Ambassador class schematic

[Bill Morris]

Here's my take on the regular Ambassador class for the LCARS 24 library, not quite done but ready for error corrections and additions:

 

[FalTorPan]

First of all, it looks cool.

Is there a reason why the engineering hull's deflector machinery is so far aft? I would expect it to push practically right up behind the forward hull -- at least based on the Enterprise-C configuration.

 

[Bill Morris]

Okay, thanks. It's a good thing I didn't lock it down with self-sealing stembolts. I'll turn down the artificial gravity and slide the whole thing forward.

 

[Bernard Guignard]

Very nice work there

 

[Bill Morris]

Thanks.

I guess that smaller deflector in front should be sent back to the warehouse. I don't think this ship is supposed to have that.

 

[sunnyside]

Doesn't the class also have a rearward facing launcher (similar to galaxy)

 

[Bill Morris]

It must. I'd like to know where it goes. Otherwise, I'll have the shipyard deliver one, and I'll find a place for it. The canon MSD for the Nova class doesn't show a rear torp launcher, even though there must be one.

There are some beautiful shots of the model here:

http://employees.csbsju.edu/rsorensen/modelcitizen/trekships/ambassador/index.html

 

[Timo]

There is a round feature between the impulse engines that could be the aft launcher if we want it to be. This ship could have gone for "gunport aesthetics", taking pains to conceal its weapons or at least make them look pretty. The forward tube(s) could well be similarly hidden at the base of the neck...

I say keep the secondary deflector - big ships like this would probably have one or two backups like that. Not sure if that is a practical location for it, tho. I always liked to think that the rectangles around the lower sensor domes were aux-deflectors of some sort, in Ambassador, Excelsior, Miranda and Constitution alike. I mean, it would be pretty silly to have them as mere floodlight cowlings...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Bill Morris]

Timo said:
This ship could have gone for "gunport aesthetics", taking pains to conceal its weapons or at least make them look pretty.

Timo Saloniemi

That's the key, Timo. That and those pictures tell me what to do about the rear torpedo launcher. I have to fix the outline in that rear part of the saucer section, keeping in mind the symmetry of the saucer section, then put the aft launcher on the next deck above the impulse engine, where it would be hidden from view of another ships by the lip of the saucer, and one would have to be pretty much directly behind the ship to even see it. Even then, the bright light of the impulse engine would make it hard for someone on another ship to see visually unless it were firing a torpedo.

You can visualize that from the aft-view photo focused on the impulse engine, with the torp launcher in the shadow above the impulse engine, hidden from view from almost every angle.

Those photos also prompted me to measure the window locatiions on both the C and the D in the Star Trek Encyclopedia and do new calculations that confirm my original calcuations about deck pitch. Some decks have one row of windows, some two, and some none, and the number of decks on the D is well established. So I'm okay on deck pitch and placement within the outline.

 

[Bill Morris]

So here's an update, based on all that (still not done, though):

 

[sunnyside]

First off nice.

Second off you know about
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/ambassador.htm

Right? I assume you're just making an "origional" Ambassador as opposed to the later one with the third shuttle bay slapped on.

 

[Bill Morris]

Thanks for that link, sunnyside. Regardless, I think the rear torp launcher is good where I've put it. And I'm only covering the Ent-C version of the Ambassador class.

Anything else to fix?

 

[David Schmidt]

Very nice. Where's the duck?

 

[Bill Morris]

A user running the program can easily change any of the labels by modifying the script file, even to label something as a duck or a sports car, not to mention changing colors.

Here's a final screenshot from a 10-year-old LCARS-dedicated laptop:

 

[jolau]

Hate to be a critic but, I could never see aft photon torpedoes firing out of the Ambassador's connecting dorsal any more than I could see the TOS Constitutions having torpedo launchers on deck 2 under the Bridge dome, or the Enterprise-E having all of those torpedo launchers from Nemesis. (Defiant-style pulse phasers, sure, but not torpedoes)

 

[Bill Morris]

It's hard to find another place for that rear torp launcher that wouldn't put it dangerously close to the warp core, where enenmy fire intended to only take out weapons might easily result in destroying the ship. Also, there are plenty of links above to photos of the filming model, which don't seem to help with that problem, except for one aft view that hints that it goes exactly where I show it.

But your comment got me studying the diagram again and thinking that I should move the deck I show for the stern shuttlebay up one level, along with the turboshaft leading to it. On the Ent-D, that's where the rear torp launcher is, but not so on the C. But doing that does make room for the aft torp launcher below, in that space you see below the aftmost shuttle shown in my schematic. I might as well put it there. And the filming model seems to support that.

 

[Bill Morris]

Okay, so here it is with the aft shuttlebay shifted upward, with the aft torp launcher below, leading to a bunch of small changes:

 

[FalTorPan]

Looking good!

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

It looks great overall! However, most MSDs omit the nacelle and pylon for clarity (cf. Voyager). In this case, it looks like people can access the warp coils from inside the main shuttlebay. :P

Mark

 

[Bill Morris]

Okay, so like this maybe: