“Enterprise XCV – The Great Experiment” – Mark Rademaker
2011 Ships of The Line Calendar from Pocket Books – On Sale August!
Mark Rademaker knocks it out of the ballpark with this fully realized render of the Matt Jefferies ring ship!
One of the most radical experiments in early Earth starship design was the Enterprise XCV. Unlike the traditional nacelle-and-saucer configuration, the XCV uses an annular propulsion system, based on Vulcan vehicle designs. This ship however, employed cyclotron accelerators to create a high-energy proton flux. The protons circled through the massive outer rings of verterium gallenide segments, generating a symmetrical subspace field. Each of the two coleopter ring structures contained two counter-rotating cyclotrons. The cyclotrons in each ring operated slightly out of phase with each other, generating the propulsive field imbalance that carried the ship through subspace at warp speeds. – Mike Okuda
Holy Crap!
My thoughts exactly!
Incredible!
Arrgh, August is so far away!
This is an excellent fill-in for that one out-of-place graphic in the TMP Enterprise‘s rec room (out-of-place in that, at the time, we had no backstory for it).
While it’s obvious that the Federation Starfleet tended to prefer the dual nacelles championed by its Earth precursor, after seeing John Eaves’ “donut ship” concepts, I’ve wondered if Starfleet might also have a smaller number of ringships in various support roles, perhaps as scouts or science vessels. My only explanation on why they aren’t more prominent in Starfleet is that ringship engines tend to be finickier than many Starfleet engineers like. :/
Wow. Mark Rademaker is an awesome talent.
Out-frakin’-standing! Can’t wait!
peace & bananas | deg
I think Mr Jefferies would be proud of this one. Very nice work!
SA-WEET!!!! The 2011 SoTL calendar is shaping up to be a double-buy for me; one to keep intact and one to take apart so I can frame the individual images. This is so nice!
This is me sideways upon seeing this image:
Now that’s pretty darn neat.
Holy cow, Mark! It’s beautiful!
I always figured we could place the Oberth-class in with “vulcanized” starfleet designs. The curved pylons resemble the rings and with the underside pod, the Oberth looks very similar to the vulcan shuttle design seen attachted to the D’Kyr design
Beautiful rendering! Congrats to Mark…
I have to say that I am actually dissapointed with this because although very similar this it not the cannon XCV seen on screen in TMP. The image shown on the wall was a black and white image taken from a colour painting done by Roddenberry (I think it was just titled ‘starship’).
That ship was completely painted in a light champagne in colour (much like the original colour Doug wanted for the NX-01). It only had 4 main windows on the front nose section with no other external windows or hatches. It also said ‘USS’ Enterprise on it but I guess that was sort of an accident.
This render does look good, its just that it appears to have been done in the 2009 Star Trek film style and not the more logical original 60′s style which was way more simplistic.
As for the ships background its nice to see the link between the ENT era ‘Vulcan Ring Ship’ and this design. Mankind obviously borrowed heavily from Vulcan technology in the early days.
Can anyone put a date for this ships launch? So far I’m guessing from other source material that it was a UESPA launch around the 2060′s (the same time the probe ‘Friendship One’ found by Voyager was launched).
David
Thank you guys!
It was an honor to put the work of Matt Jefferies in 3D and in “modern times”.
I really want to thank Andrew Probert, Doug and Mike Okuda for all their support on this one!
Whoah that’s an awesome render ! The model itself is flawless ! Great job Mark.
Beautiful. Can’t wait to see that babe going to warp … [TNG style
]
-sodala
Hot damn! I’ve always loved that Enterprise design, shame we’ve never got to see her in action. This a wonderful suprise
A glorious snapshot.
Passing through the oort cloud, on its way outta the solar system, by the looks of things.
Maybe one day, Starfleet will reach an agreement with the Vulcan High Command and declassify top secret documents about “the Great Experiment’s” mysterious disappearance.
Okay… so I got a little carried away there. But that artwork is a fantastic boost to the imagination right now.
