Okay, now for my 15 lines of fame: The models are resting on a table. The Ahwahnee is seen from about 45 degrees up and from 70 degrees starboard (if a view at the bow from dead ahead is 0 degrees). It is now possible to clealy see the way the lower pylon attaches to the nacelle; it perfectly mirrors the upper attachment. The pylons have few straight contours - they have slight dihedral from the upper central attachment point up and from the lower down, and they taper very slightly and smoothly towards the nacelles, the leading edge curving from a steep 45 degree angle to something like 50 degrees and the trailing edge starting with something a little more than 45 degrees but ending with the same 50 degrees. And just outboard of the phaser strip they perform a smooth 90 degree turn up or down to meet the nacelle.
The pylon hits the nacelle centerline so that a little more of the pylon extends aft of the "constriction coils" than forward of them.

No secondary hull can be seen in the picture, nor any other hints of vertical asymmetry.

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The Chekov is seen from perhaps 70 degrees up, and perhaps 45 degrees from starboard. The model rests on the table on a nose-up attitude.

The Chekov has two nacelles identical to the marker pens of the Ahwahnee, except that standard red-streamer Starfleet decals are present on their upper sides. The pylons are square in planform, but have a gullwing structure (outboard part is horizontal, inboard goes down at perhaps 40 degree angle). Their chord is identical to the length of the forward part of the nacelle, and they attach to the inner flanks of the nacelles so that their leading edge is one-third "coil" length aft from the forward end of the "coils".

The primary hull seems to be an unaltered Galaxy saucer, with all the standard bridge features, windows, RCS units, phaser strip and markings and lifeboats in place - except that the main shuttlebay has apparently been sandpapered away.

The interesting part is the secondary hull. Imagine a 20-25 degree ramp beginning just aft of the bridge oval and extending aft, the upper surface spreading from bridge width in the forward end to the width of the removed main shuttlebay in the aft end. This ramp (counting from the aft edge of the bridge to the aft edge of the ramp) is as long as the Galaxy saucer is long. The sides of the ramp go down to the level of the saucer at a moderately steep angle, perhaps 75-85 degrees. Where they reach the level of the saucer, they meet with the lower ends of the pylons (I suppose this is also the bottom of the secondary hull, and it doesn't extend below the level where it meets the pylons). The stern surface of the secondary hull does not go down in the 75-85 degree angle of the side surfaces - instead, it forms an "undercut" like in the Enterprises, so that while the upper edge of the stern surface is about one pylon width aft from the pylon attachment point, the lower edge of the stern surface meets the trailing edges of the pylon roots.

Also, the leading edges of the pylon roots are flared to the trailing edge of the saucer by narrow "ledges" that have some windows in them - the actual ramp part of the secondary hull is windowless, and only has some thin red lining and grey rectangles that look a bit like the "spine" texturing of a Galaxy.

The end result is that the nacelle pylons start from saucer level and go up, so that the nacelles hover over the saucer. The forward tips are over the impulse engines, one "coil" length forward from the saucer trailing edge. The aft tips are one "coil" length aft from the stern of the secondary hull ramp.

Since the Chekov rests on a nose-up attitude, there probably isn't anything below the saucer level in the aft part of the ship. The lowest part of the ship would be the Captain's Yacht. If you looked at the Chekov in silhouette from straight up, you would see a standard Enterprise-like starship with a rather fat and angular secondary hull. If you looked from forward in silhouette, you'd see the saucer, a secondary hull completely above the saucer, and the nacelles above saucer level and even a bit above the upper level of the secondary hull.

Remember Eaves' first pass on the holoship for "Insurrection"? Substitute a Galaxy saucer and Cheyenne marker-pen nacelles, and place this canted "ramp hull" between the nacelles, and you get relatively close.

Timo Saloniemi

I haven't seen any obvious Chekov candidates in the screengrabs yet, but the one that is in the background on the right edge of the viewscreen in the "Shelby scene" and has been so far identified as an Excelsior variant is a slight possibility. It doesn't look exactly right, though. In any case, we can be sure the ship we now call the Challenger class Buran (in the center of the picture with the three-naceller in the upper right corner and the E-D prominently on the foreground) cannot be the Chekov - the nacelles are too far back, and too close to each other, even if we are imagining the part about one of them being above and one below the secondary hull). So Buran is probably Buran.

In any case, the Chekov has a full Galaxy saucer yet the engines of a Cheyenne. To avoid a scaling problem, I'm now officially withdrawing my theory that the Cheyenne is smaller than her bridge module would lead to assume... The Ahwahnee and the Chekov have identical bridge modules, and the Chekov couples her module with a full Galaxy saucer, so postulating a non-Galaxy scale from now on would be futile. The Cheyenne is a big bugger!

Timo Saloniemi

*image removed, please ask me for URL and promise not to further distribute it*

I have used the New Orleans saucer, since only this one was available. I like it better anyway for this ship.

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"Species 5618, human. Warp-capable, origin grid 325, physiology inefficient, below average cranium capacity, minimum redundant systems, limited regenerative abilities."
Ex Astris Scientia

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"When You're Up to Your Ass in Alligators, Today Is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life."
-- Management slogan, Ridcully-style (Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent, Discworld)
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Prakesh's Star Trek Site

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"When You're Up to Your Ass in Alligators, Today Is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life."
-- Management slogan, Ridcully-style (Terry Pratchett, The Last Continent, Discworld)
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Prakesh's Star Trek Site

Andrew

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"A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx

Aban's Illustration www.thespeakeasy.com/alanfore

"Jane's Starships!" (my title, based on the classic "Jane's" reference books, such as "Jane's Fighting Ships.")

Last I heard, be looking for this in late 2001 or early 2002. But, given the scarcity of info and the need to gather it all coherently, and CREATE what doesn't yet exist in a convincing manner, it may take longer)

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"Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi

By the by, what class of ship was the Chekov. I can't remember.

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"A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx

Aban's Illustration www.thespeakeasy.com/alanfore