22nd century star clipper...

[Irishman]

Making some decent progress here. I'm not going to slavishly follow my original drawings except for the overall major components in terms of general shape and proportions. I'm going to depart mostly in terms of detailing.

I am so pleased to see you fleshing this out in 3D. This, to me, is one of your best designs for a space vessel EVER.

How long would you say you've had to devote to getting it to this point in 3D?

 

[Warped9]

As I get evermore proficient with SketchUp I find it really doesn't take me long to build something up in general terms. The detailing takes longer simply because it gets a bit more complex and there's more of it than the general overall shape. I've gotten to the point where it really doesn't take me too long to figure out how to build something even as I get into more complex shapes.

If you're unfamiliar with 3D modelling I can tell you it shares one thing very much like building a physical model from scratch (as opposed to a plastic model kit with prefabricated parts). In 3D, just like with a physical scratch build, you have to build every single part or element from scratch and then put them all together. If you have identical or mirror elements then you need build it only once and make identical copies of it which does save you some time.

More on point, though, with my current project I built up the major components within the framework of a few hours. Like any hobby I work on it a bit at a time then take a break to come back later and pickup where I left off.

This is how the model presently stands. I'm trying for a mix of symmetrical and asymmetrical detailing to make it more visually interesting.

 

[HoserTrek37]

I couldn't see an NX-Era starclipper with a saucer section, but closer to the blockier utilitarian John Eaves' Connestoga-type courier/transport.

 

[Warped9]

I couldn't see an NX-Era starclipper with a saucer section, but closer to the blockier utilitarian John Eaves' Connestoga-type courier/transport.

Well as far as I'm concerned ENT never happened in TOS' continuity anyway so it don't matter. Besides I've never cared for the NX-01 design either.

 

[JES]

I couldn't see an NX-Era starclipper with a saucer section, but closer to the blockier utilitarian John Eaves' Connestoga-type courier/transport.

Well as far as I'm concerned ENT never happened in TOS' continuity anyway so it don't matter. Besides I've never cared for the NX-01 design either.

Since I happen to be what you might call a "glass half full" kind of guy, I generally see three general possibilities for the timeline, one in which the ST Universe happens pretty much as described in the Spaceflight Chronology, one more or less depicted in ST Enterprise, and finally, my personal favorite, a timeline in which all of the events and vessels depicted in Enterprise exist, but so do most, if not all of the vessels from Masao's Starfleet Museum. Any events that happened in the Spaceflight Chronology that do not contradict events in Enterprise also presumably happened, more or less.

That also brings me to another timeline I have brainstormed on many occasions, in which the events and ships described in Spaceflight Chronology exist, and how the events in ST: First Contact would have gone differently (such as the Earth Solar Fleet engaging the Borg Sphere as it arrives from the future, with the Enterprise-E coming out of the temporal vortex to help the Earth fleet to finish off the Sphere before any more damage can be done), but that is perhaps a discussion for another time and place.

I see Starfleet at this point as having the most advanced ships and technology, like our military today has the fastest and most advanced aircraft, spacecraft, weapons, and most of all, technology available today, which some say is lightyears ahead of the technology available to us average citizens. And for the most part, the NX Project is an exception to Starfleet's usual activities, which is more often defense and war on behalf of United Earth, as opposed to exploration, which they usually reserve to UESPA, whose ships might even not have begun to have been really well armed until first contact with the Klingons. Incidents with the Suliban, the Tholians, the Klingons, the Xindi, and finally the Romulans would see UESPA be given the task of taking on a more defensive role, and eventually working with Starfleet to take the fight to the Romulans during the War.

And I find it ironic that you never really liked the NX design, but you are still using a saucer for the primary hull, just like the NX class. No matters, I could probably still find a role for it in my own little vision of the timeline. Whether or not it is a Starfleet or UESPA vessel, seeing as how I find nothing wrong with the notion that different manufacturers were experimenting with the same hull shapes.

I find the shape of the saucer section to be quite appealing.

 

[Warped9]

My reasoning for the saucer is thinking that the 22nd century could have been time of experimentation when all kinds of technologies and configurations were being tried to find an optimal design. And so it's not farfetched that a saucer design could be among that diversity of concepts being explored and tested.

 

[publiusr]

Clipper is a good name for it. A very large impulse section. That doesn't have to mean primitive though.

A ship with a rudimentary warp drive--maybe a slower nacelle with really great long life--is good for moving a ship to a system---where it spends most of its useful life. There---a big impulse drive and lots of fuel allows a ship to remain in-system, perhaps on a semi-permanent basis.

 

[Warped9]

Detail work is progressing slowly but steadily.





I particularly like the side and bow elevations.

 

[Colonel Midnight]

^ Definitely!

The reason why I asked earlier about the "raised" part on the secondary hull was that, if it's a "star clipper"... You could possibly make it something of a mast-type structure, as a homage to the China Clippers of old (known for their beautiful lines and lots of sail area).

