Its been so long since I used this model, it’s a terrible thing spending weeks or in my case months designing and building models and after the first test renders and a renders I take a little more seriously, the model is forgotten.
I have taken this out of mothballs and with the wonderful Spawn Nebula art by Ali Ries and have set 3 Ranger Class Destroyers deployed on patrol
The model is available for sale royalty free on my Gumroad page
My re-imagined constitution class, the biggest adjustment is the scale from “947 ft” to “1311’5 ft” & I made changes to deck height to fix as many issue as possible.. I did have it at 1260 ft thinking that it would fix the areas of interest. but that did not solve issues with the shuttle bay access corridors at the sides of the bay, so again I had to enlarge the design, which was creating a new problem for me as to the deck count, I always put that at 23 via The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield & Gene Roddenberry and I did not want to stray to far from that.
But one area I thought I needed to establish is the deck heights, what to use, other fans think 9.6 or work, which is fine. I chose to go with the set plans and make it 10ft for the deck heights for corridors as seen in Series, it is the visual established look for the series. I think if they are lower it would effect the look so right or wrong its what I used.
Some of the decks in the secondary hull are taller than the 10ft mentioned mostly due to the shape of the design, this included the dorsal neck and the Engineering section mostly helps in the area for fuel, maintenance and cargo, for example in the connecting neck I have turbo elevator maintenances area. with the rescale there is enough room.. just to do this..
One of my favourite sources is The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield & Gene Roddenberry 1968, and I have look to it for guidance in some areas, (I think its canon though I also think that as the book was published in 1968 (second season) many idea and thoughts on scale where in flux, busy enough just keeping the show on air.
In The Making of Star Trek book the shuttle bay height and width is 30ft by 60ft and 100ft long.. now I assume this is only the bay area proper and not including the corridors to each side we see in Star Trek Season 2, Episode 10 – Journey to Babel at this new scale there is room for a corridor, while there is very little room practically none with the established canon scale of 947ft, I think the following post from Memory Alpha is worth sharing.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Constitution_class
“The dimensions of the Constitution-class, 947 feet (289 meters) long for the original configuration and 1,000 feet (305 meters) for the refit-configuration, are the ones that are universally accepted by production staff and fans alike, and propagated in virtually all reference works dealing with the subject, starting with the very first one, The Making of Star Trek, published in 1968. That being said and oddly enough, neither dimension has actually ever been canonically confirmed, as neither dimension was ever seen or referred to in any of the live-action Star Trek productions.
The original configuration length of 947 feet was first derived from Stephen Edward Poe‘s reference book, The Making of Star Trek, p. 178, and that dimension has been propagated in every subsequent reference work ever since. However, what Poe did not mention was that designer Matt Jefferies had originally produced that graphic in 1967 as a reference for Poe’s employer, model kit company Aluminum Metal Toys for their 1968 second edition retooled USS Enterprise model kit, No. S951 – where the graphic was displayed on the side of the box prior to its publication in the book – and not for the actual Original Series production. Remarkably, the dimension of the starship had been in flux until that time as producer Gene Roddenberry‘s memo of 24 August 1964 evidenced, “We anticipate a final design might see the ship as 200 feet in length, and thus even a 1½-inch scale would give us quite a huge miniature.” This figure, initially accompanied with a crew complement of 203 would actually more or less stand until Jefferies, utilizing his engineering background, recalculated the figures for his design three years later. (The Making of Star Trek, pp. 89, 134)”
So with that been said I have with some adjustment with deck scales (something I did not want to do), but you can see I found some workable changes, most decks are 10ft, but in the dorsal neck they have 12ft and this works with lining up portholes (assuming mine are close enough) then in the secondary hull all decks save 2 are 10ft ,, the top and lower most decks here are 16ft,, this is something I am not entirely happy with but,, these levels could have need for for structural supports for the dorsal neck and perhaps something else ,, antimatter storage or something.. but this works for me.
Latest Renders below
Length: 1311’5 Feet
Width: 577’5 Feet
Height: 319’11 Feet
23 Decks.
Crew Complement 430.
7 Class F Shuttlecraft
Total Escape Pods 192
164 Escape Pods in the Primary Hull (4 persons per Escape Pod is 656)
28 Escape Pods in the Secondary Hull( 4 persons per Escape Pod is 128)
Total Escape Pod Personnel Capacity is 768, including the 7 shuttles (possibly standard compliment) would mean that the upper limit of the crew would be around 800 (817 evacuation limit)
I have also included a large image of Doug Drexler’s
Master systems display of the U.S.S. Defiant and was seen in Star Trek Enterprise episode “In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II“. I think that this depicts the Constitution Class being even larger than my rescale of 1311’5 ft
Click on image to see the full images
Some details
A number of renderings I made after altering the Series Constitution Class to look like both Pilot designs The Cage and Where No Man has Gone Before, and playing with lighting and Ali Ries Background nebula art (used with permission), I also made use of my TOS version of the Dry Dock, I also gave the USS Constitution a NX desigination and had to tweak its placement.
