Thanks! I agree, it looked too simplified - but it IS a WIP after all. My thanks go to GalacticWierdo for the inspiration. I haven't had this much fun at the ol' drawing board in months. I'm playing with the secondary hull shapes, and am having a blast trying to throw in little details like the winglet thingies under the saucer. Here's an update:
The front view looks nice. You might move the struts around the side farther aft to even things out. Too much activity on the forward end.
So I completely redrew the thing. Funny thing is, I couldn't find any way to incorporate the wings that I thought made the original sketch so distinct! Although, as a ship in its own right, I still really like it. I have a feeling erifah might like it as well
I kind of like how it is now simplified, even though she has lost much of her distinctiveness. I think what GalacticWierdo needs to do is not make the fins not so blatant. They are too big, and looked like they were tacked on as afterthoughts, as opposed to looking like they were part of the design to begin with. And I think that little details like the backstory, and integrating it into Star Trek lore, is part of the fun in making a new design. I think the smaller sketch above the bigger sketch looks a little bit better. I like the long, sweeping look that the two hulls possess together, than the larger sketch below. Quite frankly, I think that perhaps you should only use a semi-neck (if any neck at all), similar to that of the Arrogant, Allegiance, and Frontier class, because I think that the engineering hull and neck combined looks bigger than the saucer section, making the design look unbalanced, and perhaps adding to the cluttered look. This is of course on less you're going for a cluttered look, due to this being an experimental test-bed, and not a refined class vessel. If you are going to use a full-sized neck, I'd suggest making the saucer section bigger and longer. I guess that Ihlecreations and me have reiterated two of the same points at least once. He put it even better than me: it is our opinion that the design is too "clunky". I think what you need to do is find a way to make these fins add to your design, but not necessarily by making her look bigger, but perhaps sleeker, faster, yah know, analogous to the fins on a 50's Cadillac? I also have to say that Ihlecreations's point that this is you're design jibes with me, or at the very least, I find myself unable to outright disagree that he has a point. Because he does. You as a designer must ultimately do what you feel is best for your design. And if he says that it has major potential, then it has great potential, and that is the end of discussing that point. Oh, I like the contrasting curves you have between the top and bottom of the engineering hull! Uh, I don't know what happened to your image, because she's not showing! Anyhow, I think what you need to do is somehow keep at least some of those fins, while preventing her from looking "clunky", as Ihlecreations put it. I'm sure that erifah hopes that his work has given you some ideas of where to go; I sure know I do. The nacelles leaning backwards still hasn't grown on me, but than, neither has the Intrepid's stubby nacelles, so I'll probably just tolerate them. And if you are going to use a long secondary hull, might I suggest forward swept nacelle pylons, like the ones John Eaves originally designed for the Enterprise-E (that was before the unfortunate comment of the concept looking like a turkey in a frying pan)? I'd imagine they might complement certain aspects of your design.