Check Out This Starship, Fellas...

[SPARTAN II]

I wanted to show you all a project of mine that has been a long time coming (been "in progress" for about five years; even longer than my Mk VI armour, lol):

She is designated the U.S.S. Axis NX-77701. As the name suggests, she is an experimental starship, the prototype for the Axis Class, and is primarily a Destroyer-type vessel. Pretty kewl, huh?



As much as I like the actual ships seen throughout Star Trek, I have to admit that some of the fan-made designs -- like the one above, for example -- can also be very well done; really has that genuine Federation look and feel to it... very sleek, a lot like the U.S.S. Defiant.



Now, before any of you ask, no, I didn't draw this beauty... I would like to take credit for it, but I didn't. I seriously wish I had, though. I found this pic somewhere on-line years ago, and immediately fell in love with the overall design



I used to know what her general specs were -- I was given that information by the individual who'd actually drafted the design for this ship -- but I lost that data some time ago, unfortunately



Originally, I was going to commission someone to do a professional build-up of this ship for me, as I didn't have the skills to do so myself at the time. That was before I got into the prop hobby over eight years ago, though.



Now, given the scratch-building skills I've developed since then, I decided to do it on my own. A lot more affordable for me that way, lol.



I drew up the schematics needed back in 2005, but didn't actually get the chance to do anything with the physical build until January of last year. A bit of a time gap there I know, lol. Below is its current stage of completion:



Axis Prototype -- Pic 01



Axis Prototype -- Pic 02



I would have more pics of it, but ImageShack is being a little temperamental at the moment. Still, this gives everyone an idea of where I'm headed with it, at least. Measurements of my rendition of that schematic have my display model, upon completion, measuring 17" long by 12" wide by 2 1/4" tall.



Given the somewhat rough appearance of the foam even after carving/smoothing, I'll be applying a layer of thin sheet styrene (my fave scratch-building material) to give it a proper surface to work on.



The plan is to build a total of three, once all is said and done. The first two will look pretty much like this, with a few slight differences to some of the surface details between the original design (as shown in the first pic) and the revised design (as shown in the first link).



The overall shape of each will be the same, with changes made to the placement of life boat hatches and reorientation of the phaser banks and bussard ramscoop collectors (the glowing red sections at the front of the warp nacelles).



One of the first two will also be fitted with landing struts, making it able to land on planets like the U.S.S. Voyager.



The third will be based on the original design, but with a weapons pod attached, similar to the Nebula Class starships seen in Star Trek:

Although this isn't HALO-related, I wanted to share with any other fellow Star Trek fans here one of my more ambitious non-HALO projects :cool

 

[ForgedReclaimer]

one of the best things about star-trek i love are the ships. great design for a star ship, the work your doing looks great (lol head and shoulders bottles) cant wait to see it done, im not a treky but if that show is online im watching it



this reminds me i had my own ship to work on in 3d, i don't know why or when i stopped but it was a weird ship, it was inverted and stuff (Old @$$ sketch)

 

[Shade88]

Very Nice!

 

[pooper]

Looking good there! I'm liking the second one....

 

[Spartan 051]

always fun seeing a non enterprise ship being built

 

[Sniperbaas]

Sweet mate! It may not be the fastest ship in the galaxy, but she does look like much. (sorry a bit of a SW fan myself.) Are you planning to run LEDs through it so it lights up?





Cheers!

 

[SPARTAN II]

@ForgedReclaimer: I agree; I've always really liked the ships in Star Trek (Federation designs, mainly). I used to have quite an extensive Star Trek model collection, but in recent years have trimmed it down a bit, due both to limited space and funds needed at the time. With this, I plan to expand on it once again.



As for the nacelles, I kinda came across that part of the build as a complete fluke. One day I was having a shower and ended up using the rest of my shampoo. I was about to throw out the Heads & Shoulders container when it suddenly dawned on me that it had the right shape and contours to serve as one of the warp nacelles for that ship As soon as this thought occured to me, and using that shampoo container as a reference point, I immediately got to work on drafting a schematic, and there you have it.



@Shade: Thanks! :cool



@pooper: Thanks, buddy. Yeah, the Hood variant (with pod) is a pretty kewl idea. And, like I said, it will be one of three I plan on building.



@Spartan 051: As much as I've always been fond of the various incarnations of the Enterprise throughout the different series/movies, I've also always liked a lot of the more unique designs. I find I prefer the smaller-type starships, such as the Miranda, Oberth, Constellation and Olympic classes. The moment I saw this non-canon design, I was immediately taken with it, and so just had to have it, lol.



@Sniperbaas392: I'm actually a bit of a SW fan, too. Kinda makes me a contradiction in terms, given the sometimes-fierce rivalry between ST and SW fans, lol. As for wiring the Axis, that's why I mentioned this being one of my more "ambitious" projects. I won't be lighting the prototype pictured above, since this particular build is comprised of solid foam, so it wouldn't really allow for lighting.



Once completed, I do plan on making a two-part mold of it so I can then cast one in fiberglass for that purpose. I figure the fiberglass will make the model more than light enough to put on a basic display stand, and will allow more than enough room inside for wiring LEDs. My intention is to wire the first casting for all possible lighting, including the warp nacelles, split deflector array, hull windows and navigational beacons.



I may possibly even mold/cast a few more to sell some of my friends in the Star Trek prop hobby who have expressed an interest in this. But for now, I first need to finish the master before I can do that.



