A creative question. How come you replaced the emblem on the ship with the TOS arrowhead?
Super Dreadnought - TOS Style
- Thread starter trekriffic
- Start date
A creative question. How come you replaced the emblem on the ship with the TOS arrowhead?
Just an opinion here, the aft turret has limited field of fire, I'd resolve it one of one of either 2 ways
1. Move it to the underside of the main hull.
2. Move the nacelles to be level with the main hull (same as the DNG Class Dreadnought from SFB)
Both will give full/near 360 arc of fire ☺
1. Move it to the underside of the main hull.
2. Move the nacelles to be level with the main hull (same as the DNG Class Dreadnought from SFB)
Both will give full/near 360 arc of fire ☺
True. The rear turret mega-phaser is restricted to a 180 degree field of fire horizontally but it overlaps with the heavy phasers on the sides of the secondary hull under the lower nacelle pylons which are designed to turn left and right 180 degrees. These in turn are overlapped by the forward under-saucer mounted mega-phaser which can turn thru 315 degrees to stop just before reaching the lower nacelle pylons. So between these systems you get a 360 degree overlapping field of fire with your phaser weaponry.
As far as your suggestions...
1. Moving the turret to the underside of the secondary hull would work but you already have a pair of standard phasers just aft of the main deflector housing on the underside as well as a heavy ball-turret phaser at the stern under the main shuttle bay so relocating the mega-phaser there seems like overkill to me. In addition, the aft mega-phaser can swivel from horizontal thru 45 degrees upward giving you the ability to hit targets approaching from above the stern. Without it the only beam weapons capable of that are the standard phases on the upper saucer which lack the firepower of the mega-phaser which can take out an enemy ship with one well-placed shot.
2. Moving the nacelles lower to be level with the top of the secondary hull would work but would seem to violate line-of-sight rules.
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Got this in the mail the other day. Will look nice on the base:
Abaddon Plaque by trekriffic, on Flickr
Still waiting on some decals for the base. One will be an asteroid.
Abaddon Plaque by trekriffic, on FlickrStill waiting on some decals for the base. One will be an asteroid.
Here are a few finished pics taken in natural light at the entrance to my garage. I'll be taking better ones with "studio" lights soon...
USS ABADDON by trekriffic, on Flickr
USS ABADDON by trekriffic, on Flickr
USS ABADDON by trekriffic, on Flickr
USS ABADDON by trekriffic, on Flickr
USS ABADDON by trekriffic, on FlickrUSS ABADDON by trekriffic, on FlickrUSS ABADDON by trekriffic, on FlickrUSS ABADDON by trekriffic, on Flickr
Are we stuck with it really? It didn't appear most fans even knew about the turret for decades, and most still don't.
If TOS E's designer thought that's what the ships weapons should look like, what does it say that that one turret is the only one on the entire model?
What does it also say that during the series, phasers were usually fired with two beams emanating from the "sensor dome"?
It's interesting that the turret is on the model, but if it played no part in the show nor was visible to any viewers, I'm not going to get too worked up about it.
When I was a kid, I thought the sensor dome itself was some futuristic crystal ball-like technology from which energy streams and globs of photons were released -- that's how it appeared. When we saw a torpedo in TWoK, I thought, what is that? And really, why do they glow the way they do (as globs of light), if they're just mini-starships housing contained antimatter?
I was actually pretty happy when the Defiant was firing its rear phasers on ENT, the beams were emanating from the rear sensor dome (or shuttle bay dome or whatever one chooses to call it). That show didn't make me happy often at all!
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OK, that looks badass. Love the modeling work here.
Thanks for the comments guys. Here's a photo of the Abadonn's captain, Karis Tatenen, known as the "Destroyer of Klingons" who made his name decades earlier at the Battle of Vonra:
Captain Karis Tatenen by trekriffic, on Flickr
Below is a little more background about this ship and her commanding officer...
