That's a cool concept for a transport. It's even a little reminiscent of the original plans for the Millennium Falcon. As I was reading this I was thinking that the rebels would probably be able to buy a lot of obsolete ships from government auctions, so you'd have the rebels paying the Empire for ships to use against them. Meanwhile the Emperor is taxing Imperial systems to build new ships to fight the old ships you sold to the rebels to begin with, and he laughs (evilly) all the way to the bank. It's good to be the Emperor.
Not much new work done, still figuring out the command tower arrangement. Copied and pasted another heavy turbolaser turret on the top there. Lot's to do still...
Cheers, yeah you're right, it draws a little inspiration from the original Falcon concept too, as well other Rebel craft, obviously the Blockade Runner, a touch of Y-Wing etc.
I also agree with you that you would very likely see a lot of old Imperial or Republic ships in use by the Rebels, in fact you already see that in the movies with the Nebulon-Bs which are said in EU sources to originally be Imperial craft such as the escort frigates you'd often come up against in the X-Wing PC game.
Anyway, should really get back on topic. I'm liking where your design is going, but do you not think you might need a more robust hull section to mount your engines on? Just looks a little thin when compared to the boosters. That said, looks like that area still has a lot of development work yet to go, so I should really just shut up and let you get on with it and see what you come up with for that part of the ship.
Yeah the engine section does look a bit thin but I'll add a little bulk when I get to detailing that part. Had a busy weekend so I didn't get too much done on this, hopefully I'll make some decent progress this next weekend. I'm also taking yet another look at the Tormentor. I thought I had added enough angle to the hull to keep it from looking too flat but when I put it up next to the Inundator, well it looks pretty flat again. So I'll probably end up rebuilding that hull again. And with the Inundator, I'm deciding where to place a hangar bay, either on the sides or the bottom. Well here's pics...
I really like where you're going with that rear section, really looks good in profile, and you've got quite an original booster layout too, rather than going with the standard 3, it is a nice mixture between the Republic Cruiser's trio of boosters and the ISD's 3 main booster with quad secondary booster array, or whatever you choose to call it. Lots of nice nods to ISD design, but handled differently too such as the reactor dome being incorporated into the top side under the command deck assembly rather than being sunk into the ventral hull which is more expected. Definitely looking forwards to more updates on this, looking like it will be an interesting build.
I agree with TALON,the rear/engine concept is great,just not sure about the bridge area,a simpler arrangement would be better,but overall a great render,thanks for your great posts.
Looking good Severus, definitely an improvement on what was there before, though I did like your single shield/sensor dome that was on there before. I'm still having trouble locating where exactly the bridge is at though. Is it that box like shape hidden in the shadows just beneath the array? I just think there needs to be something more tangible in that area so you can clearly see the command deck, it is all still a little lost in there. I think you need a strong and striking design for that area to make it stand out a little more.
Also loving the detail on this thing, the greebles and what not are coming on a treat.
I like that you're working on an original concept inspired by the existing ships. Kudos for making the effort to do something of your own.
Overall, the combination of Venator-era engine design with later ISD design features is a good one. I think that having the neck for the conning tower more low-slung is interesting, similar to what we see with the neck of the Sovereign-class in Trek. That being said, I would suggest including something more recognizably ISD-inspired for the conning tower itself. There are certainly variations, see the differences between the Devastator, the Avenger, and the Executor towers, but the essential shape repeats. Using that shape will tie your design to the existing line, while having that lower neck will still make it your own version.
The other thing that might bear looking at is the thickness and depth of your panel etching. Having the panel lines too wide and/or too deep can interfere with the sense of scale. If you look at the shooting models, most of the panel lines are drawn, not etched. The ones that are etched are done with very fine x-acto knife blades. Where you see thicker panel cuts tends to be in the secondary armor layer, e.g the underside detailing of the Devastator and the Avenger.
Those are just my thoughts. Keep up the good work!
I agree, with all of the criticisms, I know I've got some scale issues to sort out and that's why you haven't seen a distinctive bridge or a landing bay go in, because I had no idea how big they should be lol. The guns on the Tormentor and Inundator were made to be similar but not the same size as the Imperator, so I couldn't use those. So I spent some time today doing the math and figuring out exactly how big these ships are in relation to the known Imperator and Executor classes. So I'll be taking another stab at the Inundator and Tormentor, but nothings wasted, since I've built a nice bunch of greebles to use. Anyway, here's a little comparison chart I made up...
A new Tormentor, why not, rebuilt the whole thing, the only items that will be carried over will be greebles from the Inundator. Lost some of the more Venatorish (yeah it's a word) aspects but overall I'm more pleased with this design and it makes it more contemporary to the Imperator. Anyway, here's some pics...
loving the new look - feels more solid that the original - love child of venator and imperator - already the greebles looking better than mine - wish i could do them that well
already the greebles looking better than mine - wish i could do them that well
Nonsense, your ships are awesome!
