WOW,... just watching this now. Amusing speculations on why the ship is yellow. It's yellow, ostensibly, to make it more visible in deep space. There is no name on it because we didn't have enough 'letters' with which to assemble "Stargazer". We didn't "convince" the Producers to have a larger model built. A script was written which featured that ship, so it was built for that. Too 'kit-bashed'? There was no time to "Design" it, beyond what it was, since we did it between actual production assignments. Rick & I put it together in order to dress up Picard's office (unfortunately dubbed the 'readyroom'). We thought he should want a model of his first (or former) command, a deep space science vessel. We also co-painted the portrait of his current command, the Enterprise-D, also for his office. The lower saucer "clutter" was the ship's information-gathering apparatus, needed in it's research and surveying duties. It's kind of ugly, generally, due to it's constructed purpose,... very thick saucer to handle larger-than-normal planetary exploration vessels, cargo & supply ships, and various other unimagined scientific equipment. Cheers-
Listening to all the problems the Constellation class ships had, the term "over engineered and under thought" comes to mind. I actually like the concept that the ship was flawed. Makes it feel more real to me.
A weapons platform is a weapons platform and so it doesn't surprise me that a ship like this could function well in a war, even the Dominion War, despite her age. Picard wasn't just the captain of the Stargazer, he was also the Helmsman/Executive Officer prior to taking command... that's why Picard could be interested in the field stresses of the class of ship. Or when the computer made the model for Picard, it color-coordinated it with his office. Thanks for this two-parter, guys!
But Picards description of the ship makes it seem particularly poorly suited to any sort of combat. It is however a working ship capable of hauling things and people, support ships will always be the bulk of any active fleet. I could see it taking on a Q ship role though, open up that huge forward cargo bay door to reveal an improvised self contained rapid fire torpedo launcher (or three) and you have an unassuming ship that wouldn't be a priority target yet capable of unleashing a hell storm of destruction in a matter of moments. Running automated or with minimal crew who would then eject amid a swarm of decoys it's possible that the then immediately harmless ship would be largely ignored and certainly not worth the concerted effort to destroy in the face of continued fire from more advanced vessels.... Sry about no punctuation lol.
DrewLSsix Picard was primarily comparing it to his Enterprise when he described it as an "overworked, underpowered vessel always on the verge of flying apart at the seams." Gotta remember also that he commanded it during the last 20 years of its 80 year lifespan. I imagine the Constellation class was pretty decent in their day but as time went on, it became outmatched by newer vessels. Happens all the time in the Navy submarine service. Last decades hot shit boat turns into this decade's clunker.
13:49 They were on their sides because of the supposed rule that those "vents which must not be obstructed" would not have been facing their opposing ones down below as they are obstructed side to side by the support pylons.
I love this class of ship. It's a workhorse design, it's not pretty but it gets thing done. I also like how it almost looks like a portable star base, it's almost like it could be stationary and still be functional.
No doubt that Montgomery Scott was familiar with the Constellation class since it's time of service overlapped the Excelsior class at the latter part of the 23rd century.
I always liked the design of the ship from the outside and all but ... surely like all other star trek full sized star ships this would need some form of deflector right? I'm not aware of any deflector dishes that were built into the hull with no obvious outboard bits like you see in other star ships. Same issue with the Miranda. Is it just because the profile is less from the front?
Following the space trials paint scheme idea. Maybe yellow is the true colour of the hull plating? Or a yellow undercoat to protect the hull plating from radiation? Before the final service top coat has been applied in starfleet grey. The registery could also be a space trials number, before it gets commissioned with its service registory? If you wanted an in universe 'reason'. Love the channel
Hello Trekyards. The Cheyenne Class has always been one of my favorite ships. (I have played most of the Trek computer games and always had one named the USS Dakota. This is still the case with Star Trek Online, where I have such a ship named thusly). I was not really enamored with the Star Gazer re-design of it, but I could see such a thing happening as Star Fleet tech improved. The quad nacelle design has many advantages over a twin nacelle design. More available power overall, and faster acceleration to a given warp speed. The quad impulse engines would make the ship quite speedy in combat and highly maneuverable as well. I agree the lack of aft torpedoes would be, to me at least, a design flaw in and of itself. If the Cheyenne Class were to be fitted with beefed up shields and beefier phasers, the class would be a major pain the posterior to any opponent below Battleship or Dreadnought Classes. A standard twin nacelle, Constitution Class ship just would not have the 'power budget' of a Cheyenne. Running only two engines for the most part, it would be capable of longer duration missions, and the availability of running on all four would be a very nice 'ace in the hole' for a commander should a Cheyenne need to 'skedaddle' out of harms way. Also consider this... a Cheyenne would be able to use two nacelles to power it's warp drives to scream into combat and then divert all that power to weapons, while the other pair supplied power to shields and other ship's systems. In such a case, a Cheyenne would be able to leap into combat, guns blazing, torps flying, and maneuver faster than any other ship it's size... and then, zip away to 'rinse and repeat' as often as needed, or until the ship took enough damage to warrant leaving combat. As said, it would be a danger to any ship it's own size, and would be a pain in the posterior even to ships larger than it's own size. Personally, I would take the redundancy of multiple warp nacelles over the usual pair, and the related up-scaled power budget as well, over a twin design's limits. Thinking from a Military point of view, I would delete the frontal shuttle bay and add a good deflector, more torpedoes, and perhaps large forward facing cannons of some type (mega phasers anyone?). The availability of up to 6 side bays would more than be enough for shuttle operations, unless one were to turn this into a mini-carrier for fighter craft. In THAT case, the forward bay would be an asset and not a liability. As for science missions... yes, I can see the desirability of increased shuttle space and numbers. Were I in charge of the Cheyenne design team, I would have three distinct sub-classes of this ship... one for long duration science missions, one as a mini-fighter carrier, and one as a pure high speed, high maneuvering combat ship. But, that's just me. enough from me, the Frank Gamer
Picard's remark about the ship being under powered actually makes a lot of sense. If warp coils are tubes that have energized warp plasma pumped through them, like freon through an air conditioner, then doubling the number of nacelles means you need to energize twice the volume of plasma per unit of time, to achieve the same field strength per nacelle. A single warp core of that era, might not have the capacity to push those nacelles to their performance limits. Regarding the deflector dish issue, (and this is pure speculation on my part) the difference could be this: A deflector dish might only be needed on ships that might need to cruise at high sub-light speeds. At warp, the warp field would push away interstellar hydrogen and other small bits of matter. Length of mission would factor in to this. Not all ships seem to have Bussard collectors either. Those collectors would be used at high sub-light speeds to replenish the hydrogen supply, something that an exploratory vessel that could be away for months or years, would need to do.
