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.

The size of the Enterprise-E ARGO Shuttle

The shuttlecraft ARGO - seen in Star Trek Nemesis - was designed by artist John Eaves. Eaves classified the Argo as a heavy transport shuttle. It includes a buggy for planetary ground missions.

For my calculation I used the real size of the ARGO buggy. According to blueprint, the car is 5.33 m (17.5 feet) long.

Taking into account the size of the loading hatch, this results in a length of 20.04 m for the ARGO. In addition, this length allows a cockpit height of 2m.

blueprint ARGO buggy

Reman Scorpion Fighter - Coloration

The Reman Scorpion Fighter has a black base coat with a greenish translucent touch.

To create this special color effect, I first sprayed the model black (Model Air Black 71057).
The green shimmer on the black hull is called interference effect. Here, the color is not only transparent, but also interacts with the base color. The darker the base color, the stronger the effect.

Star Trek Nemesis DVD Documentary (trekcore.com)

By the way: For the first time on Star Trek, these colors were used for the studio model of the Enterprise Refit.

There are special airbrush colors on the market. In this case I bought Aero Shine turquoise (28914).

For the interior I used Model Air Gunmetal 71072.
For the buttons on the LCARS I have used:
- White 70951
- German Yellow 70806
- a mix of Intermediate Green 70891 (50%) + German Yellow 70806 (50%).

The leather seats are painted with Model Color Glossy Black 70861.

I used Model Air Steel 71065 for the Disruptor Cannon.

Because this looked too blank, I wanted a more naturalistic effect. I used the Speckle Effect with a mix of Model Air Gunmetal 71072 (50%) + Steel 71065 (50%).

I painted the bluish light on the back of the wings with Model Color:
+ Field Blue 70964 (25%)
+ Glossy Black 70861 (15%)
+ Silver 70997 (35%).

Reman Scorpion Fighter

As labeled on the package the scale of the model is truly 1/24. The Fighter is 18,8cm long when it is assembled. This results in a length of 4,51m in 1/1. I bought the model kit a while ago.

This is the design sketch of the Reman Scorpion Fighter from Star Trek Nemesis. The Remans are seen for the first time in Star Trek Nemesis and I love the design of this ship because it looks Reman but is significantly influenced by the Romulan design.

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

According to the original schematic John Eaves designed the prototype of the model kit. It has therefore only small incorrectness to the original.

schematic by John Eaves (flickr.com)

The kit itself is very accurate and nicely detailed. Nevertheless, there are some serious errors which I have corrected:

• I replaced the bow and detailed it according to the original 
• the seats I have given a pad 
• the landing gear is designed after the original 
• I have extended the struts

Isolinear Chips from Star Trek Nemesis

These are Isolinear Chips (Replica) as seen on Captain Picards desk in Star Trek Nemesis. The front is silver printed and the back is gold printed like on the original screen used props. Like those of Star Trek Insurrection, they are laser cutted.

screenshot by trekcore.com (Star Trek - Nemesis)

screenshot by trekcore.com (Star Trek - Nemesis)

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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