Very well done.
I still go with the idea that an Oberth, should be 395 feet long. And that the model makers screwed up.
Why?
Another screw up entirely.
Even bigger than the model makers.
In concept.
The sensor systems of Even 'conventional' Starships would be very good. Federation based ships in general. Klingon ships not so much - very good at hunting, but that's it .
120meters (395 feet) makes for a small ship, and I have problems with the idea that science ships should be tiny. It makes no sense. You want a platform that can
do the job, not compromise by having a ship that maybe has 1 or 2 science labs and can just scratch the surface. Science ships - especially dedicated science ships - should be larger.
Babylon 5 got this right, an exploration ship almost the same size as the station itself, with military ships being more compact.
Sensor systems on Starfleet ships are very good; they are multipurpose. In a fight, the Klingons have dedicated systems, which is why they are better tactically. I'm going to the extreme with this build of the
Oberth and giving her oodles of sensor systems and arrays. I want the systems to be able to detect fleas from orbit. And be able to tell what gender they are, and what life stage they are at. I want 6 to 8 labs minimum. As this ship goes the distance, I want decent crew facilities - comfortable and not cramped. In concept, I think this ship should be able to operate for several years away from a Starbase. I also think we need to move away from Science Ships being tiny and compromised.
Kind of like that enormous tank of deuterium we see in the Galaxy class engineering hull? I am digging the concept because it makes a ton of sense and fits within canon as we have seen in the Galaxy blueprints done by Serialkilljoi on Deviant Art:
www.deviantart.com
I'm currently making a PDF of that collection.
Using Miranda-style particle emitters also makes sense from a practical real-world analogy of "off the shelf" hardware. Better to source hardware already available and easily replicated than going through the design process to create a deflector dish although there some interpretations of the Oberth with a deflector dish in the bottom forward of the secondary hull.
She's looking fabulous.
My thinking is this is not a fast ship, but she can go the distance - hence a larger fuel tank. She is a movie-era ship, so maybe warp 7 is her top speed. We know the
Enterprise could go faster with her new engines, so it's not unreasonable that this ship could meet the
Enterprise's old cruising speeds.
I actually built a version with a navigational deflector dish - see the beginning of this thread (the
McCaffrey Class). Even has a neck!
There is a small possibility that I may be able to fit a deflector dish on the hull. I want to keep to the basic outline, though, so it's something I shall think about. Also, I think it would spoil the flow of the design. Plenty of other Starfleet ships manage without them and just use particle emitters (
Curry, Shelly, Constellation, Miranda classes, to name a few from the same era).
More soon.