Wow. WOW! That is by far the best interpretation I have seen of that ship so far. Actually it is the first time it feels real. Great work, Mark!
That is top-notch work! It really brought her to life.
If Enterprise continued, it would’ve been great to see the XCV come to life and make her fully part of the Trek family and not just a side-note. Perhaps the next Trek series or movies would take a moment and fill in the gap.
Oh my god. What a beauty. As others have said, it looks real.
Woah, AWESOME.
Nice! I love it!
Matt Jefferies told Doug and I that the “ring ship” was his favorite of all of the concepts he had devised for the original series Enterprise. He noted, however, that he had anticipated problems in building and filming it as a physical model. Fortunately Mark’s beautiful CG rendering is exempt from those concerns, so Matt’s ring ship finally lives!
-Mike
When Star Trek: Enterprise was being developed, did anyone ever consider to let the show take place aboard this ring ship? I think that would have been very cool. The interiors being more reminiscent of NASA than of Starfleet, no beaming AT ALL. With a ship design like this I could have very well imagined an atomic war between Earth and the Romulans. With the Enterprise NX-01 somehow I couldn’t.
Well, the art department did… meaning Mike and I did. But the studio and the producers did not want to let the iconic saucer go.
Mr. Jefferies was a brilliant designer, and it’s a testament to his craft that decades later we’re still in love with his designs. Not to take anything away from NX-01– you and the gang did great work with the NX-01. Just feels a shame we didn’t get to see the XCV in Enterprise. At the least, it would have been fun to see her as a guest-starship.
Truth be told, I was sort of hoping to see it when the series [Enterprise] was first announced (lol). Oh well, what’s the old saying about if wishes were horses…
We also did make a simple model of the ring ship for the Observation Lounge display case in one of the TNG feature films. I think it was for Insurrection or Nemesis. I don’t know if ever it made it down to the set, and I’m pretty sure it was never actually seen on camera. I seem to recall that we may have used it as a background model in some admiral’s office in Star Trek: Enterprise, but I don’t think it was seen there, either. We did get it back afterwards, and it hung around the art department until it finally broke. (Matt was right – it was a very fragile design.)
-Mike
Mike, wasn’t the TNG display an homage to the “Enterprise lineage” photo wall in the Rec Deck in Star Trek: The Motion Picture? You can see the ring ship there.
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/schematics/ss_enterprise-screen.jpg
There seems to be alot of interest on your blog about earlier Enterprises. Do you think you might be interested on working on more future (being a relative term) Enterprises, like perhaps an Enterprise F for the early 25th century? The Star Trek Online fleet could use a fresh flagship.
Hi Nick! Sure, I’m interested… time permitting.
Looks a lot like this model kit:
http://www.fantastic-plastic.com/Declaration-ClassEnterpriseCataloguePage.htm
Disclosure: I built the master parts for the kit. There are some notable differences between my physical model and the CG render here, but they’re still pretty similar.
Hi Scott!
No doubt, as Mark used Jefferies plans as you did. Fantastic model, by the way! I’d buy one tomorrow if I had the time to build it!
Oh, pffffftt. You’re not a Real Model Builder if you only buy models you actually have time to build. You should have whole rooms packed to the rafters with kits you’ll finish “one of these days.”
The hemisphere on the side of the “enviropod” of the Starship is listed as a “metafier” on the Jeffries drawings. Any idea what that is? Is it another name for “transporter?” The model kit comes with both the hemisphere, and an oblong alternate… the version of the Starship shown on the rec room wall in TMP seems to show an oblong shape there rather than the hemisphere, so I built that as the shuttle bay.
The TMP image: http://www.up-ship.com/models/notthatenterprise/2007-07-22b.jpg
Too busy with polygons these days, Scott!
