http://www.eyrie-productions.com/Forum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=223&forum=DCForumID25&viewmode=threaded

When I originally sourced the image that I used for the Barghest file, it was listed at the Starship Schematics Database as an unnamed Earth Defense Force destroyer type. Oddly enough, that entry and diagram seem to be gone from the site now, but the Fuyutsuki-class destroyer appears to be a different illustration of the same type of ship. If I were to commission the UF version from Adam, I'd use the above as the starting point, but the final ship would end up being something unique. There's no point squandering a commission request from an artist as good as he is on a straight reproduction of a canonical design (which is why, for instancel Challenger and Valiant aren't on the candidates list).

There is no specific description of the K'tayyl class, beyond some pretty vague wording in a couple of early Symphony stories where the Vengeance appears. I've never had a really solid mental image of the ship - it's not based on any specific Gamilon vessel from Yamato, but presumably has something of the same design language.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

There isn't one for non-administrative users.

At any rate, the canonical Valiant image is, if memory serves, a screencap of the Starfleet Command (or possibly Starfleet Command II version of the Defiant with the skin texture slightly edited.

You raise a valid point in that it's not very hi-rez and could probably stand replacing; indeed pretty much all the images on the old starship reference page could do with a refresh. Getting Adam to do it, for ships whose only differences from available canon images is their markings, doesn't really strike me as an efficient use of resources, though. His thing is much more about fresh ideas in recognizable design languages.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Brian

It's essentially a Klingon Bird of Prey. Just in different colors.

--- Philip

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Insert Pithy Comment Here"

I was about to say, there's basically no there there, but upon reflection there might be a little.

Here's the capsule history. In the UF universe, the Klingon B'rel-class bird-of-prey and its descendents are knockoffs of Utopia Planitia's widely used Predator-class corvette. (The latter class is most famous to the in-universe public as the type of ship most 3WA Trouble Consultant field teams use, but that doesn't mean they're supposed to look anything like any of the canonical versions of the Lovely Angel.) When Gryphon's Starfleet crew first see the Surprise in Manhunt, they think she IS a B'rel, so the resemblance is obviously very close, on the outside, at least.

Where the "there might be a little there there" comes into it is that, when the Surprise first appears, Gryphon's people have just bought her nth-hand at the Vesper used ship depot on Musashi, which is not exactly a Certified Preowned Starship Dealer. She's in pretty rough shape, especially on the outside, where generations of owners have neglected routine upkeep in favor of putting their limited resources toward trying to make sure the air stays on the inside - and she was last painted a cheapass green, so she coincidentally looks just like a Klingon ship.

What this means is that there's the potential for the ship's Shepard's 11 incarnation, which has obviously had a lot of work done sometime in between the two appearances, to have something of that "Y-wing fighter with the panels put back on" thing going on. As she appears in 2406, she probably doesn't look like a screen-accurate Klingon ship any longer. She's still the same shape, but the surface details would be different. Sort of the Klingon bird-of-prey if Ralph McQuarrie had been the art designer on Star Trek III instead of Nilo Rodis.

I'm not sure that's enough of a difference to really make it worth Adam's time, but it's an interesting thought. Of course, another problem with both the S11-era Surprise and the One-Hit Wonder is that they're black, which makes them stealthy in-universe and hard to illustrate out of it. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Well, that's what offscreen colored light is for. Or a convenient passing nebula. :)

--- Philip

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Insert Pithy Comment Here"