, etc), this could be done fairly easily.
And an animated rotating movie file of same would be so fine!"
Black Knight: Since you list 3d modelling as a skill, I thought of you as a senior collaborator on this project. Comment?
If you have surplus copies of the E-A plans, try offering them on www.trekrpg.net I know at least one person on there who is despaerate to get hold of them and there are other deckplan junkies on there.
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Greg
"Calm my work for Locutus of Borg, here. But I'm freaked and intend to stay that way."
I just searched for Star Trek blueprints at ebay. No one is selling copies of yours. There were 52 items for sale, mostly Franz Joseph TOS sets, Ent-D sets, and Jackill's stuff. I suggest you try putting one of your sets up for sale and see what kind of response you get. The danger, of course, is that Paramount might find you. ebay is pretty neat; last year I bought a set of Star Trek Maps and the TOS Medical book.
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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
You could always get them done through a discount printer. You know, Bob's Discount Printing. It may not be the best quality (a step up from color photocopies) but it'll be cheaper and it'll be harder for them to track you down (presumably). How did they find you last time?
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"You don't tug on Superman's cape.
You don't spit into the wind.
You don't pull the mask off the ole' Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim."
Aban's Illustration www.alanfore.com
Regarding the Intrepid deck plans, yes, I have thought of printing them in color at a local printer. Unfortunately, since they are multi-colored, I would have to either pay to have them printed in process CMYK (21st century technobabble), or I would have to convert them to Grayscale (no way). The plans consist of 4 posters, 24x36 inches. As soon as I get someone to handle the quality-control/proofing, I will decide what to do.
Meanwhile, I am going to dig up my old (circa 1990) deck plans for the Excelsior. I will be converting them to PDF and posting them. As soon as I can get access to a Zip drive...
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Faster than light - no left or right.
As I understand it, his books are fairly low-key as far as Paramount's watchdogs are concerned. No large distribution, no "Star Trek" in the title (of course), and all black & white except for the covers. If I was to produce the poster set I've got, in process color, I would have to produce (and sell) thousands just to break even. Since I'd like to make a profit, I would probably sell even more. This would create a large "profile" which would be noticed by Paramount.
I also came up with a companion piece to the current Tech Manuals, more oriented to the Strategy & Tactics of Starfleet. Same restrictions apply, so it may never see the light of day either. When I can download same from archives, I will post a few pages for review.
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Faster than light - no left or right.
"I have the Sovvie cut away poster, but I don't know where you're going to find any deck info on the Prommie."
Would there be a listing of the compartments (hopefully deck-by-deck)? Even if not, could you compile & post same? This would be a good check to see if I'm missing any compartments.
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Faster than light - no left or right.
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"This is cooling, faster than I can..." Tori Amos "Cooling"
Ben
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Bureaucracy destroys initiative. There is little that bureaucrats hate more than innovation, especially innovation that produces better results than the old routines. Improvements always make those at the top of the heap look inept. Who enjoys appearing inept?
-A Guide to Trial and Error in Government, Bene Gesserit Archives.
It was certainly my lucky day when I found this forum.
Thanks Treknophyle
Long Tom
Something else occurs to me. I'm sure some of you reading this may have already purchased a set of the Avenger/Miranda plans available on the web at this site
http://members.aol.com/FH1860/
Might it be worth you talking to them re production and distribution of your Intrepid Plans? I know the Miranda plans weren't in colour but the plans are of reasonable reproduction quality, so I assume these guys have access to some good print facilities.
Just a thought.
Long Tom
As for the Sovvie poster, IIRC some of the major features of the ship are enumerated below the cutaway. The thing is far from cannon but is nevertheless well done.
I'll see if I can find it (it's packed up some where). Scanning will be a major effort since it's huge. I may need a few days on that one... Maybe we can start with something small like a listing of all the compartments it calls out or something.
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"You don't tug on Superman's cape.
You don't spit into the wind.
You don't pull the mask off the ole' Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim."
Aban's Illustration www.alanfore.com
Aban Rune:
Thanks, I'd be happy and grateful for any help you could give.
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Faster than light - no left or right.
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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
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I will shout until they know what I mean.
--
Neutral Milk Hotel
****
Read three (three!) chapters of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet"! Then, go insane!
