Few may remember my old model of the Declaration Class S.S. Enterprise UEV-47 (XCV-330). Years ago it was one of my favorite models. But alas it was never finished and other things got in the way. Seeing as how I have transitioned to blender I thought I might start it up again.
I've also seen Mark Rademaker's beautiful version of this ship. I hope mine can look half as good.
Now for some brief background of my design.
S.S. Enterprise was originally designated UEV-47 by the United Earth Space Probe Agency. The series "Enterprise" never happened(at least not in what I consider the normal timeline). It is entirely and earth design. The engines are NOT based on Vulcan design. Vulcan have those knobby engines shown on First Contact. The S.S. Enterprise existed around 2150's through the Romulan Wars and into the Founding of the Federation. After being donated to the newly founded Federation it was given the designation XCV-330. The Captain of the S.S. Enterprise prior to and through the Romulan Wars was Capt. Jonathan Stiles.
Now that I've made all of you Enterpriser's eyes bleed, on to the pics!
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Nice start on the new model, I hope you finish it this time.
Beautifull ship and avatar too.
The black hole on the back is just an empty space I have yet to fill. I was thinking of a repair hatch of some sort. However even when docked in the ship it would require EVA to access it. The engine nozzles are located underneath the cowling flaps on the rear(five on top five on bottom). When docked the flaps are closed to prevent debris from getting in the engines. But when in use the flaps will open and the engines can be activated.
I plan of rigging both the warp engines and the main engine cowlings for animations.
For more info about the universe this exists in read here: https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/star-trek-enterprise.280182/
Here's a closeup of the main module. The figure standing on it gives scale. However, the orientation of the deck is perpendicular to the hull of the ship. This allows for acceleration based artificial gravity.
The large dome on the front is the navigational deflector. The lower circle used to be the bridge window, but when I flipped the deck orientation it became the housing for a sensor array. Though the bridge will still be in the lower cylinder. That ball on the side is modular Mission Module.
Here's the classic view of the ship from the Recreation Deck of the NCC-1701 refit. The warp reactor is house in the aft half. The long stalk between the two parts of the ship is to protect the crew against the potential radiation hazards in the engineering section. Pardon the mess.
This is the back view of the Mission Module. It's the dome on the side of the main module. These are modular pods that can be hot swapped depending on mission requirements. You can see by the figure here the orientation of the decks.
Here is the observation dome which also functions as the control booth during shuttle launches and retrieval. You can also see the shuttle bay hatches open. the cylinders inside represent the shuttles. These are moved around on rails between the storage, repair, and launch bays.
This is the Enviropod. It is a multi role craft. During high radiation events its additional layer of shielding can protect the entire crew. All important ships functions can be controlled from here. Equipped with warp drive it can also function as a long range cargo shuttle. It also has reentry capabilities and can be used an a lifeboat for the entire crew.
Here is the main crew quarters. The bunks are four deep and hot bunking is practices. Each bunk comes equipped with bedding straps to prevent the crew from being thrown about during different maneuvers. So the bunks can be used during artificial gravity and zero gravity situations. The interior of each bunk will allow for customization and personal effects for up to three crew members. Other items will be stored in lockers.
This is the long range shuttle craft, unlike the other shuttles it is capable of warp travel. Because of this hardware, the interior is very small. The interior space is reduced further because of the radiation shielding needed for long rang missions. It is capable of transporting up to four people and limited amount of cargo.
Here you can see the cramped interior.
You'll notice the fifth person laying down in this image. That is a place holder for where the toilet facilities will go.
Because of the requirement to store the shuttle in a small space and ingenious method was developed to stow and then deploy the warp ring. On the farthest left the ring segments are stowed. In the middle the ring segments are extended outward. Then the on the right, the front two segments are moved rearward and locked into place to complete the ring.
I've been working a bit on the sensor dome. I'd like to have the dome semi transparent with hints of the equipment underneath. But right now it seems too random. Maybe I'll just model the sensors and make the dome transparent.
That little black thing is where the forward cameras will go.
Here's the crew quarters. I've added the other doors and blocked out the lockers. I'm not sure that I like how high the top row is. You'd have the step on the handle to get up there. But then again, in zero G operations it wouldn't matter. I guess I need to decide how much locker space each crewman needs.
