U.S.S. Curry and other ships from DS9

[Dukhat]

I wasn't sure whether to post this in the DS9 section or here, but since it's about ship models seen (or unseen), I figured this would be the better place.

Anyway, over the years I've had a knack of contacting pervious Star Trek production personnel and finagling pictures out of them of some unseen or rarely-seen starship models. Well, after being in patient email contact with Mr. Dan Curry for several years, I was finally able to get photos from him of the U.S.S. Curry kitbashed model he built for DS9. So I thought I'd share them with all of you. I'm in the process of building a replica of this ship and the other DS9 kitbashes (sans battle damage), so these pics are quite helpful.

Some things I noticed: The saucer is further back on the secondary hull than was previously believed; there's a little Enterprise-A shuttlecraft top covering the hole where the pylon assembly would have gone; and runabout decals were used on the Reliant pylons. Unfortunately these were the only pics Curry took for me, so I can't see the neck between the saucer and the secondary hull, or what that piece is underneath the secondary hull where the mounting rod is attached. I could tell that the bottom of the shuttlcraft is at the end of the ship on the underside, as I've already started building my model, and that's what it looks like from that angle.

I was also sent some old scanned polaroids of one of the DS9 kitbash rounds, in various stages of completion. Unfortunately, because Curry didn't build any of these models, he knows nothing about them. However, they're quite interesting: The Antares was seen before, and there's what seems to be a standard Excelsior "U.S.S. Excel" (obviously named after the Microsoft spreadsheet program, lol ) And the Trieste looks quite bizarre.

 

[Unicron]

Wow. The Trieste is indeed very strange looking, and I wonder what it was intended to be. Starfleet bugzapper maybe?

 

[yenny]

I think that the USS. Trieste was a early 22 century starship that was refited and brought back into service and given a new registry number.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Oh geez. Is that seriously what the Trieste was supposed to look like?

 

[yenny]

I just recall tthat I've seen a ship that look like the Trieste in The Making of First Contact. But look like a hugh ship compare to the Enterprise.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Wow, thanks for posting the pics, Dukhat! I especially like the USS Trieste NCC-3724. Some kind of communications control ship, or maybe meant for long-range scanning and imaging? Or are those weapon turrets? Those windows and nacelles suggest a ship far larger than the Miranda-class the model started life as.

I love those old DS9 kitbashes, they remind me of the Federation ships in the old DC comics Trek series I read growing up. It's cool to see such interesting variations in ship design.

 

[blssdwlf]

Thanks for sharing the photos Dukhat. If the Curry's saucer is suppose to be the same as the Execlsior's then the nacelles must be super-sized

 

[B.J.]

The Trieste is certainly an interesting looking ship! But the thing that catches my eye is the non-standard markings. If it weren't for the emblem on the turret-looking thing (which also has a couple of painted windows), I'd guess that this was the bottom of the ship.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

So are we going to have to start a thread called:

Pink Warp Nacelles?



As for the Curry, I always assumed (and still do) that it's some kind of troop transport for Starfleet Marines. The saucer section with nacelles, probably separates from the rest of the ship - the forward section - and leaves it behind as a troop barracks.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I'd be good with that assumption - when fandom named it the Shelley-class (for Mary Shelley) in the 90s, we thought of that as well.

I'm still curious as to how the saucer is mounted to the secondary hull... must be some custom piecework, but most of the ship uses existing model parts. doesn't look like the standard Excelsior neck, that's for sure - there's barely any clearance for the bottom of the standard Excelsiaucer.

Mark

 

[F. King Daniel]

the standard Excelsiaucer.

You win word of the day

 

[bullethead]

I'm still curious as to how the saucer is mounted to the secondary hull... must be some custom piecework, but most of the ship uses existing model parts. doesn't look like the standard Excelsior neck, that's for sure - there's barely any clearance for the bottom of the standard Excelsiaucer.

To me, it looks like it's more or less attached to the module that an Excelsior classes nacelle pylons usually come out of, maybe with a simple custom extension at the front. It's also off the saucer centerline for some reason.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

<bows>

On further reflection I'm gonna guess that the saucer was simply hot glued to the secondary hull. There are hints of SOMETHING under there (look forward of the shuttlecraft top piece in the aft view polaroid) but more likely it was simple bits to keep it intact for shooting. The builders, knowing the best angles for their design, wouldn't have finished every bit under it if it was not likely to be seen from that angle. They already knew where the mounting rod would be, so there was no way we would get a ventral-up look in the FX shot.

As for why the secondary hull was off-axis, well, it was obviously blown that way due to the two massive explosions in the Excelsiaucer and the secondary hull. Never stopped naval ships from sailing either.

Mark

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Whoom! Spweee!

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I have several comics from that DC run. It was the 1980s and all, but I just can't believe they thought they could get away with drawing the Excelsior like that..

Mark

 

[Unicron]

Perhaps the funniest error in the Mirror Universe Saga is when the ISS Enterprise activates its method for entering our universe, and temporarily becomes the Excelsior in that panel.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

And ironically, I think it was one of the better renditions of the Excelsior in the DC comics. In some shots the curvy part of the secondary hull was practically a sphere!

Mark

 

[137th Gebirg]

SO! That's what a Merced-class starship looks like. Never seen the Trieste before, yet it's been mentioned many times in TNG. I wonder if that miniature was made to be shown during the blockade in "Redemption Pt II".

Really cool photos. The "USS Excel" is kind of funny - not much imagination went into that one.

And while we're talking about Curry/Shelley-style starships, we should never forget about the USS Raging Queen.

 

[Timo]

SO! That's what a Merced-class starship looks like. Never seen the Trieste before, yet it's been mentioned many times in TNG. I wonder if that miniature was made to be shown during the blockade in "Redemption Pt II".

I'd rather that this be an old (as per the registry) and long since retired Trieste of some other class, dug out of mothballs (or a scrap heap) and refitted for duty in the war by adding anachronistic engines... Say, as a clumsy but navigable platform for some heavy artillery, much like often happens in real naval warfare.

Sure, the portholes look TNG'ish. But we don't know how this one would have looked like on screen - perhaps the portholes would not have been visible after all?

(The dayglo colors we can ignore: they are just for VFX purposes, to allow different types of lighting effects to be painted on them at specific passes. It doesn't appear as if this model would be internally lit.)

As for the Curry, I like to view her through the assumption that the engines are Miranda standard. That way, the secondary hull does not have appreciable volume for any sort of accommodation - Marines, fightercraft or anything else. But it's the perfect grapple for those FJ style containers, hugging their upper bow and towing them the way FJ's Ptolemy was supposed to. The extra impulse engines on the towing fixture only come to play when there's cargo in tow. Similarly, the two deflectors on the bow (the dish, and the bronze-hued, curved topside emitter, similar to the one atop the Centaur and too small to be a practical shuttlebay door regardless of assumed scale) complement each other for the two different load conditions the ship may experience.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Dukhat]

On further reflection I'm gonna guess that the saucer was simply not glued to the secondary hull. There are hints of SOMETHING under there (look forward of the shuttlecraft top piece in the aft view polaroid) but more likely it was simple bits to keep it intact for shooting.

Not according to this pic:

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/_...y_studio_model_with_its_creator_Dan_Curry.jpg

There's definitely a neck there between the saucer and the secondary hull, and a substantial one. It looks to me that it's actually the Excelsior's neck, turned upside down and attached to the middle of the saucer underside. When I built my model, that's what I did, and it looks like that. However, I was hoping to have a clearer pic of that neck when I got these pics, but it was not to be.