Sorry for falling behind here. Very cool. Looking forward to see what you come up with for the Gorn ship.
It's...different. I think I’ve got the essential configuration and now it’s a matter of massaging it and detailing. The ship's name is Hrizzzz.
My initial concept sported dual nacelles, but as I sketched it out more I felt it looked more alien with only one. There is the familiarity of the rocket shape main section, but adding unusual bits to it suggests something counterintuitive and alien. Having the nacelle support “wing” swept forward and merging into the nose of the nacelle looks interestingly odd. it has to look cool in its own right, but it should also suggest to the viewer, “Why would they do it that way?” The other thing I keep mentally checking—“Could this have actually been seen on TOS? Does it fit in terms of aesthetics and overall design perspective?” I do recall that Matt Jefferies did experiment with a goose neck configuration when working toward the Enterprise’s final design as well as the Klingon battle cruiser.
Interesting start. I want to say, could the nacelle be a different shape, as we'd had both the Enterprise and the Romulan Bird of Prey with cylindrical nacelles? Could that add to its 'alieness'? I know the D-7 is in the future with its' different nacelle shape, but would the production team perhaps even think of a different shape for a ship that might only be seen at a distance? Plus ease of construction considerations for the same reason, of being seen a a distance, perhaps only on the bridge viewscreen?
I'd guess if they didn't want to spend money to vacuum-form a new shape they might go for some appliance and modify it.
It could have been the first instance of using a highlighter pen (just recently invented!) for engine nacelles, lol.
Fair points. My initial idea for the nacelle was to make it ovoid in cross section—and I still like that idea. But I was thinking in terms of ease of construction and a cylinder would likely be simpler to fashion than an ovoid. And since the ship would be seen only briefly, maybe two or three glimpses of it in space and/or on the viewscreen further argues for not getting too elaborate. If Star Trek had been a feature film or a television movie of the month (interesting thought) then one might get away with a more elaborate design. The Klingon D7 is an elaborate design, but AMT, who constructed it, wasn’t under the same time constraints as TOS. What would cause me to reconsider is if someone could make the case that an ovoid shape could be made with little difficulty with the resources at hand. Even so it’s tempting to explore the other option, but I don’t want to stray into TOS-R territory envisioning things that TOS couldn’t have done even with more time and money. …Thinking about it further an ovoid shape could be done, but it’s more work. Whereas a cylinder you can lathe an ovoid would have to be carved, which is time consuming, or you make it with a frame and a skin like a balsa wood airplane, also time consuming. Or am I missing something?
Yes, for simplicity, a cylinder created on a lathe fits the simplest wooden construction. But what about perhaps a square section of wood, same length as your design, cut into a hexagon with a bandsaw?
Yes, a piece of wood could be cut then planed and/or sanded into shape. And it might take a similar amount of time as lathing a cylinder. On the other hand if you just happen to have some more-or-less appropriately sized cylinders laying around or even pieces of tubing (maybe plastic) that can be cut into the right lengths you might save yourself some time. Sometimes inspiration comes from working with odd parts just laying around.
How about a cylinder that's tapered toward the back, with the dorsal surface along the nacelle kept horizontal so that all the "tapering" is done primarily by the ventral surface upwards, and the sides inwards? Could even have the front half of the nacelle tapered and then the back half straight, causing a kink in the structure which would add to the impression of a (albeit angular) tail...
Small update. Bow section is a bit shorter and more blunt (detail to be added), nacelle is now ovoid, a few added hull details, but certainly more to go. I have no idea what the spars affixed to the sides of the main hull are supposed to be. They could be a weapons array or maybe space warp field stabilizers. Who knows. The Gorn apparently like ovals.
Someone upthread mentioned something about the Gorn design maybe being something blunt. That registered and I actually started out with a simple cylinder then began playing with it. When it came to the nacelle(s) I was looking to attach them to the hull in a novel/unusual way. I initially envisioned a dual nacelle configuration, and the spars coming off the current design are something of a remnant of that idea. It was when I had the notion to rotate one of the nacelles downward ninety degrees and eliminate the other I saw the goose-neck look, or as I alluded earlier upthread, a shape that somewhat evoked a serpent poised to strike. It looked interesting and unusual. It didn’t look like something a human designer would think looked right as a ship propelling itself forward. It looked rather…alien. And then I remembered that Matt Jefferies had actually played around with a goose-neck look when he was working out designs for the Enterprise and later the Klingon battle cruiser. So it’s an idea that had occurred to him and we have seen the actual sketches. So if Jefferies had indeed designed yet another alien ship an odd goose-neck form isn’t out of the question. And so here we are…
Preliminary colour test. Still a lot more work to do. But I'm envisioning how this ship might appear as a soft or pale gold hue onscreen. TOS was known for being colourful and a vessel coloured other than light grey or silver could look more alien. Certaonly the actual miniature would look more vivd than it would appear under studio lights where the colours would look more muted or somewhat desaturated.
I’m slowly adding more detail but, like always, it’s a matter of balance and exercising restraint not to overdo it. These are not hero models and they’re not getting as much screen time as a Romulan BoP or Klingon D7. Some of the physical details I add could probably be painted on to save time and effort, but I can be something of a completionist so I add certain details as physical ones, even if they’re subtle. I’m also working on the colour because I’m aiming for something more yellow gold than green gold.
Maybe a B-17 chin turret for fangs? I like your take. Also nice https://www.pinterest.com/pin/453245149995442190/
Getting there. A few more small bits I'd like to add as well as some windows. Lastly I think I want to make those ovoid blisters on the hull bigger.
Are you going to make the windows traditional shapes (circular, rectangular, rounded end rectangular) or some new shape?
I've been thinking about that. On the Romulan War era Romulan ships I used oval windows. I was thinking of that here as well, but upon further thought I was thinking of a half sphere or half oval window. Or maybe an oval but oriented vertically. At any rate I think the windows are the last detailI I have to add.