That's the tug from the starfleet technical manual.
BTW, if you like cargo ships the trek animated series had some decent cargo vessels, poorly animated of course but the designs were sound. You can look them of, some people have modeled them.
Though to me, honestly, I feel like the problem with a lot of Trek designs is they designed the Enterprise and then everything else is a bad imitation or rearrangement of those elements, nothing "fits" quite like the Enterprise (or primary vessel) "fits."
Well, in a way the technical manual tried to be a little more realistic in that it was using tried and proven parts to make things instead of coming up with a new ship design all the time.
I mean, if you look at TNH it seems like the feds are just making all sorts of new ship designs all the time, without and justification for them. of course the reason they do it now is that CGI makes new ships cheap to make and they sell more toys, biut if you look at a lot of trek tech talk it cays that many ships are built to fulfill a variety of missions, and use modular construction to make them versatile yadda yadd ayadda but every time you turn around they have a whole new ship.
I'd think it'd be more efficient in logistical terms and such to design a few really good hulls and make the modular and adaptable to a variety of missions than to have like 2,000 distinct hulls and designs.
Yeah, maybe the old tech manual went too far in using the same parts as the original enterprise, and I do wonder where the shuttle bays were on the destroyer and tug, but then again I think now they go too far in the opposite direction.
At least tng occasionally used a miranda class hull with some mods on it to make it a variant, like the 'soyuz' class with captain kramer on board.
BTW the mesh looks neat and tight on this, good modeling.
Well, I visually like the Ptolemy tug, but from a technical point of view, it doesn't make much sense (just like the Saladin). All the diferent componets (shuttlebay, M/AM reactor, Deuterum tank, AM pods, etc.) simply don't fit only on the saucer. That's why I made this a completly new design rather than just a kitbash of the Valley Forge.
I've added more markings, and in the last image you can also see the cargo bay doors and antimatter pods ejection hatches. Which I hope doesn't look too awful, 'cause it's the best I was able to come up with.
The Ptolemy and Saladin/Hermes are just attempts to give Starfleet a unified look. I never thought about all of those components not fitting into the saucer before. Are you certain they won't fit? I'm thinking, if an Oberth-class vessel that's so much smaller than those ships can fit all of that, so can the Ptolemy and Saladin/Hermes. Obviously, the ships would have different internal structures than the Enterprise. They'd likely have a smaller, more cramped feel to them because of the stuff crammed into them. The deuterium tanks and shuttlebays would also likely be smaller, so as to fit into the smaller form factor. It's doable.
Well, I visually like the Ptolemy tug, but from a technical point of view, it doesn't make much sense (just like the Saladin).
Don't let aridas sofia hear you say that... you'll be playing with fire. :P Trust me, I know.
I like what you've done here, really... the Ptolemy IS a flawed design for the mission role assigned to it in the book. Your craft is what I had had in my mind all along, but somehow was never able to articulate onto paper correctly. Very nice.
The Ptolemy and Saladin/Hermes are just attempts to give Starfleet a unified look. I never thought about all of those components not fitting into the saucer before. Are you certain they won't fit? I'm thinking, if an Oberth-class vessel that's so much smaller than those ships can fit all of that, so can the Ptolemy and Saladin/Hermes. Obviously, the ships would have different internal structures than the Enterprise. They'd likely have a smaller, more cramped feel to them because of the stuff crammed into them. The deuterium tanks and shuttlebays would also likely be smaller, so as to fit into the smaller form factor. It's doable.
They may fit, but I think it would a very inefficient design. To modify the internal structure of a Constitution Class saucer to add all the engineering sections (even if the saucer was newly built) would also be very inefficient from a cost perspective, and the final ship would not be able to fulfill its role as good as a specifically designed ship.
Is it doable? Very much so. Is it practical and logical for a military organization, (which would probably run simulations before even approving the design), to decide to go along with it despite its flaws just to unify the look of the fleet? Definitively not, in my opinion at least.
I'm back at the Siegfried for the time being, as I don't feel very creative as of late, so I'm finding it easier to work on someone else's design. I've added the aft shuttlebay and some details on the secondary hull.
BTW, I started university this month, more specifically a Senior Game Developer career, which I'm finding as fascinating and challenging as I hoped. Unfortunately, combined with work, it leaves me with very little time for this, so updates wont be as regular as I would like.
It can works, but I still would like to see something like a dome at that place, where all the 3 pylons could be connected. Something similar to the sketch attached, but more rounded on sides and top. Of course, itAâs just a suggestion.
Yeah, as I said before it was one of many possibilities.
I made two other alternatives yesterday. One is pretty much what you proposed Starship, and the other one is a merged neck and pylon support area. I'm not entirely sure which one of the three possibilities I prefer, so, what do you think?
Edit: I've run out of attachment space, I've deleted old ones from the Kumari thread to make room.
While still tinkering with the neck area, I started thinking about the political implications of this ship.
Given it's massive design and its original use of the Kaminari weapon, I thought that Starfleet would really want it to "show the flag" and for other powers to realize that they meant business when one of this monstrosities was around.