The USS Abaddon is thicker and more massive than any of her Federation class cousins. In fact, because of the neutronium coating on her outer skin, even as thin as it is, the Abaddon would weigh several billion tons under normal conditions making it almost impossible for her to move at more than a waddle. Thankfully she employs a waveguide based series of graviton emitters embedded on the surface of her hull as well as between the inner tritanium hull and outer carbon-neutronium composite armor plating. This enhanced structural integrity field's ability to manipulate gravitational forces effectively reduces ships mass to a more acceptable level of 1.2 million metric tons, roughly 4 times that of a Federation class dreadnought. It also protects the crew from being flattened like pancakes against the inner hull of the ship by the extreme tidal forces that would otherwise be exerted on them by the neutronium cladding of her outer hull.
Having said all this, even at a mere 1.2 metric tons, her mass would still significantly reduce her maneuverability in a fight. To help with this problem starfleet has given the Abaddon four fusion reactors for impulse power each with its own exhaust port giving her twice the thrust of a standard dreadnought. She also has two warp cores allowing her to accelerate much more quickly into warp and attain higher velocities for longer periods than would otherwise be feasible. Also, considering the power required to fire her mega-phasers and also operate her cloaking field, having two warp cores is really a necessity rather than a luxury.
Still, with her armor plating making her virtually invulnerable to any weapon employed by any of her known adversaries, a lack of maneuverability would not be near the problem one would expect it to be for other less formidably equipped warships.
So one can only imagine the effect seeing a ship like the Abaddon would have on a Klingon commander encountering her for the first time. Certainly the prominent presence of her gun turrets would give him pause to consider his next course of action. Certainly, any trepidation he might have felt, would only be compounded once he learned the name of her captain, Karis Tatene, known throughout the Federation as the "Hero of the Battle of Vonra" and "Destroyer of Klingons" after an earlier encounter he'd had with several Klingon warships more than 20 years prior to his assignment to the Abaddon.
Here's an excerpt from a biography written about Tatenen and his exploits
(considered required reading at Stafleeet Academy) that you might find entertaining to read...
"A favorite tactic used by her legendary commander, Captain Karis Tatenen, during one battle, which took place not long after her launch, involved positioning the Abaddon far ahead of the Federation fleet directly in the path of the oncoming Klingon armada. With cloaks up the Abaddon sat silently as the enemy fleet passed by. Once completely surrounded, Tatenen locked weapons onto the enemy ships, decloaked, and opened fire. Within minutes the Abaddon had destroyed or disabled more than twenty D7's and was engaging a trio of the even larger and more powerful Klingon heavy battleships. The most powerful vessels in the Klingon fleet, they fought valiantly but, in the end, their disruptors and shields were no match for the superior armor and firepower of the dreadnought. With the rest of the Federation fleet arriving to mop up what remained of the Klingon invasion force, the battle ended in a rout and Sherman's planet was saved.
Afterwards, Tatenen was told by his chief tactical officer that one of the aft ventral deflector shields had failed due to a momentary systems malfuntion. He went on to reveal that one of the Klingon battleships had immediately targeted that area of the hull with multiple disruptor bursts. The office noted in his report that the Abaddon's carbon-neutronium armor plating had held and the ship sustained no damage while her shield was down; in fact, she had emerged completely unscathed from the battle with the Klingons.
Already in a state of euphoria over the performance of his ship and crew, this news only added more fuel to Captain Taten's fire. As the ragtag remnants of the demoralized Klingon fleet limped painfully homeward to Qu'onos, he quickly broadcast this scornful message to their disgraced commanders:
"Behold the mighty Klingon fleet, reduced to ashes and dust. Beaten by a single ship! Go home, lick your wounds, and prepare... for next time, we will show you no mercy.""
Nothing like kicking a dog when he's down right? Certainly, no one could ever say Tatenen didn't have a flair for the dramatic...
Captain Karis Tatenen by trekriffic, on FlickrBelow is a little more background about this ship and her commanding officer...
