A billion years ago I worked on creating several variations of Todd Gunther's Ingram Class. I spent about ten years on and off building seven different meshes of the ship before calling it a day on the whole project. I found I was building for others, rather than myself.
Sadly my entire body of 3D work was destroyed last December (2019). You don't need all the details,
but I lost everything I'd ever created. Earlier this year I came back on here and rebuilt one of the lost projects, my version of a flying saucer (
https://forums.scifi-meshes.com/discussion/10000623/3da-long-return/p1). Felt good to dip my feet back in the water and start something.
Now, i know I swore after the Ingram I wouldn't work on a Trek project again but... I did. I rationalized the
Oberth Class (that project is all gone but for two renders). And now it's time to rationalize the
Excelsior Class using my own ideas. I want the ship to fit in with the TMP/TWOK design ethos and so that's what I will be aiming for design wise. I'm open to suggestions and ideas, but don't get offended if I don't act on them.
So here is a blocky rough take of a start (which was today) -
I've blocked out about 25 decks at the moment, and that's likely to stay at that, a length of 557 meters subject to change, and found a way to have a shuttle bay that isn't something that's just stuck on the back as a separate structure. I'll start detailing this beast and keep you posted. It will have some Excelsior details, but this is not going to be your father's Excelsior from 1984.
Oh the name? Just one I like, and the registration is a play on the original one seen on the Horizon model in Sisko's office.
Latest Render:
Posts
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqRhLEHgwgTKxsalM5YznYQ
Formerly furswift
The only thing is say Is that harsh bend in the nacelle pylons kind of kills the flow a little... maybe it's the bend and the slight sweep of the pylon.. might not be an issue for you tho.. the silhouette is nice.. the slight angular ark of the secondary hull is lovely..
Thank you. Yes, it sucks big time to lose all that work. The rationalized Oberth Class (called the Clarke Class) had built in interiors behind the windows which would be really nice to have for this project. Oh well, I get to pull that trick again.
Essentially, I see this as a late 23rd Century/Post Star Trek VI (TUC) ship. Not a refit of the Excelsior, but a redo of the design once it passed its ten-year mark. Was the Horizon the only one? I don’t know yet. Maybe a hand full of them were built. We know the original Excelsior design prevailed well into the 24th Century. But I think we only ever saw the tip of the iceberg when it came to Starfleet ships.
Working on the detailing of the saucer section at the moment. My usual level of “build it all in” and hope my PC can cope, lol.
Thanks, but triggered how? I’m more than old enough to be a “father” (49) – so yes. 1984 was 36 years ago 😊 he he he
I agree, I shall work on the pylons. They are place holders at the moment and have a few issues. Thinning them out may help. Getting that curve right to get a two-deck shuttle bay was a pain in the backside. But worth it. The Secondary Hull is finalised, and just waiting on me to detail it.
- Mike Oldfield
I meant triggered in jest... there have been quite a few excelsior class wips recently... and kind of a nod to Jason Isaac's quote about discovery...
I know shes just bare bones now.. like I said you're off to a good start. Cant wait to see how you progress..
I’m going to try and keep as many design ideas from the Excelsior as I can, so the pylons… they need work, but the basic shape is there. Leads on nicely from an evolution perspective to the as-seen-on-screen Ambassador Class, which I am also mindful of with this.
You feel old, lol? I was alive back in 1977 and saw Star Wars on the big screen the first-time round. Not old enough to have seen the first run of Trek on TV, grew up with the repeats. But old enough to remember the first run of animated Trek.
I had a giggle when I saw the number of Excelsior WIPs currently up, but I’m doing something a little different – so…
I rather like DSC, and the quote from Mr Isaac. The Trek universe is a vast place, it has room for so many things.
- Mike Oldfield
Detail build in will continue. Because I won’t be building variations of this ship I have built in the text as well, the name and number are now a matter of fact.
C&C welcome – more soon.
- Mike Oldfield
C&C welcome - More soon
- Mike Oldfield
Thank you. ;-)
More detail added, next up will be the detailing on the side of the saucer (forcefield coils, thrusters, hatches, signage, windows).
C&C welcome - more soon
- Mike Oldfield
enjoy (as always click on images for larger versions), C&C is welcome.
