Filed under: NX-01 Deck Plans
Over the last couple of years I have gotten tons and tons of emails about my deck plans from people scattered all across the globe. Most have been very kind complimentary with a few verbally shredding it. (And a couple have been so scathing and abusive that I wanted to wash the sender’s mouth out with soap.) But I have enjoyed every single one I have received (okay… maybe not the really foul ones). I think opinions are a wonderful thing. They help to see the good and the bad of something. And seeing a project from someone else’s eyes brings new views to something you have become jaded or myopic about.
But most of the emails I receive are from people who have questions. Unfortunately I have a full schedule and a personal life to attend to so most of the time I never get around to answering them. Sometimes you just can’t do it all and keep your sanity. So I am drafting this blog post to answer some of my most asked questions. I am also opening up the floor for new ones. I am all yours! Ask away!
Filed under: NX-01 Deck Plans
I just wanted to give everyone a quick look at what I have been working on over the past few months. The bits that I am showing are some of the salvageable pieces from the junked deck plans. Right now I am reorganizing the Launch Bay area to fit into the new hull outline so I might have something more to show very soon.
Filed under: Design and Artwork
I started this project in March 2006. So that makes this journey three and a half years and still going strong. Well maybe not as strong as it was in the beginning but I am getting my six or seventh wind now. But I will admit I was beginning to feel a certain amount of creative fatigue over the last few months. That scared me a little. The last thing I want to happen is for the quality of my work to suffer. So for the past two months I have taken a break from the deck plans. It was a good thing but I have actually missed tinkering on them. But as noble as that notion may sound, I also took a break for another reason… one that almost killed this project completely.
Filed under: Uncategorized
I know. I have been AWOL for far too long. I love working on his project and tinkering around with the NX-01 but sometimes “real life” gets in the way, especially when I get hungry and have bills to pay. Unfortunately, I do not have an update or anything really to show at the moment. I just wanted to check in and let everyone know I am slowing getting things done. Changes are being made but they are not coming as quickly as I would like.
As for my progress, right now I am fleshing out E Deck in more detail and correcting some issues with the placement of Engineering. Doug Drexler has been posting some amazing stuff about the ship in his blog. I have been taking in as much of it as I can and applying it to the revised deck plans. However, I am running into some issues with some of his placements. Rather than rush things, I am working out everything in a large format first just to get the details and spatial relationships correct. After I work things through, I plan to start building up a new set of full plans for each deck, plans that will be even more precise and detailed than the ones I currently have available.
In the coming weeks I may post a few screen shots of what I do have done. I have also been doing a lot of research into current technology for fusion reactors and theories into heat dissipation in a vacuum that you folks might find interesting. And like always I can never leave a stone unturned when it comes to the details.
Stay tuned. I promise to be back soon.
Filed under: NX-01 Deck Plans
Well… I have done it now. So many people are going to be really pissed off at me it is not even funny. I can only imagine the eventual spanking I am going to receive on this. Fans will be showing up on my door step with torches and pitchforks. And the worst part is I don’t have a windmill to escape too. Part of me is scared to make this post. Another part of me is excited because I have better information to share with the world. Whatever the ramifications are, the truth is this… I am in the process of destroying my version of the NX-01.
Filed under: Ramblings
What makes a starship? Is it her lines? Is it her lineage? Is it her function? Is it her crew? I guess you could say it takes all of those things to make her a starship. A starship would be nothing without each of those things to make her more than a “bucket of bolts” or an amalgamation of plywood, plastic, lights and a collection of points in a 3D coordinate system. But a question that few people ask is what makes a starship attractive?
Filed under: Ramblings
- The Bandai Enterprise NX-01
A few years ago… actually it has been longer than that… I was perusing around online looking for gods only knows what when I came across the Bandai model of the Enterprise E. She was a beauty, easy to assemble and nicely detailed. But the real clincher for me was the fact she lit up. I have never been an avid modeler. Actually, I have always hated doing it, even as a kid. Yet, here was a model that I could easily sling together and still look good. I was hooked. Hell, I didn’t even flinch at the price tag. Once it arrived I left it sitting on the work table in my studio for about a month because I just wasn’t in the mood to put it together. Oh but when I finally broke that box open, I was enthralled. The pictures had not done it justice. For a simple snap together model kit, I was very impressed and didn’t feel an ounce of guilt at the purchase price. After that I started grabbing up all of the Star Trek Bandai model line as soon as they came out and adding them to my collection of ships tucked away in my home studio.
Filed under: Design and Artwork
Canon (can-on)
Pronunciation: ‘ka-n&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek kanOn rod, measuring line, rule
1. the body of rules, principles, or standards accepted as axiomatic and universally binding in a field of study or art
.
Star Trek fans know this word very well. It helps keep all of those episodes, movies, books and etc. sorted out, not only for the fans but the writers and creators as well. Trek has eleven movies, over seven hundred episodes, two hundred novels, various games, theme park rides… well the list is endless so you can see why establishing some sort of official rules to what is “real” and what is apocryphal is important. So to make it easier for everyone, it was established that anything seen in an aired live-action episode or movie is canon, nothing else. (This does leave open things like biographical data seen on a computer screen, extended or director’s cuts but I am not going to touch that with a ten foot pole.) We here in fandom live by that or try to at least. Some have even sworn vengeance on anyone who doesn’t uphold it. Most just keep the faith and hope it all meshes together properly. Some are just looking for some good entertainment and don’t care either way. But whatever your view, canon is a huge aspect of the Trek Universe. I should know. I have learned the hard way.
Filed under: Design and Artwork
I have always loved plans, any kind actually. I have dozens of house plan books floating around the house. I have books on skyscrapers, airplanes and ships. I think I even have one on trains. But the most fascinating plans for me have always been starship plans. I remember a project we did in the fourth grade where we mapped out the internal layout of the space shuttle in the school parking lot with string and masking tape. It was completely and utterly fascinating. I have been hooked ever since. I even saved my allowance for weeks to buy a book on the space shuttle so I could learn more about how she worked and was built. Then in 1990 the Holy Grail came along… the TNG Technical Manual… and I was totally hooked. After that, my love of space ships went through the roof. I wanted to know… everything. But since that well has dried up in the last few years, I have been forced to start filling in my own blanks when it comes to Trek ships. The birth of The Enterprise Project is the result of that “need to know”.
Filed under: NX-01 Deck Plans
The revised/revamped/overhauled NX-01 Escape Pods are finally here.
New and improved, right down to the smallest detail.
For a full view of the new schematic, visit The Enterprise Project Website!
