Expermential New Orleans Class or Slidell Class starship

[Angussky]

Thanks to some people that I have been following lately in deviant art and a few other Trek sites with art I decided to sit down and, well make my own. Now this is a "really" rough design, no way near completion to what I am envisioning as I am already currently doing a MKII design, but its a start. I am wanting to call this the Slidell Class or a New Orleans class refit. Yea, I happen to live in Louisiana so you can guess where I got the names. lol

Right now I am not to happy with the nacelles nor the bottom of the saucer, in the MKII aspect of the design I am trying to correct that but right now having no luck with the the nacelles. Though I would love some feed back if you guys wouldn't mind. And yes, the saucer section is mainly connected to the catamaran booms, the piece that works up from the engineering hull is actually a turbo lift tube with accessing stairs in case of the lifts breaking down, allowing access from the saucer to engineering with out having only to move through the booms.

The design in what I was shooting for was a more fluidity design with a bit of streamlining here and there.
Side view http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a275/AngusSky/USSNewOrleans.png
Top view http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a275/AngusSky/NewOrleanstop.png

Thanks

[Legion]

Welcome

As someone who also just started to design ships; I can imagine what its like.

As for the design: I like it! Two points tough:
*) The "thin" connection between the saucer and secondary hull looks odd to me. It think it would be a lot better if you merge them toghether (which I would prefer personally), or draw a "neck".
*) To me the nacelles themselves are ok as they are. I would rework the struts to the nacelles a little bit, because I think that the are looking like the "inner" struts and that is just one curve too much.

Very nice

[Rick King AIFD]

First of all, welcome to the SCN.

Secondly - Several little points about your sketches.

If your saucer is attached to the catamarans.......then you should not need a separate secondary hull.

If the cats are to function the same way that the mounted torpedo tube structures work in the New Orleans class...........Then you would need a saucer/secondary hull connection.....however, that connecting structure needs to more substantial.

[White Wolf]

Rick is correct, Angussky.

Because of this it makes your view designs seem mismatched but its difficult to tell without Back,Front and Bottom views.

You got Excellent artist skills.

[Angussky]

Currently working on a forward and bottom views now, though things are changing a bit with the top and side as I work more with it. But thanks, I will take that in to account, just when I did the Eng. hull I liked how it came out so I left it. lol

[Spock]

Lookin good I like it !!

[TNC]

Very nice work, I like the design. 

Looks like a pretty intensive refit for a New Orleans class though (along the lines of the NCC-1701 refit).  Maybe it would be better as whole new class altogether? 

[Angussky]

I am thinking the same thing, I am leaning to the "Slidell Class". Though I haven't come up with any stats on it yet, I am still bouncing numbers around in my head for it, but looking at the Heavy Cruiser size.

But thanks guys. Almost finished the next set of pics, though I am having trouble with the front view.

[shran]

If only for improving structural integrity, you could fill in the mass which now sits in between the saucer and its varous hulls, and it will create additional space inside the ship without sacraficing that many materials, and the overall surface area will be reduced. And the trimaran configuratrion would still be preserved.

[White Wolf]

Angussky. Don't be afraid to ask for help if your stuck. We'll be more than happy to help.

[Bernd]

Looking good. I would just get rid of the thin strut that Legion mentioned.

[Angussky]

I just want to thank all for the advise and the "pat on the back".

Well here is the latest rough drafts I am playing with, below is a listing of things that have changed. First thing you will notice in the side view and the top view, I have keep the cats and as well added a neck. In away I like the combination of the both on the ship, to me it gives her a certain flare.

A few things that changed from last work:
1. Neck is added between the saucer and engineering hull.
2. Saucer has elongated a bit as well as the cats and bridge has been moved forward.
3. Nacelle struts have changed as well as the nacelles themselves, (still not to happy with the nacelles but getting there)
4. Torpedo launchers removed from the front of the cats.
5. Torpedo launchers removed from below the rear Eng. hull and added into the rear of the Cat booms. ( playing with this idea, not 100% sold on the idea, half tempted to throw the impulse engines a the need of them just to see. Ignore the torp launch on the bottom of the read Eng. hull. forgot to erase them. lol)
6. Phaser strips have been moved around a bit to allow for more overlapping firing arcs.
7. Impulse engines moved from saucer edge to below the saucer.
8. The front of the saucer no longer has the indention of a secondary defector dish, but more replace and squared off front end.

