Does Starfleet 'Kitbash'?

[Grand Admiral Thrawn]

We all know there were a few models doing the rounds which the art department had cobbled together, but in-universe, do you think Starfleet effectively did the same with some of these 'hybrid' ships?

For instance the Centaur class was an excelsior saucer with different nascelles and no secondary hull, do you think some starfleet engineer did a tour of the surpluss depot yards at the height of the dominion war and said 'I'll take that saucer and those engines - oh and someone pass me a blowtorch, we're running out of time!'

 

[mvkemp]

Absolutely. It's why ships are decommissioned and mothballed instead of taken apart for scrap. Well, extra parts as well, but it is always helpful to have a large stash of ships on hand. Just take parts that could be easily put together and upgraded with new weapons etc.

 

[Forbin]

God bless modularity.

 

[captcalhoun]

no, because it's fucking stupid. look at all the stuff in the TNGTM about warp field balancing (christ just look at what happened in TMP!) and even connecting bloody power lines and com channel wiring. you can't just jam bits together and make them work!

 

[Linklinker]

With duct tape, everything is possible.

Anyway, all you have to do is reroute plasma thru the manifolds and boost power thru the EPS conduits, while you modulate the resonance frequency of the dilithium crystals.

Every first year cadet knows that.

 

[Trekker4747]

God those kitbashes were awful.

I think it is best to just ignore the whole lot of them. They kitbashed an Intrepid with a Connie and a Maquis raider.

Nevermind the fact you cannot kitbash those ships together in the scales show on screen.

 

[Timo]

Not every ship that is a kitbash in the real world need be a kitbash in the Trek universe. The hybrid betwixt Intrepid and the Maquis raider is a good example of this: the parts cannot come from the respective two ships as such, due to the scale issue, but there is no particular reason to say Starfleet could not build a stern section to an Intrepid bow that looks like the Maquis stern.

Also, there is no particular reason to think that the Centaur or the Curry would be a rearrangement of actual Excelsior and Miranda parts in the Trek universe. Rather, they just have components coming from the same manufacturers that built those other two ship classes, or otherwise reflect the same design philosophies. That happens all the time in the real world, too.

OTOH, Starfleet obviously kitbashes in the sense that it readily installs warp nacelles seen in ship class A onto ship class B. Clearly, it's not all that difficult to do. So there's nothing "untreknological" about, say, that DS9 ship that combines a Constitution saucer, neck and nacelles while omitting the secondary hull.

The Reliant was a kitbash in the latter sense, too. Like the Nebula class. And like the Ticonderoga class of the real world.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Haytil]

Trekker4747 said:
God those kitbashes were awful.

I think it is best to just ignore the whole lot of them. They kitbashed an Intrepid with a Connie and a Maquis raider.

I liked the kitbashes - they were cool, and showed us that Starfleet designs parts that aren't custom-built just for one class of ship. Stuff you learn building one class can be applied to the design and construction of another class.

But I'll give you that one about the Intrepid/Constitution/Maquis raider - that one was just stupid.

 

[Timo]

Oh, I actually found that one the coolest of the lot. Sleek and mean, well balanced...

I don't think there were any Constitution parts there, though. You may be thinking of the other ship that was made of Intrepid hull, Constitution engines, and the aft-facing hull of a F-14 Tomcat. Nowhere as pretty as the Maquis kitbash - and it also mixed components from different eras, which is less logical than using components from different classes of the same era.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The USS Curry was really cool. I liked it. It almost looks like a troop transport, with that front mounted shuttlebay and (possibly) detachable secondary hull.

 

[mvkemp]

captcalhoun said:
no, because it's fucking stupid. look at all the stuff in the TNGTM about warp field balancing (christ just look at what happened in TMP!) and even connecting bloody power lines and com channel wiring. you can't just jam bits together and make them work!

You'd have a point if they weren't already functioning ships. The problem in TMP was an engine problem, not one related to the shape of the ship. If the engines pretty much work, the shape of the saucer or whatever probably wouldn't make much difference.

And no one's saying they ships would snap together like legos, but it would still be quicker slapping something together than building new ships from scratch. Plus, most of these ships aren't made for long term use, they probably get a bit of leeway with safety.

 

[captcalhoun]

yeah, but all the stuff in the TNGTM goes into about warp field balancing suggest you can't just bolt a warp nacelle on any old hunka junk and expect it to work properly.

 

[Bill Morris]

We saw how Data's body snapped together with Lego-like plugs with some kind of advanced USB capability. And detachable starship bridge modules, etc. The Danube-class runabout is is very modular. Not just the pod, but the whole front of a runabout can come off to replace the center section with a mission-specific version.

And the present-day ISS modules get attached temporarily, using standardized pressurized mating adaptors, and switched around as needed.

 

[Vulcanian]

We all know there were a few models doing the rounds which the art department had cobbled together, but in-universe, do you think Starfleet effectively did the same with some of these 'hybrid' ships?

Yes, StarFleet does kitbash especially under threat (see Battle at Wolf 359 and how many kinds of ships)

Personally I think kitbashes are rather uncreative

 

[Forbin]

Vulcanian said:

Personally I think kitbashes are rather uncreative

I'd stay out of the Trek Art forum, then, if I were you.

 

[mvkemp]

captcalhoun said:
yeah, but all the stuff in the TNGTM goes into about warp field balancing suggest you can't just bolt a warp nacelle on any old hunka junk and expect it to work properly.

There probably are limitations on what they can do in terms of size of nacelles and secondary hull with respect to the engines on it, but they are not just using some old hunks of junk. They were previously used Federation starships, which means that they know what the warp field is going to look like and how it would be affected by whatever parts become part of the ship.

 

[Kirby]

Linklinker said:
With duct tape, everything is possible.

Anyway, all you have to do is reroute plasma thru the manifolds and boost power thru the EPS conduits, while you modulate the resonance frequency of the dilithium crystals.

And reverse the polarity. You always have to reverse the polarity.

 

[mvkemp]

And modulate something, preferably frequency.