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This is the latest scan of my Mustang (Mk. VII) Class Starship. As you can see, she looks pretty well done. My only problem is, I am missing the windows for the ship. Since this is pencil, and erasing mistakes gets to be a pain in the ass and is never totally erasible, I want to make sure I do it right before I do it at all.
The reason why is that I have screwed this up before with my Illustrious Class. As you can see from the amount of windows and how many rows there are, this ship should be the size of a Galaxy class, but if you can read the dimensions listed for her, she's supposed to be just bigger then an Intrepid.
My main problems for the Mustang pretty much are 1) How many rows of windows. This ship is supposed to be approximatly 15 decks, and the same length of an Intrepid. The Bridge has already been found to be too small, and that needs fixing. 2) How close to put each set of windows to one another 3) How the windows should curve around the saucer 4) How the windows can look like at all on the engienering hull.
I personally made a copy of the original drawing and have doodled windows on it to try and get ideas, but they still don't seem right. If any of you want to take this picture and doodle ideas on it yourself, you're welcome to, I just want to see the ideas.
Help me if you can
------------------ "No, 3 & 6 are mandatory, so you only have to do them if you want"
Alex, fellow classmate, trying to explain an assignment (2/2/01)
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This is the top side. The entire basis of creating the starship was for a ship with the entire engineering hull and deflector put on top. I only have very basic drawings of the side view (From designs Mk. IV through Mk. VI), but not one that's up to date with this top view. I can tell you she is supposed to be around 15 decks, that's it.
I can tell you generally where some decks are going to be. There is going to be 1 deck that is on the ventral spine of the ship that obviously wont be seen. The 2nd lowest deck will be the actual lip of the saucer. The rest of the 13 or so decks should be viewable from the top view.
And in case you are wondering, yes, it is pencil drawn by hand without any tools (straight-edge or computer)
------------------ "No, 3 & 6 are mandatory, so you only have to do them if you want"
Alex, fellow classmate, trying to explain an assignment (2/2/01)
posted
ROFL, oh man, funny you mention that. I was just thinking of Jar Jar Binks when I typed that reply, cause I misspelled yes as "yesa", and thought to myself "that sounds like something Jar Jar Binks would say..."
Anywho, the front view is always a bit of a bugger. I think the engineering hull is too wide, and the shape is out of whack...
------------------ "No, 3 & 6 are mandatory, so you only have to do them if you want"
Alex, fellow classmate, trying to explain an assignment (2/2/01)
posted
My God, those are beautiful. And entirely freehand? I am utterly astounded. To mirror curves that perfectly on paper with nothing more than a pencil . . . wow. That is skill. And such grace with the lines of those ships. They just flow. Alright, I have to stop gushing now. It's just that good drafting and elegant design get me all choked up. Is this what everyones' designs here look like? I feel so outclassed.
About window patterns. Remember to also include space for lifeboat hatches on the outer hull. Perhaps you should calculate crew complement to come up with the number of lifeboats and figure out how many you want on each deck. Also, if you have the capability, try to draft the line the deck would take along the exterior hull. You know, the actual shape of every deck in the primary and secondary hull. Then just apply the windows along these lines to get the desired curve.
Also, figure out where the top and bottom of each deck are, of course, so that you don't put windows halfway between decks, or make windows 10 feet high, (unless you WANT windows 10 feet high). But I assume you've already figured that one out.
If you want to get technical, standard deck height should be about 9 or 10 feet, 1 foot thick decking or thicker. While making my own passes on the Oberth and Constitution I realized that, hey! All conduits have to run through the deck because cooridor runs would be impeded by doorways! (so much for that nice little idea).
The quickie sketches you made are nice. I think the whole secondary hull is a bit oversized. IMHO, I would try and match it with the sleek elegance of the dorsal view and make it lower and thinner. Boy, I really gotta get working to match the quality and ingenuity around here!
The main problem I have with the engineering hull size is that I have to 1) fit torpedo launchers in around the deflector 2) fit the large internal componants of the deflector 3) fit a shuttlebay and 4) Have enough space for the warp nacelle pylons so they look normal.
So what this leaves me is for trying to create a sleak and small engineering hull, yet trying to fit all these componants in there as well. In fact, the ship's impulse engines also used to be placed along the spine of the engineering hull, giving me another thing to cram in there.
------------------ "No, 3 & 6 are mandatory, so you only have to do them if you want"
Alex, fellow classmate, trying to explain an assignment (2/2/01)