There was a webpage that was filled with the whole development of this class from inception to it's retirement. It's roles, it's variants, it's use to test different warp nacelles. It gave a great description of how the yellow "warp paint" was discovered. That page was an awesome piece of what I assume was fan based fiction for a project they were going to do involving that class of ship. Shame I can not find. The only thing I remember was that it was made by someone called Space Girl I think.
Regarding Capt. Foley's suggestion that the nacelles be twisted into a vertical position... were you to do that, the nacelles wouldn't be able to talk to each other per the Rule of Pairs. The two on the port side talk to each other and the two on the starboard side talk to each other. That's how this ship's propulsion appears to work. To make the top two talk to each other and the bottom two talk to each other, you'd have to do more than just adjust the rotation of the nacelles. You'd have to redesign the pylons that attach them to the ship, since the grills would be blocked by said superstructure.
I think Picard kept the model in his office, in part, to remind himself of how much better his new ship was. Lots of real-world naval officers have models of their old ships in their offices as well. It's a thing they do.
I had a Micro Machines toy of this when I was a kid, and was quite put out to find the "actual" ship was not yellow, when I saw the episode. If they want to do another Trek series which is a prequel in future, they could set it in the Constellation / Ambassador "era", with some cameos of the Enterprise C, even. Maybe the extra shuttle bays could be explained as a possible war with somebody was brewing while it was designed, so it had loads of extra bays to function as a fighter carrier. A carrier would be a priority target, too, so redundant nacelles didn't hurt.
The Engines vertical on the top struts and upside down on the bottom struts might be a neat look - especially if there is a triangular back plate on them like the Enterprise-A has. I find the horse shoe Shuttle bay one of the most interesting things about class - I suppose the bays could also be sub- divided off and used as very large cargo holds too. That would make the Stargazer good for delivering reasonably large pieces of equipment to colonies while foot print wise only being a little larger than a Miranda class. The thickened saucer look is an interesting idea for sure.
When FASA first came out with the TNG Officer's Manual,the Constellation Class had the vertical warp nacelles, but it had a standard Constitution Class primary hull.
I'm surprised you didn't bring up the fact that the Micro Machine version is in fact yellow. The ones I actually got in the box have the 2893 registry, but the ones ON the box have the 7100 registry.
The sensitive particles to show field stresses happen to be yellow in paint form. " The color doesn't matter it is just the Yellow cake uranium test media that turns the otherwise clear emulsion yellow"
I always loved the constellation.... I liked to believe that it was basically a high speed courier / science vessel / patrol ship. Good at everything but not great at anything.
Picard must've taken the model from the Stargazer after "The Battle". I have an Enterprise-A model that's as old as I am (21 years) possibly older and the once white plastic is now yellow. The "Stargazer" model was probably left on the ship when everyone bailed and it's been there for nine years sitting in someone's quarters. Picard saw and was probably like "Oh look it's a model of another Constellation-class. Wrong number? Don't care this is going right in my ready room. Move over, Connie."
In my Star Trek fiction, the Warp nacelles on 3 nacelle or one nacelle model Starships is that they have two warp coils in them than one, this creates a stable warp core and the 'agitation' of the energies for warp flight are strong enough to create a warp field successfully. The main difference is the ships need recalibrated SIFs.
What if the yellow prop was because the plastic was old? The Constellation ships were around when Picard was a kid, so he could have built a model. Some time after the loss of the Stargazer he got it out of storage. Alternately, he painted it yellow as a kid because he liked how it looked.
+Frits Felix It could. I suspect they have plastic that doesn't, but then WE have plastic that doesn't. Perhaps it takes less energy to replicate plastic that's more likely to yellow. If you're getting something for a kid, who's probably gonna break it anyway, why splurge your replicator credits on a more expensive model? If they had their own replicator that wouldn't have mattered, but we saw that the Picards don't. In real life it's because of the color palette. I just think this adds a cool bit of head-canon backstory for why he'd have a Constellation model that wasn't the Stargazer around.
if you look closely you will notice that the yellow is on too much of the model, so I think it's just the primer waiting for the actual paint-coat to be applied.
hello Trekyards. I know this is NOT cannon, but the Constellation Class would have had another 'role' to play, other than as a Heavy Cruiser, or a Fast Armed Transport. And that would be as a Heavy Cruiser hulled, 'Carrier' ship. Those six Secondary Bays could have housed two or three fighters in each, giving the vessel a fighter escort, or fighter wing attack force of up to 18 ships. This would not require re-purposing the Main Shuttle Bay in the fore part of the ship, and would in no way impact the overall power of the ship's shields, or other weaponry. Such a 'carrier' would have seen use on the Federation borders, and/or as escorts for the Fast Transport versions. Also said 'carrier' version would have added a welcome extension of the ship's sensors by having pairs of fighters en-globe the ship as it is proceeding along it's plotted path, sending their sensor data to the Constellation and receiving updated tactical data and sensor data from the 'mother' ship. Before you argue that 'fighters' are not possible... I suggest you take a good look at the TNG episode about Ens Crusher's disastrous attempted formation maneuver at Star Fleet Academy. Thus it is seen that the Federation does, indeed' have both STL and Warp capable fighter craft in it's arsenal. Just my thoughts, speaking, Frank-ly
I like the nacelles in the "sideways" configuration... If nacelles need to be in pairs.. consider the nacelles paired up-and-down instead of side to side. So the starboard upper and lower nacelles are paired together while the port nacelles are paired together. I do not like the shuttle bay on the front of the hull.. I think a better place for the main shuttle bay would be in the back, nestled between the sub-light engines. Just my $0.02.
what you say about the nacelles makes sense. thats why they seem to lay on the side. also the placement of the impulse chrystals makes totally sense in this case.
I thought this was a great episode. The backstory from part 1 and the research put into this episode was especially well done. Stuart, I like that you scour the Interwebs for multiple sources and collate all the information. Keep it us. PS- I'm so psyched for the starship design episode it's not even fit. I got a feeling the resulting discussion is going to be something else.