Obviously, solar sails or something similar would be silly/superfluous, but make it a scanner/transmission mast, etc. You could still incorporate the landing craft area idea mentioned above at the base of the structure, just have side beams/struts come up and meet above that area. Hard to explain, but hopefully you can see what I had in mind.

Cheers
-CM-

 

[Warped9]

The raised aft end (behind the triangular projection) is actually the auxiliary craft landing bay. On the top view you can see the faint outline of the three-panel bay doors.

Something else I think I've managed is a design more rudimentary looking without being overly clunky and awkward. I'm not going to define every single element within the design, but I am trying for a concept where some machinery looks exposed (without having to actually name what you're seeing). This will be particularly true on the underside (above the nacelle) which I haven't tackled yet.

I might do a rudimentary cutaway/deck layout to get a better sense of scale for the purpose of getting hard dimensions. Eventually I'd like to work out a loose backstory. ship capabilities and perhaps even a list of names.

 

[Warped9]

More incremental progress. One thing I’ve learned with 3D modeling: building up the major components to construct the basic overall shape isn’t that time consuming, but building up all the detail---now that’s very time consuming.

Would you believe the little component sitting atop the aft section (above the impulse engines) took me the framework of a day to put together? I started out with a different idea that didn’t work to my satisfaction so I fiddled until I came up with something more to my liking that seems to integrate better with the rest of the design. And that is inherent with a lot of the detailing---making the right bits integrate well with what you’ve done before.

Detailing is one of those things that can make or break a design even as a lot of it might be overlooked by casual observation. Often detail can be subtle and not really obvious. It’s certainly worth and necessary doing, but man, can it eat up your time.

I’m not really showing any images of the underside yet because I haven’t begun to add any significant detail there. But I’m not too far from completing the topside detail and then I’ll move on to the underside.

One thing I can say is that this design will not be sporting a lot of windows unlike later designs we saw in contemporary Trek, which could often seem like we were seeing cruise ships in space. This is meant to look like a piece of machinery (with some of it showing through the skin) and suggesting few amenities.

 

[yenny]

I think your tread title is wrong. By the looks of your model, which looks more like a pre-warp spaceship of the 21 century that had be refited into warp power starship.

 

[Warped9]

I think your tread title is wrong. By the looks of your model, which looks more like a pre-warp spaceship of the 21 century that had be refited into warp power starship.

Based on what? No matter your opinion I'm designing something that is actually rather complex in form and function and distinctly more complicated than what a rudimentary starcraft would have been like in the 21st century.

 

[Kemaiku]

Before Enterprise aired, I would have assumed this was the type of starship from about the Romulan War era.

The aft drive section does fit more with the "impulse rockets" implied before the full drive engines.

Any plans to design a rudimentary shuttle craft to go along with it?

 

[Warped9]

Before Enterprise aired, I would have assumed this was the type of starship from about the Romulan War era.

The aft drive section does fit more with the "impulse rockets" implied before the full drive engines.

Any plans to design a rudimentary shuttle craft to go along with it?

I hadn't planned on doing a shuttle. And I'm not interested in what ENT did since I think they screwed the pooch in so many ways.

 

[Kemaiku]

Well that's sort of what I meant, this fits more with the design lineage implied before it and more along the lines of what I imagined Spock to have meant by the ships operating in that era.

This one I could at least see having the atomic warheads as a principle weapon.

 

[Warped9]

Sorry, Didn't mean to sound snippy. I can be a bit touchy when I hear or wonder if I'm getting another variation of, "well, that's not what we saw in ENT..."

Yeah, my basic idea is that this design is about mid to latter 22nd century. Then again I'm also quite taken with some of Masao's designs for mid 22nd ships. They're definitely more primitive than TOS and they have their own logic in that you would need something relatively uncomplicated to construct in large numbers if you're trying to build up a battle force quickly for a large scale armed conflict.

Of course, no reason why both concepts can't co-exist.

 

[Kemaiku]

It's alright, this happens every time a 22nd century design is brought up.

It fits neatly between the Daedalus and Constitution designs, the single nacelle gives it a look of the Saladin, I could see it being the basis for later designs like it.

I'm not sure I'm familiar with Masao's work but I'll check it out.

 

[Warped9]

I'm not sure I'm familiar with Masao's work but I'll check it out.

This is Masao's Starfleet Museum website. I particularly like his 22nd century ships (on both sides) set during the Earth/Romulan war. I think his Earth Powhowtan-class ships are particularly cool as well as his later Starfleet Predator-class destroyers.

 

[Warped9]

You know, even if you're aiming for a basically clean design (which TOS ships are) you find you still have to contend with a helluva lot of detail to make it look fleshed out. Every time you think you're nearing the end of something you inevitably notice something else that needs to be added.