Alternate Reality - Antares-class

So I was originally going to post all of my Alternate Reality ships in a couple of compilation posts, but it'd take a week to get all the images together and I don't want to wait that long.   So without further ado, I introduce the Antares-class frigate, rendered in pulchritudinous Super-Grade:

Picture 1:

I chose to name this class Antares because there was a USS Antares mentioned in Star Trek XI, and as both the name Antares and this ship type appear to be rather common in Star Trek, it was like a match made in Purgatory. 

Picture 2:

A variant of this class, not seen in either of the new movies but present in production materials (where it was labeled USS Defiant NCC-1764   ) has a rollbar on top, similar to the Miranda-class from the Prime timeline.

Picture 3:

Because there are no official stats, I had to make up my own. The length is based on the smaller estimates of the AR-Enterprise's length, as presented at ex-astris-scientia.

Length: 236 meters
Standard Cruising Speed: Warp 6
Maximum Emergency Speed: Warp 8

Armaments: 8 Type VIII phaser emitters, 8 anti-missile torpedo launchers, (variant model only) 4 photon torpedoes tubes

Picture 4:

Here is the .lxf file, which includes both the standard model and the upgraded rollbar variant:

.lxf file:

Stay tuned for more ships from the Alternate Reality. I've built all the movie vessels (with the current exception of the USS Vengeance) and also some non-canon ships.

NICE! I like it! It's been too long since I've laid my eyes on an RMM ship! And that roll-bar variant... beauteous! And that SNOT! WELL DONE!

And I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who knows about Ex-Astris-Scientia.

Great work as always!

Must agree withDino! It's a beautiful starship! I like the combo of SNOT and studs on top work! Great job with the overall design! Roll-bar = epic.

Whoa, those are some great ships, RMM! Love your SNOT skills and your nacelle work. The special effects make it even better. Great job!

BTW, where DID you get those special effects?

I'm pretty sure it's gimp. Beautiful ships!

Thanks everyone! The special effects were indeed done in GIMP. I used this plugin to do the phaser effects in the fourth picture.