3DThe Alcove

BorgMan

I've got some things going on, so I decided to just put it all in here instead of starting seperate threads.

I've got this little Excelsior-like destroyer here, based on those shipshapes MKF and EvilGenius have been working on as well. First post is thumbnail, hang in there kids!

BorgMan

So, pictures! I have named her Gladius, after the Roman short-sword. I'd imagine that vessels of this class are named after bladed weapons. Nice and aggressive for a destroyer!

BorgMan

And a little something extra! When I feel confident enough, I will try to model this timeship. IMHO the TimeFleet doesn't get nearly as much love as it should and I'm planning on correcting that

evil_genius_180

Sweet. The modeling looks nice and clean so far. I like the design and it's always nice to see Excelsior based tech. The very first models I built in Truespace about 15 years ago were Excelsior based. (good memories )

BorgMan

Gladius wants to do omnomnom

evil_genius_180

Nice details. I especially like the phasers.

BorgMan

I'm having a bit of trouble with my pointlights. I use SU2KT's supplied lights for this, but the result isn't exactly what I want. The saucer spots are good enough, but the registry spot needs some tuning. Problem is, I don't know how. Any suggestions/ideas?

BorgMan

Not sure yet what I'll do with all the space in the back, but it's a start

evil_genius_180

Nice start on the bridge.

BlueNeumann

Yeah.. and I gotta say, the low light is wonderfully moody.

BorgMan

Yeah, it's quite moody. Probably won't stay that way though...

Here's the single shuttle that the ship carries. As you can see, it all fits barely with no room to spare. I'm going to look into the possibility of strapping a torpedo to it's belly, akin to how some fighter planes have a bomb strapped underneath. The shuttlebay doubles as a small cargobay; that's why there's room underneath the platforms

The shuttle is rather small, with a maximum height inside of 1.72m and able to carry a maximum of 6 seated persons: two manning the consoles, four on a spartan couch in the back. They're not made for comfort or long journeys; they're made to pack a punch while the mothership is busy too. Does anybody know what that thingy on top of TMP Galileo's hull was? A phaser? A tractorbeam emitter?

I've named her Ceasar. Figured that if I was to name the mothership after a Roman weapon, I might as well name these attack shuttles after Roman celebrities...

BorgMan

Here's a shot aft of the bridge with the new layout. Preliminary Okudagrams are in place now, as is the situation table. I figured that a single round shape, instead of something elongated like the TNG pool table ought to be enough. There will be no MSD in the back, just this table.

BorgMan

Not a lot, but did some research on airlocks located on the saucer (to connect to spacedock and the likes) and found Basill's excellent blog . So, here's my version! I'll probably end up retrofitting some older models with this setup, so that I can universally connect ships to space stations. Might even consider uploading it to the 3D warehouse...

evil_genius_180

The old gangway hatch. Yes, that was on the refit, the Reliant and (I think) the Excelsior, though it was dropped on later ships. Too bad, it's a nice detail.

Your interiors are looking really good so far.

BorgMan

The problem with the thing is that it's only female. NX Enterprise docked with the time-displaced Enterprise without much trouble, but it was never shown how exactly this procedure worked. It adds a LOT of extra equipment, not to mention the space requirements...

evil_genius_180

The gangway connector on the refit is supposed to connect to something like one of these. Though, I know what you mean about the docking ports. That's bugged me for years.

BorgMan

It's a pain yeah. I've got this UPS craft that utilizes a male connector and it's a b*tch with all the space it takes -_-

Here's some better renders. I've added two decks of personel quarters, radial corridors and escape pods. So next up are either engineering or the torpedo bay. I'm having some trouble finding an engine configuration I like so the torpedo bay will probably be first.

evil_genius_180

Nice work. I like that you even modeled the pods themselves, not just the covers.

Vortex5972

Looking cool. One thing you may want to look at is the impulse engines. You've clearly modeled yours on the Excelsior, but it seems a common mistake that people make thinking that they're square. If you've done it on purpose, fair enough, if not then you may want to think of adding a slight slant to them.

BorgMan

It is slanted, very slightly, but making it more will also lower both the exhaust and the lower curve, unbalancing it I'm afraid...

Schimpfy

Have you tried flipping the nacelles over? The reason I ask is that the point where the pylon attaches looks like a weak point right now. Other than that this is a pretty cool little ship with one heck of a bite.

BorgMan

Thanks Schimpfy! The nacelles have a bodywork that flows over into that support, the reason being that I have a ginormous hate towards pylons that burrow into the nacelle grille as if it's not even there. And whaddayaknow, now that I'm actively searching for examples, I can't find any. Go figure...

Cool you noticed the pods EG! They were actually pretty fun to build, so here's a render. For those interested, I just uploaded it the Warehouse And for those who see a resemblance, yes, this is almost the same pod as the one Andrew Probert's Sphinx transports away from the wreckage site in that SOTL image. That's where I got the idea from

evil_genius_180

Sweet! Thanks for the pod render. I love little bits like this, especially when somebody does them full of detail, like you have.

BorgMan

On my searches for source material, I came by the unused Star Trek: Final Frontier concepts. While I'm not really liking every design aspect, those can be changed and I'm really digging the story here. Anyone with some time to spare: check out their storyboards. It's a fun read and I can't imagine a better reboot of TAS!

BorgMan

Here's a test fr the torpedo bay. I imagine that stuff needs to go onto the wall, perhaps something on the ceiling as well. The spinning disc left is the collection point for torpedo's from the level above, after which they can be directed aft or front. The aft and front launchers don't line up exactly, so that's why the rail narrows at the beginning. There will be an extra rail to send torpedo's from port- to starboard and vice versa if needed.

evil_genius_180

It's a bit dark. Plus, it sort of resembles the bridge of a K't'inga.

BorgMan

Yeah, way to dark, I'll fix that soon.

I had a bit of an idea yesterday that I couldn't help but model. This will probably be a Crisis Relief Vessel, using the huge volume a spherical hull has to offer to get people out of crisis situations fast. Not really sure about the scale yet, but for now the ship is 86 meters long. Render shows it pretty bad, but there's an airlock on the centerline of the sphere, just aft of the bussard collector.

BorgMan

Finished work on the shuttlecraft assigned to the Gladius. For those interested, grab it here!. SketchUp only though

rwking

BorgMan - Not sure what the difficulty is, but the newest versions of sketchup are not integrating with kerky as well as in the past. What I would really like is an older version of sketchup to use with kerky...say windows XP era...Do you know I can find or download an older version of sketchup?

BorgMan

Oh? Haven't got any problems with it? What could be the problem, though, is that the plugins are located in a different folder thesr days. Not able to search for it right now, but if you google "kerkythea and sketchup 2015" I'm sure you'll find something to help you out! If not I'll be able to do a thorough search tomorrow

rwking

Thanks BorgMan. Appreciate the info.