Ent Era Klingon ships

[Paragon]

Having completed construction of both the standard NX class, and refit NX class, I have decided that I have not been contributing enough to the selection of alien ship models from Star Trek within our community, as many of you have pointed out we have a significant deficiency in that area.

First, I would like to say it is a downright shame that despite the relative abundance of Klingon ships introduced by the show Enterprise there has only been one model of the myriad of ships translated to our prestigious medium thus far. Enterprise introduced the Raptor, BoP, D4, D5, D5 tanker, Goroth's ship, and the Klingon transport, a contribution of seven ships over the course of one show, as compared to the four Klingon designs that have been around for nearly the entirety of the rest of the franchise.

Tonight, I finally began an endeavor to bring to the paper model community an example of the excellent Ent era Bird of Prey. Obviously to those of us who have examined the design closely, several areas (especially the disruptors) present a significant obstacle in the design of an omni-scalable model (which I have a distinct preference for). So far, I have only the wings and a little of the head done, but I have been considering the idea of two sets of disruptor kits, for smaller, and larger scale models. Similar to the B'Rel models available; Clever's has the detail necessary for larger scale, but the other (Billy's?) is better for those of us constructing a scale fleet (mine being in 1/1900 for example).

In addition, I plan to at least attempt to design models of the D4, D5 (with optional containers for the tanker version), Goroth's ship, and the new "Klingon Warbird" introduced by JJ Abrams' movie (which is really just an especially fancy, albeit quite well armed version of the D7). I may also decide to create an updated version of the K'Tinga, with different textures (since the later variants do actually look quite different).

Why start a thread without any actual work to show? To help keep me honest and on track, because I know sometimes motivation wanes, and I'm hoping that by at least informing you all I will feel a bit more compelled to fulfill my word on this. Hopefully I'll have a prototype of the BoP finished tonight. I expect the D4 and "Klingon Warbird" to be somewhat easy to design based on the existing K'Tinga model, though I may decide to shoot for the D5 after finishing the BoP, since I like the design more.

I have a decent amount of reference material thus far, but as always, more is better, so feel free to contribute what you can.

[Paragon]

Ok, I had a lot of distractions so didn't make much progress, but I did figure I should at least show you guys part of it (the wing, in this case). I'm interested in what you all think I should do for texture. Usually I consider the Aztec pattern to show that the ship has been assembled from lots of different pieces of metal that show up with light on them, and I also remember all the various versions of D-Whale's Vor'Cha and Galor while he was searching for a better texture. I think the large amount of surface detail on the wing may make flat colors for the texture look find, but I want a few other opinions. Keep in mind that this will probably be constructed at a small scale.

Also note that the green in the file I'm working with looks a lot more grey than the attached image...not sure what's with it.

[Sidewinder81777]

I agree with you on the amount of surface detail making aztecing not needed, maybe a little subtle stippling just so its not totally flat.

[mchale]

i like these ships that you mentioned paragon cant wait

[Paragon]

Stippling is a word I am completely unfamiliar with.

[CMDRTED]

like a rough pebbled texture, or like putting coarse sand in paint and painting it on a flat surface.

[pdmccool]

James, you're off to an awesome start. I agree with Josh abou the surface coloring. Aztecing it would be overkill.

[pdmccool]

Oh, and "stippling" is a painter's term where the finished subject is given a mottled appearance through the application of paint by dabbing it on with the very tips of the bristles, or using specifically, a stippling brush.

[Paragon]

Alright, here's a first attempt at this "stippling" thing, done with the sponge tool (set to a weird brush setting). I think it looks pretty good. Basic is on the left, "stippled" is on the right.

Here's hoping the forum upload settings don't make it impossible to tell the difference.

[mchale]

when is the nx refit going to be released