For this reason I've added a red strip around the saucer instead of the two usual lines behind the bridge that the Valley Forge has. I might add the yellow "boomerang" Starfleet logo on each side of it, or leave it as it is, or even replace it with more traditional lines like the one around the Miranda saucer. What do you think of this, do you like it, or feel it's a little bit unnecessary?
Took a little break from the modeling to render this scene, which I had in my head for a long time, called "The Tholian Stratagem". What do you think of it?
Here's the story behind the image:
While on a routine patrol along the Tholian border, the navigator of the USS Arion suddenly started detecting multiple warp signatures closing fast. Before the crew could react, the ship was surrounded by a swarm of Tholian crafts, leaf completely at their mercy.
Without answering hails or powering up their weapons, the small armada started changing course at the same time, heading towards Tholian space, and leaving the Arion with little choice but to change it as well to avoid colliding with one of the ships.
Now, with Tholian space less than an hour away, the crew of the Arion is running out of time to think their way out of this situation; and the captain may have no choice but to declare red alert and order the ship to fight its way out, even though it's in a clear disadvantage...
...I've added a red strip around the saucer instead of the two usual lines behind the bridge that the Valley Forge has. I might add the yellow "boomerang" Starfleet logo on each side of it, or leave it as it is, or even replace it with more traditional lines like the one around the Miranda saucer. What do you think of this, do you like it, or feel it's a little bit unnecessary?
Keep the red stripe. Fits perfectly. About to add the boomerang, IAâm unsure... Maybe itAâs not necessary.
Alright, before getting to an update, a couple of news (I should've posted these when they happened ):
Last week Masao and Bernd uploaded some of my images of the Valley Forge to the Museum. Being a long time reader, I consider it a great honor. You can see them at the Valley Forge page.
Also, I recently started making my models available for download as 3DS files. I originally wanted to upload them here to SFM, but the download section is apparently still down. My second option was deviantART, so I started uploading them there. I've uploaded the Sheridan, Arion and Starbase 35, you can download them here. I'm planning to add the shuttle and the Tholian ship when I have the time.
Now, onto the update. Masao asked me if I could make a render with both a Valley Forge and a Connie, with the former at the front. This would help to illustrate the differences between the ships, and how the latter looks like a bulkier version of the former.
So, I grabbed David Metlesits' Enterprise and, after some texture modifications (still in progress, by the way), made a couple of test renders to see how the ships looked together. I realized that the modifications I made to the VF's secondary hull and nacelles make it look a lot bulkier and hence Masao's intention isn't achieved. Hence I'll be modifying my VF model to create an NX version that's a lot more faithful to Masao's design.
Well, I agree with the three of you, after all, that's why I made the changes in the first place. But, as Valkyrie says, it's Masao's decision in this case.
We've been working on the render itself for the past few days, setting the ships on the right angle and deciding on the best lighting setup. This render I'm showing is not final, but it should get you an idea of what we're aiming for.
Well, I agree with the three of you, after all, that's why I made the changes in the first place. But, as Valkyrie says, it's Masao's decision in this case.
I know. Just save your version and name her as a MK-II.
I finished the render of both ships, and titled it "Historic Rendezvous".
I think I may had gone a little too far with the filters on the background, it looks a little bit to washed to me. But, anyway, the image is already uploaded on the Museum.
Open in a new tab for full view.
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
For reasons that I'm not sure are public yet, so I won't disclose (for now, let's just say it's something pretty awesome ), I have decided to finish my Siegfried-Class. Having already moved on the Kumari-Class again, this probably isn't something that I would've done on my own initiative.
As you can see, I've already advanced a lot since the last update on her, so now all that's left to do is the Kaminari weapon, the windows, and some other details on the secondary hull.
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
Posts
http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/sftm/01-04-16.jpg
That's the tug from the starfleet technical manual.
BTW, if you like cargo ships the trek animated series had some decent cargo vessels, poorly animated of course but the designs were sound. You can look them of, some people have modeled them.
Though to me, honestly, I feel like the problem with a lot of Trek designs is they designed the Enterprise and then everything else is a bad imitation or rearrangement of those elements, nothing "fits" quite like the Enterprise (or primary vessel) "fits."
I mean, if you look at TNH it seems like the feds are just making all sorts of new ship designs all the time, without and justification for them. of course the reason they do it now is that CGI makes new ships cheap to make and they sell more toys, biut if you look at a lot of trek tech talk it cays that many ships are built to fulfill a variety of missions, and use modular construction to make them versatile yadda yadd ayadda but every time you turn around they have a whole new ship.
I'd think it'd be more efficient in logistical terms and such to design a few really good hulls and make the modular and adaptable to a variety of missions than to have like 2,000 distinct hulls and designs.
Yeah, maybe the old tech manual went too far in using the same parts as the original enterprise, and I do wonder where the shuttle bays were on the destroyer and tug, but then again I think now they go too far in the opposite direction.
At least tng occasionally used a miranda class hull with some mods on it to make it a variant, like the 'soyuz' class with captain kramer on board.
BTW the mesh looks neat and tight on this, good modeling.
