Pre-TOS cruiser

[nicholasm]

So, my goal was to make a ship that would work as a hypothetical test-bed for Starship-Class vessels. I haven't decided on a name for this ship, but it is an Atlanta-Class far galactic-arm cruiser. The whole design is meant to look a bit off from the Starship-Class, like they knew the NX-Class refit worked, but weren't sure the best ways to fit all the newly acquired alien tech together.
The dimensions are as follows
H: approx. 400 feet
L: approx. 1984 feet
W: approx. 797 feet
It has 23 decks, with the bridge on deck 2
Here's a link to the Imgur page for until I post the rest of the photos here.

This is the bridge with rear-projection displays over the consoles. I thought a colorful keyboard would be the natural predecessor to the candy-buttons on the Enterprise.
I really hope y'all like it

 

[BorgMan]

Design wise, it's a cool ship. As a pre Connie though, not that convinced. I think you need to find a way to hybridize the NX style more with the Connie we know. Move the impulse engines a bit, for example, or maybe position them in inlets in the saucer. The shuttlebay away from the aft of the secondary hull would also break the Connie style, maybe in such a way that as a whole the secondary hull is smaller? Less 'nice', more 'we think this works even though it looks kind of meh'. That being said, I think if the design is less "clean", you'll be able to get the feeling you're looking for.

 

[Sgt_G]

I think you should add the tall bridge bubble as seen in The Cage / The Menagerie. And I agree with BorgMan that it should be "less clean", as in it needs more bumps and greebles.

 

[nicholasm]

Design wise, it's a cool ship. As a pre Connie though, not that convinced. I think you need to find a way to hybridize the NX style more with the Connie we know. (1) Move the impulse engines a bit, for example, or maybe position them in inlets in the saucer. (2) The shuttlebay away from the aft of the secondary hull would also break the Connie style, maybe in such a way that as a whole the secondary hull is smaller? Less 'nice', more 'we think this works even though it looks kind of meh'. That being said, I think if the design is less "clean", you'll be able to get the feeling you're looking for.

Regarding the NX style, I thought I'd use the USS Bonaventure as the predecessor to the design lineage of the starship-class. I've brought in some of the features of the USS Bonaventure, and plan to bring in some more, maybe the lower pod below the secondary module. In this iteration, I've just added the pods at the aft ends of the nacelles like on the USS Bonaventure, and a dome in place of the shuttlecraft hangar in the secondary module. I figure the dome could be a separate craft that could detach, but I've not done any more design work on it than what's in the picture.
To tie in with the NX, there are no windows on the secondary module. Like the Enterprise from the Abrams movies, I figure it would be mostly machinery and storage tanks, no labs or living-quarters.

The impulse engines aren't in insets, but they're much wider set than on the starship-class enterprise. I've set the shuttlecraft hangars between the impulse engines, with a booth in between the hangars.

In this iteration, I've also added graphics to the display boards on the bridge.

Deflection/shielding and navigation

Communications and damage-control/bulkhead-control

Science/library

Atmosphere-control and phaser-control

 

[BorgMan]

That is much, much better. Love the changes to the secondary hull! How high are the shuttlebays now? Does it all fit a pre-Type 7 shuttle? The Bonaventure style cooling fins are a great way of conveying that this is an older ship. What I said about the impulse engines, for example, was just a suggestion on how to show this is an older ship. The way you've handled it now works just as well!
The use of wood, especially with the CRT's, gives the bridge a great old feeling. Really liking what I'm seeing here :-)

 

[Michael]

I really like this as well! I dig the retro wood veneer elements and the tube televisions! And the exterior looks awesome as well. I'd love to see this realized in a photorealistic style.

 

[Atolm]

Looking Solid!

 

[nicholasm]

That is much, much better. Love the changes to the secondary hull! How high are the shuttlebays now? Does it all fit a pre-Type 7 shuttle? The Bonaventure style cooling fins are a great way of conveying that this is an older ship. What I said about the impulse engines, for example, was just a suggestion on how to show this is an older ship. The way you've handled it now works just as well!
The use of wood, especially with the CRT's, gives the bridge a great old feeling. Really liking what I'm seeing here :-)

The shuttlecraft hangars are 23 feet tall.
I made a shuttlecraft that's eight feet tall, sixteen feet wide, and approx. 44 feet in length.
It's about as tall as the Type-F shuttlecraft, and twice as long.
There's the briefest bit of backstory for the craft on the IMGUR page.

The update is rather minor, only adding a keel and a boarding hatch. Any ideas for additions would be greatly appreciated.
I remember seeing a comic panel of the enterprise landed on a planet, which is something I'd have loved to see on the show.
I figured if the USS Enterprise could handle soaring though the atmosphere in TOS, spacecraft could handle hovering in place in shipyards or ports without much problem at all. Having a boarding ramp also gives a reason for the strange pod on the bottom of the secondary hull of the USS Bonaventure.