Though the one I'm building first is the second (revised) version, I plan on making both the first version -- a little simpler, less detailed -- and the Hood variant from the same mold. I'll just remove/readjust some of the details on those castings to match up with those designs. Hence why I say "ambitious", as never before will a project be so involved for me, building the master, then molding/casting and also full lighting (I've never done electronics for any of my previous builds).



Should be quite the learning experience, imho.

 

[bigolaf]

i've been a closet trekkie for years, as all of my friends and i were total star wars freaks. but due to the new clone wars series being such a travesty in plot development, i find i've been recording a lot more TNG on my DVR lately. I watched them as a kid and liked them, but it wasn't until Voyager came on SpikeTV that i gave em all a chance again.

I love the Galaxy and Intrepid class ships because of the two shows.



so, as a nouveau trekkie of sorts, i can appreciate the lines and aesthetics of this ship. its very TNG-era, but it looks solid enough to be a frontline destroyer. what are its approximate dimensions and crew complement?

 

[SPARTAN II]

Actually, this design isn't TNG-era, but DS9-era. This class of ship was designed by the original artist, whose website I came across years ago, when he was building his AMT/Ertl Defiant kit. He liked how small, but still sleek and versatile, the Defiant was and so brainstormed for a bit, and the Axis was the end result.



As she was intended/designed to be a destroyer-type vessel at its time of creation, I'm pleased that she does look "solid enough to be a frontline destroyer", lol.



I have to admit, I am still really in awe of its design... even if it isn't cannon, the original designer did a great job of maintaining that true Starfleet look with it. Just imagine how awesome this will look as a finished display model! Man, I can't wait!



Anyway, about the Axis' specs, unfortunately I don't have those anymore. Don't know what happened with that info, but it just got sorta lost over time before I got around to starting this project. Way back when he sent me all sorts of CG pics showing the ship from all different angles, as well as profile pics showing the hull textures, but now I just have a couple of those pics.



One pic I was very fond of showed the ship with its landing struts down -- that's right, this beauty can make planet fall, just like Voyager -- but I somehow lost most of those pics over time. What you see here is all I have left *sigh* :sleep



The B&W schematic pictured in the first link shows a scale of 1:1400 (the standard scale for most of the AMT/Ertl Star Trek kits out there) and measures in at 122.018 by 97.47 millimetres. At least, I think it's in millimetres, anyway.



I'm no good at calculating scale (don't know the formula for determining that), but with that info maybe you or someone else can figure it out in order to determine its general dimensions. As for crew complement, considering the design was based on/inspired by the Defiant I would surmise that the Axis' crew complement would be similar to that of the Defiant, since they're both designated as destroyer-type vessels.



EDIT: I checked out "Memory Alpha - The Star Trek Wiki" for specs on the Defiant, and her crew complement is approximately 50. I vaguely recall that the Axis crew complement was higher than that, but less than 140 (standard for the Intrepid class).

 

[WheresDaChief]

Nice looking ship....I think the nacelles are a bit massive width-wise....but it works. I don't think any ship out there has nacelles that thick. Being a destroyer class vessel though it would make sense that the ship would have more armor though so maybe that's why they're thicker. I'm confused about why the nacelles don't completely wrap around on each side though.



The Defiant was much smaller than this ship too. That saucer section looks about the same size as a Galaxy class, which would mean the crew complement is much larger than a Defiant class. I think the complement of a Galaxy class was about 1,000 while the Defiant class was around 50.

 

[SPARTAN II]

It's the size of the warp nacelles that make the Axis appear much larger than she really is.



Compared to the bridge module of the Intrepid class (U.S.S. Voyager), the Axis' seems to be very similar in design. Using that as a reference point for sizing, the saucer section of the Axis is only about two-thirds the size of Voyager's.



Following that logic, even with the somewhat large nacelles the Axis would be significantly smaller than a Galaxy class starship. So, the Axis' crew complement would be nowhere near the 1,012 that the Galaxy class carries.



Another thing to note. When I'd first come across this design, the original artist did provide me with numerous pics of the ship from different angles, as well as her general specs (ie. length, gross tonnage, crew complement, etc.). I just lost most of that info over time, lol.



From what I vaguely recall of the specs he sent me, the size of the Axis would be somewhere between the Defiant and Voyager, though. Closer in size to Voyager, but still smaller than that. The crew complement would undoubtedly be more than 50, but not as much as 140 (standard for the Intrepid class) as only one-third of the Axis is habitable, given that the nacelles make up for the other two-thirds.



As for the configuration of the warp nacelles, in no Federation spaceframe design have I ever seen them wrapped around on both sides. Typically, they're situated near the rear, away from the rest of the ship.



Besides, wrapping the nacelles around the hull would sorta defeat the purpose of the original artist's split deflector array concept, which I believe (using some good ol' Trek techno-babble here) was for the purpose of further expanding the deflector field on both sides than a standard one-piece deflector array would project.



EDIT: Managed to figure out the scale, I think. Assuming that the 122.018 by 97.47 dimensions in 1:1400 scale are in millimeters (as shown on the schematic in the first link), and assuming that I interpreted the information correctly LOL, the Axis' real-world measurements would put it at 170.8 meters long by 136.5 meters wide. Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[PunisherX]

Haha star trek always best with some good ol' cold milk and cereal