3DDestroyer/ Scout

ulkesh

Hi all,

I've been lurking about getting all kinds of inspiration from the talent here. Well I started learning Lightwave about 10-12 years ago, and just when I was getting a handle on modeling... I dropped it and focused more on my profession.

Well here we are now, and after a couple of years of trying to learn what I forgot, I feel I'm sneaking up on it. Here I've started work on a Star Trek design that's based on the Franz Joseph concept from the early 70's 'Starfleet Tech Manual'. I'm modeling it as a Dominion War era scout/ destroyer. Some changes will be forthcoming. At some point I'll take a crack at texturing.. (Lord have mercy!)

Rekkert

Great start, definitevely looking forward for more!

Aresius

Looks a bit like a variant of the Freedom class.

somacruz145

That's a really nice model coming along. If anything, I would advice you to gie the ship some distinctive elements (like fins or other extra geometr) to make it stand out from all the Freedom-esque ships that Aresius posted.

Starship

An interesting evolution to the Saladin and the Freedom, but I believe the nacele is bigger than necessary.

ulkesh

Starship wrote: »

An interesting evolution to the Saladin and the Freedom, but I believe the nacele is bigger than necessary.

Well she's gotta be able to outrun what she can't outshoot..

ulkesh

somacruz145 wrote: »

That's a really nice model coming along. If anything, I would advice you to gie the ship some distinctive elements (like fins or other extra geometr) to make it stand out from all the Freedom-esque ships that Aresius posted.

They're all inspired from the old Franz Joseph designs....:D

XFozzboute

I've built many versions of this ship and I like what you've done so far. It looks really good so far.

ulkesh

Some updates...

ulkesh

A few more pic's. I'm likely going to make some changes to the structure behind the bridge... too bulky, too busy.

Starship

looking good!

Fre'dni

Is the inset at the front of the saucer the main sensor/delfector grid? sort of looks like the style of the Enterprise NX. While the show did mess up some things, the ships design did appear to be logical for its era, ala the sensor grid

Hellsgate

Interesting. A refurbished NX-Class saucer section mated to a Nova-Class nacelle housing and a Connie neck, and deployed during the 2370's to bodyguard civilian trading stations, refugee resettlement transport convoys, and various A.Q. Alliance surplus depots.

ulkesh

Fre'dni wrote: »

Is the inset at the front of the saucer the main sensor/delfector grid? sort of looks like the style of the Enterprise NX. While the show did mess up some things, the ships design did appear to be logical for its era, ala the sensor grid

Yes, it's the main navigational deflector dish. The one thing I didn't like about the old Franz Joseph design was the deflector dish hanging on a pole, but it's a minor nitpick. Voyager had an inset deflector on the saucer section, and the NX has a similar design...( funny thing is I wasn't even thinking of the NX when I did this, but it's a good comparison). It occurred to me afterward that one of my favorite Fed. designs, the Reliant doesn't even have a deflector dish! I guess she just shoots things out of her way.

ulkesh

Hellsgate wrote: »

Interesting. A refurbished NX-Class saucer section mated to a Nova-Class nacelle housing and a Connie neck, and deployed during the 2370's to bodyguard civilian trading stations, refugee resettlement transport convoys, and various A.Q. Alliance surplus depots.

That's funny the way you broke it down..;) Actually this was a concept I played with as a kitbash I could do to my Voyager kit. Never got around to it, but I liked the concept enough as a project I could use to learn, (re-learn) LW with. But the idea is that it is a kind of border patrol boat.

She's small, with a crew of about 200. I made a little 'red shirt' for scale. Yep.. it's a small shuttle bay.

Flanker

I like it and you could explain the bulky parts behind the bridge as sensor packages. Perhaps you could add some kind of sensory dishes/wiring there. Even so good looking ship and looking forward to seeing more.

Hellsgate

200? I'd aim for 30 or fewer as she doesn't look much bigger than a Defiant.

ulkesh

You know I was looking at her today & thinking she isn't much bigger that the Defiant.. dood get outta' my head! I almost want to make a Defiant for scale, but I want to finish this one & move on. It's more for my learning curve anyways. But it does give me some ideas about placing some kind of sensor suite on her. Definitely a scout/ surveillance vessel is my thinking.

Aresius

I have to agree that 200 is really too much.
Though, 30 is also a bit less. 30 is probably the crew-size if it were NX-era. Else (the impulse-egines look like from an Excelsior) I'd go with about 50.

ulkesh

A few updates. Illuminated a few polys, but plan to get into some real lighting eventually. Decided to make some 'sensor plates' to make her more of a scout/ surveillance ship. Her small size I think puts her into a more specialized role. Definitely a small crew, something similar to a Defiant class is more believable. I don't know what the crew compliment is for a Defiant class is... anyone?

publiusr

It screams destroyer with the sharp nacelle section in front. From the top, a great teardrop shape that is rakish

Aresius

lovely work. Real nice.

ulkesh

Okay... I need help here! I've still got a bit of modeling to do yet, but I'm trying to get a handle on texturing this thing eventually. I hear UV mapping being used quite alot here, and I'm playing with it, but how the heck do you get panels to look right on the saucer section? Any tips, or if someone knows of a good article here...? BTW I have LW 7.5.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

Starship

Try these:
http://www.meshweaver.com/frames/tutorials/aztec.htm
http://discovery.scifi-art.com/aztec/index.html
http://www.flexomizer.com/post/An-easier-way-to-make-Trekkish-ship-hull-Aztec-patterns.aspx

ulkesh

Hey thanks for those links, some great stuff there!! :thumb:

ulkesh

Okay... added some lifeboats and a few windows. Gonna black a few out next render.

publiusr

Something I just noticed. You just did the neck and saucer of the "Planet of the Titans" Enterprise as designed by mc Quarrie and Ken Adam. Just make a triangular secondary hull and smaller nacelles.

A cross between your saucer and this one might fit the Ken Adam style saucer:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v606/mglenadel/NX01/NX-01_5views1500px.jpg

Earthling

If I'm not mistaken the standard Defiant class crew compliment is around 45-50. But it can be operated with far less. See the episode of DS9 with "Thomas" Riker (William's twin via transporter accident). I think there were only 10-15 Maqui piloting the ship...I think it depends on how much of ship's maintenance can be automated, and /or how much computing power the ship's computer core has.

ulkesh

Cool, thanks for the info. At least it seems to fit some kind of scale here. I kinda like the idea of it having a smaller size, (being a scout and all).

A few more renders... I'm really sneaking up on texturing and lighting, but looking forward to tackling it.

Dmitri

The overall shape and design looks quite good. It's rare to see someone making a single warp engine ship on this forum.

I'm having trouble though getting a sense of scale. Which objects are the life pods- the six shapes on the top of the saucer? or the hexagons on the "spine" of the ship? IF the lifepods are the six shapes on the top of the saucer I lost all sense of scale. Compare the size of those lifepods to the size of the windows. Those are HUGE lifepods when compared to the windows or the shuttlebay.

All that being said, as you continue adding detail the model's sense of scale will probably improve. Anyway.... looks good!

ulkesh

This is a tricky one to get a handle on... there is an earlier post showing a little block man for scale. The lifeboats are the shapes on top, plus look at the hatches on the outer edge of the saucer too. I wasn't sure just how big a lifeboat is, but I figured they should have room for several people, a drive system, life support & and some limited consumables.
The shuttle bay is small... I'm thinking a few shuttle pods eg. what the Defiant would carry. It's all academic though... this is mainly for fun & to teach myself how to model. If I miss it here & there I'll do better next time.

Thanks for the input, keeps me honest!