FASA Federation Non-combatants Part 1: Star Trek starship parts kit expansion #22

[Note: This project can also be found on my Google Drive mirror: <https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iCgBB5Xsk8v_-_luvzETnoaZljmTTqaA?usp=share_link> ]

Note: I’ve created a Patreon to support my modelling projects. If you’ve found my work useful, have the means, and would like to support my efforts, please give it a look. I will continue to release my designs for free on Cults 3D and Thingiverse, but Patreon members will get early access and in progress updates on my new projects, and it will serve as a central location for announcements. Thanks for reading!

This is the 22nd expansion parts kit meant to complement my original Star Trek Constitution Class Parts Kit, adding parts to support several freighter, transport, and other non-combatant ships from the old FASA Star Trek role playing and combat board game. All parts are meant to be cross-compatible between parts kits.

Update 2023-04-13: As with the other kits that use derivative parts from my original Constitution and Miranda class kits, these designs have also been refit with the recently updated saucer, impulse, and nacelle details. The older version of this kit can be found on this Google Drive archive.

See my Cults3d Profile for the full list of parts kits I've released so far. Each of these kits includes combined ships and ship parts STL files, along with blender source files used to create them. Ship files should be ready to print. Part files are provided so you can import into your 3d modelling software of choice to combine and modify to easily create your own ship designs. All parts are meant to be cross-compatible between kits.

Included Ships

This kit includes the following ships:

Aakenn class freighter

A small TOS-era freighter. The kit includes an alternate version featuring a Motion Picture era nacelle.

Cochrane class colonial transport

A large TOS-era transport. The kit includes an alternate version featuring a Motion Picture era nacelle.

Laweya class freighter

This large freighter, capable of landing on a planet's surface, was featured in the relatively rare first edition Federation Ship Recognition Manual, but did not make it into the more common second edition. However, it has remained well-documented online.

Liberty class freighter

The Liberty class is a large freighter that bears some striking hull similarities to Nell from Battle Beyond the Stars.

Lotus Flower class neutronic fuel carrier

The Lotus Flower is the FASA Trek version of the Kobayashi Maru, a fuel carrier that has an inconvenient habit of striking gravitic mines in the Neutral Zone. See the notes on scaling in this document for a discussion on issues related to this model's intended size. The kit includes an alternate version featuring an Original Series era nacelle.

Sunshine class liner

The Sunshine is meant to be a large passenger liner. It's a nearly forgotten design, even from the relatively obscure standpoint of FASA Trek. The ship was originally included in the first edition Federation Ship Recognition Manual, but was not included in the second edition. However, unlike similar first edition only ships like the Laweya, it is not included on the two biggest fan sites (<https://ststcsolda.space/> and <http://fasaststcs.com/>), so it's not easy to find information about it via search engine. It is included in the fan-made Federation Ship Recognition Manual II, however.

Zip Files

Zip files are included in the following google drive locations:

Fed-noncombat1v2-ship-stls.zip - Contains the combined, ready to print, ship files.
Fed-noncombat1v2-parts-stls.zip - Contains all of the individual part STL files used to create the combined ship files.
Fed-noncombat1v2-blender-files.zip - Contains the source blender files used to generate the parts, as well as files with the parts assembled as used to generate the combined ship files.

Notes on scaling and working with Blender

My target scale for all source files and output STL files is 1:1000, However, I generally recommend 1:2500 or smaller given the detail level of the model. Although these files have not been extensively tested through printing, they are intended to be resized to match common modelling and miniatures scales.

Note: As with many FASA designs, the official ship dimensions often don't make sense with the parts used on the artwork. For instance, The Liberty is officially 240m long, which would not make sense with the TMP era Constitution class saucer and nacelles used in the artwork. So to stay as close to the official values as possible my Liberty has a smaller saucer and shorter nacelles. The one ship I didn't do this on is the Lotus Flower.

The official Lotus Flower stats have it at a relatively tiny 237m long, making the TMP Constitution nacelle vastly smaller than it should be. Rather than try to fix this by resizing the nacelle (which really ruined the looks of an otherwise attractive ship), I've left the proportions as on the original artwork, and kept to the official FASA sizes. An alternative is to ditch the official size and scale the ship up so that the nacelle matches those on other ships. If you'd like to do that multiply the scale number below by \~160%.

Target scale - Scale STL files to: - Notes

1/3900 - 0.25641026 - FASA miniature scale
1/3788 - 0.26399155 - ADB Starline 2400 scale
1/3125 - 0.32 - ADB Starline 2500 scale
1/2500 - 0.4 - The Trek modelers "Golden scale"
1/1600 - 0.625 - TOS 3-Ship Set scale
1/1400 - 0.714285714 - Common resin model scale
1/650 - 1.538461538 - Modelling scale
1/537 - 1.862197393 - Common scale for TMP models
1/350 - 2.857142857 - Large scale

Blender

Blender is free, which to be honest was the primary factor in my decision to learn it. There are many fine video and text tutorials available online if you're interested in learning more. For a basic tutorial on moving and joining objects in Blender(which should be the minimum you need to know when working with these parts), see this instructables tutorial.

