Is there a "standard" colour range for exterior hulls of civilian UFP ships established in the "Classic" Trek-Verse?
Hmm, well, Cyrano Jones's scout was white with red trim. Harry Mudd's ship in TOS Remastered is grey-hulled, and it's the same model as the remastered Aurora. The original Aurora, the one kitbashed from the Tholian ship and Klingon wings, was also gray; it had a reddish tinge, but I think that was illumination from outside. I'm not sure about Federation civilian ships in the 24th century. The only one I can think of offhand is the Raven, but its design (and the reference to it with a USS prefix in one episode) suggests it was of Starfleet origin.
Hmmm. Interesting, that latter example. Would be nice if the files for that design still survive for reference purposes...
I always felt that only Starfleet vessels had a particular hull color scheme, but that civilian Federation ships could be any color.
We saw the Lakul in ST:GEN in a purplish scheme, and she probably was a Federation ship as per various cues (Whorfin class, sister ship to Robert Fox, NFT registry prefix, hauling people to Earth). We also saw (parts of) the Santa Maria in DS9 "Paradise" in a very Starfleet-like white-with-red-cheat-lines livery. Her registry isn't of the N series, but BTR (a Blues Brothers in-joke), but as with the Robert Fox, both her name and her class name (Erewhon) are obviously human in origin. Unless it's a huge coincidence and some alien culture actually uses a name that is Nowhere misspelled backwards like Samuel Butler did it... Then there's the Rigelian transport in DS9 "Vortex" that is a reuse of the Pakled miniature, in series of browns, reds and greens. At least some Rigelians are supposedly UFP members. And then there are the old Vulcan ships of TNG "Unification", in bluish colors, but after a brief stint as the Tosk vessel the model is reused in DS9 "For the Cause", again supposedly operated by Vulcans but now colored brown. That about wraps it up as far as onscreen UFP civilian ships in the TNG era are concerned. Of course, ST:TMP has the pink Vulcan shuttle that looks grey on screen... Timo Saloniemi
This is pretty much true. It's basically akin to a merchant or private vessel here... some ocean cargo ships have red hulls, while some have green or blue... it depends on the company that owns the vessel. Same with private boats, yachts, or RV's... the owner decides which color(s) they prefer on their vehicle(s). I would assume the only time there would be a "uniform" color scheme on a non-Starfleet vessel, would be for ships owned by academic institutions, used for research missions or training and the like, as the markings and livery of their given institution would be on the ship.
^ Also, any private companies or "airlines"/tour companies could also have a uniform livery set for their ships.
It could also be that Starfleet surplus ships retain Starfleet colors - perhaps that's what's going on with the Raven? The Hansens might have purchased an old Starfleet vessel whose log computers still insist on inserting the USS thing there, but they'd still be a civilian outfit through and through, under no obligation to report to Starfleet or return the hardware at mission conclusion or anything like that. Hmm. Do companies, corporations or businesses still exist in the 24th century? Do they even exist in the 23rd? We at least see individual entrepreneurs interested in profit in the 23rd, and hear of some in the 24th (the Vulcan who upped the price of an object when he learned Janeway, the buyer, was from Starfleet) even if we discount criminals who might be dealing outside the UFP (say, the explicitly profit-interested "Starship Mine" folks). But those never amount to an actual organization with employers and employees. We don't see UFP corporate logos up close at any point (although in-jokes on Okudagrams about the Yoyodyne Corporation and the like might be legible in some shots). And we never hear the name of a corporation or a company mentioned in dialogue. Or do we? Timo Saloniemi
To Memory Alpha! Broht & Forrester? Dytallix Mining Corporation? Then there's joke companies pulled from other franchises, like Jupiter Mining Co., the aforementioned Yoyodyne, and Sirius Cybernetics Corp.
Ah, right, that settles it! ...Although one could argue that Dytallix doesn't really exist - that it's a former corporation whose apparently quite former mine is an ideal secret meeting place. But "Author, Author!" seems definitive. Goes to show... It's one of the few episodes I haven't seen yet. Timo Saloniemi