Klingon Battle Cruiser

[T'Girl]

On the other, that long skinny neck bothers me for some reason.

Something freudian perhaps? Long shaft, bulbous head, little hole at the very end.

I believe I read somewhere, that the design of the long neck along with the bulbous bridge module was based on the sitar, a musical instrument from india.

In the novel Final Reflection, the Klingon's earlier designs had that feature to separate the command personnel from the main engineering section with it's inevitable radiation. Later after the radiation was no longer a problem they keep the design. One (later) Klingon junior officers like the design because it kept him away from the Klingon Marines barracked in the main section..

The Klingon Bird of Prey that first appeared in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was originally supposed to be a Romulan vessel ...

The villains of TSFS were once considered to be Romulans, but the ship was design as "the enemy ship," not strictly speaking a Romulan ship.

The neck is shorter, but there is a neck. The bulbous head is a different shape, but there is a bulbous head. The torpedo launcher port is in the same place as the TMP K'Tinga cruiser, not just generally on the bow. Regardless of who was originally considered to be the TSFS villain, the ship ultimately produced was entirely Klingon.

and its Romulan origin shows in the overall birdlike appearance and feather-like patterns on the wings.

The "patterns on the wings" are more reminiscent of the similar external panels on the TMP K'Tingas. The BOP's radiate outward from the forward wing root, the K'Tinga's oriented fore and aft.

Both the BOP and the K'Tinga have external panels on their heads as well.

 

[scotpens]

^^ Regardless of the intent behind the design, I never really warmed to the Klingon BOP. Spaceships in the Trekverse have nacelles, dammit!

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I remember when I first put a D7 model together (probably AMT), I wasn't satisfied with the color. So I painted it glossy black. It looks downright scary that way.

Back in the 1970s I built two AMT Klingon kits. The first one came molded in light gray plastic and looked very similar to the TV version. The second one, from much later in the decade, came molded in black. I was stunned; I don't recall the package announcing it. They just switched to black plastic.

 

[scotpens]

^^ Kit manufacturers will often load their injection molding machines with whatever color plastic they have enough of at the time. I've seen different runs of the same car kit in white, gray, red, blue, and yellow plastic.

Never seen an AMT Klingon ship molded in black, though. Every copy I've had is a pale blue-gray.

 

[Maurice]

My first Klingon battlecruiser kit was black, too.

 

[Sir Rhosis]

Mine was a shade of brown.

Sir Rhosis

 

[The Old Mixer]

For me, the weak spot is that grain silo on top of the primary hull....

 

[trevanian]

Furthermore, the pivoting wings, wingtip-mounted weapons and lack of engine nacelles make the Klingon BOP look more like something from the Star Wars universe than Star Trek. Not surprising, since the miniature was designed and built by ILM.

Not just SW, but the overall ILM look of the 80s. If you see the ship that swallows THUNDER ROAD in EXPLORERS, it almost looks like somebody just tore the wings off the BoP. Same designer too. (I still have a hard time believing the spacedock interior isn't based on the JEDI DS2 reactor.)

 

[Captain Rob]

My Klingon model back in the 70's was also black. With some parts in chrome. The ship looked really cool. You didn't have to even paint it.

 

[Metryq]

Wasn't Chekov saved with a Klingon battle cruiser model kit?

 

[scotpens]

^^ Holy crap, I never noticed that!

 

[Captain Rob]

I was lucky to have seen TVH two months prior to release as a work print. And I noticed that Chekov was sporting the engineering section of a D-7 on his forehead right off. The best thing about a work print. No giant floaty heads.

 

[scotpens]

I was lucky to have seen TVH two months prior to release as a work print. And I noticed that Chekov was sporting the engineering section of a D-7 on his forehead right off.

Not a D-7, but a K'tinga class battlecruiser. That part is from an AMT kit of the TMP version, not the original series version.

 

[Robert Comsol]

Another great and timeless design by Matt Jefferies.

However, I can't concur with some posters that the head only holds the officers quarters while the crew quaters are located in the engineering hull.

In "The Trouble With Tribbles" Captain Koloth mentioned that quarters aboard a Klingon ship aren't comfortable and I believe the crew is accomodated in the head, too, having crammed in bunk beds and/or beds that are shared by more than one occupant.

I believe Klingon technology to be somewhat inferior and crude in comparison to Federation technology, thus a large engineering hull with little or no quarters but plenty of radiation and therefore (similar to USS Discovery from "2001") some physical separation between the engineering components of this vessel and the living areas at the bow.

Does the Klingon Battlecruiser use matter-antimatter reactors?

The Star Trek TMP Blueprints provided these specifications for the "new Enterprise Class" and the "Drell-4" (K'tinga):

Enterprise:
Warp: Dilithium Energized Antimatter
Impulse: Subatomic Unified Energy

K'tinga:
Warp: Dilithium Conversion
Impulse: Hydrogen Energy

Bob

 

[Wynterhawk]

I've always thought that it looked like a flying goose to be specific. Looking up as they pass overhead, the arc of their wings especially whilst starting to land look very similar to the ship.

 

[scotpens]

I've always thought that it looked like a flying goose to be specific.

A menacing, badass goose!

 

[Cap'n Caveman]

The thing about Star Trek ship design is that nothing looks like anything from previous movies, TV, books, or anything else that came before it. I think that is one reason why many of the ship designs look timeless, especially the Klingon D7.

Robert, since the Klingon Empire was the Star Trek equivalent to the Soviet Union when the show aired, I think that Klingon technology was supposed to be somewhat crude compared to Federation tech, since any Soviet tech at the time was also somewhat crude, but still highly effective.

 

[Mario de Monti]

Robert, since the Klingon Empire was the Star Trek equivalent to the Soviet Union when the show aired, I think that Klingon technology was supposed to be somewhat crude compared to Federation tech, since any Soviet tech at the time was also somewhat crude, but still highly effective.

AND dangerous to use with a rather low regard to the safety of the respective Soviet crews, as the numerous incidents, accidents and near-accidents especially in the first Soviet nuclear subs and their space program illustrate.
Thus if you continue the analogy it actually makes sense to assume, that the crew of the Klingon battlecruiser was crammed into the small "bulb" at the bow, at a somewhat safe distance from the hazardous engineering/drive section.

Mario

 

[Robert Comsol]

Small quarters for the greater glory of the Klingon Empire...

Of course, one would expect the bulb to have narrower corridors, too, once we evaluate the footage from "The Enterprise Incident".

Wait a minute, maybe the crew does sleep in the corridors and available rooms are reserved for officers?

Bob

 

[Kevman7987]

Robert, since the Klingon Empire was the Star Trek equivalent to the Soviet Union when the show aired, I think that Klingon technology was supposed to be somewhat crude compared to Federation tech, since any Soviet tech at the time was also somewhat crude, but still highly effective.

AND dangerous to use with a rather low regard to the safety of the respective Soviet crews, as the numerous incidents, accidents and near-accidents especially in the first Soviet nuclear subs and their space program illustrate.
Thus if you continue the analogy it actually makes sense to assume, that the crew of the Klingon battlecruiser was crammed into the small "bulb" at the bow, at a somewhat safe distance from the hazardous engineering/drive section.

Mario

Jeez. Assuming the Klingon engineering section is a radioactive disaster-in-waiting, I wonder what kind of weird mutations occurred to the Tribbles Scotty beamed into the Klingon engine room in Trouble With Tribbles?