N.S.S. Firefly III

I took all of your suggestions about a couple things on the Firefly II under advisement while constructing the new version, and I think she looks better than ever. Viola!

N.S.S. Firefly III:

A couple things you might notice right off the bat is that the side fins are gone and the phaser array is back. After much consideration and going back and forth between versions, I decided that Dino was right and the fins were somewhat out of place and that a good Federation ship needs a phaser array.

Side view:

Top view:

Next came the warp nacelles. I went through a lot of versions of 'em that all weren't quite the look I was going for until I hit this one.

New warp nacelle, pic 1:

New warp nacelle, pic 2:

The nacelles have been lengthened and I've beefed up the Bussard collectors. I also decided to try to give then a bit more definition than the previous versions, so now they look a little more 3-D.

The nacelle pylons have also been modified. I think they now look sleeker, and the new shape allowed me to enlarge the impulse drives a bit.

Nacelle pylons:

The underside and deflector array haven't changed, 'cause I really like that hangar.

Underside:

A creation containing the .lxf files for all three versions of the Firefly should be live on the lego.com gallery soon. Enjoy!

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Oh....




WOW.....






THAT...






IS....









AWESOME!!!!!!






You have BLOWN me away! This is EASILY in my top ten favorite custom class, Federation style, LEGO ships I have EVER seen!!! WELL done!!!

She is so powerful, and yet so streamlined and aerodynamic! Her hull looks armored and durable, and yet still graceful, not at all encumbered by her protection.

Her new nacelles SCREAM of both power, and yet elegance.

Her new pylons keep her quad nacelles close to her hall, thus presenting a smaller target to enemy weapons.

As before, I LOVE her Intrepid style navigational deflector array, and her ventral saucer hanger is still just as great looking, and ingenious as before.

Her side profile is just stunningly GORGEOUS!

She is so sleek and advanced looking, she looks like she's doing Warp 8 just sitting there.

The addition of dorsal saucer phaser arrays really communicates that this ship is not only fast, but has teeth.

I absolutely LOVE essentially everything about this ship. She is an incredible piece of work!

I love how you have captured the essence of modern Federation vessels.

She looks like a combination of Intrepid, Sovereign, and Prometheus. And I think I even see some of the post Enterprise E Star Cruisers in there too, (Avenger, Emissary, Vanguard, etc) The look is absolutely brilliant, and would not be out of place on screen in the least if more TNG movies or shows were being produced.

I adore this ship. You are a VERY talented builder...

She SCREAMS "I am an advanced Starfleet hostile aggression deterrent heavy cruiser, please show some aggression to deter, I DARE YOU TO."

And yet she still maintains a Federation look, not comically overpowered. She is too graceful to be a PCG ship. She is clearly ready for war, but she would not be miss-assigned as a workhouse either. Brilliant work!






Beautiful, just beautiful.

^ I seem to have done at least something right.

Thanks, Dino! "A craftsman is always delighted to know that his work is appreciated."

I must admit that I wasn't really thinking about tactical vulnerabilities and that kind of thing when I was building her. I was only going for the right look. Go figure!

I think I like so much that I'm making her my new flagship.

Tactical systems, that's how Federation ships work, they aren't covered in giant gun barrels like Klingon or PCG ships, they are more graceful and peace loving than that... and yet still powerful. Her design with a relatively thick saucer, no "neck" pylon, and close to engineering hull quad nacelles screams "tactically inclined vessel"



And she is more than good enough to be an excellent flagship. Great ship, great choice.

Yeah, I never understood those neck pylons. Yes, they give a ship a distinct look, but I can't imagine that that shape would hold up very well to high inertia. But, I suppose that's what inertial dampeners are for. That and preventing the crew from becoming a collection of stains on the back wall every time the ship goes to warp.

Thanks again!

Here are a couple of GIMP'd pics I did. The first background image is the Orion Nebula taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, and the second one is a work called "Sojourn" by GTGraphics. Warning: they're both pretty big.

NFS Firefly III on Orion Nebula:

NFS Firefly III on Sojourn by GTGraphics:

Enjoy!

Those are some pretty nice edits! It's always neat to see people take their ships beyond the bounds of LDD - really helps bring them to life.