All Scale Trek

I was sitting at my workbench the other day, looking for something to build while I wait for suitable painting weather. There wasn't anything in my stash that interested me and I didn't want to work on any of my other projects. So I took some 2500 scale Enterprise-B bits from my parts drawers and eventually came up with this:




What I have in mind is a Lost Era successor to the Saladin class, and also a predecessor to the TNG Era Freedom class. The class would enter service sometime around 2308 and would replace the Saladin in border patrol and anti-piracy roles, and would also take on search and rescue duties. I think the Saladins would be outgunned by most pirate vessels by the end of the 23rd Century, so its replacement would be more heavily armed with first generation phaser arrays and megaphasers in addition to a pair of torpedo launchers in the bow. The successor is essentially a scaled up version of the Saladin, with a single warp nacelle but greater speed and endurance, more room for crew and supplies, and a large shuttlebay capable of handling runabouts.

I got as far as backconverting the Enterprise-B nacelle when I decided that I would much rather make this ship in a larger scale. As it happens, I had a badly modified 1000 scale Enterprise-B which made a perfect donor kit. I was never going to finish it, and I was thinking of turning it into a Centaur or a Joshua Paul anyway.



So far I have been breaking the donor parts down for construction. I removed the stock superstructure and cut off the impulse engines. The impulse deck will sit lower on the rebuilt saucer.



After that I shortened the extra impulse engines. I was able to remove them on the little prototype, but it would be too much work and too much risk to try on the big one. Anyway, I have an idea. I figure the deuterium tanks should be in the approximate location of these boxes; why not have them bulging out of the hull?



And in between all of that I dismantled the front end of the nacelle; I'm going to backconvert it into a more-or-less standard LN-72 (Excelsior type) unit. I saved a piece of the Enterprise's Bussard collector to help me with this.



Well, that's all I have for now.

Looks gooid.

Great start! I love thinking of the types of ships we haven't seen during the transition from the 23rd to the 24th centuries.

Thanks, guys! The Lost Era is a fertile playground isn't it, DefiantClient? I'm also interested in that transition between the 23rd and 24th centuries.

Did a little more work on the destroyer tonight. I don't have a name for her yet, but I'm working on it; inspiration will come sooner or later. I'm thinking of looking up early British steam locomotives for ideas. I can think of a few good ones already; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_%2 ... %29,Planet, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_Firefly_Class,Firefly, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GWR_Iron_Duke_Class,Iron Duke.

Anyway...



I cut down the impulse deck parts and put them together. I may have taken a little too much off, but if it comes to it it will be an easy thing to fix.



I'm cannibalising a Tetryon Parts torpedo launcher to... well, to make a torpedo launcher for the destroyer. I don't understand why people insist on putting these at the base of the pylon on single nacelle ships. I mean, ignoring the fact that there is no room for a magazine it would interfere with the warp core that would neccessarily be located in the pylon. I'm locating my destroyer's torpedo launchers in a recess several decks below the dorsal phaser arrays. There is plenty of room for a decent sized magazine in the saucer and easy access to the torpedo launchers for maintenance and repairs.




I started by marking how wide I wanted to make the initial hole. I didn't need to mark how high; I had the deflector grid for that. Next, I used my knife to make an initial cut on the right side and then gently ran a saw over the cut to get through the thick plastic. After a bit I switched back to the knife to finish cutting through the plastic. I repeated this process three times and then hammered out the rectangle of plastic with the handle of my small file. Said file was used in conjunction with a sanding stick to enlarge the hole and square and smooth its sides.

It doesn't matter if the torpedo launchers don't fall on any particular deck, because they are pretty bulky things. On most cutaways they occupy two or three decks of vertical space. The next step is to make two walls and a floor for the recess.

I made a start on the superstructure today. I'm starting by building a shuttlebay; everything else will be designed and built around it. I don't have any particular reason for including an open shuttlebay on the model. I just think it would look cool and help provide a sense of scale.



It's turning out to be a lot smaller than I had envisioned. I was going to use this runabout I got on Shapeways... but obviously that's not going to work.

I love the placement of the launchers and the scratchbuilt shuttlebay is fantastic. I never build shuttlebays, but I have a few extra kits I should do this for. Where did you get the shuttles? Also shapeways?

I got them from Federation Models. Look at their line of home brand models and you will find them pretty easily.

This is my third attempt at building a shuttlebay. My Enterprise-B had two I never finished. Building the box is easy; it's the details that are going to be murder.

And another update today. First up, the torpedo launchers.



Recessing them into the hull would have required a much bigger hole. Too big, in fact. So I'm sort submerging them instead. I cut down the torpedo launchers and superglued them in place. There is just the hull behind them holding them there. Amazing stuff, superglue.



I'm putting so much effort into the shuttlebay I think I'm going to have to light it somehow. There will be doors, warning labels, observation windows, little control panels... the works. I'm also going to painstakingly craft some Work Bees to go with the resin shuttles... maybe a travel pod, too.

THAT SHUTTLEBAY IS INCREDIBLE!