Update 4/5/14: 3 of the 5 views have been (mostly) completed. A lot of the little details were worked on this evening including the sensor grid around the pod, the hexagon on the lower sensor done / communications array, selected a decent color for the RCS Thrusters, and added in a darker hull "armor" on certain views.
Also narrowed down more accurate numbers for the size of the ship in question.
Height: 144m
Width: 260m
Length: 425m (Inc. Nacelles)
This puts the ship at 33 decks.
Still thinking about a name for the ol' girl, though. Since it's meant to replace the Nebula Class I was thinking something alone the lines of Quasar or something.
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Update 26/4/14: I started work on a paint version of the ship. Some of the details are still off, but scaling isn't too easy in this program all the time, so I do what I can. This should give you a better idea of what the saucer will look like. I have yet to add in the Nacelles, Pod or Engineering hull, but I'll get there!
I took the advice about the Phaser strips and redesigned that area, moved some escape pods around and did a little different work on the shield grid. Overall I think this looks much better and a little more refined than my original version.
As always, comments are always welcome.
Posts
As per the nacelles... Well, the front looks pretty good. The aft... Well, maybe instead of making the swoop over so fast, try blending the curve more smooth. Begin the curve far further ahead, and also don't net the nacelles end in a point, let them have about 4-6 meters of flat end (like the Sovereign nacelles, they didn't end in a simple point, but had a flat stop).
I like the design so far, but without another view I'm having a hard time noticing where the Nebula-like pod is connected to.
Sorry for the delay, guys. Sadly, life got in the way of me working on this.
So, in this update you get the bottom view of the ship where the sensor pod is. I'm not sure exactly how it works on the Nebula class, but this pod isn't interchangable. Parts of it would be, but its also going to do double duty as an engineering section (middle/center) and Sensor network (outer edges) with a little bit of storage (near the rear).
There are 7 lower decks to the tops 11 decks. So the saucer will have 18 decks. Once I start the other views, there will be an additional 4 - 6 decks. I'll try to get that update out sooner.
OH! I also changed the nacelle on this view, what do you guys think?
Since there have been a number of configurations for the Nebula-class, a lot of people assume the ship can be re-configured, but I doubt that. There is a variant with two upper warp nacelles instead of a pod and a couple different pods, the type seen on the Phoenix with the split pylon and the type seen on later Nebula-class ships with the single pylon. Since all of those configurations existed at one point on Star Trek, people assume the upper pod is interchangeable. However, given the massive structural differences between the configurations, that seems unlikely. It's more practical to think of them as class variants. But, that's just my two cents.
In my first attempt (shown in the first post), I was still having problems with scale. I have gone back and reworked a lot of the saucer section to hammer out the scale issues. I think this looks much better and gives the ship a more Nebula-like presence.
Due to these modification the ship has once again added more decks to the upper portion of the saucer, now sitting at 13 decks total.
As the windows worked their way up the hull towards the bridge I tried to make them longer, and give it a Galaxy Class feel to it, so some of the upper windows would be more like sky-lights.
I have also been tinkering with the ship registry and name area, but this area isn't final.
I removed used an older version of the image (one without the shield lines) so that I would have more room to play with this.
I also started work on the engineering neck, moved some escape pods around, and worked a bit on the shield grid behind the bridge area.
As always, please feel free to comment!
So I spent a lot of time tonight working on the Nacelles. I followed the same basic shape as the design in my second free-hand drawing and I think they turned out fantastic. I also added some detail to the pylons (though I may make it less complicated, there seems to be a lot going on there), and a hexagon design to the Bussard Collectors.
There are currently 12 colours in the nacelle area, and I think it adds quite a nice bit of detail to the overall image.
Wish I could update faster, but I only do this at work (since I usually have a lot of free time in the early evenings).
I promise I'll start on a side vew soon!
Here's the top and bottom view together.
I adjusted the colours a bit and added in a few more details. The bottom deck has 8 decks, which should bring the saucer-section to a total of 21 decks. (HUGE!)
If I have time, I will be starting a side view tomorrow, and maybe adding the finishing touches to the details on these views. Im still unsure of a name / registry for this ship, but Im open to suggestions!
Thanks,
Damocles.
Clearly not finished, but it's getting there. Front and back views coming along nicely. Added a shuttle bay, airlock port on both sides, and frequently had to adjust the height of the engineering section.
I think the biggest 'surprise' is the nacelle pylons. I tried 4 different configurations but none really seemed to 'click' with me. I'm definitely open to suggestions, but for now this set was the best of the 4 I tried.
One of my biggest challenges was what to do with the top-most part of the ship. It was an odd area and for a while I was thinking "I'll just add more sensors", but as time went on I realized I didn't need more sensors. Instead, I decided to add in another, smaller shuttle bay.
The main shuttle bay in the middle of the aft end would house (I'm thinking) 4 Type 9 Shuttles, 2 Type 8 Shuttles and 2 Cargo haulers. The second shuttle bay would have 6 Work Bee's and 2 Type 16's (Is that too many?)
Still haven't thought of a name for this Class of ship, or one for the ship herself, but I will.... eventually.
If I can think of anything more to add I'll update again. Maybe I'll try my hand at an MSD, though for that I might try to make the image bigger so I can get more detail in.
As always, let me know what you think. If there's something I missed and you notice, please let me know.
Edit: Noticed some windows missing on the aft view, though I was sure I had fixed that... must have forgot to save. Either way, I'll update it.
Only thing I'd change would be to thicken the pylons up just a little bit.
My ship is going to be called the GHOST OF JUPITER (I didn't add in 'USS -' because I had limited space since I was using paint but assume its in there for arguments sake), her Registry is NX - 75744 (Since she'd still be an experiemental class at the time).
I fixed up the windows, and added a thicker outline to the remaining images to help define them more. Other than that, she's the same ol' girl I know and love.
Oh! I did also thicken the pylons a little more, should help a lot with the support of the nacelle's.
Originally they were only about 1 deck thick, with this change, they are now 2 decks thick.
It scaled up fairly well, though I will have to make a few adjustments. Specifically, they deck heights we're off by 1 or 2 pixels in a few places and that gave me 5 decks where the deflector dish is, I'll make those changes as needed, possibly tomorrow.
Overall there isn't much to show at the moment, but this is about 3 hours of work, in between actual work.
I've had to keep windows with other MSD's open to pull inspiration from. I'd say if there is one thing on this image that I am truly proud of, it would be the Deflector. I think I did an amazing job with that.
-> I plan on making adjustments to the Turbolift system, this is not the final look.
-> The "Torpedo Launcher" on the upper-most deck is actually for probes only.
-> Tried to add in the Lab's, Morgue, Sickbay, etc.
-> Below the main computer core would be the secondary bridge / command area
Anywho, here she is!