And more soon
- Mike Oldfield
More soon
- Mike Oldfield
- Mike Oldfield
And I remember that Ingram model. It's a real shame that it no longer exists, because she truly was glorious, even if she caused you to burn out.
I can't lie, it is one of the influences - some of the DNA of this ship is Ingram based, but the rest is Excelsior, and Constitution. The bridge was going to be a place holder originally. Now? I think it's the one to go with. It fits the TMP ethos really well (although in my mind’s eye, it has the look of Trek V bridge) - but it's not an extended version of the bridge like the Ingram. And doing the Excelsior bridge module to proper scale would make for a larger structure, and my autistic brain will demand I build one to scale, and not for Smurfs.
A version of the Ingram mesh is still out in the world. The Star Trek Lexington fan film group have a filming version of the Ingram/Odysseus that I knocked up for them. I could ask for it back. I could... It would help me out in many respects to get it back.
But...
There is something about starting from scratch and learning how to do things again and figure out how to do them well. It’s cleaner that way in some respects. When I built the Clarke Class, I used several parts from the Odysseus. The two ships sat very well together, they shared DNA. Aridas Sofia and I had long conversations about that one. I wonder what he would think of this one, what Todd Guenther would think of this?
Would I ever consider building the Ingram again? At the moment, no. It’s not a small project and I don’t have the energy I once did. This project is going to be big enough for a time. There’re rooms (light boxes) to create to go behind the windows, I’ve done some. Maybe a shuttle bay to build – for that matter, I lost my Trek V shuttle mesh, so that will need to be rebuilt. And lots and lots of detail to build in. Plus a Class name to pick... suggestions welcome.
This one is being built for personal use, and for fun - I really hope people enjoy where this ends up going :-)
- Mike Oldfield
Click on the images for larger ones, C&C welcome - and more soon.
- Mike Oldfield
Comments always welcome
- Mike Oldfield
Comments welcome, more soon
- Mike Oldfield
Yep, drew on some inspiration from Probert's Ambassador Class, but if this ships represents a missing link... It makes sense.
Next up: starting work on the Secondary Hull.
Comments always welcome.
- Mike Oldfield
C&C welcome
- Mike Oldfield
The saucer top, now that looks weird to me. Without the superstructure going from the bridge to the impulse engines, it just looks like it belongs on a smaller ship IMO.
I'll say it every time I see it, I absolutely love your Clarke-Class.
I hope you do that for the sake of posterity—please do.
But this design is what Enterprise-B should have been. Excelsior herself I view as a scaled-down test vessel with the ONE shape that allows trans warp. It would have to be a mile long to make that shuttle bay or bridge work.
Your design here points the way towards Probert’s Ambassador (and Balmung).
The shuttlebay *works* here.
If only Bezos could give me a couple of billion, I’d make you all rich, buy Trek and deep fake THIS ship, not Excelsior, into Picard’s ready room wall.
Excelsior was a Section 31 design anyway
I agree though that the silhouette of this design fits in a lot better in the design lineage than Excelsior's.
I used a refit Connie for scale, so the bridge is the same size as what would be on that - but she is a monster of a ship: current length is 580 meters, which I will try and sick with. Never understood why the Excelsior needed such massive Impulse Engines. It's like it was compensating for something, lol. Switched to something that was more in keeping with other ships of the time.
I miss the Clarke Class, but she is gone aside from the images I've shared.
Thank you! I am enjoing the Trek that's being made (waits for a flaming torch to come flying his way). Yes, I like DSC and PCD, and I am looking forward to SNW as well. But my love for the TMP/TWOK era remains unchanged, which is where this ship comes from.
I looked at Probert's original design for the Ambassador Class - a class I play with in STO (although it's called Narendra Class in game), and I wanted to put a little DNA from that into this design, look at it as a precurser to what was to come. My whole design ethos is to make things "logical" so that they work. Let me see:
USS Horizon, Starfleet Registry: NCC-2176. Horizon Class/Only ship of her Class.
Decks: 24 (3.5 meter decks)
Length: 580 meters.
Vessel Type: Long Range Multi-mission Exploration Heavy Cruiser.
Built: San-Francisco Orbital Shipyards, Earth.
Primary Contractor: BA-Northrup Construction.
Launched: Stardate 9706.1
Crew Compliment: 600 – 110 Officers, 490 Enlisted (evacuation limit 2,400 people).
