Pre TOS star cruiser....

[Warped9]

So I'm thinking this could be my next 3D project: my pre TOS cruiser concept based on one of Matt Jefferies sketches.



I'm envisioning this as the previous major design before the Constitution-class Heavy Cruiser. I'm also imaging the Valiant (re: "A Taste Of Armageddon") and possibly the Republic (re: "Court Martial") being of this vintage.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

It's the basically the cadet cruiser from the proposed animated series that didn't get made, isn't it? That would make it the Republic, yes?

 

[Warped9]

It's the basically the cadet cruiser from the proposed animated series that didn't get made, isn't it? That would make it the Republic, yes?

I have no idea what you're referring to. I based this off one of MJ's concept sketches from when he was working out the design for the TOS Enterprise. I drew one up near twenty years ago, but now I'm updating it for 3D.

Presently I'm working on more precise linework in shapes and proportions in Illustrator. I'll probably call it the Valiant if I don't think of another name.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

From Wikipedia: An early Filmation proposal for [the animated Star Trek] series had children assigned to each of the senior officers as cadets, including a young Vulcan for Mr. Spock. According to interviews with Norm Prescott, Paramount offered Roddenberry a substantial sum of money to abandon creative control of the project and let Filmation proceed with their "kiddy space cadet" idea. Roddenberry refused. Filmation would later develop the idea into its own original live action program, Space Academy, in 1977.

There's been some of the production art floating around with that particular ship design along with the original crew and their younger counterparts for some time now.

Here's the one with the kiddies: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5161/5302476241_e391d5fb13.jpg

 

[Warped9]

From Wikipedia: An early Filmation proposal for [the animated Star Trek] series had children assigned to each of the senior officers as cadets, including a young Vulcan for Mr. Spock. According to interviews with Norm Prescott, Paramount offered Roddenberry a substantial sum of money to abandon creative control of the project and let Filmation proceed with their "kiddy space cadet" idea. Roddenberry refused. Filmation would later develop the idea into its own original live action program, Space Academy, in 1977.

There's been some of the production art floating around with that particular ship design along with the original crew and their younger counterparts for some time now.

Here's the one with the kiddies: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5161/5302476241_e391d5fb13.jpg

Oh, I remember that now. I also remember being deathly afraid they would actually make it. Thank God it never came to pass. I don't ever recall seeing any ship ideas, though.


Here's a better idea of developing shapes and proportions.

 

[danellis]

Is that the side and front elevations in one view?

dJE

 

[Warped9]

Is that the side and front elevations in one view?

dJE

Yes. I did it for simplicity's sake to get shapes right and lined up correctly. This is just a quick layout drawing.

Here is a little more.



Although it's more rudimentary and in a sense devolved from the design MJ finally arrived at you can see the familiar elements. And in roughly similar fashion as MJ worked through this to his final concept. The main difference is this idea was just a stepping stone to what MJ decided on while I'm working it as if this was the final concept to be fleshed out.

Some of these ships could still be in operation in Kirk's era. Perhaps the ship Pike was injured aboard was one of these.

 

[Nightowl1701]

This looks a LOT like your USS Farragut image from a few years ago.

You described that ship as being roughly between the Valiant/Republic and the Enterprise evolution-wise, circa 2225 or so. So is this that vessel, or are you fleshing out the earlier vessel design?

 

[Warped9]

This design's evolution:

About twenty years ago I adapted one of MJ's sketches to design this.



Then some years ago (about five or so) I used Photoshop to fashion this, a slicker version of the previous design.

And now we are at my present stage which I will model in 3D. It's essentially the same thing, but at each stage I simply tried to improve on what I did before. The Photoshop version was a try at fixing things I felt I could do better than before and the 3D model will be a further refinement. One could make a case for it being the same class ship showing evolution in design over time. The Photoshop version is obviously closer to the final form although there obviously will be differences. And having a 3D model will make it much easier to view the ship from any angle.

 

[Albertese]

Nice! This is one of my favorites of your work. I'll follow this one closely!

--Alex

 

[Praetor]

Ditto, looking very much forward to this.

 

[publiusr]

I love it so far!

 

[Warped9]

It starts with a saucer. Needless to say that I'm making running changes as I go forward. Depending on final scale the saucer will be 7-9 decks thick.

 

[Praetor]

I like that your concept for this saucer appears to essentially be a series of nested, flattened hemispheres. Makes very much sense as an early vessel. Theoretically, it should be very structurally sound.

 

[beamMe]

Very nice work.
I always liked the design of that NCC-809. This should look very good in 3D.

 

[Warped9]

There's been some delay in posting updates. Basically my progress hasn't been all smooth. SOmetimes rendering something in 3D doesn't quite translate from how I initially envisioned it. My first saucer attempt wasn't wholly to my liking so I redid it. The engineering section (connecting the saucer to the warp nacelle syppport pylons was next on not being satisfactory until three tries later. Then the dorsal to the support hull wasn't right until the third try.

The support hull has given me the most trouble. I just couldn't get the shape just right. I obviously didn't want to just do a version of the familiar Connie support hull. A large part of this design exercise is to fashion something that suggests what comes later. I want the Constitution-class to look both evolutionary and revolutionary to reflect something of where design has evolved from as well as reflect the obvious influence of significant technological advancement---essentially the influence of Daystrom's duotronic computer advancement that revolutionizes so much of starship design. For example I would also posit that the transporter (teleportation) just isn't feasible for human transport until the advent of Daystrom's much faster systems.

Another challenge has been the forward part of the suport hull where the navigational deflector is located. On the Enterprise we have a huge parabolic antenna design, but this isn't what MJ initially envisioned. His original idea was apparently a dome like affair on the front of the support hull, but somewhere along the way someone had other ideas. So picking up on what I did on my star clipper design I'm trying to revisit MJ's original idea. The problem is in making it look aestheicaly pleasing. An actual half shpere is not the way to go as it looks like the overlarge mass just hanging on the front end of the support hull. My solution has been to make the nav-dome more shallow and a bit smaller in diameter. The shape of the support hull itself is also something I've wrestled with and I've come to realize that it needs more visual texture, more detail to overcome its basically simple shape.

 

[Warped9]

Finally some decent progress.

 

[Praetor]

Nice! I notice the neck appears a bit longer than in your original concepts... any particular reason beyond aesthetics? Personally, I kind of dig the shorter one.

 

[Kemaiku]

Looking good so far, I like the added detail to the neck spine.

 

[Warped9]

Nice! I notice the neck appears a bit longer than in your original concepts... any particular reason beyond aesthetics? Personally, I kind of dig the shorter one.

Yes, it is a touch longer. I just felt it better balanced visually when you factor in the addition of the nacelles when in place. And I should get something posted with the nacelles in place soon. Then all the major components will be done and it will be a matter of detailing.

Note, though, that this remains stubbier looking in general than the Pike and Kirk era ships that will follow while still retaining some element of grace and subtle curving. I tried to resist getting too blocky and chunky looking. I also feel I've established something of a lineage from the star clipper to this and then to the Pike/Kirk era designs.