Imperial 528's Starship Thread [No 56k]

[Imperial528]

I just did that with it, its more of a two-hull configuration.

I tried to do the thick front, thin rear, configuration, but I've never been able to get those to work.

I'm thinking of adding some sort of wings coming off of the side panels, but perhaps it would be better just to leave those as spots for heavy weapons?

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

I'm not sure you're really getting what I was trying to illustrate, so I illustrated it.

Here's a quick copy of the shape you've come up with. It's very like the shapes you've already come up with previously, arrived at in the same manner as before.



Now lets take that primitive and make it work for us in different configurations and ways using simple tools like lathe and mirror...


Backwards it can become a Cardassian style design.



forwards and mirrored it becomes a fighter.


multiplied on the Z axis it becomes engines or hulls on a cylindrical ship.


Multiplied on the Y axis it becomes spokes on a space station.

All I'm trying to convey is that it's very difficult to take a simple object and glue enough stuff to it to make it a believable object, particularly a huge starship. It is very easy to take a primitive object and use it in such a way that it becomes the basis of a more complex object, and might end up taking you in a design direction you never thought of in the first place. These only took about 5 minutes each to make (10 for the fighter) and yet I have become quite attached now to the idea of the station and the cylindrical one. I might actually give them a try now.

[Imperial528]

That makes much more sense now. I've never really thought of it that way, I'd always thought of it as a hull rather than a shape. I'll see if I can do something interesting.

In the meantime, this is the first successful space station I've ever modeled, just made it a few minutes ago, still a WIP, but I'd like to know what people think before proceeding:

[Imperial528]

In a burst of sudden inspiration, I made this:


I cut the shape in half, copy-rotated it in a triangle pattern, merged the three pieces, and added wings. I don't know what it is right now, just that it looks cool.

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

Regarding the space station, can I ask what it does? You appear to have a couple of habitation modules, and then the corridor between them is a long bloody walk. The traditional function of a ring station is to provide habitation with artificial gravity when the station is spinning, whereas yours appears to be habitats linked by a circular corridor. Is the ring actually something else?

Liking the new ship, has a touch of Viper about it and looks much more intricate than previous creations.

[Imperial528]

The ring is a hyperspace gate, actually. The two sections on the side contain all of the defensive and power generation hardware, along with crew quarters. (the bulges on them are where the reactors end) While the ring itself is a compound hyperdrive. The purpose of it is to send large fleets into hyperspace across long distances, and through the use of the gate journeys which would normally take days or weeks could take a day or less.

[Imperial528]

I've decided to turn it into an aerospace fighter, here's a few pictures:

Render with Kerkythea, on a sky background image:

Shot from Sketchup of the fighter from the front:

Shot with retracted heavy laser pods, for hypersonic flight:


What'd ya think?

[Norade]

That space station also looks like it could be a modular ring with the ability to have more modules clip onto it.

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

I think the fighter looks excellent, very tough looking ship and one of your best models yet.

I've actually started making a space station, and Norade's idea of a circular frame or spine for hanging modules off is brilliant. I might try it out tomorrow...

[Imperial528]

And now for something completely different:

Front:

I've always wanted to make a ship with a spherical command center, but previous attempts have failed. This one, I feel, is a success.

Side:


Top/Bottom:


Back:


Iso:


Right now the ship is rather bland (lack of sensors, etc.) But, I made sure to get maneuvering thrusters in there before uploading, and now I'm going to work on sensors. Although, I might take a break from flying things for a bit.

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

I'll be the first to say it then, it looks like a Correllian Corvette. With bits missing.

You still seem to be building simplistic future space battleships based on 1880's warship design. Taking a relatively basic shape and then trying to glue on enough detail to make it look like an enormous ship rarely works. The turrets and turret placement still looks like 2D thinking as well as old fashioned.

Your techique has improved greatly, but your stuck in a rut design-wise. I think you are right to take a break from this genre, and go build something else for a while. Your fighter had promise, try making a nicely detailed version of that. Or, how about land vehicles? Tanks, trucks and hover cars are great fun to design.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Looks like a Kushan Heavy Cruiser from the original Homeworld

[Imperial528]

@Kenny: I actually just started redesigning an old assault walker:

For kicks, I calculated its ground pressure using the weight of the USS Iowa as a benchmark. It hits 1716psi, or 11.8 Mpascals for the metric.
EDIT: I just realized that I had forgotten to convert to inches. With some modifications to the footpads, and using the U.S.S. Enterprise (CVN-64) as a weight benchmark, I have gotten it to 42psi. Which is about 289kpasacals.


