A non Trek or Wars or anything else project, just something from my own imagination - a future cargo ship. Current mesh is a study model as I've been playing around with concepts for a time, but I've settled on this, and will be developing it going forward:
This is an
original idea, and not from any show/film/book. Something of mine I am choosing to share :-)
Comments welcome, more later
Posts
Thank you - it's fun some times to work without the constraints of a show in-verse ideas.
- Mike Oldfield
More soon.
- Mike Oldfield
Updates - detailing and texturing started. Going to have a go at some of the insides as well, so mapping out how the cargo bay and bridge fit in the frame -
More soon!
- Mike Oldfield
Thank you - my thoughts exactly on the cargo door front. The actual cargo hold is massive on this ship - but I'm not pretending she's anything but a cargo ship :-) Yes she has a few defensive guns, but she is not and never will be a swiss army knife type ship.
- Mike Oldfield
And the basic room behind the windows -
More soon :-)
- Mike Oldfield
Thank you - I'm medically retired with a lot of time on my hands, so, I can plough the hours into stuff like this.
I'm pleased with how this is going. I've been sitting on this idea for a few decades, it's finally nice to see the ship I have written about. Last I measured her she was one-hundred-sixty meters-ish long. That may sound small, but when scaled against people she is massive. Plus I wanted a ship size that could land.
More later!
- Mike Oldfield
Size is relative. It depends on how much cargo she's supposed to carry. My first job at Walmart was unloading trucks, I still occasionally do it, and I've seen how much cargo can be loaded into a 53 foot semi trailer. By human standards, it's a lot. But, compared to a container ship that carries goods overseas, it's a drop in the bucket. Those behemoths can be up to 366m long. (yikes!) But, to get a lot of goods from point A to B, you need that size of ship. However, to get them to smaller destinations, you need the much smaller semi trailer. Move that up to the scale of moving cargo from planet to planet on a galactic scale, and vessels of different sizes would be needed to move cargo to and from planets. So, your ship could easily be the vessel that gets smaller batches of goods from a larger port to a smaller one.
That's a good question.
My early vision of the ship was one that couldn't land and had a vast cargo hold, but when I started writing about the Galadin and her crew - landing became a thing. So, I shrunk the ship down to fit with the idea that whilst it's aerodynamic as a brick, it can land, to offload and load up.
Their are two cargo holds, the forward one has been converted to store a short range shuttle craft, and then main hold which fills almost the entire hull. The landing thrusters and forward landing gear meant I have had to shape the holds around them - which is proper and right. This is a very practical ship after all.
Those windows? Corridors around the main hold. Most of the crew space is on one deck (deck one). The reactor room runs the full height of the ship, and the hyperdrive/ftl system fills out the rest of the back hull. The main engines are just that, engines for sublight use.
Hummm, I might get the measurements of a truck container and see how many of them I can fit in the main hold, just for fun. Mind you... When I do the inside of the main hold, I'll need some sort of containers to put in it.
Anyways, enough waffle from me. Not gonna be many updates today broadband is being upgraded and changed, so will be offline for a time and busy dealing with that. But I will be back - and faster!
More soon :-)
- Mike Oldfield
I think the next thing to work on is the guns, and how they mount to the ship. The current ones were stolen off another mesh of mine and don't sit right to me.
More soon.
- Mike Oldfield
More soon!
- Mike Oldfield
Getting close to finishing up the main ship, and then starting work on the shuttle. Landing gear still needs to be finished, but the main hull is done -
More soon!
- Mike Oldfield
Comments welcome, more soon!
- Mike Oldfield
- Mike Oldfield
The main hull is pretty much done aside from the odd tweak here and there -
But I'm not finished yet - for a start there is the flight deck hiding behind these windows -
And a shuttle, and the two holds to build.
So, more later!
- Mike Oldfield
Thank you!
Basic set for the inside of the flight deck -
I may develop it later as a separate mesh. But I don't think it needs any more than I've done.
Current orthos -
Still lots to do, but she is coming along nicely.
Comments always welcome, and ideas.
More later!
- Mike Oldfield
Snark maybe?
Yeah, I may develop it further. Wouldn't be the first time I've done a full "bridge" with all the buttons dials and levers modelled. But, as you say, it keeps the render time down :-)
Hummmm.
Updates on the forward hold -
It's 30m, by 14m wide and 7.5m tall. Not big, but I had to fit it around the forward landing thrusters and the forward landing gear. It serves as a nice link to the main hold. Maybe used when the ship docks? Food for thought.
More later.
- Mike Oldfield
I have ideas about how to move them from the main hold to the forward hold. I don't think I'm going to fit a shuttle in there. But I'll have a go.
Next up more cargo boxes and the main hold - so, more later!
- Mike Oldfield
As for moving them, you could always go with some type of large scale Sci-Fi forklift.
I think it's different companies, but in my mind I see them as standard shipping containers. I put a small panel on the front for control of them, locking, ID and the like. Their is a ladder built into the back, and some sort of "connector" built into the top as well. I need to work in some other colours, I simply used the rusty textures I had, but I can make more. I might generate a few company logos and stick them on the side of a few of them.
I have some smaller boxes and another type of container to design as well.
Yep, I totally agree some sort of futuristic forklift/something is going to be needed to move them around in the hull. I have ideas.
And I still have a shuttle to build as well, lol.
More soon!
- Mike Oldfield
Lots still to do. Ladders, hatches in and out, lifts, floor markings etc - but it should give an idea of the massive space I'm playing with.
Comments always welcome, more soon!
- Mike Oldfield
120 Cargo Containers
384 Cargo Boxes
Back to the grind, will get the hold finished off with the missing gubbings and details.
More later.
- Mike Oldfield
Love it!
And yes, definitely getting the Alien universe vibes from the ship but it's also something that could easily fit in elsewhere.