posted
At least partly inspired by Captain Boh, I decided to mock up a late-TOS, pre-TMP "Miranda/Avenger". A friend and I had been discussing what we would do to Trek, given half the chance, and this would be our hero vessel. But before I got in too deep with detailing, I thought I'd see what people think.
As you can probably tell, I've pushed the nacelles way back, and I've spread them out quite a bit. I'm still not sure what I'm doing with the deflector pod thing. I'm mostly concerned with aesthetic feedback, though canon arguments frequently amuse me. So do your worst.
Registered: Sep 2000
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Captain Boh: I think I've been out done
This was not my intent. And it's different. I'm trying to bridge TOS into movie era. Yours is straight TOS. Fewer goo-gahs to fidget with.
Registered: Sep 2000
| IP: Logged
posted
Windows. There are windows on the leading/front edge of the 'square hull at the back of the saucer under the dish region'. I don't think Captain Boh (any relation to the Face of Boh?) had any there. Yes, yes you haven't added much detail yet - but I just wanted to get in quick!
Oh should you lessen the grid lines on the saucer? Although you are trying for a pre TMP feel to the ship like you said.
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
posted
Maybe the impulse deck is a bit large, and the impulse deflection crystal is mounted too far forward?
I know the roll bar is from Reliant, but I've always thought that separate vertical supports for the torpedo pod and phaser cannons would be a lot simpler.
Captain Boh: Put a nice fat outline around your schematic as BX does here. It helps tie the drawing together.
-------------------- When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
Registered: Oct 1999
| IP: Logged
WizArtist II
"How can you have a yellow alert in Spacedock? "
Member # 1425
posted
I think the sensor pod and side cannons should be raised to provide better arcs of fire and so that whatever rays are emitted from the sensor dish will not cause irreparable harm to the bridge crews....um... "libido"
-------------------- There are 10 types of people in the world...those that understand Binary and those that don't.
Registered: Nov 2004
| IP: Logged
quote:Originally posted by Masao: Maybe the impulse deck is a bit large, and the impulse deflection crystal is mounted too far forward?
Oh, impulse delfection crystal. Right. I totally knew what that was. And also totally realized why it was where it was positioned before. Totally.
Thanks all for feedback.
Andrew: I hereby appoint you window nazi for all proto-Mirandas. Rest assured that windows will go there. I just won't put them there until I'm solid on the shape of that portion of the ship. It takes a while bending all those rectangles to conform to new shapes. Good call on the deflector spacing. I was using a movie era template and it wasn't jibing. This feels much more TOS.
Masao: I worried about that being too big. I wanted to make sure the face series would have enough space to still make a fun show and you lose a lot of volume with that secondary hull. This is smaller, but retains some of that original shape. I hope we're talking about the same "impulse deck." No way I'm losing the roll bar. That's half the fun!
WizArtist: Yeah I had similar concerns for their fertility. Rather than raising the rollbar any higher, I've lowered the Bridge module somewhat. The TOS module stands up so proud, and I felt like this kept the lines of the ship. Do people feel like the deflector needs to entirely clear the bridge? I suppose the next step would be making the dish smaller.
Also, Masao, careful about giving away all our tricks. Next thing you know we'll have to become good illustrators!
Registered: Sep 2000
| IP: Logged
posted
Did you intentionally mke the pylons holding up the roll bar at a different angle (from the front/back) than those holding the nacelles? On the Reliant those are part of the same structure, and I'd have assumed they'd be here too (espcially because they line up in the side view).
-------------------- "Well, I mean, it's generally understood that, of all of the people in the world, Mike Nelson is the best." -- ULTRA MAGNUS, steadfast in curmudgeon
Registered: Feb 2001
| IP: Logged
posted
I liked the bridge module better before. The saucer looks too flat this way. Was there a particular reason you didn't want to raise the rollbar a bit? Also, I know you mentioned doing this deliberately, but I think those nacelles stick out too far to the sides. In general, make it a little taller and a little less wide. (Not too much, of course.)
There also definitely needs to be some more detail on the rear deck structure.
posted
Mr. Neutron: That was an intentional departure. I wanted to imply that the rollbar and nacelle strut were the same structure, but I didn't feel TOS era ship design allowed for the trek boomerang shape that so beautifully connects the nacelle, main hull and phaser on the movie era Miranda. I suppose this is my way of uglying it up a bit so the movie era is a marked improvement.
MMoM: The main reason I'm reluctant to raise the bar is to retain the sleek(ish) lines. I want it to look fast. That being said, I can't make up my mind about the original proud bridge vs. my 'adjustment'. Not surprisingly, the original implies TOS more than the changed one (at the cost of the bridge jutting up into the path of the deflector.) Rear detail (and windows) will come later, promise. I want to establish that shape before doing too much detail work.
I played around with some different configurations taking your comments into consideration. The first silhouette is the the 3rd iteration of the design posted above. The second is what I would consider a pretty straight emulation of the Miranda shape using TOS parts and includes a much higher bar to accomodate the big deflector and tall bridge. The third is an attempt to bridge those two and is the incarnation towards which I'm currently leaning. The size of the deflector has been reduced, and the roll-bar raised somewhat. The nacelles have also been brought in a bit (that front view was putting me off my original "wider-is-better" arrangement.)
Everyone's comments (well, save Tim's) have been very useful so far and I'd certainly appreciate more.
Registered: Sep 2000
| IP: Logged
posted
I actually prefer the original version you made. The wider nacelle-base (pardon the automobile pun) makes it seem less boxy to me.
Also, about your deflector dish. I came up with a neat way and logical way to determine how round or oval a deflector dish should be. Take your front view of the ship and - using your circle tool - draw an oval over it, letting the ship's outermost extremities define the shape of the dish. That seems logical to me, as the job of the deflector dish is to provide coverage (via deflector beams and particle emitters) for the whole ship. It seems that having a dish constructed that way would be the most efficient way to go about it.
-------------------- This is just fun...it's not life...keep this in mind and we'll all enjoy it much more
Registered: Dec 2003
| IP: Logged
posted
The original is very good yet I would change the deflector dish to a shape similar to the NX-01 albeit not as narrow. I hope you get what I mean.
Anyways I always wondered what a TOS Excelsior would look like. Even though I know the Excelsior was developed in the TMP Era it would be interesting to see it TOS-erized
Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
