Great work! Love the paint job and detailing.
Bet you needed a heating pad for your neck after hunching over that masterpiece!
Great macro photography as well.
Maybe it's just me, but I prefer the aesthetics of the LN-68s over the TMP refit-E nacelles.
And yes, I will say it: it would be really cool to see a TOS version of this ship class. What kind of ship was it?
There IS a "TOS" version of this ship... (damn, kids these days...
)
I'm doing this from memory, so I may have a few "hickups" in this, but here's the short version:
The Constitution-class starship was the most successful starship design to date, especially the later Bonhomme Richard design revision (aka the "TOS series-version ship"). But it was also very expensive. Not quite as expensive as the Federation-class Dreadnought, but still very pricey.
So the Federation Counsel requested a reduced-cost variation on the design. It would be able to do the majority of the same jobs as the Constitution, but would be somewhat less expensive to manufacture and somewhat less expensive to operate.
The first test vessel in this configuration was the USS Decatur. (That's your "TOS version" of this ship... do a search on the web for it!) The Decatur was successful, so the design was greenlit. However, the next generation of technology was ready, so the Decatur was refit, incorporating "TMP-era" technology but retaining the TOS-era construction, and it was used as the testbed for the TMP-era technologies prior to their incorporation into the 1701(r).
(go to this link in order to see the pre-refit Decatur)
http://www.federationmodels.com/model_kits/gizmotron/default.htm
http://www.federationmodels.com/model_kits/gizmotron/default.htm
The success of the Decatur resulted in the authorization of construction of a large number of these ships (in naval terms, I mean... we're talking a couple of dozen or so as I recall). However, the new-build ships were built, from the ground up, with TMP-era technology and design features. Since it was a significantly different ship, they were redesignated, not as the Decatur class, but as the Belknap class, since the USS Belknap was the first ship constructed in that configuration.
Later, the Federation class dreadnoughts were refit to TMP-era technology, but a decision was made to only convert the existing ships, and not build any new ships (even though the expanding fleet had requirements for more dreadnoughts). So a decision was made to create a less-expensive (again) Dreadnought version of the Belknap, called the Ascension class. The Ascensions were used much as the Federations were, but had shorter standalone ranges, and were thus typically used as flagships assigned to Starbases rather than as fleet flagships.
You can see images (click to see large-scale) of each of these (as well as other things) here:
http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/starship-design.php
EDIT: FYI, I have the same conversion kit, but was planning on doing it with the "normal" nacelles. I've been trying to decide whether to built it with the hangar open or closed, too... it's a great hangar in the kit, but the only other ship I have with an open hangar is my old Lunar Models "Reliant Conversion," and I'm not sure if I want it on this ship or not.
Got my own JTGraphics decals... very nice, by the way... for the Belknap herself. I tend to go for the "class ship" more often than not. Call me boring, huh?
Great job, I was always a fan of the design anyway and as has been said, this is a brilliant rendition.
