I remember seeing the old McQuarrie concept back in the 70's vividly, as well as my reaction to it. I didn't like it at all. But, what you've done with his original design is incredible. Your re-working is sleek, stylish, and very Trek. I love how you took a very clunky concept and turned it into a sleek lady. Really very stellar work. I love it!
@Santaman - yep, it's a big one... @publiusr - I've always wondered what the point of a shuttle carrier would be. I could see a large colony transport having a lot of shuttles but a ship dedicated to carrying a lot of shuttles, unless it also has the space to house all of the people the shuttles are ferrying, I don't see the point. Unless the point of the ship is just to ferry shuttles but even that seems more the job of a cargo ship. I haven't completely settled on what the Teller's role will be yet, but I've decided it's definitely going to be a "one of" and something of a spruce goose among starships.
I love this spin off the concept. I'd say this is simply fantastic. And the secondary hull reminds me of something I remember wanting to use as a secondary hull since I was a kid: the little turn signal indicator housing on the front top quarter panel of a cadillac (they were on them for years). I'll have to show you a picture when I get to work, but your ship really makes me happy because of this silly little thing...
I'm sure that the ample hanger space must have come in handy for carrying fighters or supplies and vehicles for defensive military encampments during the Cardassian War, though.
It's supposed to be a CV in space, whether it's a sujpercarrier like we build today, or an escort carrier or other variation as we built in WWII. The Ariel was supposed to have the crew to man all those shuttles. Of course, the Chandley was supposed to carry a whole lotta marines it didn't have room for either...
Ew no, this ship isn't a carrier, those are totally irrelevant in the Trek Universe.. to me its more like a Yamato, largest hull, thickest armor, biggest gun, get out of my way else I'll crush you kind of ship...
Sounds good to me. I actually like the TMP saucer treatment from earlier runs, though those are lost to us. This current version has a lot of warmth.
Back from the beyond the grave, I decided to work on this one again. I was never happy with the bridge on this thing but now I think I've struck more of happy medium between Ralph McQuarrie and more traditional Trek designs. I'm still tinkering with it. The dish telescopes out of the housing and the dome reverses itself to become the dish. That might be confusing to read but, yeah, maybe the pictures help, then again, maybe not. I redid the windows on the rim of the primary hull again and I was all happy with them until I unhid all the layers and saw I planted windows smack in the middle of the impulse engines. I suppose I'll have to fix that, again... I also started to tinker with the textures. The difference is hardly noticeable with these shots, but I'll post some clearer ones soon. No really... these long delays are not my fault... Honest... I ran out of gas. I... I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts! IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD! So here's the pics...
Seriously beautiful ship. This, to me, is a better "intermediate" between the Excelsior & the Galaxy than the Ambassador was (not that the Ambassador wasn't great too). And I like the inclusion of the antenna we saw in those drawings.
Welcome back! Hey you need of a better luck! All those problems.... Hopefully it was just a phase, now left behind. About the ship, you know I like her. The antena is so unusual in Trek ships that looks strange to my eyes, as the fact it´s not been centered behind the bridge. But I have to admit it was well executed.