Show and Tell: Romulan Bird-of-Prey from Pacific 201 (Star Trek fan film)

I do a whole lot of design and 3D modeling - mostly as a hobby. But I thought I'd share some of my work on Pacific 201, my upcoming Star Trek fan film.
www.pacific201....
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The limited use of the copyrighted clips in this video for analysis and commentary are in line with fair use principles in US copyright law.
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CREDITS:
Brought to you in part by patrons on Patreon! / echenry
Tommy Kraft
Adam Ali
Sam Williamson
Daniel Day
Music by Kevin MacLeod, Incompetech.com

[@EnterpriseKnight]

I really like your designs. They're not overly complicated and they look functional. I loved, and when I mean Loved I mean LOVED your NX design. Where can I see more btw?

[@VicMorrowsGhost]

Great job! I love the way the specularity of the gold flashes as you orbit. it's like a venomous animal flashing a warning.

[@ECHenry]

Ahhh that's an awesome comparison! Just made me think that maybe the birds of prey on Romulus are actually venomous (or actually green as well)- that'd be a cool little bit of trivia.

[@nathanieldaiken1064]

Great eye using nautical elements for design! When we first flew airships (hot-air balloons), the gondola was conceived as a type of boat/ ship. So now, venturing into space, without the constraints of gravity, a ship can be any shape (in peacetime)! In wartime, you need to present the lowest profile as possible, which gives your enemy a smaller target.

[@bently42]

Huge Romulan fan and I love it!! Really well done. Can't wait for your film!

[@stevebruns1833]

Would love to see more like this! Too many folks just slap pixels together, but you really seem to understand the design process and how to apply it to the world of Trek. Should place this and the Daedalus video in the same playlist.

[@GMCiaramella]

I could watch a hundred of these videos... I'd love to see a full alternate history of the ships of the Federation/Romulans/Klingons/Etc. based on your more realistic take on things. You do an excellent job and I find each of these videos to be very engaging. :) More, please!

[@braderickson9996]

Just saw your Pacific video, I like your design philosophy, you're feeding my tech geek, more please.

[@arturoaj]

This is nice, I see you put thought into this, extrapolating from the source material and created something interesting but that it also fits with the lore.

[@joelawry1064]

This looks great! I can't wait for Pacific 201, I continue to be amazed at how great it looks each time you show something new.

[@ECHenry]

That's really great to hear! Thanks!

[@FormatorBlack]

You come up with some good stuff,,,,this makes me feel like a kid again looking at your designs,,,,what a sense of wonder,,,,

[@Lenzabi]

It really resembles the destroyed "Earth Race " that was rammed in a anti-whaling expedition in the SO, it was a "catamaran" design blended with some advanced techniques

[@sojourner.]

When I first turned to this video, I thought 'oh, this isn't very romulan. Wait to pull a discovery, Henry.' Then you got into the details and I fell in love with it- great work as always!

[@crgkevin6542]

Neat design! The nose/bow looks ready to go slicing through the waves of some far away ocean.

[@Anlushac11]

Happy to see Romulans getting some attention. Klingons have been done to death. Maybe some Gorn or Tholian or Kzinti skirmishes are in order as well.

[@MrBracey100]

I really enjoy your design work on these ships and the aesthetics that are informing your design process for them.

[@jessebeach6582]

What program/software do you use to make these ships? I would love to do something like this for myself.

[@flaviomonteiro1414]

I'm late to the party but Blender has amazing features and tutorials online is also free... Take a look

[@george-florinconstantin4141]

This looks like a Trimaran and it is awesome.

[@grimreaper6557]

beautiful ship i love it

[@MrPingn]

I don't know if you've seen them but there are trimaran boats that fit the shape. I love it. And the U-Boat feel is a nice touch too. I can definitely see a cat an mouse game with some federation ships.

[@dapplerosegrey260]

Looks awesome!

[@papersamurai88]

Looks great!

[@mr.h4646]

I love your ships in Pacific 201! I love them!

