The Saladin has never looked so good! Nifty idea with the shuttlebay doors too and how they mirror the TMP docking ports. Two such large doors does seem excessive for what is essentially quite a small amount of deck space though, but I'd hate to loose those twinkly windows by mounting it forward.
Re: The Scout/Destroyer engineering spaces in the saucer. Maybe these classes use the spaces that the Connies use for their 14 science labs. Re: The aircraft power generation model. Seems that people here may be unaware of APUs and their roles in aviation. Having power generation in the nacelles doesn't preclude power generation in the secondary hull as well. Re: The USS Xerxes. Awesome job. Suggestions: 1) Instead of the second pair of green/red lights on the nacelle, I would echo the blinking light found on the secondary hull of the Enterprise studio model near the hangar (which presumably would have a match on the port side). 2) Only one hangar door but keep its location. Adds a bit of asymmetry and hints at a design that maximizes its space.
From my perspective, the FJ/Achernar ships look as if they should be smaller. The production bridge is smaller atop the 11 footer's B/C deck--where the FJ/Achernar is pretty wide. So (without recessing the production bridge), I would say the saucer of the FJ is also smaller, with a smaller nacelle. Having a scaled down Saladin with FJ parts overlap your version of the 11 footer Heavy Cruiser might be something to do for another time. Now by using the 11 ft parts everything stays modular. Call that the true destroyer, but the scaled down FJ version the scout?
That is a funky looking ship, but your renders give it a life that it really, really shouldn't have! Beautiful work.
Color is great. Just the overall ship design, for me, is a meh. The E looks like a victorious track athlete with arms upswept. The one-nacelle ship looks like a dish with a phallus. Which, in the initial photos looks very size-challenged, then in the ones below, is quite longer. The sensor dish must have seen something attractive. HA - in production if it were being threatened they could shoot it so it looks short; after a triumph, they could shoot it so it's long. Shwing. Jung would like the one feminine (circle) united with one masculine (cylinder); Freud would like the cylinder growing depending on camera angle. To me it just isn't an elegant thing like the E. Your work, of course, is sweet, however!
Wow Donny. You know I never like this ship design when I saw it in the FJ prints, but now that I see her with your paint she looks great and I like it now.
I like the simplicity The TOS consitution was also simple, so it's a nice fit. I can also imagine, in that parallel universe where a Saladin filming model was made in the 60s, a shuttlebay being fudged into that space in much the same way. Then us modern folks in the early 2000s would be interpreting the bay exactly as you've done. One reason to point the bays aft is that they don't interfere with the saucer's landing legs in the event of a planetary landing.
While I do appreciate the functionality that would be added by using the retractable ball-mount as you suggest, I have to admit that therefore giving up the lighted sensor dome as a result is something that I don't want to do. I really like the splash of light it provides. And I really really like the armature I've crafted. I've always been more artist than engineer so I think I'm going to stick with what pleases me aesthetically in this case. HOWEVER, I may try the retractable ball-mount setup when I tackle the Ptolemy and see which I like better. The light you're referring to on the secondary hull of the Enterprise is rather large. I could scale it down and use in place of the red/green lights I have now, but I think I like the current lights just fine. Now this I may fiddle with. I agree that two hangar doors is a bit excessive but I only did two for symmetry's sake. I'll use the Ptolemy as a test-bed for the single, asymmetrical hangar door and see which I like better. According to the FJ Tech Manual, the saucer is the same size between the Saladin/Hermes, Ptolemy, and Constitution-class ships, so I don't think the Saladin or the Hermes are meant to have smaller components. Granted, these are non-canon designs so we can go whatever direction we please, but I'd really rather keep all my pieces modular at this point. Thank you for bringing this up, however, as it my incentivize me to experiment with a smaller diameter primary hull for the Hermes-class. I think that's why I like this ship....because it's ugly! Having some less pretty designs for the lesser-class ships really helps sell the fiction that the Connie was a proud thing to captain or serve on, not just because of its capabilities but because of it's beauty! Good point! Thanks for all the feedback! Like I said, I'll probably keep the Saladin like it is for now and then experiment with some of the aforementioned suggested changes to the primary hull with the Ptolemy before I go and make heavy modifications to what is otherwise already solidly crafted.
So these hypothetical ship designs would have no shuttlecrafts; so if the transporter doesn't work then the crew would have to tough it out whether the engineering techs can fix the problem, go to a starbase for repairs or wait for a Starship Class vessel to assist them.
@Donny I think we may be referring to different lights. The one that I am referring to is not the big dome on top (which blinked on the 2nd pilot version) but the one on the side of the secondary hull near the undercut. You can see it in action on the E at the Smithsonian in this Trekcore interview:
Nah, I like the idea of these ships having small auxiliary craft facilities and one or two shuttles because of the reasons you just listed. Even the smaller Oberth class we see in STIII and beyond has what appear to be hangar areas on it's primary hull. Ahhh. I think you mean what Remastered TOS has dubbed the "ion pod" in Court Martial. Sorry for the confusion. Even still, I think I prefer my bulbous red/green lights to mirror those on the saucer. To be honest, I wish I could put similar running lights on the Enterprise's nacelles, but...canon...won't....let....me
Your model. Just never been a fan of multiple instances of the red/green. The existence of the colors implies some version of "rules of the road"(RotR) and I've always felt that using them twice would create confusion. For example, using a red light and non-red light would give orientation information about the ship being observed if the RotR specified that a blinking white light be aft of a blinking red light. The observer could discern the ship's front and back and its likely direction of travel. Two blinking red lights do not tell anything other than one is looking at the port side.
Ahhhh. I see your point, and I admit I hadn't realized there were rules to such things. Thanks for bringing this up, as I'm now reconsidering my choice!
To be fair, I recently saw some of @Tallguy's models of @aridas sofia's Surya-class and it looks less like a crab in 3D than it does on that front ortho
It is nice to see both iterations of these designs come to life- what FJ drew for his TM, and what Todd Guenther drew for his Ships of the Star Fleet. In our mythology, the ships based on the 11-foot model’s parts preceded those made with the different FJ, SFTM parts.
I think your Saladin looks terrific (your paint job really sells it). Some of the renders are especially evocative... a lonely little ship, swimming along in the deep, dark cosmos.
You get it. It is also a smiling swan. The lower sensor dome is like a nice smile--a dragon that smiles while spitting fire.
If I were to anthropomorphize the E design, it looks like the figurehead on the bow of a sailing vessel. OTOH, Saladin has the feel of a cobra with upraised head, ready to strike.
I'm now envisioning custom hood ornaments mounted on every Starfleet vessel, akin to the "Festoon" from Discovery.