In keeping with Dave's (USSCassiopeia) "TOS-era Miranda" thread, here is a little something he and I have plans in mind to also scratch-build; a TOS-era Constellation Class starship, using the PL 1:1000 1701 kit, and wanted to collaborate with me on that project.
Well, in the course of just one or two days' time (this was back in April '06 when we started on this), I eagerly got to work and managed to draft these three schematics of what will become our physical model of said non-cannon ship:
TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Profile View
TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Dorsal View
TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Ventral View
Most everything you see in the pics -- aside from the primary hull, which clearly will need to be scratch-built out of styrene (we're thinking either .060 or .080 thick, to ensure the build is a sturdy one) -- are parts scavenged from the PL TOS Enterprise kit, so there will be very little in other materials that will need to be added to our builds.
We based this non-cannon design pretty much on the TMP-era screen version, keeping all the major details in the same place (ie. impulse engines at rear between warp nacelles).
We've been thinking about just what other greeblie details to add to the hull, but thought that since most other TOS-era ships were devoid of any extraneous hull detailing/greeblies, to do so with this build may be too much.
Also, in keeping with the TOS Enterprise and most other vessels of that era, instead of having 3+ shuttle bays like on the TMP-era version, we're thinking we may stick with just one at the front. Then that detail can be consistent between other TOS-era starships and our scratch-build.
Oh, and rather than having that "mirror image" effect going on with the bridge on top and the fake bridge on the underside, we drafted this design with the standard primary hull underside, with planetary sensor array. So, in that respect, it'll also be more similar to other ships of this era (and also makes it more economical, as we won't need to "borrow" much from more than one of the base kits).
Based on the sketches we've managed to do, once complete our Constellation Class scratch-build will measure almost 12 inches in length, about 3/4 of an inch longer than PL's standard TOS Enterprise. As well, the width of our build(s) will be 6 3/4 inches (almost 2 inches wider than PL's 1701), and 3 1/2 inches in height (half an inch taller than PL's kit). All in all, this scratch-build should make for a rather imposing piece next to the Enterprise.
At first, I was planning on simply collaborating on the build Dave himself planned on doing, but went ahead and bought myself another PL 1701 kit so we can do two builds simultaneously, and both show the progress we're making on our builds. This should prove to be a really fun, joint Canadian/American project for us...
After going back to this I realized I'd already done some work on this way back when (guess I forgotten I had, lol) and taken some pics at the time too, I just hadn't posted them here yet. So, this is what I'd managed to come up with so far:
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 01
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 02
The first two pics show the group work I've done on this scratch-build, whereas the next five pics show each sub-assembly separately:
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 03
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 04
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 05
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 06
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 07
As can be seen in the above pics, I'd already cut out the dorsal and ventral portions of the primary hull. I've already adhered the top saucer and had begun work on puttying the seam/gap between it and the underlying stryene panel (I want this piece to have a nice, solid museum-display quality look to it).
For the underside portion of the primary hull, after cutting out the main panel I then proceeded to cut out the middle section and make a slightly recessed area, so that the bottom portion of the saucer doesn't jut out too much, just as demonstrated in the ventral schematic I drafted. Like with the dorsal portion of the hull, I will also be puttying the seam/gap between the two parts so that it appears as one piece.
I'd also already made quick work of the alternate bridge dome and modified it to fit on the underside on the ventral portion of the hull, and as you can see it's already been installed. Pretty much the only thing needing to be done to that piece is attach the sensor array.
As for the slit at the rear of the underside portion of the saucer, to fill that in I simply cut two small lengths of (I believe) .060 styrene and jammed them in there. Quite a snug fit, and once sanded smooth one won't even be able to tell there was a connection point there.
It may not be clearly noticeable in the first two pics, but the nacelles I've decided to use are the Production-style nacelles, with the bulb on the back end. I decided to do that for two reasons: 1) to keep it in line with the TOS Enterprise and other ships from this era, and 2) to keep it more in line with the style Dave used on his backdated Miranda build (I figure he'll probably use the same style nacelles on his own build of this, lol).
So, there you have it. All of the work shown here is what progress I'd made last year, so no further work has been done on it as yet; I actually need to head out to the local hobby shop here and get more styrene (which I'm running low on) and fast-acting glue. Still, considering I haven't touched on this project in quite a few months, it's come along rather well at this point.