In my mind the number of engines dynamic had more to do with a ship's overall mass and shape more than the invented mechanics of LoS and terran mammalian pairing aesthetics. Each additional engine had to be added in a symmetrical sort of way, but each one lended a certain force multiplier of power, again, proportional to the ship's "astro-dynamic" shape and mass.
Another great episode, guys. I didn't know that the Stargazer was returned to service after Picard got it back from the Ferengi. The Starship design episode will be exciting to see/watch. When I was looking at it and thinking about a deflector or the lack of one on the Constellation class ships, i was surmising that perhaps it has a flat one at the front of the saucer ? If that is the case, it seems like it would take up a large amount of space in the forward section of the ship to accommodate that, thus necessitating an overall larger considerably saucer for the ship. What are your guys thoughts on this ? Nice job on this.
I always wondered why Starfleet engineers didn't stick with this much thicker style of saucer, adding that much more usable interior space and decks? It's just so much more practical and structurally sound.
As much as I hate to necro-comment on a thread, I'll do it here. The one major feature you didn't comment on is the sheer VOLUME of the thick saucer section. With the outlines showing the saucer to be comparable in diameter to other ships, the added thickness would have given it several times the internal volume of those vessels. That configuration would have made it an excellent colony ship, or heavy freight hauler.
I like the 4 warp nacelle design, but I prefer the dorsal nacelles to be mounted in the correct vertical orientation, and the ventral nacelles in a inverted vertical position. alternatively you could create a time ship from a stargazer design by rotating each nacelle 90 deg clockwise .
+Trekyards You might want to read the Dominion War Books featuring the USS Enterprise-E there was the USS Gettysburg and USS Resistance and Picard makes some comments about the class in general. In this the USS Republic is Starfleet training vessel for the academy from 2350-2383. However they are used as heavy destroyers, not cruisers in the Dominion War. They were mainly part of the third fleet that was defending Earth.
Keeping with the crazy in universe reasons for the different paint, here's mine! What if traditional aztec-ing of the hull is a sensor dampening feature, like the radar absorbing paint on non-stealthy fighters today. Perhaps the yellow scheme is a prototype feature that allows for scans of the structure during testing before they're aztec-ed so they can detect defects before they put it into production? Hooray for Internet speculation!
I'm still waiting for a full fledged model kit of this class to be produced. Though I would make the overly greebled underside of the saucer sleek with the other junk included as ad on parts for other mission configurations. I think that Lunar Models came out with a kit in the late 80's with the usual combo of resin cast and vacu formed parts. But with 3-D printers one could make a far better model now.
so isn't t the origional apollo class (which had a single nacelle) cannon then, as it was in a few games along with its refit i dont know about any of the origional series as i havent seen any of it other than the films based afterward
Anyone else notice that along the port and starboard rear positions on the saucer on top and bottom there are 4 constitution class refit nacelle pylons laid flat on the saucer to add texture?
Well, it looks like the new Picard season 2 teaser is immortalizing a somewhat streamlined take on the AMT kit-bashed version of the Stargazer, embossed hull plating and all.
I did not like the thickness of the saucer because it seemed to throw the scale off in comparison to the 1701-A but now that I know that they had shuttle bays along the rim, it makes sense and it is growing on me.
I always assumed that the yellow color of the model was to imply it was made of some type of wood. With it being in the background, I never even really knew it was yellow, but thought it was a light wood color.
As far as model color goes the yellow might have been chosen to look more golden from a distance? Also Stuart mentioned turning the nacelles to vertical but why not just rotate the entire secondary hull & engines 90 deg--nacelles would be vertical, the impulse drive would be positioned more traditionally. In all though great episode, Love this ship.
I would like to offer this theory. It was a gift from one of the children on the ship as a birthday present. So its incomplete because the child didn't finish it before giving it.
I don't suppose there's anywhere I can find those cgi flybys of this ship isolated somewhere on RUclips, is there? They look great, despite being unfinished.
+Darin Wagner I make all of the 3D renders for the shows...all original content made for Trekyards and the "unfinished" they do have a lighting rig and what not its just there were 1/2 errors in the conversion process that lead so some gaps, not the modelers fault! Thanks for the compliment though!
I'd just like a beauty shot of the Constellation like in the video thumbnail with my old submarine's name on it. It'd make a fun wallpaper for my PC. You do good work!
Doug Drexler's illustrations of the ship (featured in this video) kinda bother me because the saucer isn't thick enough. Doug's great, don't get me wrong... and I'm extra nit-picky because this is my favorite ship. I can live without the sensor pods on the bottom, but the saucer thickness is a big deal for me. The lighting suggests four decks thick at the edge on the studio model. Doug's looks like it's two, perhaps three decks tops, thick at the edge.
@11:00-11:04 per your comments... There were a lot of F*-ups during the Berman years, like they thought we'd never recognize all the Douglas Adams references, both on the walls[sets] and in dialogue.
I like how she's got a much thicker saucer than the Miranda or constitution classes, shuttle bays look great mounted around it. Where exactly was the anime robot located?
+Fox Piano I too like the thicker saucer on this ship. It makes it distinctly different, and suggests it was designed to perform missions far different from those assigned to Constitution class ships. Form follows function.
Too me the thicker saucer makes the ship look like she can take a beating much better than a Refit Connie or Miranda( as the Miranda was originally depicted in TWOK not as the DW cannon fodder ship)
Gene Roddenberry had got it wrong! In the Twenty-Third Century humans conflict have been changed by origin factions; Earthers, Martian and the asteroid belt miners "Belters".
I don't know if someone already asked this in part 1, but is there a reason why one of the impulse engines in the 3d render isn't lit, or is it just a glitch?
+power543 It does look great! I was hoping it was a showcase of how the redundant impulse system can move the ship with a minimal reduction in thrust even when one or more of the engines are disabled... Which is probably true when you think about it
I actually love the constellation design, but for me I think the nacelles are a little too close together. I would have put them wider both on the top and the bottom so that from the rear view, the overall back section isn't so narrow. And about the odd number nacelle ship designs, I hate them, for me fed ships should have an even number of nacelles.
