Oh! You put phaser balls on the exterior of the drive ring! I don't know if I'd have thought of that, but it's a good idea that makes sense now that I see it.
Love it. One thing that occurs to me is the warp core dome. I get why there would be one back where the impulse engines are but it seems like it's quite an internal space occupying trip from back there to your warp ring. Could it be that part of the experiment involves smaller decentralized warp cores? Two more out close to the attachments for the ring? You do have the two blue grills (impulse?) at the back of those side structures on the ring. If those were the impulse engines then it would be just two warp cores.
OR one down the center, supplying power to the ring at the bottom? Just a thought on a really nice design.
Love it. One thing that occurs to me is the warp core dome. I get why there would be one back where the impulse engines are but it seems like it's quite an internal space occupying trip from back there to your warp ring. Could it be that part of the experiment involves smaller decentralized warp cores? Two more out close to the attachments for the ring? You do have the two blue grills (impulse?) at the back of those side structures on the ring. If those were the impulse engines then it would be just two warp cores.
OR one down the center, supplying power to the ring at the bottom? Just a thought on a really nice design.
Good idea, it could be at either end of the nacelle attachments like the Constellation class. Also I thought then blue on the side would be like the red part of the nacelles and the ring the blue part of TNG era nacelles, but now that makes less sense. Maybe they can be impulse engines. Maybe still have a small one on the saucer since I'm imagining it can detach itself in emergency.
Ok Brandenberg, I tried your comment out and I think it's working pretty good! A lot smoother ring now and impulse,ring area is more interesting now. I then had to rework the back a lot... so I shortened it up a lot. so it's not as much of an overhang over the shuttle bay and tried to add some subtle but not too distacting greebles along the top, still not very happy with it...the fins could work, i'm thinking it's a sensor module type thing, was trying to avoid the rollbar or huge Nebula class type model. If anyone wants to do a paintover of that area feel free... :-D
Regarding that area over the shuttle bay: I'd extend it a wee bit further than the current iteration and then add a row of windows as a shuttle bay control room. Here's what I'm thinking:
BTW, the windows are deliberately low, so the deck for the control room would be a few steps down from the rest of the surrounding deck. You could even go hog wild and put matching transparent sections in the floor (aligned with the windows but maybe not as deep as the windows are tall).
I have to say, I had a picture in my mind when I made the suggestion but it wasn't nearly as good as what you did.
If you think about it, having the impulse engines split that far apart would make this thing extremely maneuverable in battle. Imagine a differential power output that far apart and how quickly it could turn. As everyone knows, the banked turns they do in Star Wars and Star Trek strain credibility and reality. The more recent Battle Star Gallactica did a much better job. This ship could almost flip turn on a dime.
Getting closer, tried some different saucer shapes on the bottom, and a blended saucer/body which was a disaster, i think i'm going with this for the most part..hope to start painting some panel colors and lines tomorrow which i think will help a lot
Moved a few more pieces around and made a little conference room at the end of the bridge, Thanks to Viper for some texturing help! Still WIP on the textures, trying out some different ship lighting as well.
Oh, how did I miss this? This is awesome! Nice to someone doing TMP era stuff as well. I have some overall design comments, but I think you'd have to rework some parts. The main ones are:
I would align the RCS thrusters to the grid lines. Same with the bottom phaser turrets.
The RCS thrusters might also have to be a bit larger. I suggest taking a look a reference from the known ships.
I would also have mixed the window types a little bit more on the rim. It looks a bit too uniform right now.
Not sure I like the blocks around the rim of the saucer. I would remove them, but it's a style choice I guess.
Don't take me wrong though. This is an awesome design
Oh, how did I miss this? This is awesome! Nice to someone doing TMP era stuff as well. I have some overall design comments, but I think you'd have to rework some parts. The main ones are:
I would align the RCS thrusters to the grid lines. Same with the bottom phaser turrets.
The RCS thrusters might also have to be a bit larger. I suggest taking a look a reference from the known ships.
I would also have mixed the window types a little bit more on the rim. It looks a bit too uniform right now.
Not sure I like the blocks around the rim of the saucer. I would remove them, but it's a style choice I guess.
Don't take me wrong though. This is an awesome design
Thanks! Should be no big deal, I like those ideas, they are all separate parts anyway. Any idea why th RCS thrusters glow? At least on the Enterprise A, I noticed it for the first time today very odd unless they are constantly on!
I wouldn't say you had too many windows... i think you've got the balance about right... loving the little bits of detail that you're adding.. and the colours look great..
Thanks! Should be no big deal, I like those ideas, they are all separate parts anyway. Any idea why th RCS thrusters glow? At least on the Enterprise A, I noticed it for the first time today very odd unless they are constantly on!
I missed this before. I'm not sure why they glow, but as far as I recall, they are always on yes.
I missed this before. I'm not sure why they glow, but as far as I recall, they are always on yes.
I was reading some funny behind the scenes anecdotes on the Enterprise model built for TMP (which was not the 'A' until the end of ST4 i never realized). Apparently ILM kinda hated filming it because the irridescent aztec paint scheme caused a lot of blue screen issues and they were very excited to blow it up (not the original) for ST3 only to have to fix it up again for ST4 onward, but that's why it got more dull and gray as time went on apparently. Made shooting it easier.
my first pass at texturing the engineering/neck area.. also made Viper's revisions, good ideas. Need to balance the colors still, should me more teal, less green.
Ah, I think the windows look much better! As for the texturing, I'm liking the look, only adjustment I would make is to push that angle stripe either a bit forwards or a bit back so it doesn't go over the docking hatch.
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OR one down the center, supplying power to the ring at the bottom? Just a thought on a really nice design.
Good idea, it could be at either end of the nacelle attachments like the Constellation class. Also I thought then blue on the side would be like the red part of the nacelles and the ring the blue part of TNG era nacelles, but now that makes less sense. Maybe they can be impulse engines. Maybe still have a small one on the saucer since I'm imagining it can detach itself in emergency.
Maybe I'll add some attachment greebles for more sensor pods... I 😉
If you think about it, having the impulse engines split that far apart would make this thing extremely maneuverable in battle. Imagine a differential power output that far apart and how quickly it could turn. As everyone knows, the banked turns they do in Star Wars and Star Trek strain credibility and reality. The more recent Battle Star Gallactica did a much better job. This ship could almost flip turn on a dime.
He called them “clippers”
Don't take me wrong though. This is an awesome design
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Thanks! Should be no big deal, I like those ideas, they are all separate parts anyway. Any idea why th RCS thrusters glow? At least on the Enterprise A, I noticed it for the first time today very odd unless they are constantly on!
Are you building the ship in real scale? I did the circular windows with a 30cm diameter and the rectangular ones are 155cm width x 60cm height.
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I didnt quite start at the right scale, I think it's about at half scale, I'll have to try those dimensions.
I missed this before. I'm not sure why they glow, but as far as I recall, they are always on yes.
Frequent updates at our Discord channel!
I was reading some funny behind the scenes anecdotes on the Enterprise model built for TMP (which was not the 'A' until the end of ST4 i never realized). Apparently ILM kinda hated filming it because the irridescent aztec paint scheme caused a lot of blue screen issues and they were very excited to blow it up (not the original) for ST3 only to have to fix it up again for ST4 onward, but that's why it got more dull and gray as time went on apparently. Made shooting it easier.
Frequent updates at our Discord channel!