You better hurry up and get started on yours soon, Dave... I'm already well ahead of you, buddy... lol
EDIT: Fixed broken links.
Well, in the course of just one or two days' time (this was back in April '06 when we started on this), I eagerly got to work and managed to draft these three schematics of what will become our physical model of said non-cannon ship:
TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Profile View
TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Dorsal View
TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Ventral View
Most everything you see in the pics -- aside from the primary hull, which clearly will need to be scratch-built out of styrene (we're thinking either .060 or .080 thick, to ensure the build is a sturdy one) -- are parts scavenged from the PL TOS Enterprise kit, so there will be very little in other materials that will need to be added to our builds.
We based this non-cannon design pretty much on the TMP-era screen version, keeping all the major details in the same place (ie. impulse engines at rear between warp nacelles).
We've been thinking about just what other greeblie details to add to the hull, but thought that since most other TOS-era ships were devoid of any extraneous hull detailing/greeblies, to do so with this build may be too much.
Also, in keeping with the TOS Enterprise and most other vessels of that era, instead of having 3+ shuttle bays like on the TMP-era version, we're thinking we may stick with just one at the front. Then that detail can be consistent between other TOS-era starships and our scratch-build.
Oh, and rather than having that "mirror image" effect going on with the bridge on top and the fake bridge on the underside, we drafted this design with the standard primary hull underside, with planetary sensor array. So, in that respect, it'll also be more similar to other ships of this era (and also makes it more economical, as we won't need to "borrow" much from more than one of the base kits).
Based on the sketches we've managed to do, once complete our Constellation Class scratch-build will measure almost 12 inches in length, about 3/4 of an inch longer than PL's standard TOS Enterprise. As well, the width of our build(s) will be 6 3/4 inches (almost 2 inches wider than PL's 1701), and 3 1/2 inches in height (half an inch taller than PL's kit). All in all, this scratch-build should make for a rather imposing piece next to the Enterprise.
At first, I was planning on simply collaborating on the build Dave himself planned on doing, but went ahead and bought myself another PL 1701 kit so we can do two builds simultaneously, and both show the progress we're making on our builds. This should prove to be a really fun, joint Canadian/American project for us...
After going back to this I realized I'd already done some work on this way back when (guess I forgotten I had, lol) and taken some pics at the time too, I just hadn't posted them here yet. So, this is what I'd managed to come up with so far:
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 01
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 02
The first two pics show the group work I've done on this scratch-build, whereas the next five pics show each sub-assembly separately:
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 03
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 04
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 05
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 06
+ TOS-era Constellation Class Starship -- Pic 07
As can be seen in the above pics, I'd already cut out the dorsal and ventral portions of the primary hull. I've already adhered the top saucer and had begun work on puttying the seam/gap between it and the underlying stryene panel (I want this piece to have a nice, solid museum-display quality look to it).
For the underside portion of the primary hull, after cutting out the main panel I then proceeded to cut out the middle section and make a slightly recessed area, so that the bottom portion of the saucer doesn't jut out too much, just as demonstrated in the ventral schematic I drafted. Like with the dorsal portion of the hull, I will also be puttying the seam/gap between the two parts so that it appears as one piece.
I'd also already made quick work of the alternate bridge dome and modified it to fit on the underside on the ventral portion of the hull, and as you can see it's already been installed. Pretty much the only thing needing to be done to that piece is attach the sensor array.
As for the slit at the rear of the underside portion of the saucer, to fill that in I simply cut two small lengths of (I believe) .060 styrene and jammed them in there. Quite a snug fit, and once sanded smooth one won't even be able to tell there was a connection point there.
It may not be clearly noticeable in the first two pics, but the nacelles I've decided to use are the Production-style nacelles, with the bulb on the back end. I decided to do that for two reasons: 1) to keep it in line with the TOS Enterprise and other ships from this era, and 2) to keep it more in line with the style Dave used on his backdated Miranda build (I figure he'll probably use the same style nacelles on his own build of this, lol).
So, there you have it. All of the work shown here is what progress I'd made last year, so no further work has been done on it as yet; I actually need to head out to the local hobby shop here and get more styrene (which I'm running low on) and fast-acting glue. Still, considering I haven't touched on this project in quite a few months, it's come along rather well at this point.
You better hurry up and get started on yours soon, Dave... I'm already well ahead of you, buddy...
lolEDIT: Fixed broken links.
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