March Art Challenge - Starscape

[Starscape]

Well, I'm normally lucky to have just one idea to run with... so I'm not sure if I'm going to reach the 3+ target required for this challenge. Still, I'll give it a try.

I've had an idea bouncing around my head for a while now about a design for a small (2-3 deck) TOS-era Federation ship, I guess this gives me an opportunity to flesh that out.

Here's my first hand drawn sketch:

 

[Albertese]

Awesome! Another entry! All I wanna know is what series and season it's from. Try some variations. Explore hull forms and marking styles. Experiment with slightly different Warp nacelles. I'm very excited to see where this goes!

--Alex

 

[Starscape]

I've decided to drop that TOS design for now. My ideas were a bit too fixed to allow me to play around with the design. Besides I think I've got a better candidate to work with - a design I never got around to finalising and for which I already have tried several iterations.

The following design was thought up as a potential late TNG/DS9 Starfleet hospital ship. I wanted to break away from the standard layout for starfleet ships so that it was distinguishable from combatant ships. The idea was to "demote" the saucer section to secondary hull status and have it devoted solely to medical facilities. All the normal starship operations and engineering sections would be housed in the rest of the ship.

With the design of the main hull (just about) fixed, I couldn't decide on the best layout for the nacelles and whether or not to have some kind of sensor pod. So, that is the area I've concentrated on here:


Click for larger image


Comments and suggestions are welcome!

 

[Praetor]

Say, I actually really like all of those.

I hope you'll fully develop at least one version.

 

[sojourner]

Nice work. I like "C" the best. Have to say, the side view in "E" reminds me alot of this design by Forbin:
http://www.inpayne.com/models/kitbash/trekpage_tiburon.html

 

[Albertese]

This is perfect! exactly in the spirit of the contest!

I like (e) best.

--Alex

 

[DRACO]

I've decided to drop that TOS design for now. My ideas were a bit too fixed to allow me to play around with the design. Besides I think I've got a better candidate to work with - a design I never got around to finalising and for which I already have tried several iterations.

The following design was thought up as a potential late TNG/DS9 Starfleet hospital ship. I wanted to break away from the standard layout for starfleet ships so that it was distinguishable from combatant ships. The idea was to "demote" the saucer section to secondary hull status and have it devoted solely to medical facilities. All the normal starship operations and engineering sections would be housed in the rest of the ship.

With the design of the main hull (just about) fixed, I couldn't decide on the best layout for the nacelles and whether or not to have some kind of sensor pod. So, that is the area I've concentrated on here:


Click for larger image


Comments and suggestions are welcome!

interesting, but, you said you where worried about it looking more like a combat ship instead of a hospital ship, and then you go make a sleek Sovy-based ship, with her nacelles and a sleek protruding hull from the saucer, which is also of the Sovie's, a neet ship idea but not for a hospital ship...

make it have graceful lines, like the D did, to keep it from being to bulky, like hospital ships tend to be, and make it spacious as well, room from patients to do things, not just be stuck in bed all day.... areas for physical therapy and the like would be beneficial,

I ust, can't figure out why a hospital ship would need sovy-stylied nacells and saucer, or to look streamlined when it's not a combat ship...

I like the fist Idea allot though, even though it looks a tad Romulan, allthough that can't be help when we see a Starfleet looking ROmulan ship in TOS

my only suggestion on the first design is, make the brige bigger, look at how big the defiants is to the overal ship, and its 4-5 decks.... not 2-3

 

[Starscape]

Thanks guys!

interesting, but, you said you where worried about it looking more like a combat ship instead of a hospital ship, and then you go make a sleek Sovy-based ship, with her nacelles and a sleek protruding hull from the saucer, which is also of the Sovie's, a neet ship idea but not for a hospital ship...

...I ust, can't figure out why a hospital ship would need sovy-stylied nacells and saucer, or to look streamlined when it's not a combat ship...

