It's really such an iconic configuration that anything with a saucer and underslung nacelle's is a "whatever-Reliant". New Voyages did their own take on it. The Nebula from TNG is kind of a "TNG-Reliant" (kina). Heck there was even a "JJ-Reliant" in the 2009 Star Trek.
It's looking nice so far. TOS ships are known for their clean lines, but really go look at the TOS Enterprise - she'll surprise you. If you can capture that "detailed but clean" look you'll have a winner.
I know what you mean by the multiple plans for this type of ship. David Nielsen drew his set of plans to go with his Avenger Class plans and then Todd Guenther made his own modifications in Ships of the Star Fleet. My own take on it was to adapt David's original plans as faithfully as I could but add Todd's window placement. So all of my components (bridge, engines, etc.) follow the dimensions from the Franz Joseph Constitution rather than the TOS 11 foot series model (like Todd's plans do).
I just saw the comment about how you're using the various "pre-Mirandas" as a "style guide". Nicely put.
It's really such an iconic configuration that anything with a saucer and underslung nacelle's is a "whatever-Reliant". New Voyages did their own take on it. The Nebula from TNG is kind of a "TNG-Reliant" (kina). Heck there was even a "JJ-Reliant" in the 2009 Star Trek.
Thanks, Tallguy! Aye, I am putting my own twist on this ship, to try and make sense of all the conflicting sets of orthos. Melak was kind enough to whip up a nice big set of orthos from this model for me, so I have started on a good an' proper set of "TOS Miranda" orthos for the masses. A couple WIPs are shown below...
Personally, I think New Voyages made a mess of the design... they took the simple elegance of the Surya design, and made the oh-so-common fanon mistake of sticking too much useless stuff on it, and ruined it.
Could you say a bit about how you build the body of the Surya class? I can never get the saucer to merge with the more angular structure.
Neither did I, so instead I built the saucer and angular back in one piece (although I took the liberty and made the aft smooth-ish), full two decks height (or so). Then I cut out the upper area in the front where the saucer goes, insterted a separate saucer object with matching number of segments, and deleted the aft part of that. Lots of manual matching and fitting ensued, maybe this pic will show a little better what I'm talking about:
Only started today but I'm already certain this will be different from the version we saw on screen in quite a few places.
Not much to see yet, everything still very WIP - especially the belly.
Excuse me, Mr. Melak, I have a summons here for you to appear before the Court in regards to one Trek model too many...
Seriously, I like your opening shapes. The gap between the saucer and the superstructure bulge on the belly is visible, but I'm sure you've seen that yourself, and will fix it. I've always liked the Akira, and look forward to seeing what you do with it.
If you're going for a new model, why not make a refit or just a different version ? Perhaps something not overpowered (reduce the amount of torpedo launchers from 15 to something reasonable like ... uh ... 14) and with nacelles that actually fit I think the second version of the deflector housing fits better. Looking forward to your new model
You read my mind Nacelles are either going to be more TNG-ish as in the concept, or something like the Ent-E's captain's yacht's nacelles.
I plan on having 4-6 torpedo launchers (as opposed to the 20!! I counted on the model) pointing in traditional directions. I personally am not a fan of fighters in trek, nor carriers, so I won't have any of that. This will be a "torpedo artillery / command cruiser" ship in my book, firing from much longer distances than were used to seeing.
I've already done some math with the scale and so on - the 260m scale they used in DS9 doesn't work out. As much as I'd like to size this down subtly, a 3-4 deck saucer would just look too small. Doing some eyeballing and looking at Voyager I arrived at some 460m.
I like many things in the concept drawing(s) better, but the flat front of the engineering blob isn't one of them - I haven't quite decided which direction to go yet. Some of the things I do like and will incorporate are the more sweeping lines, fewer clunky parts, etc.
I still say the merging of the underbelly and the saucer, from the akira concept drawing would look better but i know its a bit of a pain to do..... Why not compramise and do 8 torp launchers? That way your not under arming her since she is a torp ship.
Will be interesting none the less to see how the hull turns out
I plan on having 4-6 torpedo launchers (as opposed to the 20!! I counted on the model) pointing in traditional directions. This will be a "torpedo artillery / command cruiser" ship in my book, firing from much longer distances than were used to seeing.
Someone after my own heart! I never counted the torpedo launchers before, but if thats true, then damned! Thats ...silly.
I've already done some math with the scale and so on - the 260m scale they used in DS9 doesn't work out. As much as I'd like to size this down subtly, a 3-4 deck saucer would just look too small. Doing some eyeballing and looking at Voyager I arrived at some 460m.
