Here are a few more variations of the USS IOWA (Kelvin) shuttles that went a little deeper into the very familiar lines and lineage of the old Galileo style craft from the original series!!! Even though we were moving away from this look and into something new, Scott Chambliss had me use these ideas as the springboard to work from. It was quite fun to work with the original lines, not only as an homage but to see what was going to carry through or be left behind!!! It took a long time and a lot of renderings to get to the finals, so more to come!!! Enjoy!
Iowa or bust
Eavesdropping with Johnny 
On these, I like the top right best. Nice and clean and definitely more along the lines of TOS.
Looks sweet, the finalized Kelvin Shuttles don’t actually look far from what’s shown here. The drawings just have more familiar TOS details.
Nice to see more TOS references worked into the film. I’m surprised they let you get so close to the Galileo design, really. I like that you made the windows more expansive, so the crew can look up and see more. The one thing I don’t like about the original design is those small windows, which looked kind of absurd in the interior shots.
So I’ve seen this everywhere in concept art, why the use of blue pencil over strait graphite when doing designs?
You are the master of capturing the look and feel of the Star Trek universe and then rendering in ever new and interesting designs! I love the look of the wings and engines on all four of those designs. Great work as always!
Thanks for posting, Rich
Oh yeah… 😀
peace | deg
All I know is that I’m glad they decided to drop the name USS Iowa. It would have been too corny, given that Iowa is Kirk’s home state.
I’m loving these shuttle designs. It’s really great seeing how you came about designing the cool shuttles from the movie. I love the homage to Jefferies’ TOS design. I agree with DeanneM, I like the top right one the best, though it’s a close call. They all look cool. 🙂
I’m looking forward to the next post on the shuttle design, this is great stuff. 😀
You’ve been around the ‘files and Eavesdropping enough to call me dea. 🙂
Evil Genius…Corny? Iowa? Corny?
John, I love the homages to the TOS Shuttle, but would your design need a ladder to get in and out of? It doesn’t look as if the bottom of the door would meet the nacelle top the way the Galileo’s did. (at least not without bumping the dome)
I concur that the upper right is the best of the bunch
thanks for giving us the BTS peeks
Haha, exactly my thoughts as well. You’d need a stepladder to get out of these 😉
Well, I guess this answers my question from yesterday. More great stuff here,thanks. I wonder though, did you consciously add the little vertical stabilizers as an homage to Jefferies early shuttle concept sketch, which sported a similar doohickey?
Classic looking.
I like the subtle updates in these designs. Too bad they moved further away from the classic lines.
USS Iowa? Now that would have been corny indeed. George Kirk did everything to become the XO on the ship named for his home state? The Kirks later moved to that state to honor George’s sacrifice?
Sounds like an early attempt by the screenwriters at explaining why Kirk wasn’t born in Iowa. He was…we just never knew it was a starship! 🙂
(If so, it’s a good thing they changed their minds.)
I actually like these better than the ones in the earlier post. Not only are they closer to the original TOS shuttle, these drawings show how versatile the TOS design was and how it can be updated without losing the basic configuration. I’ll have to pick a favorite and find some time to do a 3D build.
Thanks for sharing, John…and Happy Holidays everyone!
Ohhh! These are shiney! I don’t know if I can choose a favorite because I like them all! 😀
I love the bottom right one. the large window gives the pilots a better veiw than the others.
John, these are very cool! Count another vote for the one on the top right as the best of the bunch, though they all could have worked. These should have been the Enterprise shuttles. They’d’ve been spot-on! And all four could have been different variations. Who says the shuttles all have to be identical, right? 🙂
I am firmly planted in the top-right camp. They’re fine looking designs but I find that the top right keeps the look and feel of TOS’s shuttle, while at the same time giving it more detail that people want to see. I think that it’s the one that also has the least amount of detail on it and that’s another reason I dig it.
Had you planned on a size for these shuttles? Those doors can be misleading…
Man, I love all these concept drawings! Keep up the awesome work 🙂
I love how much of the old style was used in the film. When I first watches it, it was these little details I appreciated most. Especially with the shuttles looking so much more similar to the classic design than we saw on the Enterprise and the communicators they used on board.
Wonderful stuff, as always.
The USS Iowa name was real? Wow, maybe that guy claiming to be a set dresser on movie that asked for high-res copies of my Federation logos wasn’t full of it after all! I’ll have to take a closer look at the graphics used on the film. 😉
You did a good job, John.
I consider the final design of the Kelvin’s shuttles in the movie to be an upgraded version of the Class F shuttles from the original series.