You can use File -\> Import -\> Stl (.stl) and File -\> Export -\> Stl (.stl) to load or save STL files in blender.

Note: This kit was built using Blender 3.1.

Post-processing STL output

Although all of the STL files included have been tested as valid watertight meshes, joining the parts together and exporting new STL files can introduce small errors that may cause issues with slicing programs. I recommend any STL files you create are checked using a program like Netfabb Basic free edition. Doing a simple "Close All Holes" repair has fixed most of the issues I've run into so far. If you do run into issues with mesh quality, please let me know.

File manifest

Parts

The Fed-noncombat1v2-parts-stls.zip file contains all of the part STL model files listed below.

Part - Description

aakenn-deflector-module.stl - Top deflector module.
aakenn-impulse-module.stl - Impulse engine module
aakenn-main-hull.stl - Main hull.
aakenn-nacelle-TMP.stl - Motion Picture era warp nacelle.
aakenn-nacelle-TOS.stl - The Original Series era warp nacelle.
aakenn-pylon-center.stl - Center warp nacelle pylon.
aakenn-pylon-port.stl - Port warp nacelle pylon.
aakenn-pylon-starboard.stl - Starboard warp nacelle pylon.
cochrane-hull-bottom.stl - Bottom hull section.
cochrane-hull-main.stl - Core hull.
cochrane-hull-top.stl - Top hull section.
cochrane-nacelle-TMP.stl - Motion Picture era warp nacelle.
cochrane-nacelle-TOS.stl - The Original Series era warp nacelle.
cochrane-pylon.stl - Warp nacelle pylon.
laweya-front-hull.stl - Front semi-saucer hull
laweya-main-hull.stl - Main hull.
laweya-nacelle-port.stl - Port warp nacelle.
laweya-nacelle-starboard.stl - Starboard warp nacelle.
laweya-pylon-port.stl - Port warp nacelle pylon.
laweya-pylon-starboard.stl - Starboard warp nacelle pylon.
liberty-cargo-section.stl - Round external cargo modules.
liberty-command-module.stl - Bridge and top saucer decks.
liberty-lower-sensor-dome.stl - Lower saucer sensor dome.
liberty-main-hull.stl - Rear main hull.
liberty-nacelle-port.stl - Port warp nacelle.
liberty-nacelle-starboard.stl - Starboard warp nacelle.
liberty-pylon-port.stl - Port warp nacelle pylon.
liberty-pylon-starboard.stl - Starboard warp nacelle pylon.
liberty-saucer.stl - Saucer.
lotus-flower-cargo-section.stl - Cargo modules.
lotus-flower-main-hull.stl - Main front hull section
lotus-flower-nacelle-pylon.stl - Warp nacelle pylon.
lotus-flower-nacelle-TMP.stl - Motion Picture era warp nacelle.
lotus-flower-nacelle-TOS.stl - The Original Series era warp nacelle.
lotus-flower-rear-hull.stl - Rear hull section with "outriggers".
sunshine-command-module.stl - Bridge and top saucer decks.
sunshine-impulse-module.stl - Impulse module.
sunshine-lower-sensor-dome.stl - Lower saucer sensor dome.
sunshine-nacelle-port.stl - Port warp nacelle.
sunshine-nacelle-starboard.stl - Starboard warp nacelle.
sunshine-saucer-deflector.stl - Saucer integrated deflector module.
sunshine-saucer.stl - Saucer.
sunshine-secondary-hull.stl - Rear main hull.

Combined ship STLs

The Fed-noncombat1v2-ship-stls.zip file provides the printable ships created using the parts included in this kit.

Part - Description

ship-aakenn-TMP.stl - Aakenn class with TMP era nacelle.
ship-aakenn-TOS.stl - Aakenn class with TOS era nacelle.
ship-cochrane-TMP.stl - Cochrane class with TMP era nacelle.
ship-cochrane-TOS.stl - Cochrane class with TOS era nacelle.
ship-laweya.stl - Laweya class.
ship-liberty.stl - Liberty class.
ship-lotus-flower-TMP.stl - Lotus Flower class with TMP era nacelle.
ship-lotus-flower-TOS.stl - Lotus Flower class with TOS era nacelle.
ship-sunshine.stl - Sunshine class.

Blender files

The
Fed-noncombat1v2-blender-files.zip file contains parts files, containing the STL parts arranged as used in the sample ship designs, and parts source files, containing the raw blender objects used to create the parts.

License

I'm releasing this under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. You're free to distribute and modify these files (even for commercial use), provided you attribute the creator and distribute your contributions under the same license.