I recently was cleaning-out my attic and came across some drawings I did in high school several years ago. Believe it or not, most of them were dated! Among these drawings were a handful of hand-drawn starship schematics (drawn ~1987-1989).
So, just for fun, I decided to take those hand-drawn pics and build new schematics in Photoshop based on those designs. Here are the two I have done so far:
And a variant based on that design:
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
Impressive. Most impressive.
I like the dual launchers under the bridge.
Posted by Commander Dan (Member # 558) on :
Many thanks!
To be fair and give credit where credit is due, however; the pho-torp system as seen on my U.S.S. Talhoffer is, in fact, a concept I stole from the U.S.S. Pharris, as seen in Starfleet Prototype.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Sorry, I can't find a better picture. Although, I suppose chronologically, your design would predate that, and their design is based on a SFB design or somesuch.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
Nice schematics. Baaaaaad fonts.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
Those are swell!
A few questions: On the TOS-era ship, how are the sides of the extended secondary hull shaped? Are they vertical and then flat on top or are they rounded? I can't quite understand how they intersect with the flat planes and angles of the rear of the saucer.
Posted by Commander Dan (Member # 558) on :
quote:Originally posted by Reverend: Nice schematics. Baaaaaad fonts.
Admittedly, I did not search very hard for the perfect fonts. I had hoped that the ones I used would suffice, though I was aware that they did not look �accurate.� Oh well.
Masao, does the pic below help to answer your question? Yes, �twas my intention that the �extended secondary hull� be vertical and flat on top.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Nice renderings but I think you've got three times as many deflector panels as aTOS ship would have based on the "trials and Tribulations" Enterprise.
...of course, your deflector-less ship might need more so you could justify it. Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
Very nice. I like the TOS ship, that aft hull design is pretty original, even 15 years later.
Posted by Commander Dan (Member # 558) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Nice renderings but I think you've got three times as many deflector panels as aTOS ship would have based on the "trials and Tribulations" Enterprise.
...of course, your deflector-less ship might need more so you could justify it.
I suppose one could rationalize that this is a �late� TOS-era ship; hence all the grid lines.
I kind-of figured that the deflector is located in the front of the saucer, where those three round �sensors� are usually housed. I had thought about adding the drop-down deflector to the new schematic, but I wanted to stay relatively �true� to my original drawing.
Thanks to all for the kind words! There are, indeed, a couple of more of these that I hope to finish soon. As soon as I do, I will post them here.
Original top drawing of U.S.S. Sharp (named for a girlfriend at the time, incidentally):
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I tend to give ex-girlfriend names to adversary ships... For instance, I named a B'rel class the IKS B'otch in rememberance of one of them.
Anyway, regarding fonts, Mike will happen along here soon enough and throw his Starfleet font collection at you. Use it. Love it.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
If the sides are vertical and the top is flat, how do you get to the rounded shapes of the shuttlebay doors in the back?
Posted by TheWoozle (Member # 929) on :
With a French Curve?
Posted by Commander Dan (Member # 558) on :
quote:Originally posted by Masao: If the sides are vertical and the top is flat, how do you get to the rounded shapes of the shuttlebay doors in the back?
Perhaps it �morphs� into that shape near the rear�? To be honest, I really didn�t think about it that hard. Certainly, I am open to any suggestions as to how to �improve� the schematic, though as stated before: I wish to remain true to the original drawing.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
They look great - what program did you do the new rendering in - looks very professional.
Posted by Commander Dan (Member # 558) on :
Here is my most recent work: the original drawings (from 1989), and my new schematic crafted in Photoshop.
The original ship was the U.S.S. Lea, again named for a girlfriend at the time. In this instance, however, I have renamed the ship the U.S.S. Liberi after the 14th-15th Century Italian Swordmaster; Fiore de Liberi.
Posted by The Mighty Monkey of Mim (Member # 646) on :
The cross-hatched deflector grid looks weird, but it's a nice drawing. As are the others. Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
That's a biiiiig secondary hull ya got there. Compensating for some shortcoming in engineering, mabye?
Is the deck under the bridge another shuttlebay?
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
This configuration just screams movie-era Intrepid class to me.
B.J.
Posted by Commander Dan (Member # 558) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Is the deck under the bridge another shuttlebay?
Actually, it's only just a long command hull with a rather plain rectangular window at the back; presumably where a lounge is located.
quote:Originally posted by B.J.: This configuration just screams movie-era Intrepid class to me.
I made that connection too, though the original drawing was done in �89; long before Voyager was even conceived.
Posted by Pensive's Wetness (Member # 1203) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: Hmmm, second ship looks like the Starfleet destroyer from SFC.