[@Techrat3D]

I like the design, but here my suggestion and reason for looking at a alternative design. Sweep the wings up. When looking at the Romulan ship from the episode Balance of Terror, to me it always looked like the belly of the ship acted as a shield aginst brute force. Now place the weapons at the edges of the ship, so they can shoot down at an angle. In the end, you will decide how the ship will look. I just wanted to give my input. ;) Looking forward to the fan film. :)

[@Exploder11]

I just saw your update to the ship over at Trekyards. Great work. I love the idea of cloaked warp carriers, but I'm a little ambivalent on that being how the ships work in Enterprise. I am fine with the idea that Enterprise did foil Romulan cloaking completely, thanks to the anti-cloaking tech for use against the Suliban. To fit your thinking, what if the Romulans already have a new cloak in development ready to replace the Suliban cloaking radiation style cloak before meeting the NX-01? Realizing their old cloak is prematurely obsolete, they rush the new cloaking device ahead even though only a huge ship, a carrier/tender, can carry it, but it gets built in time for the Earth-Romulan War. I believe some of the dialog in TOS revolves around amazement at the Romulan cloak covering the full visible spectrum, so I am going to guess the carrier, if it shows up, and this Bird of Prey won't have tactical cloaking, only strategic cloaking which masks the warp field , foils long range subspace sensors, and perhaps foils radio and infrared frequencies but not visual frequencies. That might offer stealth outside a few light seconds.

[@dragonalpha9894]

Your correct about how the Romulan cloak develped

[@AbsentCoffee]

I would utterly LOVE this ship is sto

[@jamespayne5638]

beyond what I just stated it is a very beautiful design

[@bmobert]

This series of 3d model show-offs is cool. I'd like to see more.

[@bartlester1221]

Defently a good take on the early romulins . i would think this would be a tal shiar vessel .

[@wingsley]

I like the idea of a new pre-TOS Romulan starship design.

[@osakanone]

The visuals give a really strong sense of the Bird of Prey's breeding and lineage. The origins of your inspirations to pull from the cultural lexicon of what we consider heroic and villainous is really powerful. It would make sense it breaks the conventions: Its design *IS* disruptive. Disruptive design tends not to look like stuff that comes before or after because the part of the design that disrupts the future of design is the lesson learned rather than the visual motifs. Its kind of like how most European languages have a word that stands in for "the" which were originally gendered and nominative and genitive forms which slowly left language as it became streamlined over time, removing anything it didn't need to retain its core functionality to make room for other innovations. The same is true in design I think: That we see something come along and while the engineering solution to a problem is what most people remember historically, the thing that really changes future design is acknowledgement of the problem in the first place as important -- and how different solutions are invented for the problem as technology improves and new problems are identified that can be solved. I'm very curious to know what your design process is -- not what you do, but your train of thought and how you proceed from start to finish. Great video.

[@supsup335]

I LIKE IT!

[@JaminTaylor]

I like your designs. Nice work.

[@InsufficientGravitas]

I prefer this design, it would be cool if you created a series that slightly re imagines the style of all the major Start Trek factions

[@90lancaster]

Looking at the TOS Romulan Helms it seems like there is a pattern behind the hexagon - almost like spread wings. So perhaps a good placement for a Hexagon is on a textured background like that or even at the core or elbow of the feather pattern on the wings. The Gold is an interesting effect though - it reminds me a little of the almost invisible Copper parts on the nacelles of the Enterprise D. The design reminds me of a couple of things I'm fond of too - the old early 1980's Dinky Spacecraft (released around the same time the Dinky Enterprise was) and there is even a little bit of Derek Meddings and maybe even a slight reminder to me of the Trident Fighters from Ulysses 31. But I like the hull shape. If you are looking for inspiration material though see if you can find some colour photographs of World War One era Submarines with their wooden decks. That might be a texture you can get something from - something two-tone - not so unlike a 1950's car too (something a lot of Starships designs also draw upon)

[@shadowqueen1701]

Nice design

[@jamieolberding7731]

EC Henry 99.6K subscribers I really like your cool looking fasa Romulan ships.

[@longtimber]

Looks like that little black anti-whaling boat.

[@aikiwolfie]

I wouldn't say you were that far from Romulan design convention. Your design doesn't seem a million miles away from a TNG era Romulan scout ship. The Romulan Star Empire is also supposed to be massive (hence why JJ Trek doesn't make any sense at all) and we see virtually none of it from canonical sources. It's highly likely the Romulans would have had more varied design in their ships as well as specialised vessels built for very specific roles.

[@psammiad]

I know you're keen on naval-style observation decks, but they'd be a massive point of weakness in any space design. If you want to get through the hull you'd target them straight away. I don't like this design so much, it doesn't look distinctively Romulan to me.