Weapons: 8 Dual Phaser Banks, 8 single Phaser Banks (24 units). 2 Forward Photon Torpedo launchers, 2 Aft Photon Torpedo Launchers.
Defence: Force Field Coils and Deflector Grid Shield System.
Propulsion: Koeller Uniform Timed Intermix (UTI) K64 Warp Nacelles, Fusion Powered Sublight Impulse System, Pulsed Propulsion Manoeuvring Thrusters.
Cruising Speed: Warp 9 (old scale).
Max Speed: Warp 12 (old scale)
Background: A one off “sport” design built to take advantage of the lessons learned from the failed Transwarp Experiment and the new warp field dynamics discovered during the first decade of the Excelsior Class.
Envisaged as the first of a new class of Starship, the cost overruns led Starfleet to cancel the other builds before they started, but too late in the Horizon’s build to make it economical to scrap the ship, therefore a single example was built. The registration number was assigned from another ship batch of unused numbers and as a homage to the first Federation Starship to bear the name Horizon (NCC-176).
Although a one-off ship, the Horizon proved to be successful, although not successful enough for more to be built. The ship served for a further 62 years before being retired.
Last year, December 2019, an individual took a hammer to my PC, Laptop and backup drives. I wasn't using cloud services at the except for my writing - but they accessed that as well. Everything was destoyed. My writing, my artwork and all of my 3D work. Thanks to my partner, Dave, 100% of my writing has been recovered. About 50% of my art work has been recovered. Only the escape pod hatch texture map was recovered from my 3D work. Aside from the models I released for Bridge Commander (the Trek V shuttle, and Blake's 7 ship pack), and the few rendered images I shared on Facebook ALL of my 3D work prior to 2020 is gone. The Star Trek Lexington Fan Film group have a copy of one of the Ingrams that they were going to use as a shooting model, but I have not yet asked them if they still have it. It has been nearly a decade since I started talking to them.
But the short of it is: All my 3D work is gone - the Ingrams, The Clarke, The Wolf, the high res Trek V shuttle, the original Flying Saucer... I have had to start again. Earlier this year, as a sort of theraputic thing I rebuilt the Flying Saucer (which you can find here: https://forums.scifi-meshes.com/discussion/10000623/3da-long-return/p1.
Aside from this project, and the ships I recovered from Bridge Commander I am starting from scratch. Technically this now counts as my first Trek build.
They are place holders at the moment whilst I work on the secondary hull. I have ideas I will try out when I get to the nacelles. The secondary hull is coming along nicely, and should finish baking soon. I'll share some renders later. But I agree, they need work.
- Mike Oldfield
All three ships and one shuttle shown to correct (official) scale with each other. The Excelsior, as you can see, is a problematic beast - the bridge module that was stuck on for Star Trek VI TUC wasn't to actual scale with the rest of the ship making the Excelsior look bigger than she actually is. This is why the Horizon's bridge looks "wrong" to some folks, but it's actually "right" when it comes to scale and being able to fit people inside it.
I had this issue with the Ingram/Odysseus that a lot of people though I'd made the bridge module to large, when in fact it's the Excelsior that's wrong, lol.
Hope that helps everyone :-)
- Mike Oldfield
Comments always welcome, more soon
- Mike Oldfield
I get that the shape you have going is more reminiscent of the Ambassador, but that design had a lot of surface detail (windows, phasers, escape pods) that a TMP era design just doesn't have.
As for the secondary hull, I love what you have so far! The forward torpedo launchers make more sense there, though I'm not sure about the aft launchers, I feel they might work better on the same position they were on Excelsior.
Yes, I get what you mean now about it looking a bit bare on the top. It was an... Interesting choice to make at the time, to not use the same features the Excelsior has for it's Impulse deck and upper structure. By the same token, I like the minimalism that the TMP Connie has, but does it translate to a bigger ship? Yes, with the caveat you have the detail in place to support it, lol. I may have made an error in design choice there. But I'm going to run with it.
In terms of the torp bays, I don't really have anywhere else I can put the aft launchers - I don't have the terraced structure the Excelsior had for it's aft torps. Plus I'm using a more TMP inspired design for them. But I can play around with it - maybe raise them up? There are going to be two phaser nodes in the cutaway, under the shuttle bay...
I'll give it some thought.
- Mike Oldfield