USS Monoceros NX-601 (final pics p 3)

[saiyagohan]

On celexa now. Second day. Chest isn't hurting as much (almost gone). And I managed around 7 hours of sleep. Anxiety is much much less.

I hope you feel better, I have Anxiety also. And I know exactly how that feels. Not a pleasant feeling at all. Glad you hopefully found a med that is working.

[el gato]

Have you had a chance to work on it some more?

Many chances- yes. Actually had enough enthusiasm after getting back from hospital. Started working on it again the last couple of nights.

Great! Looking forward to progress pics

[Moongrim]

Another bout of E.R. it'll take a while.

[Moongrim]

After the long term outage due to mental health issues, I was finally able to get myself together long enough and painted the danged thing.

Primered- Base coated (Light Grey), detail painting as per the 1K kit (mostly), I used Tamiya sky blue on the warp engine inside grooves. Then gave it a high gloss clear coat prior to application of the decals.

Decaling took a while. Particularly since I had problems insuring that everything was more or less 'level'- when it came to the title, and making sure I didn't tear up any of the decals in the process of setting, resetting, and numerous maneuvers.
Then after letting the water/soap decal dry- I applied the Decal/Vinegar mix to get it to stick. Then the Decal set to have it stay long term.

I gave it another high gloss coat. And then a dull coat.

[Moongrim]

The Fore shot- includes the navigational deflector grid on the front of the saucer- with two mini-shuttle bays alongside it.



The Requisite Photos of the completed project.

[Moongrim]

THE MONOCEROS PROJECT
The ‘Edsel’ of Starships

The Monoceros was originally designated to be a replacement for the Hermes Class 1 Scout Starship. With the removal of the ventral ‘neck/pylon’ attaching the Warp Engine to the Main Hull, along with the removal of the main sensor/navigational deflector and supporting tower- coupled with the new Dennison/Westinghouse LN-52 Warp Drive Unit, dead weight tonnage would be decreased significantly along with an improved power matrix/single warp engine designed to deliver a greater and more durable output level.

Or at least that was the intent.

The Monoceros was in fact originally named ‘Rhinoceros’ (theTerran animal that went extinct in the early 21st Century) by the daughter of the Admiral in charge of development, and was renamed “Monoceros” by her father to avoid the stigma of an extinct animal for a mascot.

The Mark 1 was built and given a shakedown cruise which highlighted that a single warp engine just wasn’t as powerful, as the chief competing design- The Masao Class. This flaw led to a redesign of the ship so that it included two warp engines- Thus the Mark 2 was born.

The Mark 2- with its dual warp engine package, allowed the Monoceros/Super Scout program to proceed apace. In addition to the dual engines, the Navigational Deflector was relocated and incorporated into the bow of the primary hull. To the left and right of the N.D. were included two small shuttle bays. These were just large enough to allow one shuttle parking.

Unfortunately, the Mark 2 also indicated a serious design flaw- the internal structure of the primary hull simply could not handle the sheering stress of the warp engine pylons during a tight turn during simulated combat maneuvers. Additional reinforcements would be needed along to make it functional.

Thus the Mark 3 was born- the engineering section was expanded upwards and the old engineering space was redesigned for the necessary reinforcement to support the pylons. But even this wasn’t enough. One of the options for weight reduction- was tying together the plasma conduits for both the Impulse and Warp, Engines. This ‘savings’ was a design (one of many) that was abandoned during the Earth/Romulan war, when the Earth Defense chose to build the Daedalus Class as opposed to the NX class. (Four Daedalus Class ships could be built in the time it took to build a single NX).

During the Mark 3’s shakedown and testing, both it and the newly completed U.S.S. Masao were called upon to lend aid in a border incident with a ‘rogue’ Klingon battle fleet.

It was during this spontaneous test that the Monoceros lived up to its name- hard to steer. It out ran the Masao to the engagement a full 1.1 in warp speed. But it’s haste ended up with it’s receiving a lucky hit to one of it’s warp engines that blew out the plasma conduits of the entire Impulse Drive- which resulted in the Monoceros inability to do anything other than be a target, Engineering’s efforts notwithstanding. Only the timely arrival of the Masao prevented a total loss of life aboard the Monoceros.

At the time, there was an attempt by the Admiral in charge of the Monoceros to build a Mark 4 class, with separate plasma conduits- but the request was denied in favor of the Masao class being given the go ahead instead.

[Max Nex]

nice job on the kit....
I do not agree with the backstory.

Monoceros and Cygnus Classes were named after stars in the New Galactic Catalog (NGC)
as were the Achernar and Tikopai classes of heavy cruisers

please don't make Starfleet sound like a bunch of silly squabbling children.

[RockyD]

I do not agree with the backstory.Monoceros and Cygnus Classes were named after stars in the New Galactic Catalog (NGC)as were the Achernar and Tikopai classes of heavy cruisersplease don't make Starfleet sound like a bunch of silly squabbling children.

Seriously?? I don't really know what to say about that.
I loved the build and the backstory, I don't care what the "New Galactic Catalog (NGC)" says. Good job on both!

[Lonewolf]

Your ship . . . your backstory.

I like the design, and I really like the use of the advanced warp nacelles. Nicely done!

[Moongrim]

Thank you kindly. Actually the original back story- was in fact something I read online. (Where? I am unable to re-locate that). (As far as the Admiral's daughter). And as far as I'm concerned- it's my ship, from my universe, and if you don't like it- then your opinion has been noted. As to being petty- Starfleet is made up of humans, and humans, even in the future- are still human. (Star Trek- Insurrection anyone?)

For me making a ship is more than just building a model- it's also imagining it's history. I for one have walked down the corridors of the starship enterprise many times whilst I was growing up. And worked on her, imagining myself a technician working to making her lights turn on, in the proper order.

Every model I build- I put a little bit of my soul into it. With this one- it was created during some particularly low time of my life. Thus- some of my warped parts of my soul is here.

So, don't feel the need to vote for it. Cause I'm not. There are far far too many better examples of fine starship crafting in this contest.

https://stevepugh.net/fleet/her_history.html