[@Marcus51090]

I really love this design, I wish this was in Star Trek discovery as we haven’t seen any romulans in discovery

[@lukedogwalker]

The three things I took from this design were the basic hull shape, the location of the nacelles and the fact that, scaling from the figures on the observation deck, this thing is absolutely bristling with weaponry for a craft of its size. Too much weaponry, in fact. It's not believable. Taking that last part first, how does such a small vessel provide enough power and/or ammunition for all these weapons whilst simultaneously embarking and supporting enough crew to operate? The closest real world analogue I can think of would be one of the corvette designs operated by a number of different Iranian Gulf states. These things are low endurance vessels because they're never intended to go very far from home. They have smallish crews that don't include enough people to perform maintenance and repair because... for that they just go home. They are packed with weaponry which they intend to use once, then go home. Is that what this is? In which case, why does it have warp drive? It should never go that far from home. Impulse would be more than enough for local solar system defence and would allow the ship to devote all of its mass/energy/resources to the weaponry and sensors. In a short range gun platform, warp drive is just useless cargo. Assuming it's a useful warp drive ship, I would like to have seen some ideas for other design elements, such as what Romulans use for a deflector, or whether there are assumed design constraints regarding the locations of various components like there often are in Starfleet ships (vis a vis locations of Buzzard collectors/fusion reactors/impulse drives, for example). Is there a deflector in the nose/beak? Are there sensor clusters and if so, where and what do they look like? Do the U-boat style guns fire ammunition or are they energy weapons? Why are they aligned horizontally? If they're supposed to be used in three dimensional space, why don't they more closely resemble the phaser banks on Star Fleet ships? The guns hanging under the bridge wings have a very limited field of fire. Logically, they would go on top of the wings, or even better, be rotated through 90 degrees and mounted on the tips of the wings where they could fire through as much as 270 degrees of arc. Your Pacific 201 show and tell video was superb. I'd love to see a similar level or thought and detail go into this design, as well.

[@daverage4729]

Damn thats pretty! Good job!

[@STNeish]

I've loved every other design, but this one misses the mark for me. Some great ideas, such as using the U-boat profile, but there are two things that I would have done differently. First, the Romulan designs seemed to prefer upswept wings. They didn't ally with the Klingons until much after the time you're setting in. The other thing is what Mr. Stiles said. Romulan ships were recognizable by the bird of prey painted on them. I think you would need to add that. Apart from that, truly stellar work as usual.

[@travisfoster1071]

Like Romulus tends to do, they might be trying to hide the fact that they are Romulan. Remember the Enterprise episodes Babel 1+2, and Aenar? They definitely have a need to focus attention elsewhere.

[@markbernero9302]

Can you do a CGI of the "Early Romulan Vessel" from the StarTrek Chronology? It has a really nice retro sci-fi look and could be found on by Googling " Early Romulan Vessel:Drex Files" Doug Drexler has online images that show it in remarkable detail!

[@Sephiroth144]

Have you seen the old Romulan Nova Z-1 class (from the Star Trek DC comics in the 80s); has a somewhat similar feel, so there's a(nother) Romulan ship line that it could have evolved into

[@CoinOpTV]

groovy

[@ttripp69]

Good lookin ship, I want to see it in battle! Perhaps launching shuttles, escape pods, etc..

[@jlomesou]

It sort of looks like the Z-1 Nova class Romulan warship FASA created back in the 80’s.

[@andreasbiesenbach9947]

Nice Model but there is no need on Barrels for Energy-Weapon Systems. A Barell just makes Sense by Weapons with bullets

[@litlclutch]

Looks great man, I think it would be cool to see another ship thats part of that line where the nacelles are connected by a wing that spans the bottom as well tying it into the TNG style warbird, plus I think it would work well with the style you have, it could just be used for weapon placement or something. While I rather liked your trying to tie things back to a more earth navel feel with ships for the federation I feel it doesn't make as much sense for aliens as why should their ships hearken back to what WE did, but still this ship is SEXY ... great design.

[@neves5083]

Cool

[@calebmurphy9406]

I still don't know what a Star Trek is but that's a neat lookin' space ship.

[@ExiledPiasa]

these are way cool ships. can't wait to see the fan film....

[@socrates112]

Brilliant!