There is another site or 3 that actually has the stats from the FASA game system from the 80's, but Cleeve calls it "Durret" and i'm inclined to agree in principle at least...
Posted by Commander Dan (Member # 558) on :
Sorry, I can't find a better picture. Although, I suppose chronologically, your design would predate that, and their design is based on a SFB design or somesuch.
Yeah, I have the Starfleet Command game for PC and immediately recognized the design (They stole my design! ), though the SFC version has a pho-torp launcher on the lower dorsal.
Still, my design was drawn ~1988, and I can safely say that the only thing that influenced it was Franz Joseph�s TOS style Scout/Destroyer. I saw those ships and thought, �why not simply add another warp nacelle to the top?�
No doubt, I always figured that lots of folks probably came up with this idea as well, so I was never surprised to see this concept done elsewhere, albeit with somewhat varying details.
Posted by Commander Dan (Member # 558) on :
This is the last of my custom starships. I seemed to have lost motivation lately to photoshop the top view, so I will go ahead a post what I have finished.
Also, here is a �variant� of my Sharp-class:
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Your Refit looks like an offshoot of the Belknap class. Is it a carrier? It could also be a niiice colony ship.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I like the side view of that last movie-era ship, but I hate low-mounted nacelles. I also don't care for the way you've laid out the secondary hull... all wide and flat like that. But I really dig the deflector and the details on the side view of the secondary hull.
Posted by Capt.Blair245 (Member # 1113) on :
About the Destroyer in SFC that is a beautiful ship but yours is way better though. The SFC version was basically a futurized Franz Joseph design with extra Naccelle and connie torp launcher underneath.
Posted by Jim NCC1701A (Member # 1021) on :
Nice work you've done there. I like how you were able to blend in elements of the Belknap and Ingram designs (and one or two others from Starfleet Prototypes?).
Do you have any more floating around that you can show us?
Cheers!
Jim.
Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :
I think that to iron out the details of how the curves and straight lines intersect, you're going to have to try some front and rear views. Unless you do that, your ships are just sort of graphic exercises rather than realistic ships.
Posted by Capt.Blair245 (Member # 1113) on :
For the Horizon, you should just put the dual launchers inside the lower part of the saucer. when you put it on top it reminds om of the TOS concept of putting the torp launchers underneath the bridge. One good phaser shot in that area, and the entire top saucer section goes boom...
I'll shutup now...
Posted by Commander Dan (Member # 558) on :
quote:Originally posted by Jim NCC1701A: Do you have any more floating around that you can show us?
Actually, these are pretty much it. As I recall, there was at least one more design I played around with several years ago, but I do not seem to have kept any drawings of it. Basically, the design was simply a TOS/Franz Joseph style scout/destroyer with two nacelles (one port and one starboard) attached at the bottom of the dorsal via horizontal pylons. I had put a deflector dish sandwiched in-between.
quote:Originally posted by Masao: I think that to iron out the details of how the curves and straight lines intersect, you're going to have to try some front and rear views. Unless you do that, your ships are just sort of graphic exercises rather than realistic ships.
Thanks for the tips, but bear in mind that I simply wanted to �recreate� in Photoshop the designs I drew so many years ago. I am certainly no engineer or graphic designer, but quite frankly, I always thought that the designs held up pretty well to scrutiny, with perhaps the exception of the last movie-era ship shown in the thread (1564-A).
quote:Originally posted by Capt.Blair245: For the Horizon, you should just put the dual launchers inside the lower part of the saucer. when you put it on top it reminds om of the TOS concept of putting the torp launchers underneath the bridge. One good phaser shot in that area, and the entire top saucer section goes boom...
Yeah, I wasn�t going for practicality. The idea was, indeed, to pay �homage� to the Franz Joseph concept of placing the torpedo tubes just under the bridge. As stated before, this is an idea I gleaned from Starship Design.
Once again, thanks for all the comments. If I can ever muster the energy, I will try to photoshop additional views, but don�t hold your breath...
Posted by Jim NCC1701A (Member # 1021) on :
quote:Originally posted by Commander Dan:
quote:Originally posted by Jim NCC1701A: Do you have any more floating around that you can show us?
Actually, these are pretty much it. As I recall, there was at least one more design I played around with several years ago, but I do not seem to have kept any drawings of it.
Sorry, just can't help myself - I'm a bit of a ship design junkie. Especially for TMP-era ships, they're getting rarer as time goes on...
Here's a balsa scratchbuild scout/destroyer class I did a few years ago - 1/291.5 scale! Cheers!
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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), though the SFC version has a pho-torp launcher on the lower dorsal. 
