!/1000 USS RYAN THOMAS Science Vessel

[The Mad Klingon]

Here's another Trek project I am working on. It's in the very early stages with only a few illustration so far but I thought I would share what I have.

Say hello to the science vessel USS Ryan Thomas. Named for my Grandson, I envision her as a 24th century version of the venerable Oberth. At 320 meters, she is the same length as the Pasteur. That's about 12 5/8 inches in 1/1000.



The inspiration for my build was this beautiful illustration I found on the ol' inter web. You can find this guys work here:



I created a ship's emblem. The art is based on the Russian Space Forces patch. The quote is from, "The Martian” because you can’t take this stuff too seriously.



The nacelles are based on the ones used on the Excelsior Prototype II. The main shuttle bay is from an Ambassador and the lines of the secondary hull are Excelsior. Throw a little Pasteur in there and poof - you have yourself a new class of ship.



I imagine there would be dozens, maybe hundreds of Archimedes-class science vessels serving the fleet. Here is a list of the first sixteen. It's a mix of past and present scientists, some from film and television with a few Trek reference thrown in for good measure.

USS Archimedes NCC-700015: Archimedes of Syracuse was an ancient Greek mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, and astronomer.

USS Ryan Thomas NCC-70016: Dr. Thomas was an American engineer and a communication systems pioneer in the mid-twenty-first century.

USS Siems NCC-70017: Ruth Siems was an American home economist and inventor of Stove Top Stuffing. Gawd, I love that stuff.

USS Turing NCC-70018: Dr. Alan Turing was a pioneering English computer scientist who played a pivotal roll in breaking German cyphers of WWII.

USS Thaller NCC-70019: Dr. Michelle Thaller is an American astronomer, research scientist and Doctor Who fan.

USS Goodall NCC-70020: Dr. Jane Goodall is a British primatologist, ethologist and anthropologist. Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees.

USS Falken NCC-70021: Dr. Stephen Falken was an American computer scientist and developed the War Operations Planned Response computer or W.O.P.R. - a precursor to the Duotronic computer.

USS Forrester NCC-70022: Dr. Clayton Forrester was an American nuclear physicist and researcher. He was part of a small team desperate to find a biological weakness to the Martian invaders.

USS Hubble NCC-70023: Dr. Edwin Hubble was an American astronomer who played a crucial role in establishing the field of extragalactic astronomy and is generally regarded as one of the most important observational cosmologists of the 20th century.

USS Tereshkova NCC-70024: Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova was a Russian cosmonaut and the first woman to have flown in space.

USS Scherbius NCC-70025: Arthur Scherbius was a German electrical engineer who invented the Enigma machine.

USS Copernicus NCC 70026: Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance mathematician and astronomer who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe.

USS Hawking NCC-70027: Dr. Stephen William Hawking is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist.

USS T'Plana-Hath NCC-70028: T'Plana-Hath was a prominent Vulcan and the matron of Vulcan philosophy.

USS Solkar NCC-70029: Solkar was a Vulcan scientist, explorer and the first Vulcan ambassador to Earth.

USS Song NCC-70030: Dr. River Song was a British Professor of Archaeology and possible temporal agent.



Uh oh. We've got a problem with the warp core, or the phase inducers - or some other damn thing.

[The Mad Klingon]

I whipped up a dedication plaque for the RYAN. I've noted the launch date as 60304.7 which references the next Wonderfest. Because this is a science vessel it made sense to me that maybe the Vulcans had a hand in it's construction. I've added names of Ryan's parents down in the well, name section.

I love Neil and this quote seemed appropriate since the model is named for my Grandson.

I tried hard to replicate the look of the Enterprise D style of plaque including the original TNG style delta. I never cared for the revised comm badge design featured in later shows.

Look it over and let me know what yo think.

[The Mad Klingon]

Archimedes Class Development Project Emblem.

The Ancient Greek scientist looks to be deep in thought. He’s not my usualy style but I think I like it, especially the beard. I hope it doesn't look too cliparty. Behind the portrait is an Archimedean Solid - look that shit up. The shape of the solid implies a window and on the other side - space. Perhaps Archimedes is looking out at the future of space exploration.

The classic TNG-era Delta finds it’s home at the center of the piece; reinforcing the primary purpose of the Starfleet - exploration. The Archimedean Solid was copied and flipped, becoming the frame of the design. Finally, the class name and details sit on a field of dark blue. To tie the designs together, I pulled the red and yellow from the USS Ryan Thomas ship emblem.

Whatcha’ think?

[The Mad Klingon]

Over the last couple of weeks I've given a lot of thought on how I'm going to build the RYAN. The basic construction is straightforward but the hundreds of TNG-style pill shaped windows gave me pause. I figured I had three options to fabricated the windows. 1) Decals. I've got experience creating decals but they would appear flat for the scale. 2) Drill them out. I don't feel confident, even with a jig, I could keep the windows even. 3) Model the RYAN in 3D. Designing the model in 3D would give me perfect surface details but I have zero experience.

I have decided to build the RYAN in Maya and have it ready for Wonderfest 2017.

I have a few months to learn the program and print the thing. I have experience with Adobe's Creative Suite – especially Illustrator and I hope this will help. I also happen to know a couple of Maya designers.

I don't know where this will lead or if I will reach my goal. What I do know is 3D printing is the future of our hobby I need to be a part of it.

Let's see where this goes.