Federation Scout

[evil_genius_180]

This is something I started working on a couple days ago. It's mostly my own design, though I'm taking some influences from some ships that already exist, specifically the Intrepid from Enterprise, the Nova-class from Voyager and the USS Bonaventure, NCC-1000 (fan design.)

Basically, it's a small scout/science ship used from the late 23rd to early 24th century. This type of ship would be used for border defense, planetary surveys, nebula exploration, that kind of thing. Due to the finite amount of internal space, I figure it doesn't have the space to carry supplies needed for an extended mission outside of Federation and explored space, so it probably mostly stays within the Federation borders. The finished length is going to be 160 meters, the width is 110 meters and it has 9 decks.

Design wise, I'm going for a bit of a blend of Enterprise refit and Excelsior, with a few other things thrown in.

[gmd3d]

Great start and its fun to see more smaller designs

[evil_genius_180]

Thanks bro. I like smaller ships too.


I was looking at my images this morning and I realized my bridge module disappeared. (yes, the ship had one) What happened was I had accidentally saved my nacelle over my latest version of the ship. I noticed that and looked at the previous save of the ship and thought I was fine, until I saw the missing bridge after I rendered. So, I rebuilt it. The good thing is, I like my second one a lot better than the first one.

[gmd3d]

that looks good.. on to the next stage

[evil_genius_180]

Later. I'm watching the Olympics right now.

[evil_genius_180]

For those who don't read my blog, here's my latest bit of exciting news. The hard drive in my desktop is dying. It's been "losing" files for a while, and it's getting worse, telling me it's about to go kaput. Before it dies completely, I copied a lot of stuff onto my laptop. And, until my replacement drive gets here, I'll be using the laptop only. So, that's wonderful.

The good news is, my replacement hard drive for my desktop has been ordered. The bad news is, it probably won't be here before sometime next week. Today was a holiday here in the US, so the mail didn't run. (and, by extension, neither did companies like UPS, I'm sure) Plus, I refuse to pay for shipping if I don't have to, and I didn't have to, so I didn't. That means I'll get it when I get it.

Anywho, working from the laptop right now. Modeling on it isn't bad, but rendering sucks. I went from a 3.0 GHz 8-core processor down to a 1.0 GHz dual-core processor and less than half of the RAM of my desktop. So, rendering is the slowest I've had to put up with in a long time. But, I've used worse.

I worked on the grid lines for the center section yesterday and today. I've got them pretty much done.

[evil_genius_180]

I got my hard drive yesterday. Considering that I ordered it Sunday, Monday was a holiday and it didn't ship until Wednesday, that's fast. Especially when you consider that I didn't pay for shipping.

http://www.amazon.com/WD-Blue-Deskto...093&sr=1-1

I'm not necessarily the biggest Western Digital fan, but I shop by reviews. I brought up Amazon's list of 3.5" hard drives and sorted it by average customer review and this was #1. Plus, it's relatively inexpensive because it's from WD's Blue series. Their Black series is supposed to be faster, but I couldn't see paying $11 more for a drive that's half the size. The drive I replaced is a Samsung 1TB SATA II 3 GB/s 7200 RPM drive with a 32 MB cache. This is a 1TB SATA III 6 GB/s 7200 RPM drive with a 64 MB cache. So, it's the same size but about twice the speed of the old drive. Plus, despite the claims of some reviewers, it makes no noise that I can hear. I even had my case open for a while yesterday and didn't hear the drive over my fans. Those people who heard noise from theirs either have superhuman hearing or (more likely) improperly mounted theirs. (or they just got duds) Mine is secured with 4 screws tightened just right, because I've found that improperly secured hardware can make a lot of noise.

Anywho, it's all good so far. After getting Windows installed and updated and installing my other software, I didn't feel like doing much last night. Installing Windows takes a while, no matter how fast your computer is, and Windows Update is easily the second slowest and worst software update program I've ever used. The only one I've used that's slower is the one in Fedora (Linux.) So, all said it took a few hours to get things back to where they were before the drive started messing up. Of course, there's still lots of games and whatnot to reinstall, but I got the essentials like Lightwave, Gimp and Inkscape installed. And, of course, my web browser, mail client and media player, 7zip, stuff like that (utilities.) So, back to this.

I did the grid lines for the saucer section the other day, but I didn’t want to render on my slow laptop. Now that I have my desktop back and I’m back to sub-two minute renders, here they are.

[gmd3d]

you where not away from modelling to long.. great to see it continue

[evil_genius_180]

I'm amazed I got that drive as quickly as I did. I was really expecting it to be here next week, especially after they didn't ship it until Wednesday. However, I live fairly near an Amazon warehouse and it must have had the drive in stock.

[ulimann644]

I really like your small ship designs.
Looks very cool.

[evil_genius_180]

Originally Posted by ulimann644

I really like your small ship designs.
Looks very cool.

Thanks. Unfortunately, progress on this has been halted as I'm not in the mood to work on it right now. However, I have something else in the works and I'm getting close to a reveal on that.

