Jayru (JSnaith's) 3D Trek
- Thread starter JSnaith
- Start date
This reminds me of Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #23:
“Nothing is more important than your health; except for your money”
“Nothing is more important than your health; except for your money”
Well, I tried - tried hard to put the shirt thing the Ent-B has on the secondary hull. Can't get it to work. That's ok, will still have some nods to that ship when done (but not 4 impulse engines, because why did it need that many?)
Anyways, blocking out is finally complete, I have the basic shape down -
Comments welcome, more soon.
Anyways, blocking out is finally complete, I have the basic shape down -
Comments welcome, more soon.
Re: extra E-B impulse engines: I think there was some confusion about what those extra modules were supposed to be during production of GEN. IIRC, there was a production-used MSD floating around out there calling them out as shuttle bays, and perhaps that how they started off their life conceptually (I do not know this last bit as 100% fact), but when it came time for ILM to upgrade the model, they put lights in there instead and made them impulse engines because it looked "kewler". 
I remember reading the same thing, and the MSD did indeed show them to be shuttle bays. Again, the placement was not needed. I get that Paramount wanted the B to stand out - but it would have been fine with fewer changes. The E had a similar problem, in that the design had the impulse engine at the back of the saucer, and two shuttle bays. This was swapped when the model was made.Re: extra E-B impulse engines: I think there was some confusion about what those extra modules were supposed to be during production of GEN. IIRC, there was a production-used MSD floating around out there calling them out as shuttle bays, and perhaps that how they started off their life conceptually (I do not know this last bit as 100% fact), but when it came time for ILM to upgrade the model, they put lights in there instead and made them impulse engines because it looked "kewler".
That all said, the skirt (not sure why autocorrect changed it to "shirt" in my former post) was something I wanted to add, but an afternoon of trying to add one to this mesh has taught me that I have limitations. Still, I will add a nod to the B somehow. At the moment I have nods to the Ingram and Excelsior proper.
Anyways, enough waffle from me. More soon.
Any additional engines need to be stacked perhaps--have the otherwise rectangular impulse deck flare out as a triangle. Two more widely spaced Excelsior impulse exhausts atop the neck, which would have a smaller impulse deck that stays with the secondary hull after separation.
None of them in front of the nacelles, as Ent-B had.
None of them in front of the nacelles, as Ent-B had.
I actually don't see any logical need to add extra impulse engines. As it is, compared with the Connie and Miranda the ones on the Excelsior and Ingram are oversized. I have some thoughts on this I will eventually share, but RL is keeping me busy at the moment.
More as and when.
That's kind of what they did for the Connie III/Titan-A/Enterprise-G, based on Bill Krausse's original design. That thing's got impulse engines coming out the ass!
Unfortunately in the Picard series we never see any advantage from all those impulse engines. The ship does not appear to be more nimbler or quicker, IMHO. They are basically strap on exhausts to make the ship look fast. 
That emphasises the point I'm trying to make - why so many impulse engines? It's not efficient and it looks untidy design-wise. Yes, I get that some fans need to have big ass engines (and long big thick nacelles), but again, I draw you all to the ship that started it - the Enterprise and the ratio of its impulse engine size to the rest of the ship. At the time of TOS, that ship was considered cutting-edge. As of the first movie, it was the most advanced ship built.
But I think this is the point: the original Enterprise and the refit of her were well thought out and designed. They weren't just thrown together to make a new ship. We see hints of that design ethos carried over to the Miranda and even the Oberth. The Excelsior... That's when things get iffy and we start seeing this shift away from the original design rationale. The Ent-D pushes things back to the original design ethos, but again we see a shift to bigger impulse vents and longer nacelles later on.
If you look at it from an engineering perspective, the evolution doesn't make much sense. Efficiency is making way for "what looks good" (depending on whether you think it looks good). It's where I think some of the later Trek designers lost their way - it's become all about look, not function. Bill Krausse's Shangri-La design is nice - BUT makes little sense from an evolution POV. It's "look" over "function."
All of this (rant?) is just my own opinion, at the end of the day. Given this is all fiction, you can argue any rationale you like as to why things are the way they are. Canon is what we have on screen, so my thinking is... well, not the way things are lol.
But I think this is the point: the original Enterprise and the refit of her were well thought out and designed. They weren't just thrown together to make a new ship. We see hints of that design ethos carried over to the Miranda and even the Oberth. The Excelsior... That's when things get iffy and we start seeing this shift away from the original design rationale. The Ent-D pushes things back to the original design ethos, but again we see a shift to bigger impulse vents and longer nacelles later on.
If you look at it from an engineering perspective, the evolution doesn't make much sense. Efficiency is making way for "what looks good" (depending on whether you think it looks good). It's where I think some of the later Trek designers lost their way - it's become all about look, not function. Bill Krausse's Shangri-La design is nice - BUT makes little sense from an evolution POV. It's "look" over "function."
All of this (rant?) is just my own opinion, at the end of the day. Given this is all fiction, you can argue any rationale you like as to why things are the way they are. Canon is what we have on screen, so my thinking is... well, not the way things are lol.
Updates on the Uber Excelsior: Thined down the neck and hence the impulse engines to give them a smaller footprint -
The study model on this is almost complete.
Also, just for fun, and given it's an era of Trek I haven't touched before...
The beginnings of a TOS Miranda/Avenger Class
Comments as always welcome. More at some point
The study model on this is almost complete.
Also, just for fun, and given it's an era of Trek I haven't touched before...
The beginnings of a TOS Miranda/Avenger Class
Comments as always welcome. More at some point
I would have preferred wider vents up top with the impulse array being more narrow towards the bottom..pointing to aft torps—a docking port, etc.
Love that bow shot of the Ingram/Excelsior. I like the thinner neck.
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I would prefer impulse engines similar to what's on the refit Connie.
The thinner neck - well, it's in keeping with Todd's idea for the Ingram. Not sure what I think of it myself, so I'm letting my mind get used to the idea.
More on the TOS Miranda/Avenger study -
Might break this into two projects and actually create an Avenger Class - the Nacelles on top and the pod below. Hummmm. Something to ponder.
More at some point.
Given this is my first go at a TOS era ship, I'm curious myself as to how it turns out!
