Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha class

[Ebuntor]

Mr, Sternbach I have a few questions regarding the Negh'Var and Vor'cha classes.
Several years ago I found this illustration on your website that you made for the “All Good Things” Klingon Cruiser .
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/3594/klinghi8.jpg
I noticed you labeled the pod at the rear as “Daughtercraft Scout Ship”. Was the purpose of this pod as “scout ship” included in the final design? Apart from the disruptor cannons there also various “phaser emitters”. Were these supposed to be actual Starfleet-ish phasers or some kind of disruptor that fires rays instead of pulses?

There are also lots of similarities between the Negh'Var and Vor'cha classes.
(Images taken from Bernd Schneider's ex-astris-scientia.org)
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/6760/neghvarvorchabo3.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/8784/voodiehvorchaae0.jpg
When you designed the “All Good Things” aka Negh'Var class was there a reason why you included these similarities? Simply because it was easier to redesign the Vor'cha model or was the Negh'Var ever intended to be a refitted Vor'cha class (or something different)?

Because the rear pods on the both classes are so alike in appearance is the pod on the Vor'cha also supposed to be a scout ship?

Thanks in advance.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

Theres no reason the Klingons would drastically alter their ship designs, the Vor'Cha is just a better looking D-7 so the Negh'Var is a better looking Vor'Cha, they all stick to the same Klingon design so its easiest to just take a Vor'Cha and mess around with it to make it bigger, better looking and more badass.

 

[SeerSGB]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

I don't see the Klingons as being very...style oriented thinkers when it comes to ship design. Way I see it, if a design works they keep it around till they can't pack the bigger and badder weapons on it, but instead of running all the way back to the drawing board they just scale up or improve the design. So long as they can cram bigger guns and more troops on it, they don't really care how it looks.

 

[Rick Sternbach]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

Ebuntor said:
Mr, Sternbach I have a few questions regarding the Negh'Var and Vor'cha classes.
Several years ago I found this illustration on your website that you made for the “All Good Things” Klingon Cruiser .
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/3594/klinghi8.jpg
I noticed you labeled the pod at the rear as “Daughtercraft Scout Ship”. Was the purpose of this pod as “scout ship” included in the final design? Apart from the disruptor cannons there also various “phaser emitters”. Were these supposed to be actual Starfleet-ish phasers or some kind of disruptor that fires rays instead of pulses?

There are also lots of similarities between the Negh'Var and Vor'cha classes.
(Images taken from Bernd Schneider's ex-astris-scientia.org)
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/6760/neghvarvorchabo3.jpg
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/8784/voodiehvorchaae0.jpg
When you designed the “All Good Things” aka Negh'Var class was there a reason why you included these similarities? Simply because it was easier to redesign the Vor'cha model or was the Negh'Var ever intended to be a refitted Vor'cha class (or something different)?

Because the rear pods on the both classes are so alike in appearance is the pod on the Vor'cha also supposed to be a scout ship?

Thanks in advance.

Last question first; the pod on the Vor'cHa was not designed as a separate craft, no. Was just part of the hull the way the aft chunk was on the original Matt Jefferies ship. Matt might have assigned a function to it, but I've never heard of any of the details. Sometimes we just draw things in because they fit within the stylistic rules for the vessel. Sure, the Negh'Var daughtercraft was designed in and that's the way the miniature was built, but we never needed to see it actually do anything. Sometimes designer's intents make it onto the screen, sometimes not. Ah well.

The reason the Vor'cHa and the Negh'Var have similar body parts is because the mold for the Vor'cHa miniature existed and made the variations for a new ship easier; it was a production thing.

As for callouts about phaser emitters, the Vor'cHa was definitely a product of technology transfer between Starfleet and the Klingon shipyards; well, more from Starfleet than the other way 'round. As to what sorts of beams came out, that was a visual effects question I rarely had control over. That's another one of those intent things.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

 

[Ebuntor]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

Thank you for your quick reply.

