This looks like a pretty badass ship.

[Gingerbread Demon]

I found this on facebook.. I think this ship is pretty badass.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10103986349126227&set=gm.496027373893359&type=1&theater

 

[Ithekro]

First thought?

Y-wing crossed with a Runabout.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

First thought?

Y-wing crossed with a Runabout.

From the OP's Facebook link:

This is one of the early pieces of concept art for the Defiant designed by Jim Martin before the start of DS9's Season 3.

Originally conceived to be a "beefy runabout", the Defiant would eventually resemble more of the familiar saucer-esque wedge we all know and love.

What's really intriguing about this design though is just how "Star Wars-y" it looks. It actually looks somewhat akin to the Republic gunships seen in Attack of the Clones. Ugly, yet tough and functional.

Well, I wouldn't use the word "intriguing." It's more like "derivative."

And, yeah, the obvious comparison is to a Y-wing and not anything from the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, especially since "Extreme Measures" aired the same day that The Phantom Menace was released. Needless to say, the Defaint was already on screen many times over by the time of The Phantom Menace, and DS9 was over and done with by the time Attack of the Clones came out!

I'm glad they didn't use it for the Defiant. What we got was much, much better.

All that's assuming that this is properly credited art.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

First thought?

Y-wing crossed with a Runabout.

Well on FB someone said snowspeeder crossed with a repair bot

 

[Cyke101]

Exposed wires on the hull of a Starfleet vessel seems like a bad idea, especially if they're warp-capable.

I wouldn't mind if a similar design was used for Starfleet fighters, albeit yes, that would be too Star Wars-y, too. I'm just not a fan of the fighters we did get, the oddly-shapped Peregrine class.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Does anyone have pics of the starfleet fighters we did get? I can't seem to find any decent pics only screen grabs?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Exposed wires on the hull of a Starfleet vessel seems like a bad idea, especially if they're warp-capable.

I wouldn't mind if a similar design was used for Starfleet fighters, albeit yes, that would be too Star Wars-y, too. I'm just not a fan of the fighters we did get, the oddly-shapped Peregrine class.

Yeah, those were awful.

I was always thinking '(classic) Cylon Raider' when looking at those, particularly on the underside. (By the way, the designation "Peregrine-class" is non-canonical.)

Does anyone have pics of the starfleet fighters we did get? I can't seem to find any decent pics only screen grabs?

http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Federation_attack_fighter

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Cool thanks for the wiki links....

They do look like Cylon raiders from old BSG

 

[tharpdevenport]

My God that's an ugly ship. I never liked the Defiant but now I see it could have been worse.

 

[C.E. Evans]

As it was originally meant to be, a "super-runabout" or "battle runabout," the design works great and does show a step-up from the earlier Danube-class. It was never intended to be anything more than that.

 

[Cyke101]

(By the way, the designation "Peregrine-class" is non-canonical.)

Pfft, I wish that ship was non-canonical.

---

Also, good god, look at that cockpit:

http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Federation_attack_fighter?file=Type18cockpit.jpg

I only bring this up because the Battle of Bajor was implied to last for several hours; but IIRC, the fighters were already traveling by themselves from the Starbase to DS9, which should also take a long time. No evidence of a mothership, or that they ever used one. Not only is it incredibly cramped in there, but ... what about the bathroom? Oh yes, this is Star Trek. No need

The cockpit was used for other shuttles like the Type 15m (first use, way back in early TNG) and the Type 18, both of them being tiny craft meant for short range travel, so at least the size made sense.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Definitely very Star Wars-y. It looks like it even has a Shuttle Tyderium nose-piece sitting on the top. And how does it land with that single warp nacelle hanging so low underneath? Such a bad idea. Glad they scrapped it.

 

[C.E. Evans]

...does it land with that single warp nacelle hanging so low underneath?

It probably wasn't meant to land. It may have been intended to be a deep-space fighter/small transport that only docked at space stations.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

It looks like it even has a Shuttle Tyderium nose-piece sitting on the top.

Ouch. Now I can't unsee that!

 

[TheGoodStuff]

Looks utterly hideous, just like 99% of all kitbashes I've seen.

 

[Forbin]

Very ugly. No design ethic. No coherence of forms.

 

[Timo]

Love the design! There's the perfectly smooth and neutral TNG style core vessel, and then this ugly war machine riding atop and around it because desperate times are the perfect excuse for desperate measures...

I can easily imagine the war rider mounting the civilian steed in a DS9 hangar, lifted in place by mechanical squires like a deliciously clumsy and helpless medieval knight. A patchwork solution to an acute shortage of suitable hardware, a slightly different approach to that of resurrecting a failed anti-Borg experiment, but still telling of the low status of Sisko and his command, and the lack of faith placed on them by Starfleet... What better way to perpetuate a theme?

Having that thing fly in formation with the butt-ugly Danubes, bringing some welcome verticality to their squat, flat-bottomed architecture, would IMHO send all the right messages, art-wise and story-wise.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Tim Walker]

Love the design! There's the perfectly smooth and neutral TNG style core vessel, and then this ugly war machine riding atop and around it because desperate times are the perfect excuse for desperate measures...

A patchwork solution to an acute shortage of suitable hardware, a slightly different approach to that of resurrecting a failed anti-Borg experiment,

Timo Saloniemi

In one web site the designer described why he conceived this vessel.

The idea was to make it look as though new systems were added to an already existing design. Which might make sense, you urgently need to slap together a defensive vessel.

I suppose it would have less firepower than the Defiant. But perhaps you could retro fit existing ships, and quickly build up quantity.

 

[Karzak]

Very ugly. No design ethic. No coherence of forms.

Ironic.

 

[Richard Baker]

Slightly off topic-
I would have liked to have seen some modified Runabouts in the Dominion War. We did see one with the dorsal pod attached, perhaps a larger meaner looking one as well, especially when they were flying along with the Odyssey expecting combat.
The large central section was modular as well, all sorts cool combat things could have been added there.

The OP kitbashed looking craft does look like a bunch of new hardware attached to an existing design- no aesthetic considerations at all, which is a good wartime approach when you are in a hurry. I prefer it a lot over the Franken-Fleet ships we saw instead.