FCSS Trilobite, a Federation Colonial Service utility ship

[SCE2Aux]

I'm currently in the middle of working on this design for a Discovery era (well, circa 2230s, but in Disco style) utility ship that is designed to be stationed at colonies. We're always seeing in star trek the big ships coming to colony worlds and then warping off again at the end of the episode, but surely a colony would be in need of its own ship? Nothing fancy, just something that can haul a little cargo, ward off small raiders and pirates, and help the colony grow.

The new John Eaves designs from Discovery were the initial jumping off point for me when designing the ship. I've also been inspired by the shapes of various Trilobite species (hence the ship name.)

Firstly, I blocked the basic shape out in a low poly-count model, figuring out the proportions, as well as methods of attaching a train of cargo containers:

And here's the current work-in-progress state the ship is in. There's still some placeholder geometry to work on, such as the bridge, but I think it's generally getting there.

 

[Finn]

Nice

 

[Mage]

That's nice, I love that!

 

[Michael]

I really like this! It's cool how you have been able to capture Discovery's angular design aesthetic. Have you already decided how big she's supposed to be? I ask because the darker area on the top almost looks like a cockpit window, which would scale her down to something like a little patrol ship. Or is there going to be a more obvious bridge module later on? Probably on the underside of the saucer?

However you will go about this, I'm looking forward to your progress.

 

[SCE2Aux]

I really like this! It's cool how you have been able to capture Discovery's angular design aesthetic. Have you already decided how big she's supposed to be? I ask because the darker area on the top almost looks like a cockpit window, which would scale her down to something like a little patrol ship. Or is there going to be a more obvious bridge module later on? Probably on the underside of the saucer?

However you will go about this, I'm looking forward to your progress.

Thanks! You're right about the bridge being more of a cockpit, and mostly window. It's not a big vessel - around 125 meters, crew of maybe 7. I've scaled the shuttlebay to fit in a single shuttle craft, but it's not a ship that will be doing 5 year missions.

 

[valkyrie013]

Oh! I like it!
Only thing I'm on the fence on is the deflector, at the time, even in Disco(inferno) there's a dish. Looks to much like the Sabre class'es.. Otherwise, very nice !

 

[SCE2Aux]

Oh! I like it!
Only thing I'm on the fence on is the deflector, at the time, even in Disco(inferno) there's a dish. Looks to much like the Sabre class'es.. Otherwise, very nice !

Thanks for your feedback, it's made me think a bit more about the deflector area. I think it's worth modifying a bit to look a little more TOS/Disco. I'm going to keep the outer triangle mostly the same, so that the angular silhouette is preserved. However the inner triangle could be made circular, with some transitional shapes blending between the two.

 

[valkyrie013]

doesn't have to be circular dish.. can do a triangle dish

 

[SCE2Aux]

doesn't have to be circular dish.. can do a triangle dish

I'm currently happy with going forward with this circular, Shenzhou style one, which I think better grounds the design in the time period. I've also tweaked the warp nacelle grilles to be more wedge shaped - I wasn't happy with the old square ones, which didn't fit into the triangular motif on the rest of the model.

 

[valkyrie013]

very nice!

 

[SCE2Aux]

I've been focusing on the bridge/cockpit module over the past few days, as well as getting most of the hull paneling finalized. There's a lot of small details left to do, running lights, windows etc, not to mention some interiors to model - the finish line seems perpetually a week away!

On an off-topic note; I'm really glad I decided to start posting here again. The Trek Art forum is full of really creative people and it's always interesting to see what new things everyone's come up with. It has driven me to push my own designs further than I would have otherwise.

 

[Michael]

^ Still an awesome design! The way the nacelles connect to the saucer makes it look very fast. I like the greebling on the underside of the nacelles and I‘m looking forward to how you are going to light the model.

On an off-topic note; I'm really glad I decided to start posting here again. The Trek Art forum is full of really creative people and it's always interesting to see what new things everyone's come up with. It has driven me to push my own designs further than I would have otherwise.

Thank you! And I couldn‘t agree more. I‘m constantly in awe of what people like you are posting here. I have loved Star Trek for most of my life and the way it and the world it offers inspires people to be creative is one of the reasons I love it so much.

 

[Kaiser]

Awesome design

 

[Donny]

I've been focusing on the bridge/cockpit module over the past few days, as well as getting most of the hull paneling finalized. There's a lot of small details left to do, running lights, windows etc, not to mention some interiors to model - the finish line seems perpetually a week away!

On an off-topic note; I'm really glad I decided to start posting here again. The Trek Art forum is full of really creative people and it's always interesting to see what new things everyone's come up with. It has driven me to push my own designs further than I would have otherwise.

That's a good looking ship!

 

[Atolm]

awesome work!

 

[Flowrellik]

now that is an awesome design! This i can really see for the Disco era

 

[SCE2Aux]

I've been doing the shuttle/cargo deck this week. A lot of the inspiration for the look of this area has come from watching videos of cargo planes fly to antarctic stations:

 

[SCE2Aux]

A couple more work in progress images from this weekend's modelling push: I've cut through the model to the bottom of the saucer, so I can now start creating all the parts needed for the offload ramp:

And I've finished putting the finishing touches on the bussard collectors:

 

[Michael]

Awesome detailing, @SCE2Aux! Love the ramp and the cargo area. Very imaginative!

 

[Atolm]

This is a Killer design bro! With that ramp in the front, any reason you didn't opt for a double door like on landing gear? Just curious.
Oh, and on your earliest WiP renders That whole Aft section that was cut down to what we see here, is that going to come back as a type of addition to the vessel, to act as even more hualing space? I ask, as I thought that would be amazing to see as well.