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TNG/DS9 era Cutter

sojourner

Admiral
In Memoriam
Started a new project. This stemmed from me wondering what a tng/ds9 era version of Maseo's Paris/Archer class would look like. I was also inspired by Juvat's Rapier class on Scifi-meshes.com. It has since diverged and become more of it's own thing. I hope.

I haven't decided on scale, as is evident by the 2 differently sized figures in the pics.

The idea behind the ship is that it would be used for general purpose "coast guard" type duties such as patrol, search and rescue, scouting, courier, crew transport and so on. Hence it's small size.

At the smaller size it would have a total of only 3 decks with most of that being in the primary hull of the "saucer" and a crew size of 10 to 20 at most. I can easily see this ship often landing on planets, maybe even a "Marine One" variant would be cool.

The bigger size would make the ship about 7 decks with 2 decks in the saucer and more useable sq. footage in the other decks. The ship in this configuration would be close to the Defiant in size and would have room for a small shuttle bay. (somewhere). It's complement would be closer to 50 in range. While still capable of landing it starts to approach the size where using the on board shuttles is more practical.

Currently the model has most of the basic geometry where I want it. The bridge is a place holder. If the ship ends up being the small version, the bridge will be countersunk into the lower deck with steps up to it from that deck. If the ship goes larger size then the bridge will be a full separate deck. Either way, on the model it's location/height won't change.

The deflector "scoop" underneath is a nod to Vektor's DTNE entry. Though I don't like how mine looks now and need to re-approach it.

The warp engines are inspired by the Defiant's.

Comments/questions welcome as usual.

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tngarcheriso4.png

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tngarcherside.png
 
I like a nice vast ship, but there's something which feels very real about these smaller vessels. I look forward to seeing a bit more of this.
 
I don't think that bridge module is large enough for a full size bridge. Make it twice as large and I think it will work.
 
Impressive how you put smoothed objects up well and quicklly in sketchup. I´m still in nightmares a lot of times...:lol:
 
^It gives me nightmares too. And lots of screaming fits at the computer when Sketchup does something wrong.

I don't think that bridge module is large enough for a full size bridge. Make it twice as large and I think it will work.

Why would such a small ship need such a huge bridge?


Right now I am favoring a middle ground for the scale that gives the ship 5 decks. still thinking on it.

Slight update here. Bent the nacelle pylons up a bit. Going to redo the nacelles to add more "Defiant" look to them and blend them into the pylons more. Also in this pic is a look at an earlier version of the ship.
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I am really liking this approach. Try (?) something more miranda class for the deflector. maybe a ship this size just doesnt the more traditional type that the larger longer range ships need. Cant wait to see more.
 
Very nice, liking the dark detail on the underside rear. The weakest part is the nacelle design though, a little too square at the front for such a forward leaning, smooth design.
 
^
I don't think that bridge module is large enough for a full size bridge. Make it twice as large and I think it will work.

Why would such a small ship need such a huge bridge?

I just mean that if the bridge is going to be tall enough for people to stand up in, it's going to have to be almost as tall as it is long. A runabout cockpit is going to be roomier.
 
^You should try reading my initial post and looking at the 2 differently scaled people standing next to the bridge in the images.

Very nice, liking the dark detail on the underside rear. The weakest part is the nacelle design though, a little too square at the front for such a forward leaning, smooth design.
Thanks. Yeah, the nacelles need more curves to them for sure. The dark detail at the back (the inverted triangle area) is going to be the location of the impulse engines.

Thanks for the comments guys.
 
I love it!
It always bugged me that we got to see more big ships (Nebula, Excelsior, Galaxy, Akira) then we did the smaller ships (Defiant, Norway, Saber). It seems more logical to have a large number of smaller ships that are faster to construct then all these huge leviathans out there that take more resources to construct and staff.
 
Any comments on this nacelle shape?

archernewengineiso.png

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Pulled a couple of Ent-D nacelles just to see how they'd look, kinda digging it.
archertngnacelle.png

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An idea for the nacelles...

Keep the original shape, but put a long thin bit at the end so the rear of the nacelle looks kinda like the profile of an excelsior class engineering hull.
 
Preferred the Defiant-style ones myself; if you're going to go with E-D types I'd separate the Bussard collector from the blue field grills a bit more, personally.

On the other hand, if you keep with Defiant type, I'd suggest putting in that "snout" effect you appeared to be heading towards at one point - it keeps a sense of related features, a family of vessel design types if you will.

God I'm wittering on today, did any of that make sense? At all??
 
current nacelle idea. gonna leave this one for now and start working on other parts of the ship.
archernacelle2side.png
 
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