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Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador kit!

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Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

Interesting but personally I´d rather see him include his idea of what the bridge should have looked like rather than the redress of the "bridge of the week" set they had to use due to time & budget limitations.
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

It's looking better all the time.
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

FalTorPan said:
Zero Hour said:
The Ambassador class that was shown on screen has, imho, very little to apologise for.
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Although I prefer Probert's take on the design, I like Sternbach's version a great deal, too. As I said in one of my earliest posts in this thread, comparing the two designs is somewhat unfair, because Rick's design was very much constrained by the practicalities of constructing a ship of the week. Andy's design was/is not.
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Amen on both counts! I like both Mr.'s Probert and Sternbach's designs. If you want to get all can-anal about the two designs being somewhat disparate, perhaps Mr. Probert's is the original prototype as-built and the E-C - and others - are the refined design after a decade or two.

*shrug* YMMV, as always. I just wish I could get an exact version of Mr. Proberts redisgn in 1/2500 scale once he's fully fleshed it out.
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

lennier1 said:
Interesting but personally I´d rather see him include his idea of what the bridge should have looked like rather than the redress of the "bridge of the week" set they had to use due to time & budget limitations.
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Agreed -- but it seems likely that the "bridge module" might be swappable for a non-ship-of-the-week variant. And at the proposed 1/1400 scale of the model, the placement of a few bumps and lumps on the tiny bridge module isn't going to look much different from design to design anyway. ;)
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

The bigger ships do have kind of indistinct bridge features thanks to their huge size.
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

FalTorPan said:
Agreed -- but it seems likely that the "bridge module" might be swappable for a non-ship-of-the-week variant. And at the proposed 1/1400 scale of the model, the placement of a few bumps and lumps on the tiny bridge module isn't going to look much different from design to design anyway. ;)
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The "swappable bridge module" idea has always made a lot of sense to me. It goes a long way to explain the difference for Reliant in ST:TWoK, if nothing else. I forget for sure where I first heard it, but want to say it was in Shane Johnson's "Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise". I'm sure he got that idea from Mr. Probert, but don't recall any of the details.
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

Griffworks said:
FalTorPan said:
Agreed -- but it seems likely that the "bridge module" might be swappable for a non-ship-of-the-week variant. And at the proposed 1/1400 scale of the model, the placement of a few bumps and lumps on the tiny bridge module isn't going to look much different from design to design anyway. ;)
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The "swappable bridge module" idea has always made a lot of sense to me. It goes a long way to explain the difference for Reliant in ST:TWoK, if nothing else. I forget for sure where I first heard it, but want to say it was in Shane Johnson's "Mr. Scott's Guide to the Enterprise". I'm sure he got that idea from Mr. Probert, but don't recall any of the details.
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Well, the detachable bridge idea is in the ships of the fleet books. the bridges could act as a life boat in an emergence.
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

I didn't know this until interviewing Andrew Probert in 2005, but Probert designed the Enterprise-D's battle bridge to be a separable lifeboat with its own propulsion system. I don't know if he had intended for the main bridge structure to have this capability.

A footnote on page 32 of the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual has more info about the idea of a bridge module being "swappable." Here's an excerpt:

The concept of the replaceable bridge module originate during Star Trek V, when we were working with Herman Zimmerman on a new Enterprise bridge that was quite a bit different from the one seen in Star Trek IV. We rationalized that this was because the bridge... was a plug-in module designed for easy replacement. This would permit the ship's control systems to be upgraded, thereby extending the useful lifetime of a starship, and would make it easier to customize a particular ship for a specific type of mission.
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This idea sounds good on first glance, and might actually be a good idea in theory. Of course, the turbolift passthrough points on the Trek IV and Trek V (and Trek VI!) bridges all had different locations, so it doesn't seem likely that the Enterprise-A's bridge could simply be swapped out. ;)

I've been told that the bridge module of Probert's Enterprise-C is ejectable -- and that the ship can separate, with each module having its own impulse propulsion system.
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

The work-in-progress image has been updated:

* The primary hull's impulse engine structure has been defined

* The primary hull's shuttlebay has been defined

* The basic shape of the secondary hull's "clam shell" shuttlebay doors has been defined

* A "separator surface" has been defined for the secondary hull -- presumably showing the interface "seam" between the secondary hull's upper and lower surfaces
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

FalTorPan said:
The work-in-progress image has been updated:

* The primary hull's impulse engine structure has been defined

* The primary hull's shuttlebay has been defined

* The basic shape of the secondary hull's "clam shell" shuttlebay doors has been defined

* A "separator surface" has been defined for the secondary hull -- presumably showing the interface "seam" between the secondary hull's upper and lower surfaces
Click to expand...


Very cool!!!:drool:


By the way, long time no talk FTP...
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

Not sure what the drool is about -- hopefully it's for the developing Enterprise-C design -- but yeah, it's been a long while since we last chatted, hutt359. :)
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

FalTorPan said:
Not sure what the drool is about -- hopefully it's for the developing Enterprise-C design -- but yeah, it's been a long while since we last chatted, hutt359. :)
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It was, I hate this board and it's quarks with he smilies.
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

FalTorPan said:
The work-in-progress image has been updated:

* The primary hull's impulse engine structure has been defined

* The primary hull's shuttlebay has been defined

* The basic shape of the secondary hull's "clam shell" shuttlebay doors has been defined

* A "separator surface" has been defined for the secondary hull -- presumably showing the interface "seam" between the secondary hull's upper and lower surfaces
Click to expand...

It seems that Andy and I had similar ideas for the impulse deck.



This was my own "revision" of the Ambassador, during March of this year. I was working with Rick's model, but it's interesting to see we both had the same ideas for the impulse engine.

Then again, it's really not that surprising when you try to bridge the NX-2000 and 1701-D aesthetics without creating a design that deserves the name Elephantiasis-class. That's really easy to do. ;)
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

I like both the new impulse deck and the upswept angle of the pylons. The impulse deck looks to be a sort of "throwback" to the Refit than the Excelsior, tho. I like it, regardless it's lineage.
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

wow. I like the direction he's taking! Looks like the stubby looking pylon problem is on it's way to being fixed!
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

Mariner Class said:
It seems that Andy and I had similar ideas for the impulse deck.

>SNIPPAGE OF IMAGE<

This was my own "revision" of the Ambassador, during March of this year. I was working with Rick's model, but it's interesting to see we both had the same ideas for the impulse engine.

Then again, it's really not that surprising when you try to bridge the NX-2000 and 1701-D aesthetics without creating a design that deserves the name Elephantiasis-class. That's really easy to do. ;)
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Beautiful work there, Mariner! Definitely a nice parallel to what Mr. Probert is working on. I like your take on the nacelles, as well.
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

I really like the impulse deck on this Ambassador Class Starship. ;) Does anyone have a pic of the Bridge and the lower sensor dome of this fantastic ship?
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

Cary L. Brown said: On the other hand, I recall Rick mentioning at some point (correct me if I'm mistaken, Rick!) that he was approached and... um... was underwhelmed by the professionalism of the ST-OL team?
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If by team you mean the head folks at Perpetual who contacted me, yeah. I know you don't mean everyone attached to the project.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com
 
Re: Andy Probert releases prelim plans for USS Ambassador ki

Another update!

The bridge has a TNG-style ceiling window. The room behind the bridge has windows, and the lounge beneath it has windows as well. An aft-firing photon torpedo tube is now beneath the saucer's impulse engines.

I really look forward to seeing the engineering hull and nacelle pylons take shape.
 
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