Enterprise Bridge (adjusted for DST action figures)

[SteveNeill]

cool.

as i said earlier, where were the playsets and figures that looked like this when WE were kids?!

That's partly the reason why I built the 66 inch Enterprise. I still remember the day I brought home the AMT 18 inch model and opened in disappointment.

Too little, Not accurate and on and on. then they came out withe the props. Sinkers. For 45 years I wanted a good big mode and I'm sure that for Glorbes this was the same motivation.

Little do the numskulls at the toy companies realize just how much money they didn't make.

I don't know about you guys but even at 16 my intelligence was insulted!

This is looking great. Makes me want to do one but I'll just wait until I buy a house and have you guys over to help me build a full sized one!

Steve

 

[robn1]

I like the view screen. It reminds me of the crap Mego set I had, I made different pictures to hang on the screen. Not much I could do about the rest of it though :cry

It would have been so cool to have this bridge as a kid

 

[feek61]

. . . I still remember the day I brought home the AMT 18 inch model and opened in disappointment.
Steve

Oh, don't even get me started on the disappointment with the AMT Galileo!!! I did the same; built a big accurate one!

I agree with Rob, I can't imagine having this cool bridge as a kid! Great work!

 

[glorbes]

Thanks for the words of encouragement, everyone. I am totally imagining being a kid while I build this thing, and I think that is where the motivation comes from.

Robn1, the idea for the cardstock images actually springs from the Mego cardboard viewscreen paintings that were hilariously awful...I remember one of them was some green alien that kind of looked like a Talosian, and another was some completely non-descript ship on fire...lord those were awful!

 

[Underdog]

Brilliant. I started one much like this using cereal boxes back in 2000, then ran across Ron Caudillo's card model and built three different sizes of his model and have had a Cage version and Production version in the works in the computer for some time. I even used those little key changes as monitor screens and had them flip through different scenes from the series.

 

[Atlanthia]

Does anyone know if the blueprints exist for any other Federation ship bridge?

 

[glorbes]

Atlanthia, do you mean from TOS era? As far as I know, they only ever used the same set for the bridges of other ships. I've seen CG pictures of the different era bridges, but nothing like the Bridge blueprints that exist for this version.

Okay, I decided to make this into two halves. That way, it can be displayed with all the stations of the ajor characters, or as the whole bridge. This is not complete, but I think I need to take a breather from it...I still need to make a base, at least three more Burke Chairs, and the steps on the 3, 9, and 12 o'clock positions. There are a few more details that need to be added as well, such as the viewscreen blue outline, the sensor feed readout for the environmental station, and more that I'm probably forgetting about. But, at least the whole circumfrence looks like the bridge, even if there are some rough spots and gaps that I need to address.

 

[glorbes]

Also, for the exterior shell, I was thinking I might add some flat stations and details from the rest of the ship, like a sickbay readout, or the large engineering panel, and perhaps some the primary colored doo-hickeys that always seemed to decorate the corridors of the enterprise. Perhaps a graphic that looks like the transporter...that would really make it feel like some sort of vintage playset.

 

[Atlanthia]

glorbes, you KNOW how much I love this! It is the best thread on the whole of RPF. No offence to anyone else.....
I noticed really early on that you mentioned "adjusting dimensions a little.....did that incur a narrowing of the walkway that encircles the centre? I don't mean to be rude in any way; in fact, I have only revisited this thread about 40 times before I noticed it! (testament to your workmanship)
The walkway/gangway seems a little narrow, but not so much that it affects the overall effect.
Just curious...

 

[Atlanthia]

I would use an old cell phone with mp4 capabilities and upload a few short videos from Star Trek TOS. Then, I would attach it to the Suggested cut out and use it as the View screen!
Just an idea...

 

[glorbes]

Oh the walkway is defintely too narrow. I shaved off a few inches from the overall circumference and then worked out the dimensions from there. The width of this thing is 30", but if I had properly scaled it, the size would be closer to three feet. I know it doesn't seem like much, but when I visualized it, the three footer would have been totally insane...when something is round, those inches make a big difference in the real estate the model consumes. As a result, each station is a bit too small and the walls flanking the viewscreen are a bit too wide. The most telling discrepancy from the actual plans is that the little checkout station to the right of the viewscreen should be directly lined up with the turbolift doors, and this is not the case at all. I was willing to settle for 'close enough' and to get the right impression of the set. I'm too dim and impatient to strive for absolute accuracy...if I did, I'd never get anything done

 

[Atlanthia]

Sorry, glorbes. I reposted before you replied; such is my enthusiasm for your creation!

 

[CB2001]

Omg! Awesomeness!

 

[glorbes]

After much hand-wringing, I decided to tackle an issue with ths build that was bugging me. The connection between Spock's station and Navigation was really massive and awkward, despite the fact that the measurements I started with should have prevented this. The problem was from the fact that there wasn't a straight line from the base to the top of the Navigation section, primarily because when I attached the console to the walk way, something went wrong with angle. The only way to fix it was to remove the console from the walk way base...which made me realize how much better the model/playset would look with a complete, unbroken walk-way base!

What I have decided to do is to have the three consoles in this section as one removable piece, leaving the floor intacts and permanently mounted. That way, the effect will be similar to the AMT kit whereby a section of consoles is missing, but the floor and walk way are a complete piece.

Console section:

Gently placed in the gap between viewscreen section and Spock's station:

This way, the gaps I'm going to have to fill will be more manageable and less noticeable, and solves part of the problem of how I'll display it.

I must admit though that I nearly had a heart attack disassembling the base from the consoles...I went very slowly.

 

[robn1]

That's a nice change, it does look better with the floor intact. And we saw Spock's station like that on screen a couple times, with the next station removed.

 

[zsherman]

Okay seriously? This may be the coolest thing I have ever witnesses! If you wanna do on for some cash out is thin sheets of styrene... I'm just sayin'! Awesome work!

 

[Felgacarb]

This is a great build! Really makes the figures look good, too.

 

[SteveNeill]

Terrific! Just great! Enjoy it!

Steve

 

[bullitt3980]

Amazing work and a very entertaining thread. Did you use sheet styrene or card stock? Got any ideal how many hours you got into this project?

 

[glorbes]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone...it means a heck of a lot.

Amazing work and a very entertaining thread. Did you use sheet styrene or card stock? Got any ideal how many hours you got into this project?

Sheet styrene all the way...mostly 060 thickness. I started this in July...I haven't a clue how many hours I've spent on this...too many, no doubt.

I fellow member of a model club was kind enough to do a quick and dirty lighting tutorial, and walked me through the basics of adding LED's to a model. I had purposely designed the 'cove lighting' of my Bridge to be translucent in case I decided to take a crack at it...here's my first foray into the world of model lighting!

Seeing as how this is my first ham-fisted attempt at this, I'm pretty excited! The cove lights do not have the funky colors, because I figured this would be the only lighted element on the bridge (aside from whatever lighting would be happening from above or outside of the playset/diorama). That being said, I could probably coat the light panels in clear color if I decide to make the effect more 'accurate'. So, in a short time I learned postive, negative, 3 volts of raw power, and how to burn myself with a soldering iron...now I have only nine more lights to go!