Got an F in starship design...

[sojourner]

I think a good comparison might be the Ford Mustang. 60's musclecar, 70's embarrassment, 80's new muscle, 90's -10's retro. Looking at today's mustang you can definitely see the resemblance to the original but would you ever think it shared design lineage with the 70's and 80's version?

 

[Saquist]

Yeah, I mean, what was the "logical" progression between the Enterprise-A and -B? How about -B and -C? Or -D and -E? They look nothing alike.

That's not true there is a considerable carry over from the A-B. I know what you mean but the similarities that are there specifically identify Excelsior as an advancement on the same era.

 

[LordSarvain]

Taking a break from the corvette, I decided to work on this. I decided to try out a more E like primary hull, this is what happened. I also reworked the pylons, the warp engines, pretty much everything needed adjustment with the new primary hull. Here's pics...

 

[RoJoHen]

You know, I really hate this new trend of cutting that chunk out of the front of the saucer section. It makes ships so much less pretty. It makes this one look kind of like a dust buster.

That said, I love this ship. I want to fill in that missing chunk on the saucer, but otherwise, I love this ship.

 

[sojourner]

Very nice. To be honest, I think the previous version would have looked better with the cutout/upper structure you used on this version of the primary hull.

 

[Venardhi]

A very definite improvement. It all works together much better now.

 

[Kaiser]

Looks nice so far

 

[The Super Brando]

I liked the oval Enterprise D type saucer better. That large oval saucer mixed with the sleek secondary hull design is what gave it it's uniqueness. This way looks fantastic as well, just not as fantastic as the first design.

 

[publiusr]

Looks rahter like a stblemate for Aventine. Really like what you have done with the rear of the nacelles. Aggressive.

 

[Ensign Ro-]

I also saw a bit of the Aventine in this update. However, I commend both your versions. Some very sleek design work going on there. :-)

 

[LordSarvain]

This is related to all of my Trek ships but I decided to throw it into this thread at random lol.

 

[Mage]

Man, you really have some nice skills! I like how your design look fresh and still fit perfectly within the established linage of starships we've seen.

 

[Kaiser]

That comparison chart is wicked awesome

 

[Captain Atkin]

Those ship sillouttes look awesome!

 

[Cary L. Brown]

I must admit, there's SOMETHING about this design that I like, for some reason... anyone wanna guess?

(FYI, I'm not saying anything negative... but would be happy if it turned out that either (a) there was some prior inspiration for certain elements of this, or (b) there was a common thought process that led to that element.)

Satisfy my curiousity?

 

[Titan Designer]

I see what you are liking....LOL

 

[LordSarvain]

If you're talking about the snout, I see where you might, incorrectly, think I was ripping off your design, but that was, I thought, my own idea. Then someone pointed out that it was similar to the Defiant, and the Bonaventure classes.

The true challenge with any trek model is to come up with something that hasn't already been done, or overdone. I tried to come up with an original design for this ship and even in its current form, I think it looks too much like the Sovereign. The idea then as now, was to move the engineering sections out of the secondary hull, and plant it up on the primary. I had wanted to make the snout more integrated into the primary hull, but it wasn't working out. So after much frustration, it now looks the way that it currently does.

And if that was also your thought for having a snout on your ship, well happy coincidence. See, this is the kind of luck I have, which is why I don't waste any money gambling anymore...

 

[JES]

Knowing how the Enterprise-J uses a snout that is along the same lines, that is probably the origin, if I had to guess.

 

[sojourner]

^Pretty sure Cary's design pre-dates the Ent-J showing up on Enterprise. Besides, there have been other designs well before the J that uses a feature like that.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

If you're talking about the snout, I see where you might, incorrectly, think I was ripping off your design, but that was, I thought, my own idea. Then someone pointed out that it was similar to the Defiant, and the Bonaventure classes.

The true challenge with any trek model is to come up with something that hasn't already been done, or overdone. I tried to come up with an original design for this ship and even in its current form, I think it looks too much like the Sovereign. The idea then as now, was to move the engineering sections out of the secondary hull, and plant it up on the primary. I had wanted to make the snout more integrated into the primary hull, but it wasn't working out. So after much frustration, it now looks the way that it currently does.

And if that was also your thought for having a snout on your ship, well happy coincidence. See, this is the kind of luck I have, which is why I don't waste any money gambling anymore...

I never used the term "rip off" here, and was actually pretty cautious about making sure you knew I wasn't being negative anyway.

It's not just the "nose" but the entire central "spine" which runs the length of the primary hull, with semicircular elements on either side, and blending into the secondary hull elements. Yours is VERY similar to mine in that regard.

I'm not 100% sure that the Vega actually predates the "J" but I can certainly say that I hadn't seen the "J" at the time I developed this concept.

That said, there's nothing really new under the sun. It's just remarkable to me just how closely Sarvain's design mirrors many of the elements of my own design. Even the vaguely avian appearance of the "shoulders" element of the secondary hull. This ship just has a far, far more pronounced "breastbone" than the Vega Class ever did.

I do recall you having seen my design, and even commenting on it, so I was just curious if I might have provided a bit of inspiration to you. It's OK... I don't mind if that's the case. Obviously, you've made your ship from scratch, and while it shares many elements with my own design (including that both are rough analogs to the original Constitution-class in terms of size, complement, configuration, and mission) it is still a distinct and unique final configuration.

I almost forgot that some of my own design was unconsciously "lifted" from a prior work, when I was first developing it. Not a TREK ship, mind you, but the "Dreadnought" from the PC game "Independence War."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Independence_War_Deluxe.jpg

http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=14537

So it's not any problem, and if you HAD taken some inspiration from my design, consciously or subconsciously, I wouldn't protest all that much.

For anyone who doesn't remember the Vega class... these are sort of fun illustrations of how it was rigged up inside. And yes, the commonalities extend to the "back hump" containing engineering, etc.

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/1909/animation5ch0.gif

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/833/animation4nu8.gif