I too am a proud owner of your Enterprise-A plans, though they're getting a bit worn. I suspect if you do have a boxful you'd probably have some luck selling them on the web - I'd get another set.
You mentioned you had done Excelsior deckplans back around 1990. In addition to being excited about the forthcoming Intrepid plans, I've always been fond of the Excelsior. Care to divulge any info about those? Any rough idea when those will be PDF-ed?
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"You don't tug on Superman's cape.
You don't spit into the wind.
You don't pull the mask off the ole' Lone Ranger
And you don't mess around with Jim."
Aban's Illustration www.alanfore.com
Regarding the Excelsior - it will be some time before I can access these old Zip discs, but I will post them (if they have survived...)
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Aban Rune:
Take your time. I'm using the interval to adapt a 3d version of the ship - constructing all of the internal major systems, spaceframe, etc. If I decide to publish these plans as a CD-ROM (interactive), rotating 3d models which dissolve to display internal systems may make great eye-candy.
I'll post some screenshots of the work-in progress later.
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Faster than light - no left or right.
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Never give up. Never surrender.
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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 6.27 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with four eps posted)
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Omega 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
****
"The candidate who slimed John McCain in the primaries and smeared Al Gore in the general election is now the president who pledges to elevate the nation's tone and bring civility to our discorse. Kind of like Michael Corleone brought peace to the mob by killing the heads of the other four families."
--Paul Begala, Is Our Children Learning?
1) I wish to acquire two sets each of the Enterprise-A schematics, and the Intrepid schematics when completed. The transaction should be easy: you're somewhere in Vancouver, I live in Coquitlam and work downtown.
2) I have a Zip drive and a cablemodem. If you have the Zip discs and just not a Zip drive available, I may be able to help you extract those Excelsior files. And I'd also like a copy of those.
3) You're the guy who wrote Starfleet Dynamics, which is quite honestly my favorite Trek techbook? I saw a copy years back, and managed to find a copy on eBay four months ago. If you've still got copies of that, I've got a buyer in my Star Trek RPG group.
--Re'k of Xenex
--aka Nelson of Coquitlam
Looking forward to seeing the Excelsior plans - a sorely ignored ship in fandom, IMHO. I have Adobe Acrobat, so feel free to mail stuff over if you want it PDF'ed
I like the way the shuttlebay sample looks - let's hope the whole plans come out so well!
I do have some partial layouts based on "Elite Force" LCARS screens which may or may not be of use - the game's great for getting a feel of how Engineering and the shuttlebay are laid out, even if they feel too big... and I also have a stack of resources from the "Star Trek Files" magazines. Let me know if they're of any use!
Interesting to know that you've been in touch with Mike R. I really love his Avenger/Miranda plans, and although I like your Enterprise-A plans I do prefer the higher detail present in his work. Then again, they're all just as well thought out... it's only a difference in technology (plus he's a pro draftsman)
I do a little 3D work myself. Nothing major, but I'm currently building some TOS canon and speculative models. If you could use some help doing 3D work for any future projects (and I will freely admit, a fan-designed interactive tech manual would just rock ) then please feel free to get in touch. I also plan to take a long course (degree-level) which includes C++ and Visual Basic programming, so maybe in a couple of years I'll be able to crank out a decent interface
Finally, remember that when you're doing deck one, according to the season one episode "Twisted" there's a cargo bay there...
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"Replicate some marmalade, Commander - helm control is toast!"
My God, are you really David Schmidt? I've been wanting to get ahold of you for years, literally! Your book, Starfleet Dynamics, was the first piece of Fandom, and Star Trek, for that matter, that began my collection. My website, TheTrekker.com, is dedicated to you for god's sake! I must admit, I am a bit over joyed, so, please excuse me for sounding like a ham. I also love Starfleet Prototype, and the original works you produced years ago before Dynamics. Both works are the corner stone of how I view Movie-era Trek. Please, email me at [email protected]. I've been blabbing about the merit of your work for years, and would love a chance to speak to you.
Sincerely,
Lance N. http://thetrekker.homestead.com
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TheTrekker's Officer's Bible: A Concise Review of the Starfleet
http://thetrekker.homestead.com