Oooo, that’s a sweet kit, Scott! I love it! I’m a CG model builder, but I do still have dozens of kits stacked to the rafters (literally) for one of those daze, eh.
peace & bananas | deg
BTW, does anyone have Matt’s blueprint/spec-sheet of the ship, at a good hi-rez size? I’d appreciate a copy if so.
deg
a very nice work. And another missed opportunity for Star Trek Enterprise to show a really cool ship design. Sad the show never get a season 5. I could imagine a story arc around the mission to find the missing XCV Enterprise.
Nice work Mark! I think this picture will be one of the best from the new SOTL.
Double treat! Not only do we get a good look at the XCV, but it looks like my pet theory on where it fits in has been “Okuda-cized”!
Now to see if I can get anyone else to buy the notion that the Declaration-class (a post-Romulan War liner from the 1980 Spaceflight Chronology, artwork by Rick Strenbach) was “actually” a different series of ships altogether, with only superficial resemblance to the XCV.
(or I could get a life
)
Get a life? What is that?;^)
That is a gorgeous image! Man, I am looking forward to this calendar….
Best,
Alex
I *love* this!
Beautiful. I always imained this is built for speed.
“With this ship, Mankind will be able to go up to eight times the speed of light. That is well over four times faster than anything we have now.”
The stuff that dreams are made of…
It actually seems to glow–a lovely vision.
Praytell, good sir, do you have a ballpark length in mind for this beauty?
I’ve been working up volume estimates for ships at the site my name links to, and ballparked a length of about 78 meters based on a ballparking of the length of a simple model which is itself a ballparking of the canon vessel.
(Model: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=57c1464c0ee6e6b1cbf1aad6a1e4147b&prevstart=0
Ballparking Notes: http://www.st-v-sw.net/STSWvolumetrics.html#38 )
I could quite readily replace my existing estimate with something at least a little closer to “backstage canon”.
Thanks!
Hi DSG2k,
I belive a correction may be needed to the size lenth of the XCV.
You’re off by quite a few meters, 78 meters falls way short as per Jefferies plans/blueprints.
Hey DSG2k,
If you want, I could send you the blueprints of the XCV-330 (the plans include the measurements/dimentions) that I sent Mark Rademaker, when he said he wanted to create a 3D render of it.
My e-mail is lord_vahmp@yahoo.com.
I’ve had these blueprints since I was a kid (got them in a Sci-Fi mag from pre-net days).
It includes, 1 extirior blueprint, 1 interior bridge schematics blueprint and a print of the artwork (XCV in flight, probably the same one used to make the image in ST-TMP)
Scottlowther probably used a copy the same blueprint for the Fantastic Plastic model. (I know that these prints are now rare to find)
Doug… If you want a copy to post here on your wordpress? Just give the word captain…
And BTW this goes to anyone that would like a copy also.
Laterz….
Vahmp
If anyone’s interested in them…
Here is the link to my photobucket were I have posted all the images of the blueprints and artword for the XCV-330;
http://s829.photobucket.com/albums/zz212/Vahmp/Blueprints/
Have a NICE DAY….
Vahmp
Very impressive! Very, indeed!
Assuming that scale is in feet, I’m coming up with about 120 meters for the length of the ship.
(That’s counting 74 pixels for the 0-100 feet, 293 pixels for the length of the ship (producing 396 feet . . . it would probably be 395 without blueprint lines and pixel artifacts and such), and going metric from there. This appears confirmed based on the 2nd half showing a ring diameter of 260′, or 260 feet.)
I would recalculate the volume from the model I have, but then the model I have only vaguely resembles the blueprints (understandable . . . I wasn’t aware there *were* such blueprints until this very moment.)
You’ll be officially thanked on my site, but for now, thank you!
Thanks DSG2k, and you are welcome Sr.
Yea you’re pretty much dead on in your calculations. hehe
And like I mentioned above, if you want copies of these prints, just shoot me an e-mail, and I’ll send them to ya.
Be well….
Vahmp
DSG2k
BTW, Yes the scale is in feet.