[gmd3d]

Sounds interesting

[evil_genius_180]

I added a docking port. I meant to get more done today, but the day really got away from me. Between watching NASCAR and the Academy Awards, I had a lot of distractions. Plus, I spent way too much time looking for references for the TMP docking port when I could have just scanned the schematic from Mr. Scott’s Guide to the Enterprise, which is what I wound up doing. It’s not 100% accurate, but it doesn’t need to be, and it was the best reference I have besides a nice photo from Memory Alpha. Besides, I’m sure these things vary just like any other Trek bits do.





I probably put too much detail into the thing. It doesn’t even show up as much when zoomed out. But, if I ever need to do a 6k or larger image, I’m good.





I haven’t decided on a name for the ship yet, but I’ve narrowed it down. However, I’ve picked a registry number. I thought of doing NCC-2187, because 2187 is the number of Princess Leia’s cell on the Death Star in Star Wars. However, the Hathaway was commissioned in the mid 2280s with the number NCC-2593, the Bozeman about a decade earlier with the registry NCC-1941. I figure that would put a ship with the number NCC-2187 around the year 2280 or so, assuming the numbers are actually sequential. (I ignore the Excelsior with NX-2000, as that ship was likely on the drawing board for many years with that number.) I want my ship to be a bit later than that, so I decided on the number NCC-3574. (anybody want to hazard a guess as to where I came up with that? )

[gmd3d]

Nice addition.

as for the reg number guess

your old school locker

[evil_genius_180]

Thanks Ger. Why would I use a locker number for a registry number? The numbers are Science Fiction related. Some (but not all) of them correspond to letters in the alphabet.

[gmd3d]

No idea. perhaps you remembered it easy
???

[evil_genius_180]

I graduated from high school 16 years ago and I have a really bad memory. I'm lucky if I remember what classes I took, let alone what my lock combination was. Plus, I didn't even have a locker my senior year because I didn't need one. I had few classes that even required books because I only needed a few credits to graduate, so I filled up my schedule with art, typing and computer classes.

[gmd3d]

we never had lockers.. not back then. they have only stole the locker anyway

[evil_genius_180]

Let me guess, you also had to walk 20 miles through the snow with no shoes, uphill both ways, right?

[gmd3d]

No 5 minutes up the road, not far at all. ..

[evil_genius_180]

I'm trying to figure out what your avatar is supposed to be.

[gmd3d]

A very old warrior..

based on a character from one of Terry Prachetts Discworld books, they make me laugh

[evil_genius_180]

I've never heard of it, but that picture is pretty freaking hilarious. Thanks for the bigger version, it helps me see it better.

I added windows today. I only planned to do some on the saucer rim, but then I felt the center section needed a few. Not many, though, as that would most likely be where the deuterium and water tanks, cargo bays, etc. would go. Remember, this isn’t a long range ship, so it wouldn’t need all of the space for that stuff that a big starship would. Also, since there clearly was one in Kirk’s quarters in Star Trek 6, I think it can be safely assumed that replicators were invented by the time this ship was launched. So, there’s not as much need for food storage, etc. I did add a few Enterprise refit style arboretum windows. But, that only makes sense as the ship does scientific missions and would need a botany section. Besides, plants are natural air purifiers.





I also started some detailing on the bridge module, but I’m not really liking how it looks, so I’ll probably scratch it and do something else. I can do that, since I’ve got older saves from which I can get a “clean” version of that part.





And, that’s probably all I’m doing with this today. I’m probably going to spend the rest of my night playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. For some silly reason, I got in the mood to play that again last week, so I downloaded and installed it. I’m currently playing the Scoundrel story line.

[gmd3d]

Good books

excellent work on the windows and the design is coming on nicely

[ulimann644]

Originally Posted by Taranis

Good books

100% Agree.
I like mostly the book "Mort" -

BTT:
Great details. Excellent work on the ship.

[evil_genius_180]

Thanks guys.

[evil_genius_180]

I redid the details on the bridge module. What I had before was too busy and hectic looking. I went back to a more simple design. The lines also aren’t as deep and wide as before. Also, I nixed one of the windows for the observation lounge.





Note: I also nixed the stupid light and it will probably stay gone. I know they’ve been faking lighting on Star Trek ships since TMP, since there are lighted areas without source lights and those flush to the hull lights won’t light much more than the area directly in front of them. There’s no way that light would light the ship’s registry, which will be on the center part somewhere in front of the bridge. I’ll work out a more realistically located light source for the registry later.

[gmd3d]

I find that the simple approach often works best on some designs..

[evil_genius_180]

Originally Posted by Taranis

I find that the simple approach often works best on some designs..

Yes, it does.

[evil_genius_180]

Work continues. I was about to give up on this thing when I suddenly had a renewed interest in finishing it earlier today, so it looks like that will probably happen.

Anywho, the last of the real pain in the butt stuff is done with the addition of the shuttlebay cut-out and doors. There was a lot of cleanup involved after that, but it’s done now. The rest of the build is mostly details, which suits me just fine. Aside from the bay, I also added some grid lines to the curve underneath that area and added some grooves to the upper and lower saucer. These will eventually hold greebles, which will represent sensors. I figure a ship like this would have a lot more visible sensors than a Constitution-class, since it mostly performs scientific duties and whatnot.