I also tried to create a poster for The Cage, mixed results but fun exploring the process.
HMS Endeavour, also known as HM Bark Endeavour, was a British Royal Navy research vessel that Lieutenant James Cook commanded to Australia and New Zealand on his first voyage of discovery from 1769 to 1771.
This name was suggested in lists of possible ship names in Star Trek The Original Series by D.C. Fontana and Robart H. Justman for Gene Roddenberry.
It did not make the cut at least not directly, it was named finally in a cut scene in Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country in the scene where Colonel West shares his plan on rescuing Captain Kirk and Dr McCoy.
3 rendering in Lightwave 9.6
I have at last finished with my version of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701, I was/am looking at new projects and to help I have jumped back to an older design, I used to call the Kilkenny and on refection feel it not a name that grabs your attention, so I went back to the Pathfinder, giving it some more thought the S.S. Pathfinder, S.S. standing for “Solar Surveyor” a designation from the pages of Arthur C. Clarke book “Rendezvous with Rama” and its ship the Endeavour.
S.S. Pathfinder is a interplanetary explorer, making trips to Venus, Mercury, Mars etc in rapid time and I imagine in 100 years hence, with a crew compliment of 20 or so.
I was inspired by designs I seen over the last few years that hearken back to Isaac Asimov book covers, the David “Lucky” Starr story called “Oceans of Venus” by Ray Feibush, which I have in my book collection. and the Black Hole USS Palomino which I made a in the early 2000s.
by Ray Feibush
When the Enterprise attempts to penetrate a space barrier, it is damaged and creates a potentially worse problem. Two crew members, including Kirk’s best friend, gain psionic powers that are growing at exponentially. This leaves Captain Kirk with the difficult choice; either marooning them or killing before they get so powerful they lose their humanity and become truly dangerous.
This is my final work on the Enterprise and its Hangar bay and how I thing it could be, I still think this design can carry between 6 or 8 shuttles depending on the arrangement but this seems to work well
You could have 2 stationed in the main hangar, with the duel elevator/rotating (Turntable) deck kept clear ? or 3 in the main hangar with one on station ready for launch on the elevator/rotating (Turntable) etc
With 4 stored in the deck below the hangar , there is room to move them around and I imagine that they can easily be moved, antigrav units or something like that.
The lower fantail cut of the secondary hull prohibits the shuttle elevator going down more then one level,, so I have added two additional side elevators to the forward shuttle storage area (orange surface colour, one occupied by a shuttle), so perhaps if the captain wishes to have additional shuttles at his or her disposal, they can.. so lets say that the maximum class F shuttles this design can carry is 8.. possibly adding one or two workbees of the period.
I added 2 smaller cargo elevators to the forward wall, beyond that would be the Engineering sections, for those times Cargo Transporters cannot be used.. as we know these things happen 
Also I rendered 2 new images.. too get a idea of how the scale looks I included some 6ft crew personnel.
Its been a while since my last post with my rebooted or reworked Enterprise but also my PC had another fit and I was compelled to reinstall Windows, by slow steps I have reinstalled Lightwave at the last and finished the few details I had to work out on the rebooted constitution class.
I had to adjust the hangar deck height. it was too low for the deck plan I was using, I also worked out the gallery observation area and its corridor to the control booth though I did not build the corridor itself..
I never found credit to the shuttle model builder, no readme was included in the file.
The shuttle model builder is Aggi from Foundation3d
Just to jump out of Trek for a bit.. Dan Dare Eagle on patrol,, using the fabulous Ali Ries Background art scene .. no prep just slapped it in there where the Enterprise was and a reminder of its scale.
Well I have returned to this, my re-imagined constitution class, a last throw of the dice with this before I move on to other designs, I have adjusted the scale (again) to 1311’5 ft design and made changes to deck height to fix as many issue as possible.. I did have it at 1260ft.. that I thought would work, but it falls short in some areas I think important to address.
