Directly inspired by the USS Vengeance from Star Trek Into Darkness, this is a slightly more traditional Federation Dreadnought (with 3 nacelles) geared for battle. I am experimenting with the very angular almost 'stealth' appearance of the ship. Still playing around with this so please keep checking back for updates. WIP Model Link: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=a9ec2d241b289b51ee86e0e72754043
Mmm... it's a pretty nice design, but the saucer reminds me of the NSEA Protector's engine wings and a Trade Federation mothership.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I've also posted this on deviantart and scifi-meshes and a lot of people have mentioned how much the saucer section reminded them of the Trade Federation Battleship from Star Wars Ep 1. Responding to those comments, I've been working this morning on changing the shape of the saucer cut-out slightly so that it hopefully looks a bit less like that ship. The new one is shown on the left.
I like the way you squared off the deflector... I was having so much trouble with mine (back in 2011) that I gave up getting it to blend with the saucer nicely...
You are very talented, and your artwork reflects that. I gotta ask, though: what would be the functionality/purpose of configuring a ship's primary hull that way? I just don't get it.
Ah, to be honest, I have no idea. I leave those kinda details to the clever people. I just go with what I think looks good asthetically. The luxury of designing a fictional object, I guess.
To be fair, you'll probably have to change the bridge module to get rid of that comparison. Even with the angled cutout, the two arms of the saucer and the bridge module are enough to get that impression.
I don't even think that will be enough. To really avoid the TF ship references, you probably need to turn it 90* and have slots on the left and right with the front being solid.
Yeah I'm starting to get that idea. It's only taken about 50 people telling me that it looks like a Trade Fed ship but yes the message is getting through this thick skull of mine. Lol
^ Maybe that's why they didn't go with that particular design in the movie. Some of the concept sketches I've seen have a similar cutout.