Other ships don't have deflectors, I would assume that they are not strictly needed but that they offer a performance advantage at a cost. A cost one may not be willing to pay for every single ship produced.
well... there are many designs without a typical deflector dish... think the USS Reliant or the Grissom. At least the Constellation has a huge sturdy garage door in the bow to absorb microasteroids, you can probably paint over it at Starbase easily ;-)
Hello Captain Foley: I am a Big fan of Trekyards: I have watched a lot of your videos: I have never commented before however, I think you and Commander Cockings, { i really hope I spelled his name right.) do a wonderful job with these videos. I Play STO, And I have a few questions; 1 Is there a way to make a video of in game play where I can use my web cam to have me on screen with one of my Star Trek uniforms on? ( Like a small video box somewhere on the Bridge with my image, or can I somehow put it on the Bridge view screen). 2 How do you guys make those wonderful videos with all of those Starships and music from the different tv shows and movies? 3 How did you get your Captains Diploma, & do you know if they have an Admirals Diploma? How can I get then? I have a Starfleet Academy Diploma, & Starfleet Acadeny Student I.D. CARD.
+Tony Yarborough Hay Tony! Thanks for the comment and being a fan of the show! And yes you spelled his name right! These are questions that take a little while to answer, if you want full answers please comment this onto the last commanders Q&A video as i'm sure the Commander can deal with most of these!
single engine nacelles are possible, its just two actual nacelles in a single housing like in the federation destroyer class , I don't remember the class name.
the only issue I ever had with this ship, is the nacelle area.... rotate the whole thing 90/degrees, with the crystal facing up, and it would look sleek as fuck.
A lot of ships don't, I figure that's a performance aspect choice. A dedicated deflector isn't strictly needed but it allows for a significantly broadened performance envelop at the cost of significantly more resources mass and energy. I can see a lot of limitations being placed on a ship without a dish, maximum speed in particularly dense areas of space. Extra caution needed while navigating solar systems etc.
The Bridge was even sadder! It looked like a deplorable cross between the back of ST:IV's bridge and TMP's Bridge color scheme. I say this needed to present some progressive tech.
I disagree with all the deflector dish hoopla. Maybe the warp field profile does that same job with this design. Like a modified leading edge design. Just enjoy the ships for what they are guys.
+Reg Clinton Brown there are many examples of NAV DEF , they don't always have to be dishes like on the Ent. the Miranda class uses a different NAV DEF, as well as the destroyer and bulk container ships Starfleet has.
+Mark Plott I'm based in reality and thinking in terms of real life design making decisions. For Star Fleet ships having a Deflector Dish was a constant for every starship class since TOS. So seeing the U.S.S. Reliant to U.S.S. Grissom and then the later U.S.S. Stargazer were three examples of continuity design errors.
if we are discussing reality.......then your point in ineffective. modern war ships no longer have the traditional "radar" dishes, they use electronically steered radar, the panels are flat they don't rotate. civilian radar still uses radar in open mounts and with a rotating sensor. so I see this as a stop gap design. halfway between TOS era dishes and Next gen era Dishes. believe me, I prefer the Next gen dishes, but I do not believe the design choices were errors.
+Mark Plott When I say "reality" I'm talking about behind the scenes with production decisions. Someone there in the Paramount Offices saying "Why isn't there a dish on this model? Add it please."... that's my point.
Samuel's facial expressions/head movements are both distracting, but have become just a big part of these videos that it wouldn't be the same if he was to stop!
You're killing me talking about the yellowing of the model like its a big deal. How about this - its yellow because Picard has had it a very long time. If you've ever built models they do discolor over time.
Trekyards - I kinda figured you'd say that. :-) However in TOS didn't they age the Enterprise over the 3 seasons as it aged? I ask because the idea of a future where everything looks bright and pretty no matter how old it is seems kinda boring. one other tjought, perhaps Star Fleet was thinking of changing its color scheme and the model is sporting that new look that was rejected? Anyway, I used to dislike your show but now I find myself wat checking it quite a bit and I even suscribed. Keep up the good work.
WOW,... just watching this now. Amusing speculations on why the ship is yellow. It's yellow, ostensibly, to make it more visible in deep space. There is no name on it because we didn't have enough 'letters' with which to assemble "Stargazer".
We didn't "convince" the Producers to have a larger model built. A script was written which featured that ship, so it was built for that.
Too 'kit-bashed'? There was no time to "Design" it, beyond what it was, since we did it between actual production assignments. Rick & I put it together in order to dress up Picard's office (unfortunately dubbed the 'readyroom'). We thought he should want a model of his first (or former) command, a deep space science vessel. We also co-painted the portrait of his current command, the Enterprise-D, also for his office.
The lower saucer "clutter" was the ship's information-gathering apparatus, needed in it's research and surveying duties. It's kind of ugly, generally, due to it's constructed purpose,... very thick saucer to handle larger-than-normal planetary exploration vessels, cargo & supply ships, and various other unimagined scientific equipment.
Cheers-
If given the opportunity would you design a more refined and less kitbashed version of the Constellation Class?
Awsome. I love the look of the design. You did some really great work.
@@williammeek4078 Appreciated-
Listening to all the problems the Constellation class ships had, the term "over engineered and under thought" comes to mind. I actually like the concept that the ship was flawed. Makes it feel more real to me.
A weapons platform is a weapons platform and so it doesn't surprise me that a ship like this could function well in a war, even the Dominion War, despite her age. Picard wasn't just the captain of the Stargazer, he was also the Helmsman/Executive Officer prior to taking command... that's why Picard could be interested in the field stresses of the class of ship. Or when the computer made the model for Picard, it color-coordinated it with his office. Thanks for this two-parter, guys!
But Picards description of the ship makes it seem particularly poorly suited to any sort of combat. It is however a working ship capable of hauling things and people, support ships will always be the bulk of any active fleet.
I could see it taking on a Q ship role though, open up that huge forward cargo bay door to reveal an improvised self contained rapid fire torpedo launcher (or three) and you have an unassuming ship that wouldn't be a priority target yet capable of unleashing a hell storm of destruction in a matter of moments. Running automated or with minimal crew who would then eject amid a swarm of decoys it's possible that the then immediately harmless ship would be largely ignored and certainly not worth the concerted effort to destroy in the face of continued fire from more advanced vessels.... Sry about no punctuation lol.
DrewLSsix
Picard was primarily comparing it to his Enterprise when he described it as an "overworked, underpowered vessel always on the verge of flying apart at the seams." Gotta remember also that he commanded it during the last 20 years of its 80 year lifespan. I imagine the Constellation class was pretty decent in their day but as time went on, it became outmatched by newer vessels. Happens all the time in the Navy submarine service. Last decades hot shit boat turns into this decade's clunker.