Here's an update size comparison chart. The Imperator was modeled after a toy by Hasbro, so those dimensions might be a little off from canon dimensions but I think it's still a good representation of the movie model (the toy, not necessarily my model).
no chance mate - your greebles are fractalspongy in nature mine are random boxes and tubes, but anyway your ships are coming along nicely - cant wait to see the detailed version of tormentor - it would make a nice escort for my sagitta class but modeling style to different for them to sit nicely together - so will have to think up my own design
Some greebling progress and starting in on the engine section. The panel lines are still being cut, they'll be a lot denser when finished but overall I'm pleased with the little progress I was able to make this weekend. Getting a really nice stockpile of greebles which will come in handy for the Imperator, Enslaver, Persecutor etc...
The greebles are very nice, and you should be able to use them extensively without looking too repetitious. It all comes down to how you combine them. One trick you might use would be to make several different variations of each basic greeble shape, move the protrusions around, the added pieces, etc. Then you have that much more of a tool kit to work from.
Thanks for the comments guys, the greebling and paneling continue, but I detoured to the hangar bay for a bit. There's more detail that I'd like to add in yet, but probably not too much more, since I doubt there would be many views any closer than this. And I'm no Talon, Jedilaw or Fractalsponge, so I get tired of doing details and clogging up all my memory and making me and my computer cry...
Nice, loving the level of interior detailing you're putting in there. The AT-AT Walkers in their bays look great, also gives the overall vessel a good sense of scale. My only crit would be that it might be more appropriate to dock your TIE Fighters in a more traditional rack launching system, even if you customize it to fit into those smaller bays. I don't think the Empire ever launches TIEs from a deck, they're always attached to a rack system if their based in an Imperial installation/cap ship.
Thanks! Yeah, I hadn't added in the racks yet only because I wanted to research them a bit more, but information on those seems pretty scarce, so I based these on a version I saw in one of Fractals hangars (also I didn't want to zoom in on my crappy TIE's lol). I figure I'd be pretty safe basing it off of his work lol. I still want to add in some elevators and wall greebles etc..
only thing i would say is that for landing fighters during combat when the ship and fighter is at speed the hanger is very shallow - would not make for easy landing - then again i was assuming for my star destroyer that fighters got within the shield grid and then tractor beams grabbed them - beautiful details - how do the at-at get to ground though?
Yeah I figured tractor beams would do the parking but I'm already rethinking the bay... As for the AT-AT's, I'm cooking something up... I don't care for the options available (cuz they won't fit in my bay)... Here's an update... got some more paneling done and put the guns in...
Wow looks cool, star wars ships never get old, didn't see the fighter bay, really like it. off topic: i want to see more rebel ships too (the big ones)
Posts
Not much new work done, still figuring out the command tower arrangement. Copied and pasted another heavy turbolaser turret on the top there. Lot's to do still...
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I also agree with you that you would very likely see a lot of old Imperial or Republic ships in use by the Rebels, in fact you already see that in the movies with the Nebulon-Bs which are said in EU sources to originally be Imperial craft such as the escort frigates you'd often come up against in the X-Wing PC game.
Anyway, should really get back on topic. I'm liking where your design is going, but do you not think you might need a more robust hull section to mount your engines on? Just looks a little thin when compared to the boosters. That said, looks like that area still has a lot of development work yet to go, so I should really just shut up and let you get on with it and see what you come up with for that part of the ship.
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Instead of Talon and Jedi, I do like of the bridge in the actual shape.
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Also loving the detail on this thing, the greebles and what not are coming on a treat.
Otherwise an outstanding effort mate!
Well done and thanks.
Overall, the combination of Venator-era engine design with later ISD design features is a good one. I think that having the neck for the conning tower more low-slung is interesting, similar to what we see with the neck of the Sovereign-class in Trek. That being said, I would suggest including something more recognizably ISD-inspired for the conning tower itself. There are certainly variations, see the differences between the Devastator, the Avenger, and the Executor towers, but the essential shape repeats. Using that shape will tie your design to the existing line, while having that lower neck will still make it your own version.
The other thing that might bear looking at is the thickness and depth of your panel etching. Having the panel lines too wide and/or too deep can interfere with the sense of scale. If you look at the shooting models, most of the panel lines are drawn, not etched. The ones that are etched are done with very fine x-acto knife blades. Where you see thicker panel cuts tends to be in the secondary armor layer, e.g the underside detailing of the Devastator and the Avenger.
Those are just my thoughts. Keep up the good work!
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Here's an update size comparison chart. The Imperator was modeled after a toy by Hasbro, so those dimensions might be a little off from canon dimensions but I think it's still a good representation of the movie model (the toy, not necessarily my model).
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I like the greebles you made. Keep this work up.
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