The USS Abaddon is thicker and more massive than any of her Federation class cousins. In fact, because of the neutronium coating on her outer skin, even as thin as it is, the Abaddon would weigh several billion tons under normal conditions making it almost impossible for her to move at more than a waddle. Thankfully she employs a waveguide based series of graviton emitters embedded on the surface of her hull as well as between the inner tritanium hull and outer carbon-neutronium composite armor plating. This enhanced structural integrity field's ability to manipulate gravitational forces effectively reduces ships mass to a more acceptable level of 1.2 million metric tons, roughly 4 times that of a Federation class dreadnought. It also protects the crew from being flattened like pancakes against the inner hull of the ship by the extreme tidal forces that would otherwise be exerted on them by the neutronium cladding of her outer hull.
Having said all this, even at a mere 1.2 metric tons, her mass would still significantly reduce her maneuverability in a fight. To help with this problem starfleet has given the Abaddon four fusion reactors for impulse power each with its own exhaust port giving her twice the thrust of a standard dreadnought. She also has two warp cores allowing her to accelerate much more quickly into warp and attain higher velocities for longer periods than would otherwise be feasible. Also, considering the power required to fire her mega-phasers and also operate her cloaking field, having two warp cores is really a necessity rather than a luxury.
Still, with her armor plating making her virtually invulnerable to any weapon employed by any of her known adversaries, a lack of maneuverability would not be near the problem one would expect it to be for other less formidably equipped warships.
So one can only imagine the effect seeing a ship like the Abaddon would have on a Klingon commander encountering her for the first time. Certainly the prominent presence of her gun turrets would give him pause to consider his next course of action. Certainly, any trepidation he might have felt, would only be compounded once he learned the name of her captain, Karis Tatene, known throughout the Federation as the "Hero of the Battle of Vonra" and "Destroyer of Klingons" after an earlier encounter he'd had with several Klingon warships more than 20 years prior to his assignment to the Abaddon.
Here's an excerpt from a biography written about Tatenen and his exploits
(considered required reading at Stafleeet Academy) that you might find entertaining to read...
"A favorite tactic used by her legendary commander, Captain Karis Tatenen, during one battle, which took place not long after her launch, involved positioning the Abaddon far ahead of the Federation fleet directly in the path of the oncoming Klingon armada. With cloaks up the Abaddon sat silently as the enemy fleet passed by. Once completely surrounded, Tatenen locked weapons onto the enemy ships, decloaked, and opened fire. Within minutes the Abaddon had destroyed or disabled more than twenty D7's and was engaging a trio of the even larger and more powerful Klingon heavy battleships. The most powerful vessels in the Klingon fleet, they fought valiantly but, in the end, their disruptors and shields were no match for the superior armor and firepower of the dreadnought. With the rest of the Federation fleet arriving to mop up what remained of the Klingon invasion force, the battle ended in a rout and Sherman's planet was saved.
Afterwards, Tatenen was told by his chief tactical officer that one of the aft ventral deflector shields had failed due to a momentary systems malfuntion. He went on to reveal that one of the Klingon battleships had immediately targeted that area of the hull with multiple disruptor bursts. The office noted in his report that the Abaddon's carbon-neutronium armor plating had held and the ship sustained no damage while her shield was down; in fact, she had emerged completely unscathed from the battle with the Klingons.
Already in a state of euphoria over the performance of his ship and crew, this news only added more fuel to Captain Taten's fire. As the ragtag remnants of the demoralized Klingon fleet limped painfully homeward to Qu'onos, he quickly broadcast this scornful message to their disgraced commanders:
"Behold the mighty Klingon fleet, reduced to ashes and dust. Beaten by a single ship! Go home, lick your wounds, and prepare... for next time, we will show you no mercy.""
Nothing like kicking a dog when he's down right? Certainly, no one could ever say Tatenen didn't have a flair for the dramatic...
Thanks! I haven't had a chance to take more pics yet but she should look great against my outer space backdrop when I do.
By the way, I get the impression you are a fan of dreadnoughts?
Yeah. I like their three-nacelle configuration, and their simplified purpose: "to stand on guard, so the others could boldly go where no man has gone before". Basically, they are distilled military function of Starfleet: not multipurpose exploratos/border jack-of-all-trades, just a warships, designed with the idea of protecting and defending.
This build is finished...