The front view, took me forever to get it to resemble the rest, though it dose give you a rough idea I will be fine tuning it.

[TNC]

She looks great.

[Rick King AIFD]

When you convert your pen and pencil sketch to a CGI program......The catamarans are too large for your saucer and engineering hull...... I would reduce the width and the height of the catamarans by at least a third.

[Juvat]

I think they look too large due to the preliminary design not quite matching up through the different views.  This is shaping up to be a sweet design.  Looking forward to what else you come up with.

[White Wolf]

When you convert your pen and pencil sketch to a CGI program.

Thats if he has one.

[Angussky]

Unfortunately, no. I do not have a CGI program as of yet. wish I did. Maybe one day here soon.

[Jimi James]

I think the catamarans look good at the size they are.  The one thing I would personally change, is to cut the struts/pylons that connect the catamarans to the engineering hull.  It depends on how technical you want to get with the internals really.  On the one hand, cutting those pylons would require some manuvering of the warp core so that the plasma transfer conduits running from the core to the nacelles, don't have to cover a farther distance with a lot of angles. 

On the other hand though, I think cutting those pylons would clear up the side view a bit and make things a bit more interesting and free flowing.

One idea, and this is a bit more unconventional, would be to cut all the pylons out as well as the nacelles, and to move the internals of the nacelles into the catamarans.  Make them a tad bit longer, place the bussard collectors up front at about where the phasers are, and notch in a warp grill along the outer edge and you've got a par of integrated warp nacelles. This would eliminate any problems with having to relocate the warp core and allow, as well as giving the ship a smaller profile, smaller warp field, and smaller shield grid.  You'd lose much of any integral usable space within the catamarans however, though you could gain some of it back by extending the front of the engineering section forward a bit.

Anyway you go, I see a lot of potential in this design.  It's already an interesting concept, and with a bit of refinement, will make a solid design.

[White Wolf]

Unfortunately, no. I do not have a CGI program as of yet. wish I did. Maybe one day here soon.

That's ok. You get someone to do it for you, if you choose to go that road.

One of things Borgman taught me is: See things from a designer's Point of View.

Btw: I'd listen to Jimi,  Borgman, Clawhammer, Atolm, XFozzboute  they have the experience to give good solid advice.

[Angussky]

My first attempt at trying this in paint, basically I went over the known lines I have, I figured, what the heck, at least I can try it, though I think it turned out decent. You can see on the pylons I basically copy pasted one and flipping it.

[White Wolf]

Awesome Job,  Angussky. 

[TNC]

Great work so far.  I use the copy/paste/flip technique all the time when I'm drawing ships.  Makes making the two sides of the ship look even easier.

[Clawhammer]

Nice work so far!

Perhaps the next step could be to use the "curve" tool in paint to trace your current "manual digitized" lines. That tool is one of the most powerful tools of paint, and I still need to encounter another package where this "bezier" tool is working so simple.

Keep it up!

[Angussky]

Sorry I havent got to a much of an update to this, working retail and holidays around the corner, well you can guess. lol

But here is a something, I slimmed down the cats some, used coloring in the bussard collectors just for orientation point instead of looking at white and black the whole time. Went as well to fix points here and there, also scaled the shuttle bay doors down a bit, the other seemed to big.

Just something doesn't feel right, either I am to used to the cats being larger cause to me the saucer looks to big. I am thinking that I slimmed them down just a tad to much and it throwing the over all look off.


And, in the before posts, it was mentioned to maybe ask someone to take a crack at this girl, if you like to please go right ahead, I love to see your interpretation of her.

[White Wolf]

Top view as good as your gonna get, Angussky

I suggest start working on the side view.