[@GeeZeRFroG]

I think if you made the feathering just a little more pronounced that would help the identification a lot. One of the key pieces of Star Trek is the iconic look of the main species' ships. At a glance you instantly know if a ship is Borg, Klingon, Federation, what have you. But this ship is just a hair too nuanced. As you inspect it you can figure it out but you cannot just tell at a glance. And if the idea is that it is a stealth fighter that shouldn't be identifiable than its too obvious. All the things you pointed out that are clues to the ships origin would easily be detected by a computer or an experienced captain. So I'd say make the feathering a tad more predominant and that should clean up that issue. Ship looks great btw. I love the nautical idea. Can't wait to see more.

[@ECHenry]

So basically, if RECOGNITION is the goal, it's not easy enough to identify, and if STEALTH is the goal, it's too easy to identify? I can totally see that. I'll definitely still think of ways I can improve this last-minute before I make final renders for the film with it. I am still playing with the idea of making a painted gold feather pattern on the underside - similar to the orange bird on the bird-of-prey in TOS. Haven't made up my mind on exactly how I'm going to do that yet, though, so I kinda avoided showing the belly in this video, haha.

[@GeeZeRFroG]

Yup that was my point exactly. I'd love to see more of this stuff in the future. And I like how you are referencing TOS more than TNG. (I am assuming that your series might be set before TNG). Obviously I don't know the full context of the idea. (i.e. time and setting of the show, whether it deals with mainline factions or just off shoots, or even locations) If you were setting this in something like the JJ universe than a different look would almost be preferable. I am excited to see what you are planning here.

[@jaywiegs1712]

I really like the Romulan Drone Ship design from Enterprise, even though it looked completely foreign from any canon designs. I think your stealth ship looks great and is a great post canon design for a Romulan ship look. Just curious when you say stealth ship, does that mean some type of refractive hull plating / field, or an early crude cloaking device?

[@bartlester1221]

I also would love to see your take on tholian design and maybe a little more from Babylon 5 universe designs

[@Exploder11]

I like this design a lot, I think it really hits all the right keys in regard to being sufficiently stereotypically Romulanesque, while also being a significant enough departure that it doesn't leap right out as saying Romulan. But, I question the weapon placement. The placement of the uppermost, underslung, turrets is confusing. Why put them there if placing them on top would give them greater coverage while still covering the current sight lines? Is the mix of four types of fixed forward gun also meaningful? Also, is there a belly gun? That's really the only one which would make sense to me as being deployable if the ship is landable. Will maneuvering thrusters and sensor pallets be added?

[@ECHenry]

You've made some really good points! The uppermost underslung turrets was kind of an aesthetic choice, I guess. They were originally on the tips of the fins, which gave them a lot of coverage, but then they looked odd. (But I just thought of an idea that means I can have it both ways, haha) As far as the belly, there were definitely plans for guns there, but I actually hadn't finished the belly yet when I made this video. They'll be there in its final form. I imagine it'd maneuver in some way other than thrusters, and there are likely sensors already visible on the hull, but the technology is mostly unrecognizable to us as such.

[@Exploder11]

Aesthetic reasoning makes sense to me, I can't argue with it, but I'm glad to read you came up with a placement better for both mechanics and aesthetics. It would be neat for it to have some sort of special effect when steering, maybe visible only when very close, like a heat shimmer, or other visual warping, emitting from the warp nacelle closest or furthest from the turn direction. One of the most satisfying things from the new Trek movies are when the thruster arrays fire, even though it goes against the no-rocket aesthetic set in TOS. Finally, I love the flying bridge. It's sensible as a last ditch navigation backup (just point a space sextant out) and really does fit the ship/sub motifs.

[@chuckintexas]

Beautiful work, but is there ANY expectation that we'll see ANYTHING come of this or is this just a hobby-share ?

[@johnsondoendi9224]

Do you know any free programs that are good at getting started in 3D modeling?

[@Gorandius1256]

I can honestly see this ship evolving somewhat if you add more bulk to the front half of the U-boat primary hull I can see this evolving toward a D'Deridex, leading into that hooked beak the TNG romulans have

[@adamgrog9614]

this really looks great. Its an approach i would expect from someone making honorverse fanfilm more then trek.

[@rodrigojacome7471]

I love the design, it looks really unique and creative. What program did you use to make it?

[@ECHenry]

Thanks! Glad you like it! I made it in 3ds Max.

[@Gigas0101]

Would a buddy cop film set on Remus be a Rom Com?