@Eternal_Freedom: Coincidentally, this is the only time I didn't take inspiration from Homeworld.

[Imperial528]

I made a tank, no name for it yet, but here's shots of it so far with a person for reference:

Front:


Side:


Iso:


I based the design off of the M1 Abrams and the siege tank from StarCraft, but overall I think the basics went together well.

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

Not bad at all, certainly looks like a tank to me. I'd raise the side-skirts a bit if I were you, otherwise it's a tank with the ground clearance of a Ferrari. Also that gun looks awfully small for such a big tank and turret. Apart from that, it looks great.

[Imperial528]

Re-did the barrel, which is now at 15' in length (A bit above 4.5-ish meters):


Raised the side skirts, you can also see the tread supports now:


Driver's instruments, one is a visual camera and the other is an infrared:


A hatch for getting in, and the circle there is the mounting point for an MG turret:


Iso of current state:

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

Better again. I'm not sure about the gas tube thing on the underside of the gun, but the rest of the detail makes plenty of sense. Now you have a larger gun you might want to alter either the overall length of the turret or move its mounting ring. With the bigger gun your turret weight is now forward of the original center of gravity, you see. If it were me I'd shorten the turret a little at the front end.

What you need to do now is plaster it with detail, all the bits and pieces your tank needs to do the job. That would include stuff like engine cooling ducts, exhaust systems, NBC systems, drivers hatch, ammo loading hatch, smoke launchers, sensors, comms, jammers, spares storage, access panels to major systems, handholds, sighting systems, etc, etc.

[Imperial528]

Ah, the pipe is part of the ammunition loading. It's a sci-fi tank, and it fires ammunition that is coated with plasma. The tip of the ammunition contains an electromagnet powered by a capacitor which keeps the plasma on the shell. The front piece of the barrel serves two purposes, managing recoil, and creating a plasma plasma window over the tip of the barrel that is transferred to the shell. The pipe supplies the gases for the plasma, and I specifically designed the pipe to move with the recoil of the gun as well. The idea is the the tip of the shell will hit first, and the plasma will damaged reactive armor segments, making it more likely that the shell will penetrate.

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

Plasma created by lasers or fusion is supposed to come in at over 10,000,000 degrees K. I should think your explosive shell would be a sigh in the breeze compared to what the plasma would do first. I think it might be best to stick to a near future tank instead of a random sci-fi period, it will make the work easier. Pulling super tech out of the hat and sticking it on something which is almost obsolete in this time period is pushing it a bit. It would be like giving a chariot a belt-fed mortar.

[Imperial528]

I was thinking of using the much cooler plasma used in modern plasma windows, it's at 15,000 kelvins, and the shell won't have much plasma on it. Such plasma can be generated just by good old electric arcing.

[Imperial528]

Adding some details.

Iso of current state, note the reactive armor bricks, armored hatch for loading on the gun's right, and smoke launcher on left:


Closeup of the coaxial gun above the main cannon, along with visual camera:


Closeup of the top of the turret, note the attenae and radar dish, along with hatch and MG turret. (I've decided to change the turret though):


Closeup of the rear, with heat/exhaust vents and boarding ladder:

[Imperial528]

I've been off of the tank for a bit, and after a few failed attempts at other vehicles, I went back to starships. I've been studying Grahf's designs to gain inspiration for detail from them, and this battleship is what I have so far:

Front:

Side:

Back:

Iso:

Iso(Back view):


Opinions, comments, questions, suggestions?

[Kenny_10_Bellys]

Questions first. What are the huge pipes at the front end? Engines or weapons? What are the additional details? Are they n the right place for the job they do?

[Imperial528]

All very good questions, which I am happy to answer.

The pipes at the end are in fact spinal-mount particle beam weapons, the retro-thrusters can be seen directly to left and right of them.


This is one of the eight primary shield generators, which are arrayed to give total coverage to the main hull. In an updated model I have independent generators on the wings as well.


This is one of the escape pod "docks", and there are of 16 of them, bringing the total number of escape pods to 80, with five pods per dock.


This is one of the four maneuvering thrusters intended for rolling, mounted on the upper and lower parts of the superstructure.


This is one of the two hangars, although I am debating whether or not to move them from the back of the wing to the sides of the forward hull.


These, of course, are the main engines. The structures connecting the two in the center and the structures on the side engines are part of the hyperdrive infrastructure.

[Imperial528]

Some additions:



This is the primary sensor dish, mounted on the top of the hull, on the wing behind it the diamond shape is a shield generator, and the row of hinged doors is a missile battery.



Primary communication antennae, mounted on the same spot on the bottom as the dish is on the top.