Transcript
Melissa’s VET Engineering project saw her recreate a scale model of a spacecraft, ‘Narcissus’ inspired by one of her favourite movies of all time: Alien.
Narcissus, “was a shuttlecraft and lifeboat for the Weyland-Yutani Corporation commercial hauler USCSS Nostromo. One website cites the dimensions of the Narcissus as 16.3 meters in length, 19.7 meters wide and 7.5 meters in height”1 (other sources give varying dimensions). Melissa’s version is 17cm in height.
Narcissus has an asymmetrical diamond-shaped footprint, with the widest point being approximately two-thirds of the way back. This also marks the highest point of the craft. The front of the craft tapers to a flattened point. Projecting from this point are two symmetrical prongs, each with similarly flattened points. In Melissa’s version, the craft is a dull silver in colour (the natural hue of the polished and clear-painted 1.6mm mild steel used for its construction).
The craft is angular, made by folding and welding the plasma-cut sheets of mild-steel. The underside of the craft is similarly angular but with a shallower pitch compared to the steeply pitched angles that characterise the top side. The craft’s four engines protrude from the rear: two on the upper side and two on the underside, each formed of a rectangular block that starts at the craft’s highest point extending backwards to finish with backwards-facing exhaust.
In the franchise, Narcissus has capacity to carry three crew2, who are seated beneath the bank of six adjacent elongated windows, or viewing panes near the nose of the craft – four in the craft’s central flat top, and one each on the symmetrical sides that angle downwards. In Melissa’s version these are indicated through the metal work and do not include transparent panels.
Melissa’s model is mounted on a metal brace to enable it to stand as though moving through space.
