Constitution Class Size(And size of Starships in General)
- Thread starter Zycho32
- Start date
It'd be nice if 289m worked for the original series Enterprise, but it seems a bit small and is never said or clearly shown on screen, so I think it's fair to tweak a bit. Based on the discussion here, I think the original series Enterprise should be around 330m-331m, which would bring the refit and 1701-A from 305m to 348m-350m. This increases the internal volumes enough to fix the problems mentioned in this thread, but still retains the general scale of the ships. It also maintains the relative size differences with the other ships:
1701: 330m
Refit & 1701-A: 349m
Excelsior & 1701-B: 467m
1701-C: 526m
1701-D: 641m
I think 450m is too big for the original, so I hope Discovery pulls their version back to around 330m and that can be retconned as the official length.
1701: 330m
Refit & 1701-A: 349m
Excelsior & 1701-B: 467m
1701-C: 526m
1701-D: 641m
I think 450m is too big for the original, so I hope Discovery pulls their version back to around 330m and that can be retconned as the official length.
Actually, since Discovery's version of the Enterprise has swept nacelles like the refit, something closer to 350m might be more appropriate than 330m for that version.
An interesting, if overly rambling look at the top and side view of the new E as depicted on the Eaglemoss poster.
I really don't like that protrusion under the clamshell doors though, it looks like someone sticking their bottom lip out.
Other than the Rec Deck in TMP, every TMP set fits inside the ship nicely. They designed it that way. Each deck in the saucer has an 8 foot ceiling and a 1 foot thick deck with a 1 foot thick hull. This does not line up with the TOS sets, but it does line up with the official description of the saucer in The Making of Star Trek. 11 decks. The TMP Enterprise has 11 decks still in the saucer. And with the way the decks immediately below it are designed, there is room for the bridge to sink down a little and accomodate the TOS bridge and Turbolift housing just fine. As for the TOS sets, I take my cue of what they are intended to represent based on the limitations of 60's television. The sets had no ceilings so the walls had to go up higher to made sure the camera never showed the rafters of the studio. So I truncate the sets at 8 foot and consider the rest a necessary set error to fill in space. Except for the bridge, engineering, the hanger, and whatever rec are they perform the play in, the ceiling height should be 8 foot, which matches the external dimensions and the stated number of decks perfectly and is exactly what the more detailed design for TMP accomplished. The TMP Rec Deck was originally supposed to be under the observation area where there is plenty of room for it to be as big as it needed to be. In fact the ceiling of the Rec Deck sloped up to where the view screen is.
To make the rec deck fit where it is shown, I think making it longer and extend deeper into the saucer so that the ceiling can rise up to the next deck (we see that the two turbolift tubes are more than 2 decks tall at the viewscreen end). Plus that would give it the space to hold 400 crew instead of the 200 we see in that scene.
The TMP Enterprise was designed with higher ceilings in the secondary hull. If you enlarge the ship to make the decks thicker in the saucer, you'll end up with ridiculous heights in the secondary hull.
Also the thickness of the decks recently had some interesting backup from a TNG source. When the Borg cut out that circle from the Enterprise D, the decks are not that thick. It looks like they are about 1 1/2 feet to the 8 foot ceilings with a much thicker outer hull. A reminder, the TNG sets were just redresses of the TMP sets, so that 8 foot ceiling Andy Probert designed for TMP, holds over to TNG and Voyager as well. And it agrees with the 6 1/2 foot door from the TOS sets, even if it is shorter than the 9 1/2 TOS sets.
To make the rec deck fit where it is shown, I think making it longer and extend deeper into the saucer so that the ceiling can rise up to the next deck (we see that the two turbolift tubes are more than 2 decks tall at the viewscreen end). Plus that would give it the space to hold 400 crew instead of the 200 we see in that scene.
The TMP Enterprise was designed with higher ceilings in the secondary hull. If you enlarge the ship to make the decks thicker in the saucer, you'll end up with ridiculous heights in the secondary hull.
Also the thickness of the decks recently had some interesting backup from a TNG source. When the Borg cut out that circle from the Enterprise D, the decks are not that thick. It looks like they are about 1 1/2 feet to the 8 foot ceilings with a much thicker outer hull. A reminder, the TNG sets were just redresses of the TMP sets, so that 8 foot ceiling Andy Probert designed for TMP, holds over to TNG and Voyager as well. And it agrees with the 6 1/2 foot door from the TOS sets, even if it is shorter than the 9 1/2 TOS sets.
That's certainly a viable approach if you want to go for a more "real world" approach and especially if you plan to stick to the purported 947' length of the ship. It also means that we can do away with the offset Bridge dilemma, as the only reason this happened was to optimise television the framing of scenes on our television screens. Matt Jefferies was an aviator and would have spent his career in cockpits with doors at the rear, no problem.
I've long been aware of where Hal "slide rule" Michaelson originally wanted to put the Rec Deck and ditto for the odd sloping ceiling that puts the ceiling level at 2½ decks high at least, but I've never put two and two together this way. That does make a lot of sense! It also means that Hal got his way
The TOS sets were built from 10' high flats