I've added more markings, and in the last image you can also see the cargo bay doors and antimatter pods ejection hatches. Which I hope doesn't look too awful, 'cause it's the best I was able to come up with.
The Ptolemy and Saladin/Hermes are just attempts to give Starfleet a unified look. I never thought about all of those components not fitting into the saucer before. Are you certain they won't fit? I'm thinking, if an Oberth-class vessel that's so much smaller than those ships can fit all of that, so can the Ptolemy and Saladin/Hermes. Obviously, the ships would have different internal structures than the Enterprise. They'd likely have a smaller, more cramped feel to them because of the stuff crammed into them. The deuterium tanks and shuttlebays would also likely be smaller, so as to fit into the smaller form factor. It's doable.
Don't let aridas sofia hear you say that... you'll be playing with fire. :P Trust me, I know.
I like what you've done here, really... the Ptolemy IS a flawed design for the mission role assigned to it in the book. Your craft is what I had had in my mind all along, but somehow was never able to articulate onto paper correctly. Very nice.
They may fit, but I think it would a very inefficient design. To modify the internal structure of a Constitution Class saucer to add all the engineering sections (even if the saucer was newly built) would also be very inefficient from a cost perspective, and the final ship would not be able to fulfill its role as good as a specifically designed ship.
Is it doable? Very much so. Is it practical and logical for a military organization, (which would probably run simulations before even approving the design), to decide to go along with it despite its flaws just to unify the look of the fleet? Definitively not, in my opinion at least.
I'm back at the Siegfried for the time being, as I don't feel very creative as of late, so I'm finding it easier to work on someone else's design. I've added the aft shuttlebay and some details on the secondary hull.
BTW, I started university this month, more specifically a Senior Game Developer career, which I'm finding as fascinating and challenging as I hoped. Unfortunately, combined with work, it leaves me with very little time for this, so updates wont be as regular as I would like.
Good luck on University!! I did that for a few years.. work and Uni.. it sucked but, payed off in the end!!
I had an idea about how to make the pylons connect to the hull in a better way and made a quick proof of concept for it, what do you think of it?
BTW, yes, that render is a mess, I know it, I just did it quickly to prove the idea.
Edit: In fact, this one express better what IAâm thinking: http://www.the-blueprints.com/blueprints/sciencefiction/startrek/2546/view/asia_masao_2_class/. That semi-oval shape, a bit taller of course, would be the connection point of all the pylons
I made two other alternatives yesterday. One is pretty much what you proposed Starship, and the other one is a merged neck and pylon support area. I'm not entirely sure which one of the three possibilities I prefer, so, what do you think?
Edit: I've run out of attachment space, I've deleted old ones from the Kumari thread to make room.
Given it's massive design and its original use of the Kaminari weapon, I thought that Starfleet would really want it to "show the flag" and for other powers to realize that they meant business when one of this monstrosities was around.
For this reason I've added a red strip around the saucer instead of the two usual lines behind the bridge that the Valley Forge has. I might add the yellow "boomerang" Starfleet logo on each side of it, or leave it as it is, or even replace it with more traditional lines like the one around the Miranda saucer. What do you think of this, do you like it, or feel it's a little bit unnecessary?
Here's the story behind the image: As always, full size image at dA.
Keep the red stripe. Fits perfectly. About to add the boomerang, IAâm unsure... Maybe itAâs not necessary.
and nice Tholian image! love those guys!
Last week Masao and Bernd uploaded some of my images of the Valley Forge to the Museum. Being a long time reader, I consider it a great honor. You can see them at the Valley Forge page.
Also, I recently started making my models available for download as 3DS files. I originally wanted to upload them here to SFM, but the download section is apparently still down. My second option was deviantART, so I started uploading them there. I've uploaded the Sheridan, Arion and Starbase 35, you can download them here. I'm planning to add the shuttle and the Tholian ship when I have the time.
Now, onto the update. Masao asked me if I could make a render with both a Valley Forge and a Connie, with the former at the front. This would help to illustrate the differences between the ships, and how the latter looks like a bulkier version of the former.
So, I grabbed David Metlesits' Enterprise and, after some texture modifications (still in progress, by the way), made a couple of test renders to see how the ships looked together. I realized that the modifications I made to the VF's secondary hull and nacelles make it look a lot bulkier and hence Masao's intention isn't achieved. Hence I'll be modifying my VF model to create an NX version that's a lot more faithful to Masao's design.
The Siegfried and Madero will have to wait.
things are looking great!
I've finished modifying the ship to look closer to Masao's original drawings while also taken some elements from the original model of the Enterprise.
Agreed. While I like Masao's design, I think your original model had a lot of logical additions, like some very TOS-ish influences.
We've been working on the render itself for the past few days, setting the ships on the right angle and deciding on the best lighting setup. This render I'm showing is not final, but it should get you an idea of what we're aiming for.
I know. Just save your version and name her as a MK-II.
I think I may had gone a little too far with the filters on the background, it looks a little bit to washed to me. But, anyway, the image is already uploaded on the Museum.
Open in a new tab for full view.
As you can see, I've already advanced a lot since the last update on her, so now all that's left to do is the Kaminari weapon, the windows, and some other details on the secondary hull.