Maxwell.
Pre TOS starships....
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
I've managed to scale this puppy out so it comes to 381.52 ft. LOA. That's about 40 percent of the TOS E's length. Of course, this isn't yet set in stone. I could modify if a bit upward as i work things out. I could conceivably end up with a ship 400-500 ft. LOA.
The spherical main hull will be about 160 ft. in diameter although you lose some at the top and bottom. I'm estimating about 15 or 16 decks of varying heights. The central decks along the ship's axis would be the tallest as they are part of the engineering decks extending aft into the stardrive support section. The hangar will be in the upper part of the sphere facing aft.
Granted Star Trek's continuity is not ours we can still make certain assumptions for a starship built about a century or so from today. We know they will have warp drive--something we can't say presently, of course. We know they will have artificial gravity. We know they will have reasonably sophisticated computer systems.
So what needs to be determined (taking into account Star Trek's continuity is not our own) is what could they and could not have 100-150 years from now? From this we might get a better idea of the ship's complement and estimated range and mission duration times.
The spherical main hull will be about 160 ft. in diameter although you lose some at the top and bottom. I'm estimating about 15 or 16 decks of varying heights. The central decks along the ship's axis would be the tallest as they are part of the engineering decks extending aft into the stardrive support section. The hangar will be in the upper part of the sphere facing aft.
Granted Star Trek's continuity is not ours we can still make certain assumptions for a starship built about a century or so from today. We know they will have warp drive--something we can't say presently, of course. We know they will have artificial gravity. We know they will have reasonably sophisticated computer systems.
So what needs to be determined (taking into account Star Trek's continuity is not our own) is what could they and could not have 100-150 years from now? From this we might get a better idea of the ship's complement and estimated range and mission duration times.
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Okay, a small scale change. Out of necessity to give me some more elbow room inside I've scaled the ship up a bit to about 405 ft. LOA. That's so I could fit a modest sized hangar where I want it.
The hangar will be on Deck 5 of the 16 decks that will fit into the ship with ceilings ranging from 7.5 to 9 ft. for the engineering decks. At this size four decks extend aft into the stardrive section.
The hangar will be on Deck 5 of the 16 decks that will fit into the ship with ceilings ranging from 7.5 to 9 ft. for the engineering decks. At this size four decks extend aft into the stardrive section.
I particularly like the impulse engines of the Constellation-they remind me of rocket boosters.
That was the general idea. My thinking was that as the ships got more advanced the impulse engines gradually get smaller even as the ship gradually get bigger until you get to the TOS era where the impulse engines are really rather small in relation to the rest of the ship and yet they're still powerful enough to move the ship with ease.
Obviously there would have been a prototype ship before this to test the new nacelle configuration as opposed to the ringship design. So this vessel would be one of the first ships in service that is the ancestor of the design evolution leading eventually to the TOS era. The next step in the evolution would be roughly similar to the Deadalus type design, but I've never cared for how that one was executed. To that end I'm thinking of trying to improve on that basic concept and fashion something that doesn't look so dorky
At this time period there likely wouldn't have been fleets of these kind of ships, but in their own way they were like the Constitution-class ships of their day. And they might have performed roughly similar functions albeit within a more limited area of interstellar space.
I'm trying to give the design a kind of nobility or sense of coolness to it even while it's supposed to look primitive compared to the ships of the TOS era.
Even while I'm working on this I'm imagining the kind of stories a series with this ship could have. Imagine all the wierd and X-Files like stuff this crew could encounter in a galaxy humanity was just beginning to really step into. Imagine them encountering things they can't always understand or solve. Imagine them learning that space can be really frightening at times...and yet they keep going further to the next star. This ship could eventually be one of the few that survive and bring its crews home. It could earn a reputation such that its name will be honored more than century later to grace another starship challenging the unknown.
I'm basically imagining a series that ENT could have been, but that ENT's creators hadn't the nerve or the vision to try for.
I'm presently redesigning the main hull. The first version (of which I posted pictures upthread) had a main hull that was a perfect spere. I've tweeked that (and will post images soon) so that it's just a bit wider than tall--a slightly squeezed sphere. It makes the main hull look a bit less bulbous. I'm also modifing the detail at the top of the main hull as well as the nav deflector and detail around the rim of the sphere.