On Patrol 001 by trekriffic, on Flickr
For more pics check out pages 11 and 12 of my post in the 2015 50th Anniversary Group Build section over on All Scale Trek:
Dreadnought USS Abaddon -Finished Pics and Video! - Page 11 - All Scale Trek
Also posted a video on Youtube:
Indestructible Video:
Thanks for everyone's support here.
On Patrol 001 by trekriffic, on FlickrFor more pics check out pages 11 and 12 of my post in the 2015 50th Anniversary Group Build section over on All Scale Trek:
Dreadnought USS Abaddon -Finished Pics and Video! - Page 11 - All Scale Trek
Also posted a video on Youtube:
Indestructible Video:
Thanks for everyone's support here.
HomeStar-Rigel
Thanks!Sweet
Here's another composite. Sort of an homage...
The Abaddon has entered a hole in space:
A Dark, Dark Place by trekriffic, on FlickrAnd encounters the twin of an old enemy:
Another One by trekriffic, on Flickr
I have mixed feelings about the notion of a TOS-era dreadnought.
From the time FJ's Tech Manual came out in print in the mid-1970s, clear into the '80's, I was a fan of the notion of dreadnought, but not necessarily the specifics of FJ's Federation-class of battleships. The only thing I thought (at that time) FJ's design lacked was a fourth nacelle to give the saucer full capability while separated.
So, in that light, trekriffic's model appeals to me because it is a more detailed, more "realistic" take on what FJ was doing.
I love how the Abaddon has the hangar deck in the aft end and embues both main hulls with extra armed podlets to give the ship a more battleship profile.
But on the other hand...
Indications from the ships we tangibly saw flying about in TOS, TAS, and even TMP-era adventures indicate that Pike's/Kirk's Enterprise and her Constitution-class stablemates were the Federation's conception of a dreadnought. This is further backed up by Gene Roddenberry's novelization of TMP, page 115:
So maybe the concept of an uber-super-heavy battleship with multiple nacelles is iffy in the Star Trek "Prime" universe.
Check out Sisko's little Defiant in the DS9 era.
So, what would a dreadnought/battleship during TOS look like? Maybe if we take some cues from trekriffic's saucer, eliminate the secondary hull, and just have a second nacelle at the base of the dorsal/neck pylon, you would have a kickass highly mobile weapons platform with a minimal profile.
From the time FJ's Tech Manual came out in print in the mid-1970s, clear into the '80's, I was a fan of the notion of dreadnought, but not necessarily the specifics of FJ's Federation-class of battleships. The only thing I thought (at that time) FJ's design lacked was a fourth nacelle to give the saucer full capability while separated.
So, in that light, trekriffic's model appeals to me because it is a more detailed, more "realistic" take on what FJ was doing.
I love how the Abaddon has the hangar deck in the aft end and embues both main hulls with extra armed podlets to give the ship a more battleship profile.
But on the other hand...
Indications from the ships we tangibly saw flying about in TOS, TAS, and even TMP-era adventures indicate that Pike's/Kirk's Enterprise and her Constitution-class stablemates were the Federation's conception of a dreadnought. This is further backed up by Gene Roddenberry's novelization of TMP, page 115:
So maybe the concept of an uber-super-heavy battleship with multiple nacelles is iffy in the Star Trek "Prime" universe.
Check out Sisko's little Defiant in the DS9 era.
So, what would a dreadnought/battleship during TOS look like? Maybe if we take some cues from trekriffic's saucer, eliminate the secondary hull, and just have a second nacelle at the base of the dorsal/neck pylon, you would have a kickass highly mobile weapons platform with a minimal profile.
This next image is a tribute to noted illustrator Ralph McQuarrie who contributed the amazing asteroid spacedock painting below for Star Trek: Planet of the Titans which was to have been the first motion picture based on STTOS. The film was in development for two years before being abandoned in 1977...
The Abaddon returns to McQuarrie Station for fine tuning after her shakedown cruise:
Abbaddon Returns by trekriffic, on Flickr
The Abaddon returns to McQuarrie Station for fine tuning after her shakedown cruise:
Abbaddon Returns by trekriffic, on Flickr