Insignia Class Starship c. 2299

[publiusr]

having the insignia starshep fit into those notches on the spine of erifahs craft might be interesting.

[erifah]

Patrickivan wrote:

---

Hmm- I hadn't really planned to put one on her, but you have now inspired me to do so... Hope you don't mind my using your idea. Though mine will be symetrical...

I'm going to explore the idea of popping two of these asymmetrical his & hers yachts along the spine of that ship I posted, as suggested. I hadn't really thought of that spine section as holding sockets for insignia-shaped yachts -until this thread came along.

I'm trying to cook up the pragmatic design reasons for the yacht being asymmetrical. Then again, it is a yacht, so there's no reason why there has to be an engineering reason for that shape. Rather, maybe I should put in the slight imperfections that suggest that engineers had to shoehorn pragmatic necessities into that design.

I can't wait to see what YOU do with the idea!

[erifah]

WAIT! Of COURSE! That's IT!

I was trying to have engine gizmos and doohickeys coming out the ass-end of the thing, like its the point of a rocket or something.

The TOP is the exercise in pure design, and everything engine-wise and stuff has to be slung underneath it, not behind it. Everything needs to fit within the insignia shape. Thus, when it slips into its socket, it will fit.

[publiusr]

Another idea is for the two vessels to fly along side the larger ship, with the pointy end wave-guides being outer-most to either side of the main starship.

Not a true cloak, but a way to disguise the vessels warp signature under the aeigis of placing less stress on subspace.

The result? A Soverign class that looks like a long range shuttlecraft or probe. as long as the two ships are on point along the galactic plane.

[erifah]

publiusr wrote:

---

Another idea is for the two vessels to fly along side the larger ship, with the pointy end wave-guides being outer-most to either side of the main starship...

Would they be attached in some way? Or just flying in formation?

Hmmm... with fancy "tractor beams" and "structural integrity fields" and all that sort of stuff already floating around the world of Star Trek... I don't see any reason why component parts of a spaceship can't be held together by anything more than energy.

[publiusr]

The insignia might be a start in that direction. The pointy bits look like an antenna I suppose. They would be flying in formation, but joined, as we see in the Dune remake where the big ship was a series of plates, as in the travel conveyance the mecha used at the end of the movie A.I.

[Patrickivan]

erifah wrote:

---

Would they be attached in some way? Or just flying in formation?

Hmmm... with fancy "tractor beams" and "structural integrity fields" and all that sort of stuff already floating around the world of Star Trek... I don't see any reason why component parts of a spaceship can't be held together by anything more than energy.

Interesting thought- but what happens during a power failure? Though I've always envisioned trek tech to be more reliable than our shows and movies protray.

I guess if you have something held in place with magnetic forces, than you could have safety measures for power failure, not unlike safety air brakes on trucks. Springs in the air brake chambers are compressed by air pressure on rigs while driving- any catastrophic air loss instantly releases those springs, and engages the brakes- thereby making runnaway trucks a thing of the past.

So in this case, a similar feature can be in place where the power source holds a mechanical locking mechanism away from those floaty bits held in place, and if the power goes, the mechanical locks automatically engage, thereby keeping said floaty bits from, er, floating away...

[erifah]

Patrickivan wrote:

---

Interesting thought- but what happens during a power failure? Though I've always envisioned trek tech to be more reliable than our shows and movies protray.

I guess if you have something held in place with magnetic forces, than you could have safety measures for power failure, not unlike safety air brakes on trucks. Springs in the air brake chambers are compressed by air pressure on rigs while driving- any catastrophic air loss instantly releases those springs, and engages the brakes- thereby making runnaway trucks a thing of the past.

So in this case, a similar feature can be in place where the power source holds a mechanical locking mechanism away from those floaty bits held in place, and if the power goes, the mechanical locks automatically engage, thereby keeping said floaty bits from, er, floating away...

Or, in the event of a power failure, the magnetic properties cause the little parts that are floating out there in formation, to automatically snap back into their housings. Or something.

[Patrickivan]

Just a little update on my ship- I'm plugging away on it, but the details are small right now and not really worth the post. But they'll add up...

The thing I'm having issues with is how to add all the windows. There are a lot of curves here and it's problematic (for me) on what approach is best to place them all.

I thought of course, just doing them directly on the face one by one, but that doesn't seem very efficient. I thought of perhaps drawing them on a "flat" surface above the ship and extruding them into the ship. That will probably be the best and what I usually do.

Any ideas are welcome.

Oh- and apparently I should change the class name. Someone already has it. I should have looked it up first. LOL!

[JES]

You're not the only ones to have thought of using the Starfleet symbol for the shape of a craft:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4044567...in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4044567...n/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/4044567...n/photostream/
Albeit that I chose to go for symmetry, but the undercut from the ventral view is supposed to sort of resemble the shorter end of the two. I've also thought about the possibility of a ship having two yachts, for a variety of design reasons. I believe that was in my idea inventory for my Enterprise-F design.
I'm only giving the links so as to not divert too much attention from Patrickivan's design.

I'm liking what I'm seeing so far. I hope you're able to keep those relatively clean lines and the overall clean look of the hull, while also adding details at the same time.

Patrickivan wrote:

---

Oh- and apparently I should change the class name. Someone already has it. I should have looked it up first. LOL!

I'm very glad to see that you came to that conclusion. Mark Kingworth's Insignia class has been around for an apparently long time. Maybe a synonym that hasn't been used AFAIK) like Symbol would work, if you want to go in that direction.

erifah wrote:

---

Or, in the event of a power failure, the magnetic properties cause the little parts that are floating out there in formation, to automatically snap back into their housings. Or something.

I'm really liking this talk about auxiliary safety features, after all, if there is no simple way to prevent a ship from falling apart if it uses force-fields or tractor-beams, then from a tactical stand-point, there is no use in building a ship that is dependent on these technologies. But if there is a way for a ship to use these technologies but still stay in once piece, even if completely disabled, then it really doesn't seem like a bad idea.

[Patrickivan]

I'm trying to keep it clean, JES... And I have recently seen those links you showed. Some actually reminded me of FASA's Northampton- the way the nacelles jut out. One of my fav ships.

I'm changing the class name to Ottawa. My favorite city and home to my employer, His Majesty Harper.

Here's just a wee image of what I'm working on. All those blasted windows.

The one inset window is also part for show. I included a turbolift docking port, which has always made sense to have... I'm not a huge fan of the inset windows, but the E-D had a few tastefully in place, so I'll do the same.

[Patrickivan]

Ya- I'm keeping it Ottawa Class, and I'll still need a name for her. And changing the date to 2399

[erifah]

Patrickivan wrote:

---

So in this case, a similar feature can be in place where the power source holds a mechanical locking mechanism away from those floaty bits held in place, and if the power goes, the mechanical locks automatically engage, thereby keeping said floaty bits from, er, floating away...

Wait, we're over-thinking the plumbing, making it easier to stop up the drain.

In case of power failure, it's held together by bits of string!

[JES]

Ottawa is a good name, AFAIK not currently used, and yet deserving of attention.
If you're having a hard time coming up with a name for the model itself, just make her the class ship, and think of additional class members later.

erifah wrote:

---

Wait, we're over-thinking the plumbing, making it easier to stop up the drain.

In case of power failure, it's held together by bits of string!

By strands of nano-carbon fiber tubule strings! Lighter and stronger than steel!

[erifah]

Hmmmm... this could work, too.

Just a quick sketch I tossed off between glasses of wine. And if you're all British and stuff, please feel free to insert "tosser" jokes here: ____________________.