Stay tuned.
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I'd forgotten about this pre TOS design: a conjectural concept for the Valiant mentioned in "Where No Man Has Gone Before."
I still like this overall only now I'd tweak it a bit as well as make it a but smaller to better suit the era from when it originates, only a few years to no more than a couple of decades after Cochrane's space warp development.
I still like this overall only now I'd tweak it a bit as well as make it a but smaller to better suit the era from when it originates, only a few years to no more than a couple of decades after Cochrane's space warp development.
I hate to say this, Ray, but the primary hull reminds me of an old fashioned bomb with a fuse sticking out.
Sorry. But it really does.
Or maybe a Christmas bulb.
Sorry. But it really does.
Or maybe a Christmas bulb.
Well, it ain't never going to be gorgeous or really sleek. I'm going to add more detail and see it through to the end.
My basic idea is that the original test ship or prototype was somewhat similar, but perhaps with different nacelles and a different main hull, possibly much more cylindrical in shape. And it would have been smaller. After all it was a test bed to see if the configuration was viable as an actual functioning spacecraft beyond computer simulations. When it proved workable then the design morphed into something more functional and purposeful for the intended service profile. It got larger, more robust and more distinctively it got that spherical hull to maximize interior volume. This was only the beginnings of what would eventually lead to the more warp dynamic configuration of a saucer with a dual nacelle configuration.
It doesn't have to be beautiful, but hopefully have a touch of nobility in its purposeful like design. And it hopefully looks like something credibly devolved from the TOS era starships.
My basic idea is that the original test ship or prototype was somewhat similar, but perhaps with different nacelles and a different main hull, possibly much more cylindrical in shape. And it would have been smaller. After all it was a test bed to see if the configuration was viable as an actual functioning spacecraft beyond computer simulations. When it proved workable then the design morphed into something more functional and purposeful for the intended service profile. It got larger, more robust and more distinctively it got that spherical hull to maximize interior volume. This was only the beginnings of what would eventually lead to the more warp dynamic configuration of a saucer with a dual nacelle configuration.
It doesn't have to be beautiful, but hopefully have a touch of nobility in its purposeful like design. And it hopefully looks like something credibly devolved from the TOS era starships.
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You know I rather like that. I can easily see the Captain and some of the crew getting ribbed for the odd look of their ship even though, at the time, it would have been the most advanced thing flying. That's kind of neat in a way.
"Yeah, our ship looks kinda weird, but it goes like stink."
I'm not committed to upsizing the design but only that it's a remote possibility. I certainly won't be making it any smaller. The present size was dictated to allow sufficient room for the hangar bay.
My own personal theory is that the earliest warp ships were more cylindrical in shape and as they grew more sophisticated and larger they adopted the spherical like hulls. This could dovetail into the kind of shapes that Masao used for his Earth/Romulan War ships as the ships became again more simplified for ease and quantity of construction. After the war the spherical huls could make a brief reappearance before becoming replaced by saucers and more sophisticated construnction techniques.
My own personal theory is that the earliest warp ships were more cylindrical in shape and as they grew more sophisticated and larger they adopted the spherical like hulls. This could dovetail into the kind of shapes that Masao used for his Earth/Romulan War ships as the ships became again more simplified for ease and quantity of construction. After the war the spherical huls could make a brief reappearance before becoming replaced by saucers and more sophisticated construnction techniques.
Thanks.Looking very fine! Enough detail for realism without going over the top
There's still some finer detail I want to add before I move on to windows and colouring.
Concurrently I'm also thinking about how the next design evolution could look like as a variation of this. That would be what many see as the familiar Daedalus design although I won't be calling it that. It will share some components like much of the spherical hull and the general shape of the nacelles and nacelle support pylons (although there will only be two of them). The general idea is the technology not being drastically different, but the addition of the supplemental hull aft of the spherical main hull will allow for increased interior space.
The niggling detail I'm presently pondering is how to design the impulse engines.
I've been toying with a Deadalus type concept, but I have to say I basically don't like it, certainly not based on the basic concept we're familiar with. I find it just looks dorky and awkward as hell and I easily see why MJ abandoned the idea.
I think I can do better if I simply try to evolve something forward from my Constellation concept.
I think I can do better if I simply try to evolve something forward from my Constellation concept.
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