The size of the Enterprise-E

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E) was a 24th century Federation Sovereign-class starship operated by Starfleet. This ship was the sixth Federation starship to bear the name Enterprise.

I never really considered the size of the Enterprise-E until I looked at the LCARS graphics on the Enterprise-E's MSD (Master Situation Display).

There I noticed that the silhouette didn't match the real one of the spaceship.  

So I traced the Tourbolift LCARS graphic and that of the bridge's MSD (which are identical).

screen used tourbolift LCARS grahic by "Star Trek Fact Files"

 According to this MSD the ship has 24 decks.

• The premise for all my deck calculations: a deck is 2.5m + 0.5m for EPS cables, power cables, ... = 3m height for a deck. 
• My calculations follow a purely mathematical approach. I do not compare bridge modules or disk heights with each other. I always pull in decks based on the rows of windows and then calculate a physically plausible room height.

And in fact, with this MSD, the total length of the spaceship is calculated to be 572.2m if one deck has a height of 3m.

A design sketch version was used to draw the decks that didn't correspond to the blueprints of the later model or the CGI Enterprise-E.

design sketch "The Art of John Eaves"

design sketch with MSD overlap

For the correct silhouette I used the CGI image from Santa Barbara Studios' CGI model of the Sovereign-class. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 11, page 50). 

Now I compared it with the silhouette of the spaceship. 

Without doing any calculations, it is immediately clear that the total length of the MSD can't be correct because the final blueprint wasn't used for the MSD.

If we now use the height of 3m for a deck, we calculate a total length of 718.8m for the Enterprise-E.
The official length of 685,8m is therefore wrong.
And one more thing: If you look closely at the side view of the Enterprise-E (the real one), it has 26 decks (and not just 24 decks, like in the MSD).

Only in this configuration would the main engineering on deck 16 and the upper shuttle bay in the correct position.

The configurations on the Enterprise-E for Star Trek Nemesis made it slightly shorter because the warp nacelles were raised a little and pushed forward by 3.5%.
Additional phaser strips and photon torpedo launchers have also been added.
In the end the extended saucer detail beside the upper Shuttle bay had no effect at all in the side view because it was too flat to be seen there. Nevertheless, this extended detail gives the appearance of the Enterprise-E a more smooth look.

 This results in a length of 706.1m for the Nemesis configuration.

STAR TREK Size Comparison Charts - Starfleet and Earth Ships

  Here are the size chart with the ships from the Alpha, Beta and Gamma Quadrant.

PS: A special thank (and all copyright) for the picture material to: John Eaves, Drex Files, Star Trek Fact Files and Star Trek The Magazine, Starship Collection Magazine and The Light Works.

Size calculations:

USS Defiant      USS Relativity

Excelsior Class      Excelsior II class

Oberth Class      Sovereign class

Enterprise (DSC)      Ambassador class

USS Discovery      Pathfinder class

USS Shenzhou      Edison class

 Nova class      Odyssey class

Reliant class      Gagarin class 

Inquiry class      Sagan class

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The Size of the First Contact Borg Sphere

During the battle of Sector 001 the Borg launched a Sphere in order to travel back to the year 2063. The USS Enterprise-E destroyed the Sphere. The remains of this Sphere ended up in the Arctic Circle.
From ENT: "Regeneration" we know that the scientists calculated a diameter of about 600 m. This contradicts the concept designs of John Eaves. Borg Sphere: 1300 feet (= 396 m).

design scetch by John Eaves (johneaves.files.wordpress.com)

How was the size of the Sphere now implemented in the studio model?

For the calculation of the size I use a photo of the Borg cube at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis Star Trek exhibition.

Borg cube miniature used in 1996 film "Star Trek: First Contact"
Robert Scheer/IndyStar

From John Eaves design sketch we know that the edge length of the Borg cube is 9000 feet (= 2743 m).

• Because the photo doesn't show exactly the front of the side with the opening for the Sphere, I transferred the edge length to the middle of this opening.
• If you now set the height of the opening in relation to the edge length, you get a diameter of 503m.
• The red circle shows the size of the Borg Sphere with 396 m diameter (as on the design sketch of John Eaves).

The space between the sphere and the opening also corresponds to the perception in the film.

screenshot by trekcore.com (Star Trek First Contact)

I've added that to my Size Chart for the huge ships.

Borg Cube - Coloration Part 2

The Borg Cube now has a nice metallic look but it is me, unfortunately, too smooth. The longer I look at the cube, the more I think it needs more depth. The cube needs shades.
For this I have made ​​a washing of Vallejo Model Color:
Black 70950 (1/3) + Glaze Medium (2/3)

Borg Cube - Coloration Part 1

In the movie the base color of this Borg cube looks like a very cold gray.

screenshot by trekcore.com (Star Trek-First Contact)

Therefor, I mixed my gray with blue. To make it look more metallic, I include silver. I used Vallejo Model Air:
White 71001: 50%
Black 71057: 25%
Blue 71004: 5%
Silver 71063: 20%

The First Contact Borg Cube has many small metallic painted details.

Photo of the original studio model at Christie's Auction (st-bilder.de)

I used Vallejo Model Color: Brass 70801 and Silver 70997.
In order to put more highlights I have painted many of the pipes in Gunmetal 70863.

Borg Cube

I bought the Borg Cube resin kit in 1/13715. It represents the Cube which was seen in Star Trek First Contact. The edge length of the cube is 2743m (= 9000 feet).
The model has a dimension of 20x20x20cm. I added some rods on every side of the cube. I wanted the cube gets more depth. Therefore, I cuted out some parts of the surface to glued them deepened.

design scetch by John Eaves (johneaves.files.wordpress.com)

STAR TREK Size Comparison Charts - Shuttles Part 1

And now I have finished the part 1 of the Shuttles and small ships. Part 2 will include the Starfleet Shuttles.

PS: A special thank (and all copyright) for the picture material to: John Eaves, Drex Files, Star Trek Fact Files and Star Trek The Magazine, Starship Collection Magazine and The Light Works.

STAR TREK Size Comparison Charts - Huge Vessels

Here is a chart with one of the most popular huge vessels from the movies and the series.

PS: A special thank (and all copyright) for the picture material to: John Eaves, Drex Files, Star Trek Fact Files and Star Trek The Magazine, Starship Collection Magazine and The Light Works.

Size calculations:

Romulan Warbird

First Contact Borg Sphere

Klingon Sarcophagus ship 

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