...The establishing aerial view makes it look as if one could just drive an Argo into a standard shuttle and hardly scratch the paint. Timo Saloniemi
Okay, I done some back of the napkin math and came up with 2 different lengths for the Cerritos. 1st is using the MSD from the first episode. Taking a 4 meter deck height comes to round about 450 Meters. 280m Saucer Length. 2nd one uses the windows from the exterior. Same 4 meter deck height, comes to 680 Meters in length. 420m Saucer length. 3rd one is the somewhat accepted 3.5 deck height, and that is 575m length Exterior one is well thought out with the windows lining up nicely on the outside. So untill someone "official" comes out as a length, then I'll err on the 575 Meter length for my 3d stuff.
I'd buy your 3rd option (575m) easily enough. Option 1 is way too small (MSD notwithstanding) and option 2 is way too stupid-big. At 680m, that would put it longer than a Galaxy class (641m according to MA). Granted, the warp nacelles are physically longer, but still...no way. Option 3 is a good one, I think.
I think it might be on the rear underside of Deck 7 or 8 saucer- dropping shuttles right outside our character’s hallway window
Given the hull design on the underside of the saucer section, I wonder if it’s designed to have something mounted there? Given the mission requirements that we’ve been told, it would make sense for a reconfigurable mission pod with extra resources should the mission warrant it. Would also explain the large gap between the engineering hull and saucer section.
My preferred interpretation so far is to stick with the MSD until otherwise proven. A smallish, Miranda-category ship fits the plot setting just fine. Portholes never made much sense even on the E-D, and portholes on the rim of the saucer are one of the things Trek got wrong from the very start, Kirk's ship already having the extremely odd placement where four rim decks are suggested, or then windows placed at ankle height or split at chest level or whatnot. But we should keep on waiting for deck references to come in. What to make of that "Deck 4" comment in the first episode, when Tendi arrives? That "We are on Deck 4 now"? Extremely logical in face of that MSD, but why say such a thing? That Tendi will "Work on Deck 4 from now on"? Makes better sense, I guess. That "I'm off to Deck 4 in this turbolift now, outta my way, Lower Decks"? The best fit for the context, but an odd delivery in practice. Timo Saloniemi
I get 390 meters at 3.5 deck height from the Msd. Msd shows 8 in the saucer, with a short upper deck, and a short lower deck, guess for stuff, maybe another Ops. Either way, The Msd and the Exterior doesn't match. I'll put up my math here today to show latter. Edit: Where is the torpedo launchers? Is there any??
The MSD shows shuttles, but from the side it's hard to tell much. In the view of the rear, maybe the shuttlebay doors are the 2 gray areas to the left & right? All those windows on the back would seem to be looking into the shuttle bay(s).
It's almost certain the 2 grey areas are the shuttle bays. We can also see what sort of looks like impulse engines above the Argo bay above the shuttle bay, yet the impulse engines are obviously a couple decks below the shuttle bays. My understanding is the MSD reflects the intended size, something smaller than a Galaxy but still large, and I really like this size comparison. Except it is apparent something got mixed up somewhere in the design process, the hull windows are just too weird. It would be fine if it turns out the saucer is nearly Galaxy saucer size in length, because it would still be half as tall, so substantial smaller by volume.
Some fan art of the ship https://www.deviantart.com/thefirstfleet/art/Cheerios-for-Cerritos-851658217
That was my thought as well. MSD's seem to be quite stylized and don't always appear to show exactly what exists along the center-line of the vessel, but approximates the most important bits that are "near" to the center axis. Case in point, we see a little of the inner workings of the lower sensor pod, but we should see all of them, since it's in the middle. Instead, we see the full internals of the nacelle, which is nowhere near the center-line and, in fact, obscures what we should be seeing of the pod. MSD's have a history of this.