Cool 2 parts episodes. Love the history behind this starship
Again, great episode. Thank you!
13:49 They were on their sides because of the supposed rule that those "vents which must not be obstructed" would not have been facing their opposing ones down below as they are obstructed side to side by the support pylons.
I love this class of ship. It's a workhorse design, it's not pretty but it gets thing done.
I also like how it almost looks like a portable star base, it's almost like it could be stationary and still be functional.
No doubt that Montgomery Scott was familiar with the Constellation class since it's time of service overlapped the Excelsior class at the latter part of the 23rd century.
I always liked the design of the ship from the outside and all but ... surely like all other star trek full sized star ships this would need some form of deflector right? I'm not aware of any deflector dishes that were built into the hull with no obvious outboard bits like you see in other star ships. Same issue with the Miranda. Is it just because the profile is less from the front?
picard made and painter it in his youth, his first non-replicated model
The US Navy has a history of naming ships CONSTELLATION.
Following the space trials paint scheme idea. Maybe yellow is the true colour of the hull plating? Or a yellow undercoat to protect the hull plating from radiation? Before the final service top coat has been applied in starfleet grey. The registery could also be a space trials number, before it gets commissioned with its service registory? If you wanted an in universe 'reason'. Love the channel
Hello Trekyards. The Cheyenne Class has always been one of my favorite ships. (I have played most of the Trek computer games and always had one named the USS Dakota. This is still the case with Star Trek Online, where I have such a ship named thusly). I was not really enamored with the Star Gazer re-design of it, but I could see such a thing happening as Star Fleet tech improved. The quad nacelle design has many advantages over a twin nacelle design. More available power overall, and faster acceleration to a given warp speed. The quad impulse engines would make the ship quite speedy in combat and highly maneuverable as well. I agree the lack of aft torpedoes would be, to me at least, a design flaw in and of itself. If the Cheyenne Class were to be fitted with beefed up shields and beefier phasers, the class would be a major pain the posterior to any opponent below Battleship or Dreadnought Classes. A standard twin nacelle, Constitution Class ship just would not have the 'power budget' of a Cheyenne. Running only two engines for the most part, it would be capable of longer duration missions, and the availability of running on all four would be a very nice 'ace in the hole' for a commander should a Cheyenne need to 'skedaddle' out of harms way. Also consider this... a Cheyenne would be able to use two nacelles to power it's warp drives to scream into combat and then divert all that power to weapons, while the other pair supplied power to shields and other ship's systems. In such a case, a Cheyenne would be able to leap into combat, guns blazing, torps flying, and maneuver faster than any other ship it's size... and then, zip away to 'rinse and repeat' as often as needed, or until the ship took enough damage to warrant leaving combat. As said, it would be a danger to any ship it's own size, and would be a pain in the posterior even to ships larger than it's own size. Personally, I would take the redundancy of multiple warp nacelles over the usual pair, and the related up-scaled power budget as well, over a twin design's limits. Thinking from a Military point of view, I would delete the frontal shuttle bay and add a good deflector, more torpedoes, and perhaps large forward facing cannons of some type (mega phasers anyone?). The availability of up to 6 side bays would more than be enough for shuttle operations, unless one were to turn this into a mini-carrier for fighter craft. In THAT case, the forward bay would be an asset and not a liability. As for science missions... yes, I can see the desirability of increased shuttle space and numbers. Were I in charge of the Cheyenne design team, I would have three distinct sub-classes of this ship... one for long duration science missions, one as a mini-fighter carrier, and one as a pure high speed, high maneuvering combat ship.
But, that's just me.
enough from me,
the Frank Gamer
Picard's remark about the ship being under powered actually makes a lot of sense. If warp coils are tubes that have energized warp plasma pumped through them, like freon through an air conditioner, then doubling the number of nacelles means you need to energize twice the volume of plasma per unit of time, to achieve the same field strength per nacelle. A single warp core of that era, might not have the capacity to push those nacelles to their performance limits.
Regarding the deflector dish issue, (and this is pure speculation on my part) the difference could be this: A deflector dish might only be needed on ships that might need to cruise at high sub-light speeds. At warp, the warp field would push away interstellar hydrogen and other small bits of matter. Length of mission would factor in to this. Not all ships seem to have Bussard collectors either. Those collectors would be used at high sub-light speeds to replenish the hydrogen supply, something that an exploratory vessel that could be away for months or years, would need to do.
It is always nice to learn something new. Thank you
There was a webpage that was filled with the whole development of this class from inception to it's retirement. It's roles, it's variants, it's use to test different warp nacelles. It gave a great description of how the yellow "warp paint" was discovered. That page was an awesome piece of what I assume was fan based fiction for a project they were going to do involving that class of ship. Shame I can not find. The only thing I remember was that it was made by someone called Space Girl I think.
Regarding Capt. Foley's suggestion that the nacelles be twisted into a vertical position... were you to do that, the nacelles wouldn't be able to talk to each other per the Rule of Pairs. The two on the port side talk to each other and the two on the starboard side talk to each other. That's how this ship's propulsion appears to work. To make the top two talk to each other and the bottom two talk to each other, you'd have to do more than just adjust the rotation of the nacelles. You'd have to redesign the pylons that attach them to the ship, since the grills would be blocked by said superstructure.
Definitely my favorite ship of the show. I do not know why, but it is. It is ugly and elegant at the same time.
I think Picard kept the model in his office, in part, to remind himself of how much better his new ship was. Lots of real-world naval officers have models of their old ships in their offices as well. It's a thing they do.
I had a Micro Machines toy of this when I was a kid, and was quite put out to find the "actual" ship was not yellow, when I saw the episode.
If they want to do another Trek series which is a prequel in future, they could set it in the Constellation / Ambassador "era", with some cameos of the Enterprise C, even. Maybe the extra shuttle bays could be explained as a possible war with somebody was brewing while it was designed, so it had loads of extra bays to function as a fighter carrier. A carrier would be a priority target, too, so redundant nacelles didn't hurt.
I always assumed Picard's Stargazer model was made out of a precious metal, like gold or electrum. Like a fancy memorial piece.
The Engines vertical on the top struts and upside down on the bottom struts might be a neat look - especially if there is a triangular back plate on them like the Enterprise-A has.
I find the horse shoe Shuttle bay one of the most interesting things about class - I suppose the bays could also be sub- divided off and used as very large cargo holds too.
