About the Odyssey
The Odyssey class is the primary science vessel of the C Quadrant Defenders.
It's a single deck vessel with minimal armament and a crew of four, featuring plenty of on-board computing power to assist in analysis of data in the field.
To aid in scientific research, the Odyssey class has a dedicate airlock to the rear of the ship, along with a roof-mounted defense and research shuttle.
While the expected mission profile was not expected to be particularly long, the ship was designed with some crew comforts including a bunk and a small galley.
The ship enjoyed a respected longevity within the CQD's space fleet, and a favorite of the captains that commanded them.
The bridge layout in particular was well received, and became the template from which most future CQD ships deisgns would be patterned after.
The Odyssey would later see a refit to improve its survival rate in combat situations.
The shuttle's scientific utility was ultimately found to be wanting, and its combat abilities were even worse, so the conclusion was to simply remove it.
Instead, a dedicated turret control station was installed in place of the dorsal docking port, accompanied by a dorsal gauss turret just in front of this station.
The removal of topside access was maintained through an emergency escape hatch on the turret position, which also improved the gunner's visibility.
Science officers were then trained in turret operation on refit vessels.
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The Odyssey class science vessel and her crew of 4: captain, science officer, navigator, and pilot.
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The side profile of the Odyssey class, featuring a small defense shuttle docked on the roof of the vessel.
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Front profile of the ship, focused on the bridge's perspective for the pilot and navigator.
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Focused on the rear of the ship, where the shuttle is docked next to the sensor mast.
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Other side profile. You can see the main hatch, as well as the airlock's exterior hatch integrated into the sensor mast.
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The main hatch slides open...
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While the airlock hatch folds down.
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With the top removed, we can see some of the interior.
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The small defensive shuttle is only lightly armed with twin engine-mounted machine guns, and accomodates only a single pilot. It can also be used for scientific purposes.
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The rear of the shuttle showcases its twin engines.
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A view unto the bridge. The pilot is on the right, the navigator (not pictured) sits on the left, and the captain has a central seat for the best vantage point.
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The science officer has a dedicated computer terminal with a data tape drive. His station is next to the ship's galley, featuring a microwave and coffee maker.
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Top view of the ship, bridge on the left, and computer station directly behind it.
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The rear of the ship features the ship's bunk, computer tape storage, stereo, airlock and associated controls, roof docking port access, and finally the engine room at the back of the ship.
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The exterior view allows you to see the docking port hatch and topside window.
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With the shuttle secured to the top of the ship, the occupants can travese between the two.
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The rear of the ship, with the sensor mast, shuttle, and airlock.
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The airlock's interior hatch rotates in place, but it does require that the occupant be seated.
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From within the ship, the tape storage bins, stereo, and airlock control can be seen.
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The engine room at the rear of the ship allows the crew to tend to the dual atomic reactors and other necessary systems.
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The bridge features pilot controls on the left, navigation controls on the right, a central display with radar and viewscreen, and a few special controls for the captain's use.
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Looking forward from the engine room...
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You can see clear to the bridge.
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The Odyssey class refit saw major changes to the design. The shuttle was replaced with a turret control station, and a gauss cannon was mounted just forward of that position. CQD unit insignia was added too.
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The gauss cannon turret provided a significant increase in firepower for the Odyssey class.
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The turret control station was typically manned by the science officer, when the need arose. The lateral windows also functioned as an emergency escape hatch and roof access for the crew.
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With the emergency escape hatch open, the turret controls are visible.
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The bridge was rearranged to now include the galley equipment.
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This made room for the tape storage bins to be moved closer to the computer terminal, but also allowed a second bunk to be installed for the crew.
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The Odyssey was a major step forward for my LEGO creations.
I remember discovering MOCpages and Brickshelf in 2005, being heavily inspired by the works of
Dan Jassim in particular.
I saw his large ships with color coordinated designs, and no visible compromise in parts selection.
He also valued interior details on ships (one of my favorite aspects of playability) as well as interesting exterior profiles.
So I decided it was time for me to try something like this for myself.
I built the Odyssey in fall of that year, my first large scale LEGO ship.
It was posted to MOCpages on November 17, 2005.
I picked a science vessel to start with because it felt like something I could accomplish.
It didn't have to be particularly big, nor bristling with weapons, or color stripes to be considered good.
Also, for a long time I misspelled the name as 'Oddessy' out of a teenage association between spellcheck and homework...
It also was the first time that I really standardized anything like uniforms, including the iconic CQD space helmet I love so much.
The sliding main door, rotating airlock, and roof hatch all felt realistic yet playable to me.
The awkward size and shape of the shuttle was a direct result of trying to fit a matching floor hatch inside.
I would later revise the design, removing the shuttle and replacing it with a gauss cannon and control station, improving the interior details in the process.
I called it a refit, resulting in the second set of photos , and posted it to MOCpage in June of 2007.
As of early 2023, I took the entire thing apart and rebuilt the design from the ground up.
The results are beyond spectacular.
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| General Characteristics |
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| Name | Odyssey |
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| Type | Science Vessel |
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| Affliation | C Quadrant Defenders, Earth |
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| Armament | None
1 x Gauss cannon turret (Odyssey Refit only) |
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| Propulsion | 2 x long range atomic reactors |
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| Decks | 1 (2, Odysset Refit only) |
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| Crew Compliment | 4 |
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| Embarked Craft | 1 x Shuttle, armed with twin machine guns (pre-refit only) |
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