One of my favourite sources is The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield & Gene Roddenberry 1968, and I have look to it for guidance in some areas, (I think its canon though I also think that as the book was published in 1968 (second season) many idea and thoughts on scale where in flux, busy enough just keeping the show on air.
but one area I thought needed addressing is the deck heights, one key scale for me is 10ft for the deck heights, I except the needs for camera and dolly’s etc.. but it the established look for the series, (I am not going anywhere near other and later designs)
In The Making of Star Trek by Stephen E. Whitfield & Gene Roddenberry the Hangar Deck height and width is 30ft by 60ft and 100ft long.. now I assume this is only the bay area proper and not including the corridors to each side (we see in Journey to Babel) at this new scale there is room for a corridor, while there is very little room practically none with the established scale of 947ft.
also I have with some adjustment with deck scales (something I did not want to do, but you can see I found some workable changes, most decks are 10ft, but in the dorsal neck they have 12ft and this works with lining up portholes (assuming mine are close enough) then in the secondary hull all decks save 2 are 10ft ,, the top and lower most decks here are 16ft,, this is something I am not entirely happy with but,, these levels could have need for for structural supports for the dorsal neck and perhaps something else ,, antimatter storage or something.. but this works for me.
this is the direction now..
Well now I have been busy, rendering yes and some more Star Trek using some background art by Ali Ries, GrahamTG and dadrian to bring some energy into them, normally I don’t do action type renders but here for the first time with Phasers firing all or Klingon torpedoes evading,, 99% in Lightwave and a tiny tweaking in Photoshop..
I am going back to doing my own reimagined constitution class this week and I am going if time permits some other designs from the federation moving on to Klingons for the first time since I worked on the bridge or corridors a few years ago.
That should get star trek out of my system for a while, so I have decided to attempt the Battlestar Galactica with my approach to its detailing and arrangement.
Mixed in with some of my own designs.. stay tuned for the WIPs (Work in Progress)
I think that all for now,, … … yes that it..
Oh wait There is a possibility that 3DGladiators will be making a return.
I have not been idle, I have over the last week being designing a TOS orbital dry-dock, it has the look of Star Trek The Motion Picture in that its a frame, and I have a shuttle docks in the upper central unit, and Solar panels, normally around a planet / Star-base but it also has fusion reactors and other star trek tech you care to add, it has the same diameter as the Star-base inner working I made a few months ago.
Starfield by dadrian
Crown Nebula is by Casperium
A space anomaly appears in a sector close to Starbase18, The USS Enterprise is assigned to investigate, I remember one of James Blish novels,, Spock Must Die! where there is a barrier around Organia, while I was never really satisfied with the device, what if this is something like another version of the Doomsday Machine , the Enterprise is able to enter it finding the source.. not much but there it is.
They are not textured and only available in Lightwave3d for now, if I texture them would equal more time, greater the cost.
Of course there is also the early version of the Ranger that I may rework the engines, or maybe I won’t and Pathfinder Class Interplanetary ship and the McCall design but limited amount per engagement with McCall’s Daughter.. once they are gone that’s it.. and of course my Nautilus all in Lightwave3d 9.61..
I am nearing the end of the first phase of the Halcyon build and getting it ready minus textures for sale, as I work on other sections they will also be for sale at a lesser price and as and if sections have updates they will be free to those who buy the design.
Cockpit, chairs are already there,
Cargo bays (2)
Airlock
Crew Area and Simple Corridor.
The Background Nebula used with special permission by Casperium.
http://casperium.deviantart.com/art/Crown-Nebula-Widescreen-73282405
I was away on holidays over the past 2 weeks, eager to get back to designing, but now I am here low enthusiasm to get started, so just to get my creative energy going I rendered two new images.
No frills, but after the time away I might see the design afresh and to give some thought to this and my next projects.
Well apart from working on the cockpit and other sections for the Halcyon, I was thinking of returning to the Nautilus from 20.000 Leagues Under the Sea’s, using the internal layout I built as a frame and jazzing the older one up a bit to have elements of the two Nautilus models I designed.
But I give it some thought, next post will not be my normal post, but something I have been interested in for several years..
I dusted of my U.S.S. Enterprise model and with a nice background image by dadrian on deviantart. A much needed break from my own designing, my appreciation for concept artists has grown to such heights, how the likes of Syd Mead, Doug Drexler, Rick Sternbach, do it I cannot say.. But I applaud their work all the more.
The design is almost complete, modelling side of things anyway, I need a break from this to recharge my creative energy before taking on the Internal setting, as mentioned before, this will include the cockpit, corridor, small engine room, main hatch area, cargo area, then on to the land craft (but that may come first). I don’t know about texturing it yet hence the break 🙂
Taking shape with some added details, I am currently redesigning the engines and here I have the ship with landing gear extended. you can see (just) the 6ft tall crewman..
Getting close to finishing the external look, now I have to think about the texture maps and later the internal sets, this will be available for sale in the future and I am going to try to make it available for DAZ 3d users, also on the cards for this design is land-craft of some description and perhaps a small flying craft for planetary surveys..