That would make the Stargazer good for delivering reasonably large pieces of equipment to colonies while foot print wise only being a little larger than a Miranda class.
The thickened saucer look is an interesting idea for sure.
When FASA first came out with the TNG Officer's Manual,the Constellation Class had the vertical warp nacelles, but it had a standard Constitution Class primary hull.
Thanks for sharing the part 2
That little tube thing on the bottom of the saucer is what I say is the deflector :D
I'm surprised you didn't bring up the fact that the Micro Machine version is in fact yellow. The ones I actually got in the box have the 2893 registry, but the ones ON the box have the 7100 registry.
The sensitive particles to show field stresses happen to be yellow in paint form. " The color doesn't matter it is just the Yellow cake uranium test media that turns the otherwise clear emulsion yellow"
I always loved the constellation.... I liked to believe that it was basically a high speed courier / science vessel / patrol ship. Good at everything but not great at anything.
Picard must've taken the model from the Stargazer after "The Battle". I have an Enterprise-A model that's as old as I am (21 years) possibly older and the once white plastic is now yellow. The "Stargazer" model was probably left on the ship when everyone bailed and it's been there for nine years sitting in someone's quarters. Picard saw and was probably like "Oh look it's a model of another Constellation-class. Wrong number? Don't care this is going right in my ready room. Move over, Connie."
i like that ship design its diferent altho still remais federation feel to it
In my Star Trek fiction, the Warp nacelles on 3 nacelle or one nacelle model Starships is that they have two warp coils in them than one, this creates a stable warp core and the 'agitation' of the energies for warp flight are strong enough to create a warp field successfully. The main difference is the ships need recalibrated SIFs.
"What colour do you want your model, Captain?"
"Tea, Earl Grey, hot."
What if the yellow prop was because the plastic was old? The Constellation ships were around when Picard was a kid, so he could have built a model. Some time after the loss of the Stargazer he got it out of storage. Alternately, he painted it yellow as a kid because he liked how it looked.
+Frits Felix It could. I suspect they have plastic that doesn't, but then WE have plastic that doesn't. Perhaps it takes less energy to replicate plastic that's more likely to yellow. If you're getting something for a kid, who's probably gonna break it anyway, why splurge your replicator credits on a more expensive model? If they had their own replicator that wouldn't have mattered, but we saw that the Picards don't.
In real life it's because of the color palette. I just think this adds a cool bit of head-canon backstory for why he'd have a Constellation model that wasn't the Stargazer around.
if you look closely you will notice that the yellow is on too much of the model, so I think it's just the primer waiting for the actual paint-coat to be applied.
hello Trekyards.
I know this is NOT cannon, but the Constellation Class would have had another 'role' to play, other than as a Heavy Cruiser, or a Fast Armed Transport. And that would be as a Heavy Cruiser hulled, 'Carrier' ship. Those six Secondary Bays could have housed two or three fighters in each, giving the vessel a fighter escort, or fighter wing attack force of up to 18 ships. This would not require re-purposing the Main Shuttle Bay in the fore part of the ship, and would in no way impact the overall power of the ship's shields, or other weaponry.
Such a 'carrier' would have seen use on the Federation borders, and/or as escorts for the Fast Transport versions. Also said 'carrier' version would have added a welcome extension of the ship's sensors by having pairs of fighters en-globe the ship as it is proceeding along it's plotted path, sending their sensor data to the Constellation and receiving updated tactical data and sensor data from the 'mother' ship.
Before you argue that 'fighters' are not possible... I suggest you take a good look at the TNG episode about Ens Crusher's disastrous attempted formation maneuver at Star Fleet Academy. Thus it is seen that the Federation does, indeed' have both STL and Warp capable fighter craft in it's arsenal.
Just my thoughts,
speaking, Frank-ly
I would have been very happy to see a pre-refit version of this as Discovery ;)
I like the nacelles in the "sideways" configuration... If nacelles need to be in pairs.. consider the nacelles paired up-and-down instead of side to side. So the starboard upper and lower nacelles are paired together while the port nacelles are paired together.
I do not like the shuttle bay on the front of the hull.. I think a better place for the main shuttle bay would be in the back, nestled between the sub-light engines.
Just my $0.02.
what you say about the nacelles makes sense. thats why they seem to lay on the side. also the placement of the impulse chrystals makes totally sense in this case.
I thought this was a great episode. The backstory from part 1 and the research put into this episode was especially well done. Stuart, I like that you scour the Interwebs for multiple sources and collate all the information. Keep it us. PS- I'm so psyched for the starship design episode it's not even fit. I got a feeling the resulting discussion is going to be something else.
+Shawn McDonald We already filmed it with Andrew and its fun! :D
In my mind the number of engines dynamic had more to do with a ship's overall mass and shape more than the invented mechanics of LoS and terran mammalian pairing aesthetics. Each additional engine had to be added in a symmetrical sort of way, but each one lended a certain force multiplier of power, again, proportional to the ship's "astro-dynamic" shape and mass.
Another great episode, guys. I didn't know that the Stargazer was returned to service after Picard got it back from the Ferengi. The Starship design episode will be exciting to see/watch. When I was looking at it and thinking about a deflector or the lack of one on the Constellation class ships, i was surmising that perhaps it has a flat one at the front of the saucer ? If that is the case, it seems like it would take up a large amount of space in the forward section of the ship to accommodate that, thus necessitating an overall larger considerably saucer for the ship. What are your guys thoughts on this ? Nice job on this.
The name of the story was "Charley". A shortened version was published in school text books later and it was titled "Flowers for Aldronon."
“Flowers for Algeron?”
I always wondered why Starfleet engineers didn't stick with this much thicker style of saucer, adding that much more usable interior space and decks? It's just so much more practical and structurally sound.
As much as I hate to necro-comment on a thread, I'll do it here. The one major feature you didn't comment on is the sheer VOLUME of the thick saucer section. With the outlines showing the saucer to be comparable in diameter to other ships, the added thickness would have given it several times the internal volume of those vessels. That configuration would have made it an excellent colony ship, or heavy freight hauler.
I like the 4 warp nacelle design, but I prefer the dorsal nacelles to be mounted in the correct vertical orientation, and the ventral nacelles in a inverted vertical position. alternatively you could create a time ship from a stargazer design by rotating each nacelle 90 deg clockwise .
