Mark Rademaker’s conceptual art visualizing a scientific scoutship. Mark’s well loved 2010 calendar image was the original starship “Aventine”. It was designed for the Pocket novel series of the same name. Click for a better look.
Mark returns for the 2011 SOTL with something rather special. More on that later.
SOTL 2010 – On Sale Now – From Simon & Schuster.
Cool little ship! I always thought Trek could use more small, specialized craft. I mean, there are more than just aircraft carriers in Earth’s oceans…
always loved this runabout since I first seen it! so sleek and polished!
Sort of reminds me of a futuristic RV. :p
Wonder if the warp nacelle was inspired by the Rogue Shadow in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? And is that Jeri Ryan inside?
A space RV, that’s exactly what I thought of
Very interesting. It’s got a bit of Star Wars sensibility about it too.
Always admired Mark’s skills, eh, and always dug this lil’ Trek birdie design of his.
LLP,
deg
Nice work. And the Aventine’s pic in the calendar is fantastic.
You know the drill. What are its specs?
Those warp drives are radical in their design.
From what I can see both phaser strips, and pulse phasers. Type IVs or type Vs? For that small a ship I don’t think anything larger.
And assuming the same length as DS-9′s runabout, and its being two decks tall, I assume a longer duration as well.
The rounded nose makes me think it’s designed for extended operation in an atmosphere – long-range planetary surveyor maybe? Either way, it’s an interesting design and I prefer the smooth lines to the rather boxy DS9-style runabouts (which I must confess I was never particularly keen on).
I remember seeing this wonderful little gem when Mark was putting her together on SFM. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen it but still hasn’t lost that awesomeness factor!
I love Mark’s additions to the post-TNG fleet, particularly the Aventine. I wonder if the ‘something rather special’ for 2011 might be the conjectural Enterprise-F he mentions in his Aventine article? That would be awesome!
Considering the shape, might it be possible this ship not just maneuver in air and space, but also in water and other liquids like methane or ammonia? Some planets and moons smaller than Neptune wouldn’t be rocky worlds like Earth, but would be like the Galilean moons or Titan except they’d be closer to their star and therefore almost be literal water worlds. If so, this could conceivably be something like a runabout version of the aquashuttle from TAS.
The U.S.S. Pleiades NCC-79052? What class of vessel would this Starfleet Subaru belong to?
Very nice ship indeed:D
Thanks!
ScottD: The main task of this class is indeed research. Most of the time they operate within charted federation space. A lot of that time is spent on the surface of moons and planets. The nacelle design was inspired by a paddle steamer. Sadly no Jeri Ryan inside, but a science officer that just replicated coffee. Comfort is always really high on my list.
The runabout can exchange some of it’s exterior equipment depending on it’s mission. The lower “container pod” can also be exchanged.
http://www.ewe-squad.com/coffee.jpg
http://www.ewe-squad.com/runaboutpod.jpg
John N.: It only has a very light armament and is slightly larger then a Danube class. (29,3 meters) It’s 10,4 meters wide so it should be a bit more narrow then a Danube though.
Cybercorn: It’s a “New Atlantic” class so you theory could be right.
Very Nice!!!! A nice break from the normal design of dish-hull and nacelles, or wedge-shaped shuttles. I especially like the inside detail of the crewmember by the window. I’m thinking she has definately two, maybe three levels? I can see this as a kit!
Finally….. someone took my school book drawings of a small cutter-like ship from the mid-1990 and transformed them into something looking like a Starfleet ship (and not a pencil drawing made during latin class).
(Somewhere I have the drawings to prove it 
)
Back then I thought about a small, atmosphere capable ship for 4-8 people (read – my best buddies when we were 14-16 years old plus a bunch of girls…. of course
) for a young, small team fresh out of the Academy.
Seriously, I would love to see some orthos, blueprints, deck plans – anything about that ship.
I really, really love the look of that ship.
Cheers
Thorsten
IS ti ok if I didn’t like this ship at all???
Sorry…
With the landing skids, protrusions, and harsh environment outside, it looks somewhat BSG-like. Not that that’s a bad thing
The shape of the craft is very similar to a John Berkey painting. Lovely design!
Very cool!
Love it so cool, looks like the hull could even separate.
Thanks guys!
The lower hull/container can indeed be exchanged, depending on the mission. I hope to upload a concept image of that later today.
Can’t wait to see more!
Cheers
Thorsten
So where is the upload?
What site, if not this one?
^ This ain’t no scout ship; you designed it as the next generation runabout. Of that I’m sure, I mean, I lost to you in that CMP
It’s certainly a runabout and indeed newer then a Danube class. The version on the calendar is equipped as a scout, just as the earlier prototype of this ship. I posted a topic on my blog about it, it can be reached by clicking my name.