I like many things in the concept drawing(s) better, but the flat front of the engineering blob isn't one of them - I haven't quite decided which direction to go yet. Some of the things I do like and will incorporate are the more sweeping lines, fewer clunky parts, etc.
I couldnt have agreed more. Already your version looks a bit more "streamlined" than the original, and the original's clunky parts really detract from its design imo.
A case of Rich Sternbach's (i believe) saying of staying up too close and not taking a step back to find out you made it look like a chicken.
Also, dont forget the Voyager episode "Message in a Bottle". Where it shows the Akira with defiants and the Prometheus. The windows of the saucer never seem to match the scales or situations they put it in. Plus when you look at the tiny windows on the similarly sized Steamrunner, it just makes you frown.
I cant wait to see more Melak! Heres to an intelligent and -good looking- Akira!
Well, I didn't make as much progress in the last ~2 years as I would have liked, but I figured I'd pull this one out of cold storage anyway
I've been doing some tinkering on the catamaran hulls, and I'm pretty happy with them now. Gotta work out some more kinks, and then figure out what to do about the, uh, sort of secondary hull on the bottom of the saucer.
Posts
Thanks, Tallguy! Aye, I am putting my own twist on this ship, to try and make sense of all the conflicting sets of orthos. Melak was kind enough to whip up a nice big set of orthos from this model for me, so I have started on a good an' proper set of "TOS Miranda" orthos for the masses. A couple WIPs are shown below...
Personally, I think New Voyages made a mess of the design... they took the simple elegance of the Surya design, and made the oh-so-common fanon mistake of sticking too much useless stuff on it, and ruined it.
Neither did I, so instead I built the saucer and angular back in one piece (although I took the liberty and made the aft smooth-ish), full two decks height (or so). Then I cut out the upper area in the front where the saucer goes, insterted a separate saucer object with matching number of segments, and deleted the aft part of that. Lots of manual matching and fitting ensued, maybe this pic will show a little better what I'm talking about:
In other news, I started a model
Only started today but I'm already certain this will be different from the version we saw on screen in quite a few places.
Not much to see yet, everything still very WIP - especially the belly.
Ya I know, too much trek on the boards. Sue me
Seriously, I like your opening shapes. The gap between the saucer and the superstructure bulge on the belly is visible, but I'm sure you've seen that yourself, and will fix it. I've always liked the Akira, and look forward to seeing what you do with it.
If you're going for a new model, why not make a refit or just a different version ? Perhaps something not overpowered (reduce the amount of torpedo launchers from 15 to something reasonable like ... uh ... 14) and with nacelles that actually fit
You read my mind
I plan on having 4-6 torpedo launchers (as opposed to the 20!! I counted on the model) pointing in traditional directions. I personally am not a fan of fighters in trek, nor carriers, so I won't have any of that. This will be a "torpedo artillery / command cruiser" ship in my book, firing from much longer distances than were used to seeing.
I've already done some math with the scale and so on - the 260m scale they used in DS9 doesn't work out. As much as I'd like to size this down subtly, a 3-4 deck saucer would just look too small. Doing some eyeballing and looking at Voyager I arrived at some 460m.
I like many things in the concept drawing(s) better, but the flat front of the engineering blob isn't one of them - I haven't quite decided which direction to go yet. Some of the things I do like and will incorporate are the more sweeping lines, fewer clunky parts, etc.
Will be interesting none the less to see how the hull turns out
I couldnt have agreed more. Already your version looks a bit more "streamlined" than the original, and the original's clunky parts really detract from its design imo.
A case of Rich Sternbach's (i believe) saying of staying up too close and not taking a step back to find out you made it look like a chicken.
Also, dont forget the Voyager episode "Message in a Bottle". Where it shows the Akira with defiants and the Prometheus. The windows of the saucer never seem to match the scales or situations they put it in. Plus when you look at the tiny windows on the similarly sized Steamrunner, it just makes you frown.
I cant wait to see more Melak! Heres to an intelligent and -good looking- Akira!
*takes a swig*
I've been doing some tinkering on the catamaran hulls, and I'm pretty happy with them now. Gotta work out some more kinks, and then figure out what to do about the, uh, sort of secondary hull on the bottom of the saucer.
Looks excellent bro!
I found the Cat's to be a right pain in the ass to do.
Look forward to see what you do with it.
I'll get right on that!
..oh, 5 months have passed? oops.
I think I'm almost at a point where I'm happy with all the shapes, so I might be starting detailing soon-ish, or later..:p
at the moment, it look like it could be one of the little models in the Ent-E confrance room just behind the birdge.