So it made it all the way through the Dominion War without being destroyed. Impressive. :)
+Robert Hayes I doubt it was on the front lines. Probably a training vessel
+Trekyards If they were throwing Mirandas into the war im sure they would have used constellation classes as well.
+Trekyards You might want to read the Dominion War Books featuring the USS Enterprise-E there was the USS Gettysburg and USS Resistance and Picard makes some comments about the class in general. In this the USS Republic is Starfleet training vessel for the academy from 2350-2383. However they are used as heavy destroyers, not cruisers in the Dominion War. They were mainly part of the third fleet that was defending Earth.
I bet it was the only ship that survived the war without a scratch, Voyager doesn't count as it was lost in the Delta quadrant...
+Trekyards Link you posted in description don't work anymore.
I've always liked to imagine that the yellow Constellation model is the first ship Picard served on, the Reliant
Keeping with the crazy in universe reasons for the different paint, here's mine! What if traditional aztec-ing of the hull is a sensor dampening feature, like the radar absorbing paint on non-stealthy fighters today. Perhaps the yellow scheme is a prototype feature that allows for scans of the structure during testing before they're aztec-ed so they can detect defects before they put it into production? Hooray for Internet speculation!
I'm still waiting for a full fledged model kit of this class to be produced. Though I would make the overly greebled underside of the saucer sleek with the other junk included as ad on parts for other mission configurations. I think that Lunar Models came out with a kit in the late 80's with the usual combo of resin cast and vacu formed parts. But with 3-D printers one could make a far better model now.
so isn't t the origional apollo class (which had a single nacelle) cannon then, as it was in a few games along with its refit i dont know about any of the origional series as i havent seen any of it other than the films based afterward
Great job guys!
where is the deflector on this thing?
I was so looking forward to the Eaglemoss model but was disappointed as how thin they made the saucer.
They kitbashed the kitbash!
Anyone else notice that along the port and starboard rear positions on the saucer on top and bottom there are 4 constitution class refit nacelle pylons laid flat on the saucer to add texture?
Well, it looks like the new Picard season 2 teaser is immortalizing a somewhat streamlined take on the AMT kit-bashed version of the Stargazer, embossed hull plating and all.
I did not like the thickness of the saucer because it seemed to throw the scale off in comparison to the 1701-A but now that I know that they had shuttle bays along the rim, it makes sense and it is growing on me.
Always did like this ship! Thought it looked cool with the 4 nacelle design. I think it could be a very effective ship in battle if used correctly.
I always assumed that the yellow color of the model was to imply it was made of some type of wood. With it being in the background, I never even really knew it was yellow, but thought it was a light wood color.
Now if only the Stargazer was the testbed for prototype ship-transformation technology... Get some Robotech up in those fleet battles!
As far as model color goes the yellow might have been chosen to look more golden from a distance? Also Stuart mentioned turning the nacelles to vertical but why not just rotate the entire secondary hull & engines 90 deg--nacelles would be vertical, the impulse drive would be positioned more traditionally. In all though great episode, Love this ship.
Wait. So the Constellation class model has bits of Macross Valkyrie in it? That's pretty cool.
I would like to offer this theory. It was a gift from one of the children on the ship as a birthday present. So its incomplete because the child didn't finish it before giving it.
I don't suppose there's anywhere I can find those cgi flybys of this ship isolated somewhere on RUclips, is there? They look great, despite being unfinished.
+Darin Wagner I make all of the 3D renders for the shows...all original content made for Trekyards and the "unfinished" they do have a lighting rig and what not its just there were 1/2 errors in the conversion process that lead so some gaps, not the modelers fault! Thanks for the compliment though!
I'd just like a beauty shot of the Constellation like in the video thumbnail with my old submarine's name on it. It'd make a fun wallpaper for my PC. You do good work!
All the extra bits on the ventral hull feel super Pacific 201 which would be a contemporary of the constellation anyway
Another great episode.
great show again
it also appears in the video game Star Trek: Legacy
Cool.
Doug Drexler's illustrations of the ship (featured in this video) kinda bother me because the saucer isn't thick enough. Doug's great, don't get me wrong... and I'm extra nit-picky because this is my favorite ship. I can live without the sensor pods on the bottom, but the saucer thickness is a big deal for me. The lighting suggests four decks thick at the edge on the studio model. Doug's looks like it's two, perhaps three decks tops, thick at the edge.
@11:00-11:04 per your comments...
There were a lot of F*-ups during the Berman years, like they thought we'd never recognize all the Douglas Adams references, both on the walls[sets] and in dialogue.
I collected the Star Trek Micromachines all those centuries ago (it feels like...), and their Stargazer model was yellow as well. Quite a shame.
I like how she's got a much thicker saucer than the Miranda or constitution classes, shuttle bays look great mounted around it.
Where exactly was the anime robot located?
+Fox Piano I too like the thicker saucer on this ship. It makes it distinctly different, and suggests it was designed to perform missions far different from those assigned to Constitution class ships. Form follows function.
Too me the thicker saucer makes the ship look like she can take a beating much better than a Refit Connie or Miranda( as the Miranda was originally depicted in TWOK not as the DW cannon fodder ship)
I wish when they first made the Stargazer studio model they could have kit-bashed it out of Excelsior parts instead
I always thought the yellow model was just made of bronze with a matte finish... You never really see it up close in the series.
Gene Roddenberry had got it wrong! In the Twenty-Third Century humans conflict have been changed by origin factions; Earthers, Martian and the asteroid belt miners "Belters".
Maybe just maybe yellow was the only color available at the time! ;)
I'm assuming by Anime parts/Valkyrie name the Stargazer model had Robotech veritech model bits in its make up? Make me like the model even more!
+Ryan Hickman Almost. Think Macross, not Robotech. If you look at the top of the saucer at the back you'll see two wings from a VF-1 Valkyrie!
I have the iOS game Star Trek timelines. It's not wanting to cope a lot. It crashes mid battle, mid away mission, you name it.
Nice... no one said tough lil ship in this episode
Good show
So the Stargazer has a Macross Battroid Valkyrie on the hull?
+Rob Wong Bottom of the saucer between the two large sensor blisters, see memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/File:USS_Valkyrie-02.jpg
Shawn McDonald Thanks for the link. That's pretty neat.
It's no wonder Captain Picard never used the Captains Yacht when he used to have that to take for a spin...
Shawn McDonald Yeah, who needs a Yacht when you have a Battroid? lol
Nice video.