I've been working on the bridge. It's still mostly being blocked out.
The entrance to the bridge is behind the Captain. There are six stations around the edge of the bridge. The two seats in the front are the helm. The port helm station is primarily controls the of orientation of the ship. The starboard helm station controls lateral movement, centridyne(impulse), and warp drive. The object in the center of the bridge is a holographic astrogator. The astrogator is positioned in the center so that the captain can easily see it. This, and the forward-most, port-side station, make up the navigation station. To the left of the navigator's station is the sensor station. The science station is to the left(nearest the camera) of the sensor station. The other stations on the starboard side are the communications station, and engineering station, and weapons station.
I'm not too keep on the views screens yet. My thought is that I don't want to have a "main" view screen, but rather multiple status screens. But this version just seems a bit off.
Here's a closeup of the astrogator. Not much to see yet. I decided to put in this feature because I wanted some sort of plotting table for navigation. The main computer on the old ringship blueprints is a table with a big dome in the center. I was also influenced by the Jupiter II from Lost in Space which has a domed control station, I also liked the domed plotting table from seaQuest DSV. I think this would be very useful for giving both the navigator and Captain a sense of where the ship is in 3D space. Being an enclosed hologram it is keeping with my hard scifi prerogative.
Here's a closeup of the starboard helm station. The joystick give the left hand thruster control (X,Y,Z translation). The right hand controls six levers for the centridyne engine stages, and the two levers(which can't be seen in this view) that control the warp power. One lever for each engine.
Here's a view from the Captain's Chair. I'm debating whether that bottom screen should be a screen or a more specialized status display panel. Those upper wall panels extend too far into the room and really limit the angles that the screens can be seen from, so I'll be adjusting those.
I realized that somewhere along the line my ship was scaled up too big. It was nearly as long as the constitution class. :eek: So I scaled it back down. Fortunately, this wont affect my bridge very much. It will probably affect the crew quarters and it affected my shuttles. Which leads me on to my next topic...shuttles.
I've been redesigning the interior of my warp capable shuttle, but there's nothing worth showing yet. My real effort has been on a shuttle concept that has been vexing me for quite some time. The deal is I need a shuttle that is capable of space and atmospheric travel. It also needs to fit in to a 1.95m x 4.25m cylinder. This smaller shuttle pod will only carry two people so I wanted to try and fit two of these craft in the space.
This is what I eventually came up with:
On the far right you see the cylinder plus docking rings. To the left of that are the two craft in docked/stowed position. When launching the top craft will leave first and then the second(if used). On the far left you see the craft with the docking ring stowed and wings deployed.
The idea behind this craft is that it can operate in space and atmosphere. It wont have enough power to make orbit, but it will be able to travel at supersonic speeds. This is so it can attach on to a rotating skyhook for orbital insertion. This thing got even more complex when I realized I needed to stow the docking ring internally. It will require a set of doors, but the very small space will make it difficult. I still haven't got it worked out yet.
I based the general design and shape on the Northrop HL-10 lifting body, though it bears only a passing resemblance.
The craft will be powered by some sort of rocket or rocket/jet engine hybrid for use in oxygen atmospheres.
The craft will be capable of landing on both land and liquid, though I'm still figuring out a rough terrain landing system for a supersonic capable craft.
I would love to throw this thing in a wind tunnel simulation and watch it fail.
This is a quick look at what I'm thinking. Here is the bubble in extended position. With the chair looking "down" relative to the decks. Note: I haven't included the door(s) that will cover this bubble when retracted.
Here a look from inside the dome (forgive the graininess):
Here is a more distant look:
As far as the cupola goes, I really like how it resembles the ISS cupola. It gives it a more real world look. I also like all the handles and bolts and stuff I would be able to put on the inside. What I don't like about the cupola is that it sticks out from the ship all the time. Additionally, it doesn't have the full radiation shielding, so there has to be additional shielding inside the ship.
What I love about the bubble is the fact that it's a bubble. Its chair has more rotational functionality than I planned for the cupola. I also like that it retracts into the hull and thus allows for full radiation shielding. What I don't like is that its takes up more space inside the ship. Additionally, the extend and retract mechanism is just another potential breaking point.
So what are your thoughts, cupola, or bubble?
