3DCount's Ambassador

count23

My first WIP in *checks post history* 9 years!

Been threatening to make this for a long time, but I lacked the confidence or the skills to do it, now no more!

I present, the long neglected workhorse of the Lost Era, the Ambassador Class!

Hoping to do both canon variations, depending on how annoyed I get finishing her off, but I've been trying to make her happen since I joined SFM in 2002, now I am

Currently blocking her out, just got the nacelles out of the oven tonight, will be redoing the neck and finishing off the shuttlebay in the next few days with a bit of luck.

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first post images.

markmassey

As someone who has recently necro'ed an 8 year old wip.... welcome to the party

You've made a solid start man...

lewisniven

Great progress so far! She's a beauty.

japetus

Great job so far

Rekkert

Great start!

scifieric

Good start. Keep going! I want to see you finish!

Freak

Looks like you are off to a great start!

count23

Been busy with work, so no major updates. But i took a first swing at the Warp Nacelles and main shuttlebay.

the nacelles shape is not quite finalized, but I'm pretty close to the final shape there. Did some refining of the neck shape too.

I _think_ the proportions are pretty close to the studio model now.

Freak

She looking good.

Brandenberg

Freak wrote: »

She looking good.

Agreed.

McC

I don't know if it'll be at all helpful, but feel absolutely free to mine my old Ambassador build thread for anything that might be useful. I love seeing Ambassador models come together and yours is off to a beautiful start.

count23

Thanks @McC , I actually used bits of your original thread for inspiration on building my subd cage, hehe. I may totally be swiping your idea for how the saucer shuttlebay doors work, much more interesting and intricate than my original plan to have them just slide into the hull.

A few new pics today, finalized the neck shape and the shuttlebay for now. Descided on a Yamaguchi thick but 1701-C shaped shuttlebay. Not been able to work on it much, hoping to do the pylons and a final proper rebuild of the nacelles in the next few days, then... detailing.

count23

I'm not dead!

A few updates. Might be considered small to some, but updates none the less. I have pretty much finished the warp nacelle modelling now, a few tweaks here and there, re-creating the RCS thrusters and a few decals missing, but nearly finished and ready to move on to the hull. Threw some basic materials on to make it look a little less flat, heh.

Staff meetings are great for working on something more interesting

To Finish:
Bottom decal below front of the nacelle.
Replace RCS thrusters at back of nacelle
Tweak front Bussard shape slightly (It's a bit too blocky still).

count23

Rekkert

Looking good, it's coming together!

Freak

This is one sweet looking ship.

count23

Holy Crap, has it really been 6 months since i touched this last? Shows how busy I've been with work I guess.

In any case, picked her back up last week and continued. Bridge deck is pretty much done, minus windows and a few other panel lines and maybe one or two adjustments to general shape.

Put down some initial shield lines on the saucer, largely based on Sternbach's original blueprints rather than what we saw on screen. Gives a very Excelsior vibe in some angles, eh?

count23

An update just to prove i'm not slacking off.

I rebuild the saucer a half dozen times, but i started putting in the remaining details. all that's left is shield lines and a few greebles on the bridge decks and we can call the saucer done and ready for texturing.

Dont mind the floating registry details, that'll be fixed later.

Also, she has a name, let's see if anyone can guess it _without_ resorting to google :P

Lizzy777

The name. Hmm. Is it the....NIRANDA?

markmassey

Yea i vote NIRANDA aswell

darkthunder

Going with Niranda? If you are referring to the battle where the Enterprise-C was destroyed, it was Narendra (III)

new_purple

Looking good! I agree with having the more traditional Excelsior/Constitution style shield lines instead of what we saw one screen, for sure. Planning the same for my Ambassador.

What are you thinking for shield lines on the secondary hull? I don't like the painted-on look for all the canon stuff...I'm putting down a more regular grid pattern.

count23

@darkthunder I know the battle of Narendra III, the ship is not named the battle, but for something any aussie kid who grew up in the 90s should get

@new_purple Thanks, yea, definitely looks nicer, i am considering using the original grid pattern for defining the aztecing when it comes to texture time, but time for that later.

For the secondary hull, hard to say, i dont see any _major_ issues with the shield lines in the front half of the cylinder, but i do not like how they abruptly end near the wings or the random pencil scratchings on the pylons themselves. So i may borrow inspiration from the Galaxy class to get that part done a bit neater.

rwking

Though I am not Australian, I figured out the name Niranda correlation. It was a fictional town called Port Niranda for an aussie tv series called Round The Twist.