1/350 USS Endurance - TMP era expedition cruiser

[AdmiralBuck]

The next Big Project is on the drawing board. The Essex-class expedition cruiser ENDURANCE has been in my head-development for the last three years and I've finally had time to coalesce the many sketches, ideas and themes into a rough 3D concept model. It's not all there, and there's quite a ways to go but I'd like to start by at least previewing the direction I am heading.

This is a big ship, there's no getting around that. Endurance represents Tycho's boldest effort in ship building for the purpose of deep scientific planetary exploration, of establishing a foothold in orbit for the teams of scientists sent to chart and examine - in detail - the many planets discovered by other ships on their fly-by voyages towards the great vastness of the cosmos. Endurance is also home of a fleet of N-Type Javelin shuttlecraft - one of which some of you will recognize as the Shackleton.

A large aft hangar bay extends across the wide stern plate (right now, I depict it as a split twin bay) with another bay located between the dual dorsals on the primary hull. Launched in 2272, this is a motion-picture era starship but still utilizes advanced circumferential drive warp engines - PBD-104's. Each nacelle is dual core with a single bussard. So, it is not a trans-warp cousin of the next evolution, Excelsior but most likely an early ancestor of the Ambassador-class concept of the mid-2300's.

A scale reference alongside Hood shows her 24" diameter primary hull and 48" overall length in 1/350 scale.

Renders created in SketchUp:

[Griffworks]

Whoa! Holly Carpp!

That’s gonna rawk! Definitely going to be an impressive model. I look forward to seeing her progress.

[Tiberious]

Very promising design, Admiral! Love those low-aspect shots and the nacelle fronts look like P-38 engine nacelles. Sweet!

[SCI-FI]

It's as if Matt Jeffries designed a Galaxy Class.

Can't wait to see this come together ...



Best-
-SF

[Road Warrior]

Holy shit! Great lines Admiral.

[Lord_Schtupp]

Awesome project admiral, strong design lineage with your past work like the Repulse.
Primary and secondary hull have a kinda Probart/McQuarrie feel to it.
Sexy warp nacelles and of course Im a fan of the twin neck and swept forward pylons

[M3]

Y'know, that first illustration with the Hood makes me wonder... what if the Endurance-class were designed to serve as a flying drydock, with the space on the back between the necks serving as a secondary-hull anchor point for Hood- (or Constitution-)sized vehicles? Having the disabled ship docked at the bottom of its secondary hull would also make for easier transfer of antimatter in an emergency (that is what one of those marked "hatches" on the bottom of the secondary hull of most Starfleet ships is for, right?)

If a ship runs into trouble, the Endurance could warp over, winch the ship in using tractor beams, and hard-dock a smaller ship for ease of transport and repair. It could also serve as a tender, for hard-docked transfer of fuel, crew, and supplies. (And in situations where docking might not be needed, the Endurance could even have an easily removable "hard-top" option covering the docking mechanisms, where extra fuel and ship's stores could be kept when the ship wasn't needed as a "tow truck"...)

[AdmiralBuck]

Thanks for the suggestion. The Endurance mission profile is pretty well set but this gives me thought for a different project should that arise.

[Tiberious]

Oh, giving him ideas! What a wonderful thing to do!

[Manu2401]

Wow, a new model by the Admiral. Great!

[Richard Baker]

I really love this design concept! The twin neck pylons give it a real substantial feel without bulking it up and the wider secondary hull looks great.

The only part of this ship which does no t hit eleven on the meter in all honesty is the aft hangar bays coming to a point. That arrangement to me does not look as functionally designed as the rest of the ship.

Really looking forward to seeing this being built- it is a fantastic ship and in 1:350 it is going to look awesome!

[AdmiralBuck]

Originally Posted by Richard Baker

I really love this design concept! The twin neck pylons give it a real substantial feel without bulking it up and the wider secondary hull looks great.

The only part of this ship which does no t hit eleven on the meter in all honesty is the aft hangar bays coming to a point. That arrangement to me does not look as functionally designed as the rest of the ship.

Really looking forward to seeing this being built- it is a fantastic ship and in 1:350 it is going to look awesome!

Thanks. Yes, I agree with your assessment of the fantail hangar bays and I've been working on sketching a variety of door options and details. The secondary hull was built as a split half with a mirrored side for symmetry. Originally, I wanted to have two aft bays separated with a central divider. It may end up being one. The model itself is very crude as I am not an expert in 3D modeling but I am endeavoring to learn. So, the shapes and curves that I'd love to add are slow in coming but hopefully will get there before plans are printed and brass and plastic are cut. I appreciate your feedback and comments!

[Richard Baker]

Just an idea-
A deep space explorer needs to be flexible, especially with first encounters with space faring species. One drawback with most Star Fleet vessels is a small hangar deck/shuttlebay. With the exception of the Galaxy Class (whose primary bay was a great size but never used nor seen on screen), the ships we have seen can only accommodate small to medium craft. We see larger bays in interior shots, but those never fit into the hulls if the ships are sized to official length.
Having the saucer bay for on board shuttles and using the secondary hull bay for utility and larger craft makes sense to me. Perhaps even an extended platform like Voyagers or a retractable 'roof' so even large craft can 'park'.
Keep it a single bay, two small ones side by side does not give you that much of an advantage. Anything damaging one would likely affect the other and in the TMP era force fields allow multiple functions without having to worry about pressurization....

[Lord_Schtupp]

I agree regarding that the single shuttle bay would be nicer, and if bay doors are open will also give you lots of room for yummy detail inside

[AdmiralBuck]

Originally Posted by Richard Baker

Just an idea-
A deep space explorer needs to be flexible, especially with first encounters with space faring species. One drawback with most Star Fleet vessels is a small hangar deck/shuttlebay. With the exception of the Galaxy Class (whose primary bay was a great size but never used nor seen on screen), the ships we have seen can only accommodate small to medium craft. We see larger bays in interior shots, but those never fit into the hulls if the ships are sized to official length.
Having the saucer bay for on board shuttles and using the secondary hull bay for utility and larger craft makes sense to me. Perhaps even an extended platform like Voyagers or a retractable 'roof' so even large craft can 'park'.
Keep it a single bay, two small ones side by side does not give you that much of an advantage. Anything damaging one would likely affect the other and in the TMP era force fields allow multiple functions without having to worry about pressurization....

Originally Posted by Lord_Schtupp

I agree regarding that the single shuttle bay would be nicer, and if bay doors are open will also give you lots of room for yummy detail inside

Thanks for your feedback. As with the Sentinel configuration, having multiple bays is a concept I’m onboard with. While I do prefer a physical divider to section off a wide bay, the single expanse of an aft door looks good. There’s nothing to say an internal partition can’t exist. The problem with flight ops with larger craft isn’t width, it’s the height necessary to clear the overhead from the deck.

A recent comp with a revised secondary hull/aft bay:



Aft size comparison with Hood’s hangar deck: