The “USS Hutzel”. Another kitbash attached to the DS9 deep background “Frankenstein” fleet. Quite a conglomeration! Scanned from polaroids.
(Below) While we’re here, I ran across a couple of shots from the big bashfest party. Here is Adam Buckner doin’ the ERTL dance with his USS Jupp.
(Below) Wizardess Judy Elkins with USS Elkins in progress
Wow, Doug, thanks for sharing these as always. The Hutzel doesn’t get much love but I kinda like it. I had always seen it with the two nacelles above, so I’m curious if it’s supposed to go that way, or the way it does in your photo? Seeing more Jupp is good, and the Elkins looks kinda cool in-progress from that angle, I hope we see more of her.
Very nice! I don’t think I’ve seen a good photo of the underside of the Elkins before.
These are TERRIFIC, thank you so much. I’m definitely a fan of those little-seen background miniatures – putting this kind of attention into them is what makes the Star Trek universe feel so large and lush.
One that I’d LOVE to see is the Curry – I’ve been noodling with a recreation of the model and the one thing I can’t get a good look at is how the saucer and the secondary hull are connected. Seems like that might have been done around the same time?
Hi Barnstormer, The Curry… hmmm… well, if I run across it, I will certainly post for ya. – Doug
Our ship-lists runneth over.
Hi Doug, I’m gonna have to agree with Barnstormer… the Curry was an interesting design… foreshortened excelsior with Connie Refit nacelles, strangely cool looking. The only photo seen was only a tiny pic with Dan Curry admiring the model . – as always thanks.
Once again…AMAZING STUFF!!!! Even if that INTREPID saucer section with what appears to be two CONNIE refit secoundary hulls for nacelles seems JUST a bit impractical.
Sam, that is actually a pair of F-14 fuselages used for that ship. Bernd who posts here has already written extensively about it here http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/ds9tm.htm
Again, thanks for these Doug. More great stuff!
Thanks Doug for the photos.
Excellent photos! I even see the little Saratoga escape pod in the background.
I think the Elkins is a neat little ship. I just wish Judy hadn’t used Connie nacelles for it; they’re the only out-of-place components.
When I originally emailed Dan Curry & got his kitbash’s registry number, I really hinted without coming right out and asking if he’d take some pics of it. Either he didn’t take the hint or he was reluctant to (or heck, maybe he just didn’t own a digital camera).
One question, Doug. The original top/side view pics you emailed me way back when where painted primarily a mustard-yellow color. Did that have something to do with filming purposes? I know the U.S.S. Curry was painted like a normal Starfleet ship, so I was curious as to the rationale of the patchwork of colors for the other models.
Mark, So I’ve got those shots (the Curry) in one of my many storage boxes. They will surface sooner or later.
I don’t think they worried too much about the gang playing with unusual paint patterns. Besides, I imagine that a patchwork would show up much better from a distance anyway. If they were really watching out for oddball things, they would have been concerned about mixing scales. They never thought that we would be analyzing them in the 21st century. – Doug
I just discovered this site through Ex Astris Scientia, and Surak’s Katra, what a find! This is a GREAT resource for hard-core Trek geeks. I can’t thank you enough Mr. Drexler, for caring enough about Trek to continue to feed us this bounty of vintage Trekdom minutiae that could just as easily have been relegated to the bowels of history.
As for this particular posting, I have a question regarding the USS Elkins. Did the final model actually have two secondary hulls? I had always believed it was just a single hull under there.
Its fun analysing things though
I think the models worked well for their intended function as deep background ships – all you really need is a vague flash of familiar Federation design elements to come across on screen for them to read as Starfleet ships even at the tiniest of scales. The specific components used and the mixing of scales is irrelevant IMO – you just need that subconscious flash of recognition that they are indeed Starfleet vessels.
Great stuff as always, Doug! Is that a planet model next to the Talaxian head appliance? I always imagined the globes used on TNG and the other series, before the planets became all digital. to be much bigger, like on TOS. Wonder what happened to all of them!
