3DRomulan D'deridex Warbird

Martocticvs

May as well start a thread going for this. Early days yet, but since there are no plans worth even glancing at available on the net, I have started off by doing some painstaking photo matching, and a little photogrammetry. I could not reconcile the various photos perfectly, so this will have to be my best possible compromise plus a good helping of Mk.1 Eyeballing. That said, I intend it to be the most accurate version of this ship to date by some margin.

I built up a very rough model to check my general proportions etc, and I am now developing on from there, so some areas are very rough still. Also just focusing on the silhouette at this stage, and most work has been on the upper wings so far. Lumpiness and wobbliness elsewhere to be expected at this point. The interface between the wings and the nacelles looks likely to be the trickiest aspect of this - very very rough for the moment. May completely change my approach to that area yet.

Vortex5972

Looks to be a good start.

BolianAdmiral

Awesome!

Martocticvs

Nacelle-wing interface now looking roughly as it should. I will combine the bodies at some stage and blend them together as per the original though.

Nevets

Looking good.

Another of Probert's designs that have withstood 33 years.

Martocticvs

Made a few shape tweaks, and improved that lower apron area. Going to start work on the head/beak area next I think.

Brandenberg

Well that's just genius

Martocticvs

Minor progress - just starting to get some definition to the head, dealing with the blending/joint area at the top primarily.

hal

Excellent start, I don't think I've ever seen anyone tackle this. I don't envy the task ahead of you with the lack of refs you have.

Martocticvs

Integrating the hunchback with the main body now. It has a fairly complex way of blending in at the front end. I'll have to merge the head in with the main body soon to get that joint sorted out properly, but a bit more refinement is needed on the hunchback yet, and I've barely given the lower wings any attention so far, so that's probably where I'm heading next!

maran

Lookin' smooth. I know what a complete bastard some of those organic shapes can be.

Never was a fan of those blocky protrusions behind the head though. Like some Romulan shipyard worker found out he forgot to put in 20% of the rooms after the ship was built

Martocticvs

I don't know, they provide a bit of contrast to what is an otherwise highly organic shape. Obviously on my model right now they literally are just boxes, but when I get to the properly, they aren't quite as harsh as that...

Martocticvs

Rendered out a quick turntable video to check the quality of the wing outer surfaces. There are still some small bumps there that I simply cannot see in the viewport, despite running intersection planes through the thing at all kinds of angles. I think I will have to live with it like this for now. I'm planning on doing a single level sub-div later and I should be able to sort those issues out after that.

BolianAdmiral

Still looking good, though.

Martocticvs

Slowly converging on wings I'm happy with. I spent a day pulling and pushing points around on that lower apron area, but still not totally happy with it. Otherwise, inner wing surfaces are now mostly sorted out (there's a huge amount of volume in those wings). Starting to add some detail to the head (also a little reprofiling to make it a touch broader, but only where needed), and adding the lower lump thing. Still quite unrefined in that area as I've just added it this evening, still moving points around...

Martocticvs

Integrated the lower boom - I hadn't noticed before, but it has a subtle downwards flare at the forward end, where it connects to the 'head' part of the hull. Of course the entire boom has a fairly strong downwards slope to it as well, which they either missed, or decided to ... 'correct' ... on the CG model. I think it's quite distinctive though, so it stays.

I think that's all the main features that I want to include in the base sub-d cage, so the next task is to merge all the bodies together and blend them correctly.

kuckuk333

Looking great so far. Curious for the final result.

ashleytinger

I still remember seeing this beautiful monstrous ship pop up on screen for the first time. The Romulans finally had a ship that fit their grace, power and intrigue. You're doing a fantastic job.

Martocticvs

Thanks guys. It's definitely one of the more unique and striking designs in scifi. Always loved it

I have finished merging and blending the nacelles into the hull object, and also corrected and refined the shape of the nacelle. So I think I'm pretty much done with the engines now, aside from detailing them later.

Nevets

Looking good, especially in "wpgst849lhf8."

Martocticvs

Thanks!

So I think this stage of modelling is now done. One or two minor adjustments needed for things I've just spotted, but essentially I'm ready to move on. Might try adding some extra detail to the head first though. Don't want to overdo it at this stage as it will be all to easy to mess up the smooth curves there.




Probably difficult to see much difference here, but this area was the main focus of work this time around. Blended the 'wing' body into the 'head' body, which mainly meant this long neck projection and the trailing flick-up from the head. Refined the shape of the head flick, so it's a little more chiselled now.

ashleytinger

SO. FREAKING. GOOD. Love seeing this come along.

Martocticvs

Thanks

I've been spending time laying out all the various grid lines - I now have the entire feather grid pattern prepared in spline form. Just putting in the key ones for the moment, which starts with the top 'hump' panels and the deflector recessed area on the head.

Mustang13Camaro68

Wonderful modeling choice.

Martocticvs

There be feather grids!

EBOLII

OUCH........

That is looking fantastic!!!

Martocticvs

I've not been working on this quite so much lately, so things have slowed down a bit. Moved onto the head area, sorted out the boxy-bits (and added the missing ones behind the beak). Now just adding the main details. Not quite done but here are a couple of shots anyway.

BolianAdmiral

Great progress on this… you’re really doing the ship justice.

Martocticvs

Thanks

Head detailing is done for now! Just a few greeble areas to fill later, and of course the windows....


Back to the feather grids I think - inner upper wing surface now complete. I'll come back and add in the spinal structures later.