As I mentioned in my pre TOS starships thread (which could continue as long as I come up with pre TOS designs) my next project will be the Masao-class destroyer. This is essentially my take on the FJ single nacelle destroyer/scout concept first seen in FJ's Star Fleet Technical Manual. Masao tweaked that concept in an interesting way that addressed what I saw as a silly looking flaw on FJ's design: Masao integrated the nav-deflector into the support dorsal rather than leaving it hanging from the saucer---a neat solution that fixed something I never liked in the first place. From that idea I will add my own tweaks to FJ's concept, primarily by integrating a hangar bay section into an extension of the saucer's B/C deck structure aft of the bridge. You can get a general idea of my direction from the quick-and-dirty photoshoped image posted below. I've already begun to make measurements and the hangar integrated into the B/C deck structure need not impinge on the impulse thruster (or fish looking thingy) on the aft part of the saucer. With a little luck I should be able to fashion something that won't look just grafted on and will look decently integrated. At this point I'm not envisioning clamshell style hangar doors (but I'm not totally ruling them out) because I want to maximize the space I have to work with. The sides of the new structure will essentially follow the contures of the existing B/C deck structure with the aim of a new structure that will look more properly integrated. Because of this I still might end up with clamshell hangar doors although I'd opt to make them more shallow than those on the Constitution-class. My model will be based on a hybridization of Alan SInclair's and Charles Casimiro's drawings since they each got a lot of things right and some things they differed on. Of course, the primary elements taken from those drawings are the saucer, the dorsal and the warp nacelle. The rest will be mostly of my own contributions. Presently I'm weighing whether I should do the design based on TOS' production version elements or make the model look more like it might have when first commissioned and incorporate more Pike era elements. Hmm... I've already got a good profile of the saucer and dorsal done so now I have to draw up some other elements from different elevations and angles and then I can poceed with the modelling. I also have to modify the design of the warp nacelle so it will have a more symetrical configuration and not have the inboard grille components exposed on one side. Please, stay tuned...
This is a brilliant (and very well thought out and sensible) redesign of the FJ destroyer/scout! Everything on this ship makes much more sense now.
One thing that's bugged me about this ship is the wee deflector. There are ways to make it bigger. Are you going to try some of them?
The image posted is a concept. Yes, I can make the deflector a bit larger, but I needn't obsess about it given ships like the Reliant and TOS equivalents didn't even have obvious deflectors. I want to have something on the underside of the nacelle because it's more visually interesting than just a plain smooth surface and because those already existing parts have to go somewhere. But I don't want a trench exposed on the underside or a shorter one on the upper side. I'll start sketching and think of something. Another reference resource is my presently unbuilt Round2 1/350 scale TOS Enterprise model kit. That will allow me to see what any given part exactly looks like. It can be an arbiter where Sinclair's and Casimiro's drawings disagree. A major point of difference is in the cross-section profile of the saucer, particularly the underside. Sinclair's is more straight edged and Casimiro's is more curved. The model should tell me which one is more correct. Likewise with details like the nacelle inter coolers and lower saucer sensor array dome. In all likeliness I won't be adding gridlines. Granted I could probably do them very subtly to the point they would be invisible unless the light hits them in just the right way, but the main thing s I just don't care for them, certainly not enough to go to the trouble of including them. I've had these ideas for this design for quite some time and was partly inspired upon seeing BolianAdmiral's take on the old Surya design resulting in the Gemini. That design solved elements that previously looked quite odd to me on the Surya. I must say (as a quibble) there is a touch of detailing I might have added to the Gemini on the upper surface of the new saucer structure: where the Starfleet pennants are set I would have tried to mimic or fashion similar detail as where those pennants are set on the Constitution-class, those few grille like bits where the pennant is tucked into. It would have been subtle yet added a touch of visual texture. Nonetheless I like the Gemini as it is. One thing I like with SketchUp is it allows me to draw right within the program. That is a fundamental element of how it works: you draw shapes and the tools allow you to fashion 3D forms from those shapes. Of course you can modify the shapes even after they're in 3D form.
http://www.inpayne.com/models/masao1.html http://www.inpayne.com/portfolio/masaosheet.jpg Looking forward to your take.
^^ Yep, I remember your model. However, I won't be going with that style of hangar deck. I've been checking the R2 1/350 kit for comparison since I consider it to be the closest in accuracy. From what I see it seems Casimiro is more correct in his cross-section profile of the saucer while Sinclair got the nacelle intercoolers (four fin like thingies on the nacelle aft ends) more correct. I will study it again, but at first glance it seems also that Casimiro got the dorsal cross section edges more correct. The front end of those intercoolers (on all three versions of the ship) are higher in the front than in the back.
I'm certain some Constitution class blueprints called the lines on the saucer a "deflector grid". Not sure if it serves the same purpose as the dish, or augments it.
^^ Yes, they've been labeled that way, but the problem I have with that is why no such grid on the secondary hull and nacelles? Also the shuttlecraft has shields and yet no gridlines of any kind.
Hi, Warped9, I can definitely understand your hesitation to add the gridlines on the saucer for the visual inconsistency you mentioned about why they're not found on the secondary hull. To Star Trek TMP's credit, I think this was an oversight they corrected for the refit Enterprise. To be honest, when I get down to rebuilding my classic Connie, I might include the gridlines on the secondary hull myself, just to make up for the inconsistency, in the same way that you plan to omit them for the same end result.
A HUGE reason I don't like the gridlines is a matter of aesthetics: the lines visually cut up what is otherwise a gorgeous and sleek looking design into chunks. For me the gridlines make things look clunky which is totally at odds with how I saw the ship onscreen and in my imagination. Yes, visual and archival evidence has established that lines were there, but at best I can tolerate them only when they're unobtrusive.
If the lines are a light color in contrast to the hull, they don't look as bad as when they are black. Plus I think an etched grid looks better than raised lines. However you do it, it's a great looking ship.
There is another way of doing it, but it would likely be just or nearly as time consuming. One could paint the different plates formed by the lines an ever so slightly different tone than the plate beside it. The hope would be to achieve an very subtle effect that would be easy to miss under most lighting conditions.
I'm presently starting to model the saucer and I've decided to go for a design with Pike era details to it. Most visibly that means a larger bridge dome and differences in the nacelle as well as some other minor cosmetic differences. I'm tempted to call this one the U.S.S. Swiftsure in honour of the star clipper that preceded it nearly a century earlier...but I'll probably come up with another name.
Okay, it took some fussing, but here's the integrated hangar section in place albeit minus the bay doors, the turbolift housing, the homing beacon...and the rest of the ship. At least from this you can see how it's shaping up.