Hey guys. I just wanted to show you all some of my latest Star Fleet universe models. We'll start with the Lyran Tiger-class heavy cruiser. This is actually a revamp of an older model I did. I was unhappy with the level of detail and a lot of other things about the model, so I tried to make a version I was satisfied with this time around. The Lyran Star Empire neighbors the Klingon Empire and they are allies. The Lyrans employ mostly similar weapon systems to the Klingons, phasers and disruptors. Their unique weapon is the ESG, or Expanding Sphere Generator. The emitters for the ESGs are the black rectangles with the yellow glowing panels near the back of the ship. ESGs are essentially large spherical forcefields that surround the ship, which can be used as a defensive field against projectiles or for ramming enemy ships. Anyway, pictures: Comparison shots with the Tiger's little sister:
This is the Lyran Lion-class dreadnought. Lyran ship designs are designed from a very pragmatic point of view. They try to use as many common components between ship designs as possible so as to streamline construction. For example, the Lyran dreadnought uses the catamaran hulls of the heavy cruiser split in half, with a center hull element added.
Next up is the Klingon D5 war cruiser. The D5 was introduced early in the General War. It was intended to be the new mainline Klingon fighting ship, being nearly as effective as the D7 in combat, but smaller and faster to produce, although at the cost of a reduced operational lifespan(this proved to be mostly not a factor, as the majority of the D5s were destroyed in combat). The D5 earned itself a fearsome reputation as one of the most effective war cruisers employed during the General War, and went on to be the basis for one of the Klingon Empire's first X-ships. Comparison shots with the D7 heavy cruiser and F5 frigate:
Nice work, Icy... Is it my imagination, or (based upon those engine nacelles) do the Lyrans use some Klingon technology?
I understand the limitations ADB puts on your "artistic license" as far as the ships are concerned, but would it be possible to alter the front of the curved "matter sink" on the top of the engineering hull to something a bit more distinct, even if it isn't apparent at first glance? I'm amazed and astounded at how much you managed to pull of in that respect on the rest of the ship, but that area seems to stick out to me as needing a bit more work. Then again, I'm not paying you, am I? BTW, The Lyrans are excellent all around.
It's taking a little time to get used to the new patterns on the top of the Lyran ships (seems a teeny bit too organic, but that might just be the colour scheme) but still pretty cool. I like the comparison shots of the various Klingon ships! Not for their starships per se, no - but the Lyrans do use Klingon fighter designs, and occasionaly interchange Klingon cargo pods with Lyran ones on some of their transports.
I don't know if they use Klingon warp engine technology exactly, although I do recall reading somewhere that Klingons and Lyrans sell each other certain standardized components for common systems(in addition to using the same fighter designs and tug pods). It's not inconceivable that their warp engine designs are similar to take advantage of this to some degree. Well, you can probably tell by looking at it that I just reused the D7 hangar/impulse deck with some small modifications. I guess you could call that lazy () but that part of both ships is quite similar overall. I might redo that part eventually....I agree that it could use some fine-tuning. But for now, it suits my purposes and keeps the Steves happy, plus I'm making a whole bunch of models at the moment and time is a factor. Thanks for your feedback though. And thank you everyone for the comments. I always like to hear comments/criticisms/angry ravings about my art. Hopefully I'll have more stuff to post soon.