[@Avenger85438]

Could you do one of these for your other Romulan ship?

[@mysticvirgo9318]

To me , this looks not so much like a UI-Boat as it does a wave piercing trimaran such as the Ady Gil :)

[@jamespayne5638]

I would have made it look more catamaran Style put heavy weapons in the tips left the torpedo Bays where they're at and put more weapons Port starboard and aft for better defense

[@bomat761]

Looks like a Catamaran.

[@neanderthalknight9417]

Romulan's steal tech?

[@howardjohnston6112]

A nice design but not very alien-looking. Why use WW1/2 German submarines as an inspiration for a species that always hearkened towards ancient Rome (at least in the Trek designer' minds)? Your modelling is excellent - but this doesn't put me in mind of the Romulan ships - of any period.

[@teekayfourtwoone4686]

Some how I missed this video until now. I did see this ship in one of your other videos (trailer from 2020-03-11), and when I first saw it, I did immediately think "Romulan". So you did a good job there. :)

[@adrianbaker5916]

Why is it called the Romulan Bird-of-Prey and not Romulan War-Bird when Bird of Prey is more Klingon?

[@procyon6370]

BoP was a Romulan term in the 22nd and 23rd century

[@KosmonautKong]

I don't know if it was intentional, but from the front, the profile is also a lot like the Messerschmitt Me 262, the first jet fighter.

[@felixbenvenutty1969]

Replace Discovery with STAR TREK REALM PACIFIC 201. I love your work, and appreciate all the long hours you put into your universe...sign me up!!!!!! 👍

[@tobytuttle2790]

and so do you

[@Joisey11]

So....ditching entirely the Bird of Prey motiff on the Romulan hulls? For a solid hexagon? Would it kill you to put the classic Romulan Bird of Prey painted on the underside of the hull? Also, a question of whether this particular ship is over-gunned, given the amount of weapons in ratio to the expected engine power output? Lastly, is there a cloak, or does this vessel depend on purely structural, design stealth elements like the B2 bomber? A cloaking device would put severe energy demands on the design.

[@lordfaladar6261]

The Romulans Didn't have warp technology During the War, Or Clocking . But It looks great. needs to be more swept Design

[@Rekreated1]

Very similar to a Catamaran.

[@warhammernerd52Daxx-Lorenzo898]

*PLEASE, PLEASE* model 40k ships (that we haven't seen before)

[@About37Hobos]

It’s a great ship, for another faction. Romulans go wide, not long in their ship designs, almost always been that way. I like it, but it’s not a good romulan design.

[@dlullmanii]

I am very deeply impressed. You are very talented and very dedicated to your craft. I hope this is a profitable venture for you.

[@EinhanderSn0m4n]

Literally only one nitpick. The deck guns would work better on top of the fins for better fields of fire.

[@michaelsarkisian1047]

If you are creating a stealth ship, wether cloaked or not, it should be as difficult to see visually as possible. I would suggest a metallic graphite over all color and subdued gold, not shiny.

[@pwnmeisterage]

An object this size would not be visually detectable too far in space. Maybe a tiny speck a hundred km away with the naked eye, maybe a few thousands or ten thousands of km with magnification instruments - well within range of other sensors. You'd actually not see any colour detail at all unless it was reflecting light from another source (nearby star, planet, etc). You might in fact actually detect it easier as a dark shape interrupting light from distant light sources.

[@michaelpippa1540]

Very interesting. Good design. Are the two brief scenes at the beginning from your upcoming film? If so, good director's eye.

[@ECHenry]

Thanks! They both are and they aren't, haha - they're kinda supplemental materials. They're from the Pacific 201 project in general, but not from the film specifically.

[@illuminatijeff9447]

Where can I watch this

[@osakanone]

Yeah. When I get paid, I'm backing this. I can't offer much but I've wanted this since I was a kid. Watching the Kickstarter, this is like pornography: I'm REALLY excited. Thank-you.

[@carlhardric8606]

What are the chances of these ships becoming models, or can we get detailed images for scratch builders?

[@Calzaki]

If your doing a film set after the Earth-Romulan war... A time when it's established Earth and Romulus had NO contact after their long range radio negotiations setting up the neutral zone and no-one encountered a Romulan ship until the Enterprise like... 100 years later... Why design Romulan ships for the film? Or release production stills of Romulan costumes... That's Enterprise level disrespect for the canon