SOTL2011: Ringship Enterprise

[Clawhammer]

Hi Guys, just finished the modeling phase of one of the hardest models I ever did, Ringship Enterprise (aka "Starship") by Matt Jefferies. A conceptual Enterprise as seen on the wall in TMP and ENT.

Somehow this simple looking ship became hard to model:
Its a 1960 design, very aged. I wanted to make it look "serious" without changing the basic shapes. Small details would be best to try and update this ship to 2010 standards.
The command module on front. This is, dare I say it, a bitch to get right. The neck connection is probably the most unlogical piece of engineering on this ship. Jefferies made various versions of this connection, but the blueprint shows the the most unlogical one.

Anyway for me the pressure is a bit off now, I'm currently cleaning up the ship's scene and preparing it for coloring/texturing. I will be rendering final images for the SOTL2011 a few days after that.

As a bonus it will also be featured on the centerfold of that calendar together with Doug Drexler's upgraded NX-01.

Preview image of that "Technofold": (The ringship is far from ready in this image.)


Unpainted crop out of the command module:


I hope to be able to show some more (complete) images soon.
This is also the reason that I'm unable to make the CMP deadline. (even the new 1) I thought this ship would have been easy, but I underestimated how much work it needed.

[Diegoba]

I loved that ship from the first time that I saw it, and the preview that Doug posted in his blog got me  !!
I'm going to pay international shipping again for the calendar, even if it is just a 2 page with the refited NX-01 and the ring ship

[sojourner]

Very nice! I love high detail models. (not to be confused with over "greebled" models)  I know your probably not allowed to show much, but can we get a shot of the neck connection you had so much trouble with? I'm curious.

[Clawhammer]

Thanks guys!

I still think the Ringship is very strange proportioned, but I kind of got used to it.
Imagine using magneto boots to walk on one of these rings, it would disorientating. I got a bit dizzy myself doing it with the program camera. I felt like Spiderpig

Sojourner, I will see what I can do once I finished the painting/texturing stuff. 

[Flagg]

Ringship is awesome. The refit NX is fucking hideous. You need to find Drexler and cut one of his fucking ears off, because he turned a derivative but decent design into a fucking pointless abortion.

[Clawhammer]

Thanks Flagg 

Ignoring the question: "Does it even need a secondary hull" I have been tempted to do a season 7 refit myself. I have spoken about it with Doug, but both of us lack the time to get it going for now.

small peak of ringship name:

 

[The Daft Punk]

I don't get the point of doing a "Season 5" refit of the NX that attempts to bring it in line with the Constitution. Why not just design a whole new ship that combines the two, rather than stapling a secondary hull on where it clearly doesn't belong?

[Clawhammer]

Necro post:

The final is now up on Drexfiles:

http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/let-the-countdown-begin-2011-sotl-%e2%80%93-sneak-peek-02-mark-rademaker/

[TNC]

So pretty...   Awesome work!

[caisson2delta]

She looks amazing, great work.

[Bernd]

Excellent. I love how you gave the ship that "experimental" look. The habitat section looks like a present-day crew module (or a submarine), and for the first time I feel this whole design is "right".

[Clawhammer]

Thanks guys!


Bernd: Thanks! The blueprints I worked from had not much details in it. I knew it would be strange to keep the ship entirely flat.
I tried adding my own ideas and details to kind of update the ship to 2010. A lot of help came from Andrew Probert, who is really a master if it comes to platework, logical reasoning and tiny tiny details.

[Jimi James]

Outstanding work Clawhammer.  It's great to finally see the Ringship, which is perhaps one of the least well known of all the various Enterprise, given the attention she deserves.

Not to run this off on a tangent, but I think this would have been an excellent alternative to the NX-class.

[Stoo]

I never liked the ringship with that silly skinny hull. And I still don't. But this is a great effort to turn it into something convincing.

[Clawhammer]

Thanks!

Jimi: Using the ringship for Enterprise might have been limiting for the writers because it's not so big. Also looking at the franchise, people want a saucer and a pair of nacelles

Stoo: When I started on it I thought I would be finished in 1 week: 2 circles, a stick and a capsule on the front.. I then decided that what it lacks in aesthetics should be fixed in the detailing. So calling this convincing would mean I did the right job!