I’m finally posting here…I feel like I already know almost everyone else I see in the comments here, as it’s pretty much the all-stars of the fan community (plus a pro here and there). This is my new favorite website and the best thing to happen to Trek on the web in, oh, a good ten years or so. Thanks to Doug Drexler!
Aside from the self-intro, a question: which side was really supposed to be the “top” of the Hutzel? Was it the single nacelle or the pair? The use of two Excelsior-type saucer tops, apparently complete with bridge modules, to build it has left me guessing at the intended alignment. I won’t make an assumption from the way it looks in these photos, since balancing it on its one nacelle to take pictures of it posed the other way was probably not practical
Also wanted to note the Playmates toy ships visible above and behind Mr. Adam Buckner.
The cord for the lights (these kitbashes had working lights!?) seems to go into the hull from the side with two nacelles. Seeing as you’d probably want to hide that on film, I’d reckon that would be the underside. That is also, IIRC, how the DS9 Tech Manual depicts it.
Some fans have taken to calling it the [i]Medusa[/i]-class, which is an apt name, IMO. If you were to push me for an in-universe justification for its looks, I’d say top speed courier/light cruiser.
Well, naming the ugliest ship in Star Trek for Gary Hutzel is not really flattering…
Anyway, nice photos once again!
It now becomes clear for the first time that there are actually two F-14 hulls on the Elkins model.
Regarding the colors, my first impression was that the model that Judy Elkins is holding does not yet have the very colorful paint job. But while it may be still a work in progress (is that masking tape on the part of the deflector/jet engine that should be golden?), these seem to be the final colors indeed. I think they only look different because the photo was taken with a flash light.
On the question why they were painted in such strange colors in the first place, my idea is that the models were always supposed to appear in the background, and some exaggerated contrast improvement would help to make contours recognizable from a distance.
I’m guessing Gary built it
Elkins=Elkins
- Doug
Sweet. Very sweet. Especialy the USS Elkins. The shot that show the underside is very useful.
I like how some of the paint jobs make it look as though these ships were rushed through construction to get them battle-ready.
This site is an awesome find, thanks to Bernd for showing me the way! A question for you Doug though, about the orientation of the “USS Hutzel”:
Is it meant to be 2 (nacelles) down, 1 up as shown in your pics, or (hopefully) 1 down, 2 up?
I’ve drawn up a complete class history for this curiously compelling (to me at least) design, which has the third nacelle added on much later into the ship’s career and has the original design as an “upside-down” Miranda type in Excelsior components. You can find my history with pics here: http://www.starbase23.net/Shipyard-Fed-Scorpio.html if you’re interested enough.
Bernd, I totally disagree with you that this is the ugliest Trek ship. The Curry/Shelly or Elkins atrocities are much further up the list!
Along these same lines, could anyone from the production crew enlighten me as to the *intended* size of the USS Centaur? Contrary to Bernd, I’m going for a 210m escort-type based on the Miranda bridge and photorp pod and the relative sizes of the Centaur vs the 110m-long Jem’Hadar fighter from the actual ep.
AH, too cool eh. Ya know, I don’t mean to sound chauvinistic (as I’m NOT in the least, quite the opposite really), but it always amazes to see a girl who likes to build models, esp. pracs, and sci-fi ones to boot. Good for Judy!
And that’s the first time I ever heard that word: Wizardess.
Thanks for sharin’ Doug!
LLP,
deg
As far as the orientation of the “Hutzel” is concerned, I believe it would be single-nacelle down based on the fact that the Starfleet delta logo on the double nacelle strut is upside down. The thicker part of the delta is always at the top of the logo. I think it looks better in the single nacelle down orientation anyway.
…And here you can find a professional modeller’s interpretation of the Hutzel were it ever meant to be a hero-model (Model built by Stephen L)…
http://msfm.seryan.com/stephen_l/ussaquarius.htm