USS Korolev - W.I.P.

[The Axeman]

Hi all, been off the radar for a while but recently got prodded into action again. Someone wanted me to get back together with my old 2D design chum and make a model of the ASDB design for the Korolev, and so I decided I would give it a go. I haven't made a large model like this in ages, so I thought I'd post on here as a sort of way to keep me motivated.

Anyway, there is currently only a side view of the main design and I've pressed the designer for any other bits and pieces and he sent me a couple of rough sketches and a couple of versions of things. With these and a little luck I will be able to make something in 3D over the next few weeks. Here's the start of it, just trying to work up the basics and get back into lightwave after my hiatus...

 

[LtCarter]

Hoorah the Axeman returns.
Nice ship to come back with, it's a nice start.
Any word on the ASDB being updated?

 

[Griffworks]

Ooo! I'm likin' what you've got so far! :thumbsup:

 

[The Axeman]

LtCarter said:Any word on the ASDB being updated?

The word is no, as far as I know. Myself and Reverend might get together and finish off two or three designs we had going back then but I dont think the ASDB will be oing much else. I was only a sidekick anyway, I just made occasional models of the stuff that the main guys thrashed out amongst themselves. I think they all wandered off onto their own individual projects and got sidelined by them, much like many great bands do in their later years.

 

[regemet]

I like her and would like to see more of her.

 

[Starship]

Nice start Ace. She isn't the "canon" Korolev, right ?

 

[The Axeman]

I dont know that their is one?

Turns out I've been using out of date drawings, so I'm almost going to have to start again to get the basics right. Here's what I had one before I got shot down in flames by the guys that designed it...

 

[Kaiser]

Hmmm didnt the Korolev have a more oval saucer?

 

[LtCarter]

Actually the ship at the ASDB was more misshapen than it was oval. Are there any images of what the updated ship looks like?

 

[The Axeman]

You are right, it's more oval. I had to start again practically from scratch, there were so many slight differences in scale and position that I wasn't able to salvage anything. Here's an updated pic of the model, I dont have the new plan drawings URL just now but I'll try and post it later...

 

[The Axeman]

Just in case anyone is interested, here's an update. I remade the nacelles, added the pylons and some of the larger elements on the main hull and saucer.

 

[LtCarter]

Oh cool,really liking those updated nacelles.

 

[Griffworks]

Same here. A nice contrast to what you originally had. :thumbsup:

 

[The Axeman]

OK, I was forced to change the nacelles. The ship is supposed to come somewhere between the Ambassadors and the Galaxy class in timeline, so the bussards have been changed back to plain vanilla ones like the drawings. What we have added, however, is a detail on the upper nacelle to try and tie it more to the Ambassador class. The designed wanted to try it and I think it could work, although I'm not sure exactly what more to do with that area right now. Anyway, here's the pictures. I'm going to start work on the main hull itself now and get that ready for detailing.

 

[Praetor]

Looking nice! I've always thought this design looked cool, and I like the more recent changes to the nacelles... it definitely puts it in the time period where it's supposed to belong...

 

[Blip]

The Axeman said:
OK, I was forced to change the nacelles. The ship is supposed to come somewhere between the Ambassadors and the Galaxy class in timeline, so the bussards have been changed back to plain vanilla ones like the drawings. What we have added, however, is a detail on the upper nacelle to try and tie it more to the Ambassador class. The designed wanted to try it and I think it could work, although I'm not sure exactly what more to do with that area right now.

Hmm.. liking the new nacelles, I must say. However, if this ship is supposed to sit between the Ambassador and Galaxy classes, then shouldn't the saucer be either 1) circular, or 2) perpendicular to its current layout? As it is, it looks like the design is striving to emulate a much more post-TNG era... Just IMO, of course!

 

[LtCarter]

Here are the plans posted by Reverend at the SCN which were from some site called Flare.
http://s126.photobucket.com/albums/p115/LtCarterScn/?action=view&current=Korolev_plans_4.jpg

Personally i liked the original, it seemed to fit more the Voyager era and it looked it. I think Blip is right, with an Amb-downgrade the whole feel of the ship is changing. But lets see what comes of it. After all it's a WIP.

 

[The Axeman]

Most of the banter concerning the ship is ongoing at the Flare scifi forums, where all the hard-nosed trek guys hang out. If you want to join in the discussion feel free, perhaps your ideas will be incorporated, but at the moment the main designer is Reverend as he drew the plans. Indeed he has redrawn them several times and the ship is evolving as I make it, and as we see what each change does to the look and feel of it. I'm going to alter the nacelles and bussards slightly to match his plans and I'm half-way through building the proper body shape now that I have a front and rear drawing to work from. It's looking interesting now, not the square shape of the placeholder in the model. More pics tonight I should imagine...

 

[Reverend]

Stylistically speaking it is a bit of a mixed bag. There are elements of Ambassador, Galaxy, Olympic and even Excelsior, so it's not going to fit exactly between those two existing designs. It's more off to the side, a bit on a tangent, if you will. From an in0universe perspective I have to think that ship design isn't an entirely linear process. There are elements in one generation that go more or less unchanged to the next, some that have been adapted from an old or obsolete design that hasn't been used in a while for whatever reason and there's always going to be elements of innovation that are unique and aren't necessarily going to survive into the succeeding generation of starship. The saucer for example, would be an early experiment in non-circular configurations. The nacelles would benefit from developments made in the Ambassador class's first round of major refits and so on and so forth. So there's a certain ammount of latitude in terms of style.

Anyway, as the man said, it's an ongoing process and we're basically playing it by ear and see how it goes.

 

[Unicron]

Nice.