Answered on the main, but not sure if ya got it too so I add it here…
After adding up the measurements from the prints, this is what it comes out to;
400 feet lenth 260 diameter.
You missed by 5 feet. Not bad calculating there buddy! hehehe
I posted some of the “Starship” pics and blueprints here:
http://www.up-ship.com/models/notthatenterprise.htm
Included is a scale comparison between the ringship and the ST:TMP Enterprise, and a comparison of the forward sections of the “Starship” and the “XCV 330 Enterprise.” The “Enterprise” seems to have a different structure hanging off the side than the original “Starship” has… oblong rather than hemispherical. I took that oblong-ness and turned it into a shuttle bay, for lack of anywhere better to put it.
I know I answer ya below already, but just reiterrating.
I have your site saved in my favs, for quite awhile now. (Kinda-of a fan a yours, I’m scratchbuildin some of your desings for myself. hehehe)
You have the originals like I do, and the artwork that came with the blueprints.
Do you remember what mag they were in? I, for the life of me, can’t remember the name of the mag. hehe
I’m kinda canon like guy, I personaly prefer the original Jefferies design myself, but your modelmaster is beautiful!
> Do you remember what mag they were in?
Yup… a little magazine called “eBay.” I bought just the prints probably about 5 years ago. No context to ‘em, sadly.
@ DSG2k,
Here are the measurements, directly from the print.
85′ feet tip of nose to end of habitable part, 135′ feet from end of habitat to the begining of first ring, 65′ feet width of ring X 2, and 50′ feet of space between rings.
Diameter of rings is 260′ feet.
@ scottlowther,
In the original Blueprints there is no shuttle or shuttle bay as far as I’ve seen.
There’s just the “Metafier”, and just beyond that, inside the hull is a part/space called the “Metatransfer deck”. I guess this would be a transport device of some kind.
But each person has their own interpretation I guess. hehehe
Take care both….
Vahmp
Nope, no shuttlebay. But the “Starship” with it’s mysterious “metafier” is non-canon as far as Trek, while the XCV – with it’s oblong *something,* is canon. Since Terek has shuttlebays but no metafiers… shrug. it was an easy option. The model comes with parts to do both.
If it’s meant to be a pre-NX-01 ship, then the “metafier” might be an early term for “transporter,” but it clearly can’t be a means of transporting *people,* since in NX-01 days it’s not used for that. So it would have to have some form of shuttlecraft.
>Nope, no shuttlebay. But the “Starship” with it’s mysterious “metafier” is non-canon as far as Trek, while the XCV – with it’s oblong *something,* is canon. Since Terek has shuttlebays but no metafiers… shrug. it was an easy option. The model comes with parts to do both.
I saw your model, and like I said, it’s realy great lookin.
>If it’s meant to be a pre-NX-01 ship, then the “metafier” might be an early term for “transporter,” but it clearly can’t be a means of transporting *people,* since in NX-01 days it’s not used for that. So it would have to have some form of shuttlecraft.
As far as “metafier” vs Shuttle? Well, we’ll never know what the XCV’s oblong thing is I guess, since there’s no interior views.
Which in the “starship’s” case, the interior blueprint doesn’t show it as a shuttle bay or that it has a shuttle.
(And about the name of the Mag. Well, I figured, maybe you knew. Was worth a try, thanks anyways.)
Actually, I believe the “Starship” blueprints and art were sold mid-70′s (or perhaps up to the early ’90′s, it’s a little vague) on their own, through “Lincoln Enterprises.”
http://www.trekplace.com/article13.html
At the link there’s a scan of the catalog showing the listing for this.
Hi everyone I just wanted to introduce myself tonight. I love the “Ring Ship” design, and wish we all could have seen her in action in one of the episodes?
Who knows though … IF … they make another series based on the original 60′s version maybe the ring-ship will be in one of those!
Absolutely GORGEOUS!
I have the model kit of this from fatasticplasticmodels.com
It is a solid resin kit!
Wish I could find a way to light it.
-Jim