Rick Sternbach said:
Last question first; the pod on the Vor'cHa was not designed as a separate craft, no. Was just part of the hull the way the aft chunk was on the original Matt Jefferies ship. Matt might have assigned a function to it, but I've never heard of any of the details. Sometimes we just draw things in because they fit within the stylistic rules for the vessel. Sure, the Negh'Var daughtercraft was designed in and that's the way the miniature was built, but we never needed to see it actually do anything. Sometimes designer's intents make it onto the screen, sometimes not. Ah well.

I don't know about Matt Jefferies' D7 but I've seen on various sketches for the K't'inga class (which of course is basically the same as the D7) that the chunk at the rear is supposed to be a shuttle bay.

Rick Sternbach said:
As for callouts about phaser emitters, the Vor'cHa was definitely a product of technology transfer between Starfleet and the Klingon shipyards; well, more from Starfleet than the other way 'round. As to what sorts of beams came out, that was a visual effects question I rarely had control over. That's another one of those intent things.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

I see, that actually makes a lot of sense considering the Starfleet-ish warp engines on both the Negh'Var and Vor'chas.
IIRC on a sketch of the Vor'cha there apparently are supposed to be Bussard ramscoops on the "wings", no idea if you made that schematic though.

I just have one other question, the plasma conduits that go to the warp nacelles on both ships are somewhat exposed. On the Negh'Var you can literately see the conduit itself. I noticed you seem to do this most ships you design, the Runabout, the Romulan scoutship, the Type-9 shuttlecraft to name a few. Although I think it's quite interesting to see how the plasma gets from the warpcore to the engines from an in-universe perspective it seems like a bad idea to expose such a critical conduit. Was there a reason why you prefered to design it that way?

 

[FalTorPan]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

Ebuntor said:
I just have one other question, the plasma conduits to the warp nacelles on both ships are somewhat exposed. On the Negh'Var you can literately see the conduit itself. I noticed you seem to do this most ships you design, the Runabout, the Romulan scoutship, the Type-9 shuttlecraft to name a few. Although I think it's quite interesting to see how the plasma gets from the warpcore to the engines from an in-universe perspective it seems like a bad idea to expose such a critical conduit. Was there a reason why you prefered to design it that way?

This isn't an answer to your question, but I thought I'd point out that there is a precedent for this. The Enterprise of Star Trek: The Motion Picture has differently styled hull areas at the locations of both the vertical intermix shaft through the interconnecting dorsal and the energy feeds through the warp nacelle pylons.

 

[Ebuntor]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

FalTorPan said:

Ebuntor said:
I just have one other question, the plasma conduits to the warp nacelles on both ships are somewhat exposed. On the Negh'Var you can literately see the conduit itself. I noticed you seem to do this most ships you design, the Runabout, the Romulan scoutship, the Type-9 shuttlecraft to name a few. Although I think it's quite interesting to see how the plasma gets from the warpcore to the engines from an in-universe perspective it seems like a bad idea to expose such a critical conduit. Was there a reason why you prefered to design it that way?

This isn't an answer to your question, but I thought I'd point out that there is a precedent for this. The Enterprise of Star Trek: The Motion Picture has differently styled hull areas at the locations of both the vertical intermix shaft through the interconnecting dorsal and the energy feeds through the warp nacelle pylons.

I see, sounds interesting, do you have a screenshot? I've never noticed that before.

 

[FalTorPan]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

In this shot, you can see a "stripe" of darker-colored hull. The vertical intermix shaft runs along that stripe.

In this shot, you can see a subtle "stripe" near the leading edge of the warp nacelle pylons. This is supposedly where the energy feeds run from the horizontal intermix shaft to the nacelles.

 

[SeerSGB]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

FalTorPan said:
In this shot, you can see a "stripe" of darker-colored hull. The vertical intermix shaft runs along that stripe.

In this shot, you can see a subtle "stripe" near the leading edge of the warp nacelle pylons. This is supposedly where the energy feeds run from the horizontal intermix shaft to the nacelles.

Armor enforcement along the intermix shaft and PTCs, prehaps.

 

[Ebuntor]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

SeerSGB said:

FalTorPan said:
In this shot, you can see a "stripe" of darker-colored hull. The vertical intermix shaft runs along that stripe.

