Merchantman- Federation Class J cargo ship

[Nathan]

I'm answering my own question as "Yeah, you can do anything you want, its your story."

If you recall in The Search for Spock, the cargo ship with the female lady transmitting the Genesis Info to the Klingons (and got promptly blown up afterwards)

I'm writing some Fan Fic where I want to use that ship in my story, but does anyone think it has the ability to land on planets? I actually splurged and bought a used copy of the blueprints on Ebay for about 6 bucks.

Of course it doesn't really says, so I would assume not, but was wondering if folks who saw the movie, would find it believe-able that the cargo ship could land on planets.

I was just gonna write it as "And now the ship began its landing sequence and the landing struts began to...." blah blah blah.

Just wondering if folks that it was too far fetched that the ship could land on planets.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

That ship looks far too large to have any kind of landing (or even atmospheric) capability. If I were you, I wouldn't try to give it one.

 

[Leto_II]

Just checked my .PDF copy of the FASA Star Trek III Sourcebook Update to see if it provided stats on the Merchantman vessel, but it doesn't. Strangely, it gives specs for several ship classes NOT actually in the film, but it's possible those particular stats made it into another FASA module at some point later on.

 

[Nathan]

I just checked the Spec on the "blueprints"...it says there are several types with the longest being 274 feet long. Also in the movie it looks tiny when compared to the Bird of Prey (but I thought I read somewhere that was a flaw of the film how the ship wasn't scaled correctly when compared to the Bird of Prey.

Plus, I wonder how long Voyager is and it has a lot more decks than the cargo ship (in this case, the cargo ship only has 4 decks --- 1 deck for the bridge/living quarters, and the remaining 3 decks that are cargo specific.

thanks for the reply.

 

[Avro Arrow]

That ship looks far too large to have any kind of landing (or even atmospheric) capability. If I were you, I wouldn't try to give it one.

The BoP in this image can land, so why would the smaller Merchantman not be able to?

Also in the movie it looks tiny when compared to the Bird of Prey (but I thought I read somewhere that was a flaw of the film how the ship wasn't scaled correctly when compared to the Bird of Prey.

That's entirely possible... the scaling of the BoP has been all over the place over the years. But according to the size comparison chart ILM made for TSFS, the BoP was supposed to be 360 feet (109.7 m) and the Merchantman was supposed to be 220 feet (67.1 m), so it appears the Merchantman was always intended to be smaller.

So if you want to give the Merchantman landing capability in your story, that seems perfectly reasonable to me.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The BoP in this image can land, so why would the smaller Merchantman not be able to?

The perspective is way off, in that image. The BOP isn't really that big. We saw its true size in the later scene where it lands on Vulcan. If the ratio between the two ship sizes was like that picture suggested, the Merchantman would be the size of a phaser.

 

[Lieut. Arex]

Just checked my .PDF copy of the FASA Star Trek III Sourcebook Update to see if it provided stats on the Merchantman vessel, but it doesn't. Strangely, it gives specs for several ship classes NOT actually in the film, but it's possible those particular stats made it into another FASA module at some point later on.

IIRC it was covered in an early issue of FASA's Stardate Magazine

 

[F. King Daniel]

I remember one of FASA's old sourcebooks having a drawing of a landed Federation cargo ship (with TMP nacelles), being loaded up with supplies by trucks. I thought it was a really cool visual, so yeah, if one of FASA's bricks-with-nacelles can land, and the big greebled shoebox from Star Trek: Insurrection can land, I'm sure the Merchantman can too.

 

[T'Girl]

That ship looks far too large to have any kind of landing (or even atmospheric) capability. If I were you, I wouldn't try to give it one.

My impression is that particular merchantman is quite small, probably somewhat shorter than a runabout, don't see any reason it couldn't land.

=

 

[Avro Arrow]

If we go by the design lengths, it should look more like this:

But yeah, the Merchantman does look smaller than that in the screencap. But either way, I agree that there doesn't seem to be anything that precludes it from landing.

(Just realized the thread title equates the Merchantman with the Class J... where did that association come from?)

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

If the Merchantman really is this small, how can the captain make a decent amount of money? A ship this small can't haul much cargo, so it would seem to be impractical for a civilian cargo ship to be this diminutive. Remember, the ECS ships from ENT's time are massive vessels. That's how their crews stay in business.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Guys, it's movie magic. They wanted it to look intimidating so when it uncloaks it dwarfs the little trade ship.

 

[Idran]

Guys, it's movie magic. They wanted it to look intimidating so when it uncloaks it dwarfs the little trade ship.

Well, yeah, of course, but they're not talking Doylist, they're talking Watsonian.

 

[Avro Arrow]

If the Merchantman really is this small, how can the captain make a decent amount of money?

Apparently by ferrying spies around after they steal state secrets!

Oh, wait, they didn't actually get paid for that!

A ship this small can't haul much cargo, so it would seem to be impractical for a civilian cargo ship to be this diminutive. Remember, the ECS ships from ENT's time are massive vessels. That's how their crews stay in business.

Do we really even know the ship's primary function is hauling cargo? If it is, then I'd imagine it's like a small tramp freighter. Maybe they make money by carrying small loads to off-the-beaten path locations that aren't economical for the big cargo ships to visit.

I imagine the ship would have a small, quirky crew, and they'd take a job transporting something, or salvaging something, or whatever, and they'd get paid, and then they use that money to provision the ship enough to take the next job. Margins are probably razor-thin, and they're always one bad job away from ruin. As we've seen, they also supplement their income by taking on occasional passengers, some of whom are trying to avoid the law. The crew might even engage in less-than-legal ventures themselves from time to time, as they eke out their living far from the central government. But they do what they have to do to keep flying.

That actually sounds like it'd make a pretty good television series. Someone should look into that. I bet it would be awesome.

 

[T'Girl]

If the Merchantman really is this small, how can the captain make a decent amount of money?

Think more delivery truck, and less freighter.

That actually sounds like it'd make a pretty good television series. Someone should look into that. I bet it would be awesome.

it would be, but then Fox will cancel it after less than one season.

-

 

[Avro Arrow]

it would be, but then Fox will cancel it after less than one season.

Gorram Fox.

 

[Nathan]

Avro, thanks for the comparison of the ships. Yeah, on the blueprints it says the Merchantman is a Federation Type J ship, not that it means anything.

yeah, I agree , the Merchantman is like a delivery truck when compared to barge. I know Star Wars and Trek are apples and oranges, but I wonder if the Merchantman could be Trek's version of the Millenium Falcon as I think the Falcon is probably comparable in size/capabilities as the Merchantman.

having a great time developing my fan fic story and thanks to all for the input.