Unseen TOS....

[Kahloke]

It's taking shape. A few more small elements to go then colouring. For something that would barely be seen I'm trying to resist getting fancy or adding too much detail.



Hmm… Maybe there should be a book, a collection of short stories called Tales Of The Astral Queen. Sounds like pulp sci-fi.

I love the cutouts at the rear ends of the nacelles. It’s the kind of detail a model maker might knock out in two minutes with a coping saw.

Blazing Inferno on Berengaria VII - ‘Cap Daily’ faces off against certain death... these dragons are no myth!

Ghost Ship - For years, spacers have told the tale of the lost Defiant, pulled through interphase to another realm. A realm of riches beyond measure… and terror beyond man’s understanding!

A Holy Cause - When Cap Daily nearly collides with a small spacecraft, its lone pilot enlists our hero in tracking down The Beast... A creature that will destroy the universe!

The Web Of Death! ‘Cap’ Daily and his beloved Astral Queen face off against a giant space spider… with over 400 lives hanging in the balance!

 

[BK613]

Doesn't need that forward deflector, which looks very tacked on in a FJ copy-the-components kind of way.

 

[publiusr]

https://www.trekcore.com/specials/albums/sketches/STTOS_Sketch_EnterpriseConcept10.jpg

I see that as a sublight ship backed up to a dock in the fore of that saucer.

It's taking shape.

You have that nailed. The aft treatment of the nacelles is particularly novel.

 

[Warped9]

Doesn't need that forward deflector, which looks very tacked on in a FJ copy-the-components kind of way.

I’m not sure it’s the deflector itself or the fact the bow has no detail to break up the plain forward hull, which is something I’m looking at.

 

[Scott Kellogg]

Docking ports/Cargo hatches
might be an appropriate detail filler.
Especially if the Astral Queen doesn't have cargo sized transporters.

 

[Warped9]

I wouldn’t expect much luxury for passengers on a ship like this, but my general thinking was that passenger accommodations and facilities would be most apparent on the B deck superstructure under the control deck (bulge on the top) and the central part of the flat sides of the main hull, as will be evidenced by windows in those areas.

There is an obvious conventional style hangar door underneath the main hull. Cargo can be brought in through the hangar or through docking ports about the ship as well as hatches that open for zero-g loading of bulk cargo—somewhat similar to hatches opening to allow loading cranes to lower cargo into a ship’s hold today. As such this type of transport has the versatility to move a wide variety of cargo as opposed to vessels designed for a specific purpose.

The ship is meant to be about 7-8 decks thick.

 

[Scott Kellogg]

I see.
Quick question: There was a lot of talk in TOS where they said that the older Fed Ships would land.
(I got the impression from TOS that transporters were fairly new, and only recently reliable after a fashion.)

Would your Astral Queen be one that could operate in atmosphere and land?

 

[Warped9]

A reference to landing could just as easily be refering to landing by auxiliary craft.

My general sense of ships in the TOS era is that vessels of a certain type or size could have transporters whereas the rest don’t. My thinking is that ships like the Antares and Astral Queen could have transporter capability, but ships like Class J transports (being relatively small) don’t. Merrick’s references in “Bread And Circuses” left me with the impression the Beagle had transporters, so if the Beagle is like the Antares then the Antares could have transporters.

 

[publiusr]

We do have freighter-“liners” in the real world. The so-called “free” cruises are anything but. They are ways to get you to spend money. If you really want to sail somewhere, book passage on a freighter for the best prices. Spartan accommodations, however.

 

[Kahloke]

It's taking shape. A few more small elements to go then colouring. For something that would barely be seen I'm trying to resist getting fancy or adding too much detail. Of course, I didn’t want it to look like a boat, but I wanted it to maybe evoke something familiar. I also hoped the ship’s general purpose might also telegraph from the shape, suggesting a transport of cargo and people.



Hmm… Maybe there should be a book, a collection of short stories called Tales Of The Astral Queen. Sounds like pulp sci-fi.

Heh. I finally figured out what it was that was making me happy about this design. That bulge/module below the main body of the hull... if the model were filmed from a 3/4 view from above, that bulge wouldn’t be seen on camera... which means fandom would’ve lost its collective mind upon seeing the “long lost” model come up for auction in 2011, and learning that all those homespun blueprints and diagrams were inaccurate!!! ​

 

[Warped9]

Heh. I finally figured out what it was that was making me happy about this design. That bulge/module below the main body of the hull... if the model were filmed from a 3/4 view from above, that bulge wouldn’t be seen on camera... which means fandom would’ve lost its collective mind upon seeing the “long lost” model come up for auction in 2011, and learning that all those homespun blueprints and diagrams were inaccurate!!! ​

I’m so mean.

