posted
As long as we don't have a close-up on the Freedom, I must say I like the idea of it being only 260-270m long. This would make it the 24th century successor to the Saladin/Hermes line, and the nacelle would be roughly in scale with the New Orleans nacelle of similar shape. And I would be VERY happy if Niagara could be considered this small, too - but the window count seems to rule that out.
Here's hoping the Fact Files don't corrupt too many young minds with that chart. Thankfully, it isn't graphically stunning or anything. Perhaps it would best be used for practicing the art of silhouette-cutting?
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posted
I only recently realized that the tug is supposed to be facing left in the picture - those big arms are dangling behind it (or then the thing is moving on reverse in "A Time to Stand"). That would mean the Intrepid engines are some sort of braking thrusters...
Anyway, since kitbashers freely intermingle parts from the ships of various races, I won't accept this as a Fed design until I see Starfleet insignia or Latin text on it. OTOH, I won't really accept it as Klingon until I see their cuneiform on it, either...
Umm, what if this is Dominion war loot, and the Frederickson is actually PUSHING it home?
posted
The Niagara size in the FF chart is definitely much too small. There is no way to disregard the window sizes.
If the FF diagram of the Freedom alone is correct, then the deck heights in the saucer roughly correspond with the size of a 1/1 scale Galaxy nacelle - exactly as on the Niagara model which was also built by Greg Jein. The only problems are the tall windows in the neck. I'm inclined to say this is the FF is wrong with that. I can't imagine that Greg Jein made such errors on a custom-built model.
I would like to make the Freedom smaller too, but it seems more likely that the ship is actually 430m.
------------------ "Species 5618, human. Warp-capable, origin grid 325, physiology inefficient, below average cranium capacity, minimum redundant systems, limited regenerative abilities." Ex Astris Scientia
posted
The orientation of the tug comes, very simply, from the relevant "A Time to Stand" scene. It's easy to see that the angular ends of the nacelles point towards the viewer (and glow red), and the canted leading edges of the "pylons" are also a giveaway - their upper ends are farther away from the viewer than the lower ends.
The overall coloration on screen (as opposed to in the picture) still strikes me as Klingon - and the red lines on the flanks in the pic do not appear to be decorative Starfleet streamers, but pieces of machinery (which doesn't even glow red in the episode).
I wonder if the thing is manned? It's big enough to have habitable spaces, but there are no obvious windows or accessways.
Don't the cylindrar bow and stern fixtures (with the harpoon-like things in the aft fixture) look like some sort of docking adapters that could fit into each other? Perhaps there's a matching fixture in a typical starship. Heck, most Klingon starships do have round holes of this apparent diameter - never mind that they are torp tubes, they may also be towing fixtures.
Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
The modeler strikes again...so far I've idenitified 5 pieces of the tug:
--the Romulan warbird nacelles; --the Intrepid-class outer pylon wing; --the Danube-class sensor rollbar (look on the top); --legs from an Imperial AT-ST (the arms); --at least one of the clips used to hold a motherboard to its case (the "prongs" all the way to the right)
------------------ "Do you know how much YOU'RE worth??.....2.5 million Woolongs. THAT'S your bounty. I SAID you were small fry..." --Spike Spiegel
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