Building a "real" TOS shuttlecraft....

[Warped9]

Tangental to my TOS shuttlecraft thread wherein I'm drawing up schematics for the shuttlecraft that integrates the three disparate versions of the ship we saw onscreen into one integrated vehicle, I've had the idea in the back of my mind of how cool it would be to build a "real" shuttlecraft, using my drawings as the basic plans.

By "real" I mean fullsize "working" replica with complete exterior/interior and lights and sound and everything. Something folks could clamber into and around and be photographed with.

Yes, it's insane and totally impractical and would cost a fortune to do authentically. But it would rock, particularly if it could be trucked around to conventions. Or even if it just had a permanent place of display that folks could come see.

Oh, well, it's nice to dream. Maybe if I win the lottery one day and could then afford to be an uberfan.

 

[FalTorPan]

I saw the Galileo set prop at a convention in 1991, and even that prop, which is significantly smaller than the ship that you depict in your drawings, had to have one of its nacelles removed in order to be transportable by flatbed truck. Would your design fit on a flatbed truck, perhaps by removal of both nacelles?

 

[JNG]

Who needs a flatbed truck? If it runs out of juice, we'll charge her up with the hand phasers, get her moving.

 

[Warped9]

Who needs a flatbed truck? If it runs out of juice, we'll charge her up with the hand phasers, get her moving.

Actually what I could try to do now is attempt using my limited photo manipulating skills and try to render a lifesize shuttlecraft with me alongside and/or inside it. This would be something more than just using a TOS screencap, but rather building a vehicle in Photoshop as I've done before with other things.

 

[Buck Rogers]

Over twenty years ago I was thinking the same thing using Lawn blower thrusters,and duct fan tech to make a hover craft if the shape of the G7 Shuttle craft,but like yourself lacked the funds to build from my own plans.

Nowadays with Micro Jet engines,electric motors rated at 68 amps along with R/C controls that have eight channels one could create a one man shuttle pod could skim the trees if possible.

Your topic brought back some fond memory,and yes I still have the design archived.

Signed

Buck Rogers

 

[FalTorPan]

Or even if it just had a permanent place of display that folks could come see.

How does the size of the TOS Enterprise's hangar deck compare to a real airplane hangar? Assuming unlimited funds, I could imagine a portion of a hangar being turned into a mock-up of the Enterprise's hangar deck.

 

[uniderth]

I actually thought about building a "real" shuttlecraft too.

 

[Warped9]

Or even if it just had a permanent place of display that folks could come see.

How does the size of the TOS Enterprise's hangar deck compare to a real airplane hangar? Assuming unlimited funds, I could imagine a portion of a hangar being turned into a mock-up of the Enterprise's hangar deck.

You know back when I started drawing my plans and finally settled on a size of about 26ft. for a "real" shuttlecraft I periodically paced out the dimensions outside when I went for walk just to get some feel for how big this could really be. Suffice to say that it isn't as big as a school bus, but it would be somewhat larger than a boxy delivery van somewhat like some of the UPS guys drive.

From a building perspective it's large, but from a real world perspective it's comparatively small. It could easily be stored in a barn or over large storage shed, but it wouldn't fit in most residential sized garages.

Now as to the hangar deck... Wow! You're talking about a whole other magnitude of scale.

 

[Captain Robert April]

If only we could locate the Galileo, or at least confirm that it hasn't been destroyed after the latest fiasco in Akron.

Do we have any spies in Ohio?

 

[Warped9]

^^ I have a similar thread running on the Hbbytalk forum and someone has posted pics of is purortedly the original mockup as it is today.


You know if one takes a long view of this kind of project then it could be within reach.

If you don't intend to haul the thing around much or at all and have a place to store it then you could conceivably construct it as a long term project much like others build kit cars, kit planes and their own power or sail boats. You spread the costs over a long period of time.

Hmmmm....

 

[Jadzia]

I think Tachyon Shield was building one last I heard

 

[Bill Morris]

I'm sure you've seen this one:

 

[Captain Robert April]

Maybe someone should just put up an ad on craigslist asking for information about the whereabouts of the damn thing?

 

[TIN_MAN]

There's some info over at the Drex Files as to the whereabouts of the Galileo, but it apears to be not good.

 

[Captain Robert April]

Um, link?

 

[Psion]

I think he's referring to this, Captain.

 

[TIN_MAN]

Yeah, thats the one. Thanks Psion, I just assumed everybody knew about that site already, and I'm not good using those linky things, sometimes it works sometimes it don't?

 

[Bill Morris]

I don't know. Waped9's garage looks spacious enough for the job.

 

[Harry]

Random question after seeing that photo: was the landing foot a custom piece or some existing part? It seems a pretty complicated piece of kit.

 

[Captain Robert April]

I think they used a piece of aircraft landing gear for that item.