Maybe I should have called this project The Lost Miniatures of Star Trek and really messed with some people’s heads.

 

[Kahloke]

I’m so mean.

Maybe I should have called this project The Lost Miniatures of Star Trek and really messed with some people’s heads.

I’m so mean.

Maybe I should have called this project The Lost Miniatures of Star Trek and really messed with some people’s heads.

It’s never too early to start planning for April Fools day...

 

[Warped9]

Except for windows and colouring I think I've taken this as far as I feel comfortable and still stay within the parameters I set out. Indeed there are a few physical details I've added that could just be painted on given how little we would actually see of the miniature. Some of the details I added could have been simplified even more and still get the right effect, but I wanted to go a little further to be closer to what I envisioned.



While I like to think this design has its own integrity I feel it certainly doesn't look heroic or majestic. Hopefully it looks somewhat more industrial (for TOS) and utilitarian.

 

[StarCruiser]

Just a suggestion to play with, rather than have the forward bulkhead straight across - angle the outer edges beyond the sensor/deflector area. 'Kink' it back just a little. Otherwise, this really looks good - especially since it's clearly NOT Star Fleet but, clearly Federation.

 

[Kahloke]

Except for windows and colouring I think I've taken this as far as I feel comfortable and still stay within the parameters I set out. Indeed there are a few physical details I've added that could just be painted on given how little we would actually see of the miniature. Some of the details I added could have been simplified even more and still get the right effect, but I wanted to go a little further to be closer to what I envisioned.



While I like to think this design has its own integrity I feel it certainly doesn't look heroic or majestic. Hopefully it looks somewhat more industrial (for TOS) and utilitarian.

Bravo!

 

[BorgMan]

That luxury liner kind of reminds me of an Antares. Maybe it's the more angled look. But I like it!

 

[Henoch]

Best Astral Queen, ever! Some TAS cargo ship influence with some sleek submarine styling (looks a little like a Typhoon Class). To me, it also suggests higher class accommodations for passengers.

 

[Warped9]

Everything else is add-on, but the main hull is based on the idea of picking up a chunk of wood and imagining what I could cut and shape out of it. I did literally that while I was tidying up the garage, thinking about it as a I held a piece of 2x10 in my hands. The A/B deck section on top could easily have had more upright sides, but I angled them to add a touch of sleekness. Same with the bow and hangar section below.

So this design, like the two designs prior, was influenced by the imposed constraint of limited resources. The Desilu workshop probably had better resources than I have in my garage, but TOS would also have had some constraint in terms of time which I don’t have.

In terms of influences, after reference had been made to tramp steamers I looked up pics of those for some sort of visual jumpstart. The simplified A/B structure came out of that even though tramp steamers have a wide variety of form. The design looks boat like in profile without the nacelles and the hangar pod underneath. So the influence is there, but it doesn’t really jump out at you. Besides it looking generally more blocky than the Enterprise I made an effort to make some of the added bits look somewhat chunkier.

Another approach to this could have been a more clean sheet approach like I used for the Valiant, at least in terms of being less constrained by resources. The Valiant was never going to appear onscreen so a physical miniature would never have to be built. That allowed for greater freedom of design even though it was based on (I think) reasonable conjecture of how Matt Jefferies might have envisioned it. The Astral Queen doesn’t need to be shown onscreen either, but being a contemporary of the Enterprise I felt there was no similar historical context to use as a guide for its design. So thats why I used the conceit of imagining something that had to be put together quickly for a few seconds onscreen.

I also see a bit of TAS echo in the design, but that wasn’t a conscious aim on my part as I think this design is less busy than the robot freighter or the Huron.

I added windows last night so I’ll be doing colouring and some rendering later today. Part of me would like to add more detail, but that would be going further than what would be needed for a miniature that would barely be seen. More detail could be justified if the scene where Kirk talks to Daily were restructured so we briefly cut to a clean shot of the Astral Queen in orbit.

 

[Warped9]

Part of me would like to add more detail, but that would be going further than what would be needed for a miniature that would barely be seen. More detail could be justified if the scene where Kirk talks to Daily were restructured so we briefly cut to a clean shot of the Astral Queen in orbit.

I’ve been thinking about this and maybe a bit more detail wouldn’t hurt if we assume the scene could be slightly restructured to give us a quick look at the Astral Queen. To that end I’m trying to figure out what kind of font to use for the ship’s name and registry, reaffirming this ship is not Starfleet (even though this early in the series Starfleet had not yet been established onscreen).

 

[tesral]

I like it. Of course I would have does somethings differently, but I'm not you.