The design initially sprung from a friend's request for an updated Olympic class using Sovereign style parts. I didn't really care for the upgrade idea, but I stuck with the Sovy style when developing this one.

I don't see anything overtly militaristic in the style of the Sovereign. Yes, it looks sleeker and built for speed, but wouldn't speed be an advantage for a hospital ship, in terms of both getting to where it needs to be and as a line of defence?

I see the Sovereign class as the next stage in development of general Starfleet design (in terms of technology and fashion), not solely as a design for a combat vessel. Why not have the same asthetics for a hospital ship?

make it have graceful lines, like the D did, to keep it from being to bulky, like hospital ships tend to be, and make it spacious as well, room from patients to do things, not just be stuck in bed all day.... areas for physical therapy and the like would be beneficial,

I don't usually design the insides of starships, but like I said the whole of the saucer section would be devoted solely to medical facilities, so there's plenty of space for more than just hospital wards and operating rooms.

my only suggestion on the first design is, make the brige bigger, look at how big the defiants is to the overal ship, and its 4-5 decks.... not 2-3

The Defiant's bridge is going to look proportionally larger because it's a small ship. As it stands the bridge on this ship is the same size as that on a Sovereign class.


The following image should help give an idea of the size of the ship. This is as far I'd gone with the design before I put it on hold:

 

[Praetor]

Wow. Is anyone else wishing that an ENT-era version of this configuration was the NX-01?

 

[Starscape]

^^Thanks. Not sure how the design could be re-worked for the Ent-era, though.

I decided to go with version "c" for the "winning" design and worked up a colour version using Paint Shop Pro (I wouldn't be able to finish the 3d model in time).

So, here's my final entry:



(Click for larger image)

 

[Praetor]

Oooh, me likey.

 

[Albertese]

Perfect!

 

[B.J.]

Nice! What do you envision the pod to be used for? I know you said sensor pod in an earlier post, but I'm wondering how that would be useful for a hospital ship instead of the standard sensors.

 

[that1guy]

Dang that's cool!

 

[Starscape]

Thanks, everyone!

Nice! What do you envision the pod to be used for? I know you said sensor pod in an earlier post, but I'm wondering how that would be useful for a hospital ship instead of the standard sensors.

I suppose that depends on how you see the difference between standard sensor and those on the sensor pod. My take on it is that the sensor pod have longer range sensors and/or a higher number of sensors, allowing the crew to focus scan on many more objects at the same time

The two main role I imagine for the ship would be in a fleet support role and planetary disaster relief. In the first case the sensor pod could be used as an early warming for incoming hostiles. In the second case the high number of sensors would be used to identify the ill and wounded for transport to the ship and also support the use of multiple simultaneous transports. It could even be used to mass diagnose a large population... though, perhaps that's a bit of a stretch.

 

[jezor]

Thanks, everyone!

Nice! What do you envision the pod to be used for? I know you said sensor pod in an earlier post, but I'm wondering how that would be useful for a hospital ship instead of the standard sensors.

I suppose that depends on how you see the difference between standard sensor and those on the sensor pod. My take on it is that the sensor pod have longer range sensors and/or a higher number of sensors, allowing the crew to focus scan on many more objects at the same time

The two main role I imagine for the ship would be in a fleet support role and planetary disaster relief. In the first case the sensor pod could be used as an early warming for incoming hostiles. In the second case the high number of sensors would be used to identify the ill and wounded for transport to the ship and also support the use of multiple simultaneous transports. It could even be used to mass diagnose a large population... though, perhaps that's a bit of a stretch.

Given the era, it might also support enough bandwidth for significant transmission of medical data to and from the large number of EMHs likely being used for triage if not care. Overall, I can see a ship like this benefiting from greatly enhanced computing, imaging, communications and transporter capabilities; perhaps the external pod would allow easy upgrading (a la bridge module) for the latest and greatest hardware.

Overall, though, a beautiful design that successfully differentiates itself from the military/exploration ships we've seen. {ProfJonathan}