I was thinking about the Klingon Bird of Prey and what it would have been like if it was designed in a more practical way.
Here's what I was thinking of.
1.) No huge gigantic guns on the wingtips. There are many other places to put guns, and for the size of those things they are apparently not as powerful as a constitution-class's gun which is a small dome-shape turret. The D-7 also has smaller gun-mounts
2.) Put nacelles on the wing-tips. It makes sense and most other warp-capable ships in Star Trek whether they be Federation, Klingon, or Romulan tend to have nacelles.
3.) Revise folding-wings. They only need to fold up a bit for planetary landings. Folding them down for gunnery purposes is useless. Moving the wings down actually places the disruptors further down below the height of the bridge which makes aiming harder. If the wings are level, they are closer to the position of the bridge. It should also be noted that basic computers can predict where the phaser/disruptor blasts will land.
4.) Make the wings thicker, the proportional thicknesses should be about 4 or 5 times thicker at it's thickest, and it would be pretty cool to see the wing be thinner at the front and back than in the middle and have even a look that is remotely aerodynamic.
5.) The gigantic torpedo-launcher tube could instead be made into a navigational deflector. You could still have a typical federation-sized torpedo-hole in the middle for firing torpedoes although I'd prefer to use a circular tube. The idea of the Klingon's being more utilitarian and using cylindrical torpedoes seems to make sense.
6.) Way smaller impulse engines. Engines should be proportionately around the same as the K'Tinga if not smaller. I have nothing against them being close together, but I'd prefer two engines
7.) Waaaay less surface detail. Somewhere between the D-7 and K'Tinga I'd say. Somewhat smooth with some visible deflector gridding. It doesn't need anything more than that. Get rid of those stupid metal grilling/fins in which the wing folds on, I think it's really stupid to have a ship that looks like it has trapezius muscles. Smooth most of that out and stuff. Also the "chin-guard" -- the red wiring around the bridge, get rid of that and give the head of the ship a chine like the Excelsior class refit. Much cleaner lines you see.
8.) Get rid of the heavy green paint-job and go with either greenish-grays or grays more like the D-7 and K'Tinga are painted. Having that red bird on the underside is also pointless. While the plot said it was originally supposed to be a Romulan ship that was stolen, that was removed from the plot, and it was said to be a Klingon ship and just a Klingon ship.
9.) Call the ship a "Scout". While both non-canon and canon retconning has post ST:III written Klingon Bird of Prey's into the timeline -- originally only the Romulans had Bird of Prey's. The ship was said by Chekov to be a Scout-Class vessel.
Make sense?
Here's what I was thinking of.
1.) No huge gigantic guns on the wingtips. There are many other places to put guns, and for the size of those things they are apparently not as powerful as a constitution-class's gun which is a small dome-shape turret. The D-7 also has smaller gun-mounts
2.) Put nacelles on the wing-tips. It makes sense and most other warp-capable ships in Star Trek whether they be Federation, Klingon, or Romulan tend to have nacelles.
3.) Revise folding-wings. They only need to fold up a bit for planetary landings. Folding them down for gunnery purposes is useless. Moving the wings down actually places the disruptors further down below the height of the bridge which makes aiming harder. If the wings are level, they are closer to the position of the bridge. It should also be noted that basic computers can predict where the phaser/disruptor blasts will land.
4.) Make the wings thicker, the proportional thicknesses should be about 4 or 5 times thicker at it's thickest, and it would be pretty cool to see the wing be thinner at the front and back than in the middle and have even a look that is remotely aerodynamic.
5.) The gigantic torpedo-launcher tube could instead be made into a navigational deflector. You could still have a typical federation-sized torpedo-hole in the middle for firing torpedoes although I'd prefer to use a circular tube. The idea of the Klingon's being more utilitarian and using cylindrical torpedoes seems to make sense.
6.) Way smaller impulse engines. Engines should be proportionately around the same as the K'Tinga if not smaller. I have nothing against them being close together, but I'd prefer two engines
7.) Waaaay less surface detail. Somewhere between the D-7 and K'Tinga I'd say. Somewhat smooth with some visible deflector gridding. It doesn't need anything more than that. Get rid of those stupid metal grilling/fins in which the wing folds on, I think it's really stupid to have a ship that looks like it has trapezius muscles. Smooth most of that out and stuff. Also the "chin-guard" -- the red wiring around the bridge, get rid of that and give the head of the ship a chine like the Excelsior class refit. Much cleaner lines you see.
8.) Get rid of the heavy green paint-job and go with either greenish-grays or grays more like the D-7 and K'Tinga are painted. Having that red bird on the underside is also pointless. While the plot said it was originally supposed to be a Romulan ship that was stolen, that was removed from the plot, and it was said to be a Klingon ship and just a Klingon ship.
9.) Call the ship a "Scout". While both non-canon and canon retconning has post ST:III written Klingon Bird of Prey's into the timeline -- originally only the Romulans had Bird of Prey's. The ship was said by Chekov to be a Scout-Class vessel.
Make sense?
