Time to put the Starfleet Heavy Shuttle/Fueling Gantry 884 project away for a moment. The model now exhibits most significant external features. While the interior work more or less accurately represents the shuttle's personnel space, quite a bit remains to be finalized. The control panels are only scratched out, barely more than placing them under the pilots' hands. (I didn't bother with details and won't until after the next project which most definitely will have lots of control panels!)

It is an interesting if not intelligent ship. Passengers and crew board single file through three doors, each with its own ramp and stairs. The side doors have a swing up section not at all like TOS and only vaguely suggestive of NX-01's shuttlepod. The aft door looks suspiciously like the old style though, with two prominent "wing" doors that could swing horizontally and the lower door down. Once inside the neck breaking seat arrangement makes no sense and wastes internal space. Passengers strap in perpendicularly to the craft's direction of travel, promising a ride full of neck strain. Windows are above and behind the outer seats so at least the inner riders have a view out the side, yet the pilots have only a narrow slit to see forward. At least there's room in the back for a head!

Propulsion is a mystery despite the jarringly colored cigar thrusters atop the craft. Flight control using the stubby wings seems difficult, unless we see them in a "landed" position. (In flight the craft would change shape no doubt using considerable animation via CGI, adding a sour goofiness to the effort.) The wings might also tilt upwards to grip the thrusters then drop back to the traditional side mount, more useful closer to the center of mass. Because of the sloped sides of the ship, the thrusters as shown cannot rotate without extending a pivot of some sort, again a clunky CGI solution.

The large power station itself is visually interesting and will probably be digitally expanded, its real world parts framing whatever a future fueling station is expected to resemble. But building the set, not to mention the shuttle, takes time and money. There are lots of costly extras milling around. The effort is considerable and the expenditure must have been non-trivial, so I expect the scene to have some highlight in the film. (We'll see, cripes, in well over a year.) Fare thee well, oddly numbered craft. If the movie puts you to good use it'll be a pleasant surprise.


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