# WIP - Original Series Captains Chair.



## TBBS-ClassicFan (Jan 23, 2007)

*WIP - STAR TREK - Original Series Captains Chair.*

Hi, Guys.

Im a lurker from the TrekBBS, been lurking here for a while now, so i thought id join and post some of my stuff up.

Anyway...

Ok, heres the pitch...

I was bored. and thought id do this.


A few years ago, i built a 3D digital version of the original chair and posted it on these boards.

As i didnt have a flash drive back then, oooh, 2002, i think, my laptop crashed and i lost all my 3D work like ships/ set design etc.

So, today i started a newer, better version.

Now im using a nurbs modelling software called Rhinocerous, if anyones heard of it.

Anyway, ive been working on this for about two hours(Sat 20th).

Please note, though, that this is not final, i will have to claen up all the crappy craftmanship when i add fine detail.









Im working from these McMaster blueprints, for future reference.









Also Fact files scans, although, they do have inaccuracies in colour.

Please note, these are not to scale with the blueprints, these are just basically a template to work from. Just to kinda get the feel, ya know what i mean.









Ive rendered with the isospam grid so as you can see the curve of the seat itself.









Again this is not to scale. But ive added a rough plinth and collumn.









A test render of the arm control panels. These are not final, though. again, im playing with the software for the first time in a couple of years.









Heres the detail on the function indicators, labels and push switches.









EXTREME CLOSEUP... WOOOOOOOAH


Any suggestions are welcome.

Please note that it is a work in progress and not to scale as yet. :thumbsup:


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## Ohio_Southpaw (Apr 26, 2005)

Very Cool!


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Welcome! :wave: 

I think you got it under control. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: I will be watching your progress.


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## FishDS9 (Jan 3, 2006)

Nice work! :thumbsup:


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## PhilipMarlowe (Jan 23, 2004)

Exceptional work, even if I don't understand how you guys do that stuff! :thumbsup:


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

It's magic.


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## beeblebrox (Jul 30, 2003)

Trained Gnomes and Elves.


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## Guest (Jan 23, 2007)

Cool in the extreme, welcome aboard !!


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## X15-A2 (Jan 21, 2004)

Though I've heard of Rhino (and I think I even have a copy of it somewhere around here), my 3D poison of choice is Microstation by Bently. This means that eventhough I would love to give helpful advice, I can't really. I will point out however that, although beautifully rendered, the McMaster drawings are not accurate in dimension (although they are generally accurrate in detail, with only a few exceptions. Most fans probably know this already). I realize that Mr. McMaster had only primitive reference material by our standards today, so my comment is not meant as a slam in any way. In fact, he did an amazing job, all things considered.

Your model is starting out very nicely. If you want to see closeup frame grabs of some of these details, just say the word.


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## TBBS-ClassicFan (Jan 23, 2007)

Thats true.

However, the guys behind the fan made Starship Exeter, Star Trek the Legacy (A German production) have all used the McMaster blueprints to construct their sets. Even the '97-'98 Star Trek: The Exhibition featured the TOS as the centre piece, was actually a fan made reproduction using the mcmaster blueprints to get the dimesions.

Granted, theyre not perfect to work from, but theyre the closest to exact that we'll ever be able to get until the guy who recently bought the original prop gives us the dimesions.  

Anyway, back on track...

The mcmaster blueprints i used in my original chair, i had only just found them again, on a disc in my drawer (Typical) and decided to use them more as a concrete base rather than a rough guide.

So, i started from scratch.

It is now perfectly to scale with the mcmaster drawings.

At the moment, i have only managed to build up the main crate. hopefully, in a few hours, ill have the inner chair built and finnished. :thumbsup: 









Right









Rear









Rear isometric









Front shot.


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## JGG1701 (Nov 9, 2004)

Very nice! I actually made a smaller version for my 9" Playmates Captain Kirk. Wish I could show ya'll a picture of it.


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## Pyxl (Mar 10, 2004)

*9" captain's chair*

Funny you should mention that! I've posted this before..it's my bridge model for the 9" playmates dolls. I had made a plan to do a stop motion piece with it, but eventually moved and had to take the bridge apart (it was about 6' in diameter and took up most of a stall in my garage).
Good fun. I love your 3d work! Keep it up. 
Have any of you seen this?
The Bridge


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## ilbasso (Jun 7, 2006)

I always enjoyed the fact that the Captain had only 5 buttons on his console and one of them was labelled "Jettison Pod." Yeah, like that's one of the most important and urgent tasks for a Captain, one that he can't rely on giving an order to someone else to carry out...


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## beeblebrox (Jul 30, 2003)

Do any of the other thousands of buttons on the bridge have labels? Like "bat-phasers" or "bat-sensors"?


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

^^Only at Spock's Station, because he has the ears.


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## TBBS-ClassicFan (Jan 23, 2007)

Well, ive had the bloody flu.



> I always enjoyed the fact that the Captain had only 5 buttons on his console and one of them was labelled "Jettison Pod." Yeah, like that's one of the most important and urgent tasks for a Captain, one that he can't rely on giving an order to someone else to carry out...


Sometimes, from what ive seen. Spock and Uhuras stations mainly as they were the most used in the series. The labels i have put on are from the Court Martial episode, where the script had called for a panel closeup as part of 'CGI computer simulation' created by one of the characters to frame Kirk. I put them there as that was one of the very few times we saw a closeup of the panels in the show.

