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The Apex Class [UNDER CONSTRUCTION]

Michael

A good bad influence
Moderator
Okay, I thought about designing an own ship class for some time now. And tonight I decided to finally give it a shot. So please be kind to me — this is my first such endeavour. :) Anyway, here it is: The Apex class. (And yeah, before someone asks, I named it in honor of electronic music artist Aphex Twin who I just love.)

Basically the idea is to play with the Daedalus design and create something new out of it. I love the spherical design of that ship and always wished they'd have done something more with it. I imagine the Apex as a relatively small ship — maybe a crew of circa 150 or something like that. Maybe it's the 23rd century version of a scout ship (so the dimensions are much smaller than those of a Constitution class ship). I also want it to look sleek, elegant and fast. Here are some of my first sketches:

25apum9.jpg


Relatively fast I decided to go for a wide configuration (for lack of a better word) of the nacelles. It reminded me of a plane or something like that. I also tried to melt the sphere with the secondary hull in a new fashion.

27xgn80.jpg


And here is what I finally settled on. I think I go with a rather unusual nacelle design. I'm not really sure though about the joint of spehre and secondary hull.

357hs1x.jpg


Maybe I'll realize some more elaborate pictures in Flash. We'll see. Anyway, I'm looking forward to your thoughts and suggestions. :)
 
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Thanks for the kind words guys. :)

I'm still thinking about how I should go on with it. Maybe I'll do a cutaway drawing. But I'm not sure if I have the artistic ability to do that.
 
^ Yeah, you're right. There are similarities. I didn't like the small nacelles on this one though.
 
Thats really good...it looks simlar to a peice of fanart that was posted years ago on one of these sites of what someone thought NX-1 should of looked like ill go try and fine the picture bear with me:bolian:
 
As you develop the Apex further, I have an idea:

I notice the nacelles extend outward from the aft-hull on opposite sides. This reminds me of the Phoenix from "First Contact". Maybe you could rotate the nacelles so the aft caps oppose each other, just like the Phoenix.
 
Wow. Love the sketching, reminds me of those M.J. development drawings. The 3D view is really nice. I like that "shelf" that circles the dome and projects into the Eng.hull.
 
Thats really good...it looks simlar to a peice of fanart that was posted years ago on one of these sites of what someone thought NX-1 should of looked like ill go try and fine the picture bear with me:bolian:
Yeah, I also belonged to those who wished for the NX-01 to be some kind of Daedalus class derivative. ;)

Maybe you could rotate the nacelles so the aft caps oppose each other, just like the Phoenix.
Very good idea. First, that will integrate the Apex more into the Trek continuity and second, it will look really cool! The next sketches will included this notion. ;)

Wow. Love the sketching, reminds me of those M.J. development drawings. The 3D view is really nice. I like that "shelf" that circles the dome and projects into the Eng.hull.
Yeah, I like that, too. Thanks for you appreciation. :)
 
Give your next Apex sketches a "Cage" bridge. That would be a neat touch.
It's already in the planning stage. ;)

I'm really, REALLY starting to like these Daedalus inspired designs.

Very good work!
Thank you! I love, LOVE the Daedalus design! I think it has something to do with the heaviness conveyed by the big and bulky sphere. I somehow find it very cinvincing as a space ship design.
 
Okay, finally I found time to continue on my little ship design project. I've done some more design changes and created the usual top and side view in Flash. Furthermore I designed a mission's patch. Nothing extraordinary – just something that could be from the time (the 60s version of the 23rd century that is). Hope I don't bore anyone. :)

286qo39.jpg


Thoughts? Suggestions? Rants? :)
 
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