Excelsior-class Dimensions

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Tinadrin Chelnor
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Excelsior-class Dimensions

Post by Tinadrin Chelnor »

Hi, wasn't sure where to put this. I was working on my own Star Trek project, and doing some research and whilst stumbling along the dimensions for the Excelsior-class I found that whilst your site states the length at 467 metres and the height to be 100 metres, which is a length to height ratio of 4.67, all other sources that I can find point to a ratio of around 5.9. I have checked several different schematics/drawings and measured the length and height in pixels for comparison, as well as dimensions given elsewhere, and all of them come to around a 5.9-6.1 range. Thus, the only thing that I can determine from all of this is that the Excelsior, if it is 467 metres as suggested on here, the height should be no more than 80 metres. This is of course a large discrepancy, and I truly hope you don't mind mentioning it. It is just that I use DITL for a lot of information and have for about two decades, and I hope that the information is useful to you.

Several examples state the Excelsior to be 511.25 metres long and 87.67 metres in height, which is clearly a length:height ratio discrepancy compared to DITL, as the length is higher than DITL but the height smaller. However, the height I have given (80 m) is using your length of 467 metres, as I have no reason to dispute that.

Given a height of 80 metres, and using the same height per deck ratio as you use, the Excelsior should have 22 decks instead of 28.

I really truly hope that you find this information useful, and it is not meant be picky or anything, I just thought I would offer some insight into what I have found.

Thanks for listening, Tinadrin.
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Re: Excelsior-class Dimensions

Post by IanKennedy »

Hi, no problem with talking about stuff like this. We fully encourage discussion on these things.

In terms of the sizes we quote they are taken from a backstage source, which is currently listed as the Chronology. I find the fact that it is the Chronology odd (and I suspect that the reference is not right), however, it is "official" information. Our stated aim is to go with that over speculation, or calculation.

The second thing is the size comp diagram we have on the site. It is taken from various sources on the internet. I completely agree that it doesn't fit in with the aspect ratio of the specs page, however, we're not in control of the image. The size comp algorithm fits the image to the width but allows the height to float to the aspect ratio of the original size comp image, rather than having it conform to the specs page. To do otherwise would cause the image to look very odd.

In terms of what is right, our policy has always to go be the on screen source information, if that is lacking then to go with backstage information and only then failing either being available make up our own. Unless someone says the ship is a given height then you have to go with the backstage information. To try and measure or calculate it from visuals is doomed to failure, or at least significant error.
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Tinadrin Chelnor
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Re: Excelsior-class Dimensions

Post by Tinadrin Chelnor »

Thank you for your reply, and I entirely understand your standing. Thank you for your thorough answer, it is much appreciated.
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Re: Excelsior-class Dimensions

Post by McAvoy »

Funny thing is if you go by the model, the Excelsior is much bigger than 467 or 511 meters. Like 700 meters. Look at the windows and bridge modules.
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