Kirk didnt have just five buttons, though, youll see from the folowing images that he had all basic stuff on the throne. such as alert status select, intercom, hull separation etc etc.

Ive done the innter chair, arm rests and started on the computer interfaces.


























All interfaces together.









Left arm.









Heres the lcars type interface TOS style, the buttons i can see re-labelling themselves due to alert status of function required.

Thats all for now, ill have more up tomorrow.


Chris.

As i mentioned, the interfaces changed between episodes for certain scenes involving direct captain controls or closeups, sometimes even changing in the episode, but that was down to using stock footage or, filming scenes in between filming other episodes, thus, we get alternating interfaces.

Also, due to this, weve discussed over at the Trekbbs that we can adapt an lcars type display (As seen above in BASIC form) for the chair and consoles, since TOS had touch screen buttons aswel as physical ones in the series, this is entirely plausible as to have appeared in later seasons after a budget increase of some sorts.


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Cool details! When can I sit in it?


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## TBBS-ClassicFan (Jan 23, 2007)

Ok, been watching my TOS dvds again.

Watched the two pilots for research on the differences in the chair.

Ive decided to give the WNMHGB (2nd pilot) chair a go, alter the details a little, add details etc.


Heres a screencapture of the end of the episode, where Kirk makes his log entry. Its the clearest of the chair i could get in the episode. the details are not that clear but clear enough for a little guess work. LOL.

Also note, that in this pilot, the right arm panel has touch buttons, later to be replaced in the series with physical push buttons.









Now, i dont know what the black plaque is, it was never disclosed in the episode, maybe some blueprints or fan made stuff. Im guessing that its an eqipment reference number. Like the little red labels seen in 24th century Trek (See art of Star Trek book) on all the equipment.

After this 2nd pilot, however, we get the commonly used panels as i have rendered above, the gooseneck viewers are never seen again on the Enterprise, re-used for other alien sets/ships etc, but never on a starfleet vessle.

Heres my go at re-creating the right arm, note though, that the left arm was left entirely untouched and, well, almost entirely un-used in the whole series. the right arm is where all the modifications etc took place. 









I have got the plaque, new (or old) interface, data tape reader and gooseneck viewer. The gooseneck is not correctly proportioned, i did this last bit in hurry. Gotta refine it somewhat.









Left view with basic gooseneck detail. Also note the lack of a comm unit, the comm unit was in the gooseneck, i guess that the production guys decided having everything flush on the arm looked best, and least datable, as the series went on.









Heres a long left shot, note the left panel remains unchanged, the function select rocker switches, however, are also absent.

Heres a comparison of the two chairs together. There is not a lot of difference, only a few altered details.









Any comments welcome as always.

Gotta go, taking the other half out for valentines night *MONEY MAKING SHAM*


Chris.


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## TBBS-ClassicFan (Jan 23, 2007)

*The Astrogator Cometh.*

Hey guys, Been a little busy recently.

Ive started on the astrogator. These renders were done a few days ago but only now just had the chance to upload them.

I have thus so far started to build the inner details of the astrogator.
Building using variating transparency layers, so when i light it in lightwave, it will, hopefully, look stunning. :dude: 






































Chris.


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## mikephys (Mar 16, 2005)

What if he goes to adjust his chair and accidently separates the hull?


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

I believe the response would be....OOPS!

Chris,very good! I still marvel at the wood arm rests, so real looking.


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## mikephys (Mar 16, 2005)

Yes, excellent job! Great start on the helm/nav console too! Please keep the updates coming!


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## TBBS-ClassicFan (Jan 23, 2007)

*A new astrogator and a chronometer join the crew.*



mikephys said:


> What if he goes to adjust his chair and accidently separates the hull?


LOL, this was mentioned on the Trek bbs. just hear a little 'oops' from the centre of the bridge.

Anyway, i havnt been here for a while, so im back with progress....










The old astrogator.


The new one...








Had to rebuild the whole astrogator. I got the dimensions wrong, you can see the difference, the switch panel was too short.

Ive also started to construct the chronometer...








Screencap for reference.









Main base for the build.

to be continued....


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## TBBS-ClassicFan (Jan 23, 2007)

Lights and flick switches built. 









One flick switch labelled so far.









Details coming on slowly but surely.









A quick composite before i did the details. so you can see the scale of stupidly small details.

Ok, thats it so far, i havnt been able to work on it that regular though.



Anyway, heres an idea ive been wrestling with also.

In the recently remastered episodes, the 60s style clock face has been replaced by a newer improved looking digital readout, comlpletly changing the look of it.


OLD....










NEW....










Im hoping to do this version also, but it will be a hell of a lot easier than the version im doing now. Besides, even in the 60s they couldve at least done a bluescreen matt, similar to the viewers on the series, and just animated a digital display. but they didnt.

anyway...


Comments...?

Suggestion....?



Chris.


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## Ohio_Southpaw (Apr 26, 2005)

I prefer the updated chronometer. It seems more logical.


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

I prefer the original, because it is.


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## TBBS-ClassicFan (Jan 23, 2007)

Lloyd Collins said:


> I prefer the original, because it is.


 :thumbsup:


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## FishDS9 (Jan 3, 2006)

Updated Chron please. :thumbsup:


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