I don't know if someone already asked this in part 1, but is there a reason why one of the impulse engines in the 3d render isn't lit, or is it just a glitch?
+Shawn McDonald That was an unfortunate glitch in the conversion process from Max to Lightwave unfortunate but the rest of the model does look great!
+power543 It does look great! I was hoping it was a showcase of how the redundant impulse system can move the ship with a minimal reduction in thrust even when one or more of the engines are disabled... Which is probably true when you think about it
I actually love the constellation design, but for me I think the nacelles are a little too close together. I would have put them wider both on the top and the bottom so that from the rear view, the overall back section isn't so narrow.
And about the odd number nacelle ship designs, I hate them, for me fed ships should have an even number of nacelles.
Where's the deflector dish ? Anyone notice that.... As the front bit is a shuttle bay lol
Other ships don't have deflectors, I would assume that they are not strictly needed but that they offer a performance advantage at a cost. A cost one may not be willing to pay for every single ship produced.
The ship has no deflector dish. Don't you need one I. Order to travel at warp speed?
well... there are many designs without a typical deflector dish... think the USS Reliant or the Grissom. At least the Constellation has a huge sturdy garage door in the bow to absorb microasteroids, you can probably paint over it at Starbase easily ;-)
how can it run without a deflector? ....never made sense to me
Maybe Picard built ships as a kid and this was his favourite!
He said himself he builds ships in bottles.
I just watched that episode last night too!
Hello Captain Foley: I am a Big fan of Trekyards: I have watched a lot of your videos:
I have never commented before however, I think you and Commander Cockings, { i really hope I spelled his name right.) do a wonderful job with these videos.
I Play STO, And I have a few questions; 1 Is there a way to make a video of in game play where I can use my web cam to have me on screen with one of my Star Trek uniforms on? ( Like a small video box somewhere on the Bridge with my image, or can I somehow put it on the Bridge view screen). 2 How do you guys make those wonderful videos with all of those Starships and music from the different tv shows and movies? 3 How did you get your Captains Diploma, & do you know if they have an Admirals Diploma? How can I get then? I have a Starfleet Academy Diploma, & Starfleet Acadeny Student I.D. CARD.
+Tony Yarborough Hay Tony! Thanks for the comment and being a fan of the show! And yes you spelled his name right!
These are questions that take a little while to answer, if you want full answers please comment this onto the last commanders Q&A video as i'm sure the Commander can deal with most of these!
+Trekyards Okay: Thank you Captain Foley, I'll try to find it and re-post it there.
I actually like this ship.
single engine nacelles are possible, its just two actual nacelles in a single housing like in the federation destroyer class , I don't remember the class name.
+Mark Plott Think it's the Freedom Class you refer to Mike-there was a battle damaged model made for Wolf 359 Borg battle.
+Mark Plott Sorry- Mark-The model used in "Best Of Both Worlds" was a Freedom Class-USS Firebrand, the design has a single warp nacelle.
the only issue I ever had with this ship, is the nacelle area.... rotate the whole thing 90/degrees, with the crystal facing up, and it would look sleek as fuck.
Did you guys ever notice that the Constellation class ships don't have a deflector array?
A lot of ships don't, I figure that's a performance aspect choice. A dedicated deflector isn't strictly needed but it allows for a significantly broadened performance envelop at the cost of significantly more resources mass and energy.
I can see a lot of limitations being placed on a ship without a dish, maximum speed in particularly dense areas of space. Extra caution needed while navigating solar systems etc.
But without a deflector array how is it going to emit a tachyon pulse then?
Starfleet ships like the Constellation, Miranda, Akula, Cheyenne and the Challenger classes, incorporated a deflector grid.
Where is the deflector?
I suspect it could have been renumber Sometimes a ship in real life a ship purpose a ship changes. and with it its name and or number.
If the people doing Star Trek were lazy and used the constitution class than maybe the constitution class would be in STA3
We have to go back!
The Bridge was even sadder! It looked like a deplorable cross between the back of ST:IV's bridge and TMP's Bridge color scheme. I say this needed to present some progressive tech.
Cool
The brightest stars of Cassiopeia number FIVE and it's correctly pronounced Cassio-pee-ya. Your poor daughter.
Can somebody agree that the lack of a Deflector Dish was just a TNG Production Design error?
Sensor dome is not a Deflector Dish, sorry :)
I disagree with all the deflector dish hoopla. Maybe the warp field profile does that same job with this design. Like a modified leading edge design. Just enjoy the ships for what they are guys.
+Reg Clinton Brown there are many examples of NAV DEF , they don't always have to be dishes like on the Ent. the Miranda class uses a different NAV DEF, as well as the destroyer and bulk container ships Starfleet has.
+Mark Plott I'm based in reality and thinking in terms of real life design making decisions. For Star Fleet ships having a Deflector Dish was a constant for every starship class since TOS. So seeing the U.S.S. Reliant to U.S.S. Grissom and then the later U.S.S. Stargazer were three examples of continuity design errors.
if we are discussing reality.......then your point in ineffective. modern war ships no longer have the traditional "radar" dishes, they use electronically steered radar, the panels are flat they don't rotate. civilian radar still uses radar in open mounts and with a rotating sensor. so I see this as a stop gap design. halfway between TOS era dishes and Next gen era Dishes. believe me, I prefer the Next gen dishes, but I do not believe the design choices were errors.
+Mark Plott When I say "reality" I'm talking about behind the scenes with production decisions.
Someone there in the Paramount Offices saying "Why isn't there a dish on this model? Add it please."... that's my point.
Dykem blue?
Samuel's facial expressions/head movements are both distracting, but have become just a big part of these videos that it wouldn't be the same if he was to stop!
You're killing me talking about the yellowing of the model like its a big deal. How about this - its yellow because Picard has had it a very long time. If you've ever built models they do discolor over time.
Alan Hembra It's not that color of yellow though. And in the future that yellowing of plastic would not be an issue.
Trekyards - I kinda figured you'd say that. :-) However in TOS didn't they age the Enterprise over the 3 seasons as it aged?
I ask because the idea of a future where everything looks bright and pretty no matter how old it is seems kinda boring.
one other tjought, perhaps Star Fleet was thinking of changing its color scheme and the model is sporting that new look that was rejected?
Anyway, I used to dislike your show but now I find myself wat checking it quite a bit and I even suscribed. Keep up the good work.