Ok, this is my first attempt at Starship design. This is based on the well known pre-production sketch by Matt Jefferies, which was basically an inverted version of what would become the more familiar Constitution-Class. I started out with bits and pieces in Vance's toolkits and adjusted them to fit my design better. My goal was to try and stay true to Jefferies sketch and not have it just be a mere rearrangement of Connie components. The saucer is meant to be roughly the same size as the Connie saucer. This is in line with the specuation that the Constellation was originally of this class and refitted later. I would speculate that this was possible due to the primary hulls of both designs using a very similar space-frame. By and large I didn't have any great technological theories behind the design. I just wanted something that looked good AND was somewhat true to the sketch. I'm still not 100% pleased with it though & will likely tweak the design at some point in the future. Hope you enjoy!
Looks good EliyahuQeoni. I'm no expert but you could try moving the nacelles forward a touch, but leave the pylons where they are on the saucer. I don't know if this would move it out of the realm of faithfulness to MJ's original design, but it may give it a more pleasing line. Hope this might help in some way.
Thanks for the suggestions. I had some trouble placing the nacelles satisfactorily, so its no surprise to me that there are still problems in that area. Vance - Looking at the design again I see what you mean. Those are a bit teeny! Back to the drawing board!
Ok, take two. I adjusted the nacelles slightly and beefed up the support pylons. Thanks again for the feedback!
Starscape came up with a similar idea in the "Re-imagine Star ship class II" thread, except that the nacelle pylons connect to the secondary hull rather than the primary: http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/showflat.php?Number=8393164#Post8393164 I'd love to see the two ideas combined; with your secondary hull and his nacelle struts.
Thanks for the encouraging words, everyone! Wingsley - Thanks for pointing that thread out. Very nice. Looks like we both may have been inspired by the same Jefferies sketch and/or the Ranger-Class. A combination would be interesting to see.
The neck that leads up to what I assume is the engineering hull with the shuttlecraft hanger looks barely large enough to hold a one-person turbolift, IMO.
Re: Yorktown-Class - Updated! Here is the latest update to my Yorktown-Class design. Mostly minor tweaks here and there. The major difference is the impulse engines, which I bulked up a bit in an attempt to make them appear less advanced than the ones seen on the Constitution-Class. I also put together a Project patch and a ship's insignia. The insignia itself is meant to be evocative of the Revolutionary War era Tricorner hat, which is featured on the development patch, since the name "Yorktown" ultimately derives from the name of the battle fought there.
Re: Yorktown-Class - Updated! Nice take on that design. Some problems: - The hangar bay width as seen from above and the heigth as seen fom the side seems to indicate a half-cylindrical form, which should be seen behind the dish in the front view. - The nacelle supports in the front view connect on the outermost circle of the nacelle which correspondes with the enlarged section on the end of the nacelle, it should connect to the border of the grey area of the bussard collector.
Re: Yorktown-Class - Updated! Well, crap! How the hell did I miss that? lol.. thanks! Thanks! I guess front views aren't my strong suit.
Re: Yorktown-Class - Updated! Maybe there's a cloak on the shuttlebay so enemies can't trap the redshirts with a lucky strike? It's an interesting design. Reminds me of the fanon Ranger class.
Re: Yorktown-Class - Updated Again Ok, lets try this again! When I went back to "uncloak" the landing bay I found some other issues with the front view. I think when I tweaked the other views I somehow forgot to tweak the front. oops!