In this shot, you can see a subtle "stripe" near the leading edge of the warp nacelle pylons. This is supposedly where the energy feeds run from the horizontal intermix shaft to the nacelles.

Armor enforcement along the intermix shaft and PTCs, prehaps.

Agreed, armor makes a lot of sense compared to my earlier post, because I was pointing out the PTC's were too exposed on those other ships.

EDIT: Those stripes could also be special removable panels to remove the warp core and PTC's, assuming those can't be disassembled and/or transported. Although that doesn't make very much sense because the core is a lot longer than that stripe.

 

[FalTorPan]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

Ebuntor said:
[EDIT: Those stripes could also be special removable panels to remove the warp core and PTC's, assuming those can't be disassembled and/or transported. Although that doesn't make very much sense because the core is a lot longer than that stripe.

On the other hand, the intermix shafts did appear to be segmented. Perhaps a 23rd-century wrench can be used to disassemble the core into individual segments which can be removed via the "striped" hull plates.

 

[Ebuntor]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

FalTorPan said:

Ebuntor said:
[EDIT: Those stripes could also be special removable panels to remove the warp core and PTC's, assuming those can't be disassembled and/or transported. Although that doesn't make very much sense because the core is a lot longer than that stripe.

On the other hand, the intermix shafts did appear to be segmented. Perhaps a 23rd-century wrench can be used to disassemble the core into individual segments which can be removed via the "striped" hull plates.

Must be a nightmare if one of the lower segments has to be replaced. Starting at the top and working all the way down to the bottom removing segment after segment.
IIRC the refit Constitution class didn't have the possibility to eject the core at the bottom, did it?

 

[Rick Sternbach]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

Ebuntor said:
I just have one other question, the plasma conduits that go to the warp nacelles on both ships are somewhat exposed. On the Negh'Var you can literately see the conduit itself. I noticed you seem to do this most ships you design, the Runabout, the Romulan scoutship, the Type-9 shuttlecraft to name a few. Although I think it's quite interesting to see how the plasma gets from the warpcore to the engines from an in-universe perspective it seems like a bad idea to expose such a critical conduit. Was there a reason why you prefered to design it that way?

The conduits aren't exposed. They're buried deep within the wing, in a manner similar to the ones on the Runabout and a couple of other vehicles. What you're looking at on the surface are plates that serve a number of purposes, including multilayer shielding, waste heat radiation, conduction of structural integrity fields, and access.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

 

[Ebuntor]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

Rick Sternbach said:

Ebuntor said:
I just have one other question, the plasma conduits that go to the warp nacelles on both ships are somewhat exposed. On the Negh'Var you can literately see the conduit itself. I noticed you seem to do this most ships you design, the Runabout, the Romulan scoutship, the Type-9 shuttlecraft to name a few. Although I think it's quite interesting to see how the plasma gets from the warpcore to the engines from an in-universe perspective it seems like a bad idea to expose such a critical conduit. Was there a reason why you prefered to design it that way?

The conduits aren't exposed. They're buried deep within the wing, in a manner similar to the ones on the Runabout and a couple of other vehicles. What you're looking at on the surface are plates that serve a number of purposes, including multilayer shielding, waste heat radiation, conduction of structural integrity fields, and access.

Rick
www.spacemodelsystems.com

Ah, I see. Thanks for clearing that up. Your designs seem to have much thought and detail put into them.
Basically those plates' functions are the same as the ones on the Consitution class that were mentioned in previous posts.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Re: Mr. Sternbach, question regarding Negh'Var and Vor'cha c

SeerSGB said:Armor enforcement along the intermix shaft and PTCs, prehaps.

Nah... think like wrench-turners, guys!

These are panels that can be removed if you need to swap out major sections of the ship which have been damaged. Say, if you've fried a segment in the main vertical intermix assembly, to replace that entire section you'd evacuate the section, depressurize the compartment, pull off these maintenance panels, pull the damaged component, drop in the replacement component, put the access panel back into place, and repressurize the compartment.

Hell, you could even skip the depressurization step if you wanted to set up force-fields over the open hull sections... though I'd worry about the risk factor of doing so (uncontrolled "explosive decompression" would risk damaging other hardware, after all).