Lastly, here's a glimpse at another idea I'm trying to work out. There's not much room inside the ship for major shuttle maintenance. So...I can put some extendable panels here and make a sort of dry-dock-on-the-go. This facility will be able to handle repair work on the Enviropod or two shuttle craft.
I was inspired to do a few extra renders while I was working on the shuttlebay doors. Here are what some shuttle launches would look like from the observation bubble(I removed the bubble to get clearer renders).
The shuttle is launched clear of the ship probably using some sort of spring or magnetic mechanism(looks like I lost some of the second warp ring in this render, oops).
If the shuttle is going to land on a planet, then once it's clear of the ship the docking collar is retracted and wings are deployed:
Since the ship needs to burn its centridyne to decelerate into orbit, it is probably orbiting tail first. This means that a shuttle thrusting forward will decelerate into a (re)entry trajectory. Also presuming the bottom of the ship is towards the planet the shuttle will rotate for correct atmospheric entry. Note: The shuttle would probably only fire its engines after leaving the radius of the warp rings, however this shot has more dramatic effect:
Here we see the launch the of the long range shuttlecraft from the other bay using the same spring or magnetic mechanism (please excuse the lack of a hatch on the shuttle):
As the shuttle clears the ship it can begin rotation:
Once the shuttle has cleared the radius of the warp rings, it deploys its own warp ring and beings accelerating into a higher orbit:
"Why can't the shuttle just fly through the center of the warp rings," you may ask. That's because, in non accelerating conditions, the forward interior of the rings are the collection area for the ship's Liquid Droplet radiator system. There are also less efficient panel radiators that deploy from the vertical fin during accelerating conditions.
Ok, I'm sold on the bubble. Here's a view you could get from sitting in this thing.
My goal is that when you sit in this chair you're smacked in the face with the realization that you are sitting in a tin can in the middle of a starry void. Just you and trillions of miles on nothingness. I think the bubble accomplishes this.
The bubble reminds me of Dark Star.
Hmm. I've never heard of that until now. But looking at it I see what you mean.
Does their's retract into the hull? Huh? Well, does it? Haha.
Thanks. I appreciate the feedback. And I like this idea of having shuttlecraft limited. Though, this is about 90 years after warp drive was invented so I imagine there has been enough advancement for smaller scale warp drive. However, while these shuttle are "long range" they aren't indefinite range like other Trek series. I'm thinking maybe they are capable of a round trip from here to Alpha Centauri. But longer distance would be one way.
This could be useful in that maybe the shuttle is needed to scout ahead, where they wait for the main ship to arrive and then they can refuel. Or they could be used to rendezvous with another ship or station where they would refuel and return. Since this ship is designed for exploration I imagine the former would be the more likely situation. However this shuttle could shave months off of an in system exploration mission by quickly zipping between planets, while the main ship does the same.
As for the bunks. I will be redesigning that area so the number and layout will be different in the end.
And as for the Dark Star bubble being able to retract ... I don't remember. I'll have to watch the movie again!
First off, here's my universal docking port. On the left side you can see my first iterations of the docking port.. On the right hand side is actually the side, interior, and exterior of the hatch.
Getting closer. Here's the second iteration of the docking port.
And the final sketch of the docking port. This port (3) contains the latches for mating the spacecraft as well as ports of air, water, fuel, power, etc. Sketch number 1 is my first iteration of the shuttle console from the perspective of the pilots. Number 2 is the piston that moves the Soft Contact System ring which is the inner part of the docking ring.
Here are some sketches related to an ejector seat system. 1 is some views of the pressure vessel and a seat back. 2 is a version of the chair that would suspend from the ceiling. But the reality is that the chair back will have to be mounted to the back of the pressure vessel. 3 shows two versions of the seat ejector rockets. This will continue in the model but will work with a rocket attached to the back to propel the seat forward and out rather than up. 4. These sketches show the seat folded. In the actual model the seat will fold the other way and lay flat.
Here's the launch flight plan. The shuttle will have to fly to an altitude of 100km at an estimated speed of Mach 3 to hook up with the Enterprise's rotating skyhook. Part of designing this shuttle is to figure out the design of the rotating skyhook.
the shuttle can land of liquid or solid ground. Here's the stages of deploying the landing gear.
If you've put up with all this technical stuff and made it to the end here's a treat.