The USS Gagarin is closest to looking like a ship in TOS. It looks like a proto Connie. It's got thicker nacelle supports but if it's Nacelles were rounded like the TOS nacelles it would look right at home.
When will the Constitution Class make an appearance?
- Thread starter Syd Shanshala
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The USS Gagarin is closest to looking like a ship in TOS. It looks like a proto Connie. It's got thicker nacelle supports but if it's Nacelles were rounded like the TOS nacelles it would look right at home.
That's not bad in fact it's a pretty photo, but the severe lack of self illumination is a big issue considering today's rendering techniques. I'm not saying the ship overall is ugly because it's not. It's a sleek design that needs to be quite literally remastered to not be a 1960's model that was lit by huge lamps and then super imposed on a green screen star field. Your photo clearly shows what needs to be done to take the ship from 1967 to 2017.I just had a thought. Discovery has taken Star Trek space scenes into new dynamic territory. Back in the old days we're used to seeing ships backlit and super imposed on space backgrounds. With modern technology, Discovery's rendered lighting has a more realistic feel. I was experimenting with a photo of a Master Replica's enterprise model and put it against a Discovery esque space background and tried my best to give it the dynamic Discovery lighting.
Just to demonstrate my point this image shows how much of a difference proper self-illumination on the hull, texturing, and overall lighting can make on an older design. (Credit Deviant- MavekCG)
To really stick to the old look they would have to apply this and probably more in terms of effects work and remodeling to even remotely get a Constitution on screen to sit up well against the current ships in the show.
To really stick to the old look they would have to apply this and probably more in terms of effects work and remodeling to even remotely get a Constitution on screen to sit up well against the current ships in the show.
...because it's dark as shit, and I can't see shit. I want my ship to look good in any lighting. While there is nothing wrong with original Constitution design, it will not fit with existing STD ship design style and no amount of lighting will help. Having said that, if they do update it, but do something atrocious... D7.. cough... cough.. D7... the fan outrage would be even worse. CBS is better off not showing Constitution at all if they cannot get it right.
The Gagarin is practically an upside down Shenzhou with different nacelles.
Doesn't make it less of a TOS esque ship. The top of the saucer is very similar to the TOS Enterprise, They didn't show the bottom so I can't say for certain. It would still fit into TOS with rounded Nacelles.
The Gagarin is the same class as the Kerala in Episode 2 which we've seen the bottom of:
Very well. What's your point?
It looks like the top of the Shenzhou, which isn't very TOS at all.
The Hoover and Malachowski classes are the most TOS looking IMO
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Hoover_class
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Malachowski_class
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I'm afraid we disagree because the Gagarin from this angle looks like a TOS era ship.
You'll have to forgive this last pic because I couldn't find a good pic of TOS Nacelles.
You'll have to forgive this last pic because I couldn't find a good pic of TOS Nacelles.
Okay... 
Cannikin1701 did a wonderful piece that is from the novel Desperate Hours. Something for the classic lovers out there.
Do we know how big the Shenzhou is? If seen the number 433 meters.
The saucer is about as thick as Kirk's old one - Deck 9 is the second-to-lowermost one, as per the scenes with the exposed brig. Of course, Kirk's saucer was mostly top and bottom bulges and a thin center plate, but the diameter remains in the ballpark. So, about 150 m for the saucer and then another 150 m for the nacelles - 300 m or so as a minimum estimate, the same as Kirk's. We can then go up from there to 450 if we want to. But the picture above might be as good a relative sizing as any.
Timo Saloniemi
Timo Saloniemi
The USS Shenzhou is almost identical to the Centaur class.
The Shenzhou looks better.
The actual Centaur looks a bit different to that render. It's covered in scale-redefining windows, tons of greebles and had a much larger bridge module.
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True. The Shenzhou resembles even more the actual Centaur model with all the greebles. For instance the Shenzhou even has the two small winglets on top that the (actual Excelsior-class) saucer of the Centaur has.
That’s not what "iconic" means. The Grissom ain’t iconic. And the Excelsior and Reliant models are certainly a lot less iconic than the TOS Enterprise model.
