I know how tricky landing gear solutions are to get right, I have two projects going where I'm at that stage, and that stuff does take some figuring out, though it is very rewarding when you get a good looking and appropriate solution in there. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
My final solution looks like it's going to be similar to an F-16 in regards to structure, but with the two main gear up front and a single wider pad in the back. I'm working right now on getting the housing figured out and cutting it into the hull without screwing everything up.
Oh, and another challenge for the gear is that when it's retracted it still has to have a suitable placement to sit in a cradle assembly and hold the weight of the ship. My plan is that normal home stations will have a cradle that the ship will just sit in so that the landing gear doesn't have to be deployed. It will also have umbilical connects for refueling and what not.
Well, I got the landing gear housings cut out of the main hull. I'll had more structural ribbing and what not as I build the gear linkage. The way it will end up working is that the two front pads will swing out to either side with the door/panel pivoting just under the airlock. That way the door will also provide a ladder up to the airlock from the ground. The rear gear will just pivot almost straight down. I may or may not make the rear pad extend aft at all depending on how the center of gravity looks because right now I figure it to be about 3m aft of the airlocks. Oh, and the current pads are only temporary so they will NOT be anywhere near as pronounced as they are now.
The ship's scale looks like something between a Danube and a Defiant, with not much room for a fistful of people. I'm having issues finding reasonable canon arguments and purposes for a ship of that size, except it is fully automated.
If that has been expained in previous post please don't mind my comment.
You've pretty much nailed the size and it has a standard crew of 12-14.
I've covered its purpose here and there. The design was originally intended for a competition on another forum that called for a small Trek ship. I took it a step further and decided I wanted to see how small I could get a ship and maintain the classic saucer/engineering/nacelle configuration we're all accustomed to. This is the result. I never pictured this as a mainstream ship that you'd see in canon because it's primary role is a police action ship somewhat like modern era PT boats. In that instance it would only be in well settled systems and outside of the purview of Trek that's seen on TV.
I like what you have so far, and you have an interesting solution for a boarding ramp for the airlocks with the gear bay doors performing double duty, I like that a lot. I thought you had a rear bay boarding ramp on this design though? Wouldn't that be the main ingress/egress route?
Ship size and function wise it struck me as something similar to perhaps the Colonial Marines Dropship from Aliens, or a C130, which I believe you compared it to earlier in the thread if I remember rightly. So for a Trek role I guess it would be rapid troop deployment tool for relatively small units. I'd figure the cargo bay could be converted into a passenger section for a payload of troops should the need arise? I'd see them as support craft deployed out of a Starbase, or as part of a larger fleet. I guess it would see action in arenas where transporter tech was unavailable or undesirable for some reason, and this would make them the fastest alternative to get personnel and material on the ground swiftly.
I like what you have so far, and you have an interesting solution for a boarding ramp for the airlocks with the gear bay doors performing double duty, I like that a lot. I thought you had a rear bay boarding ramp on this design though? Wouldn't that be the main ingress/egress route?
The primary means of exiting the ship would be the cargo door at the rear of the ship, but I'm a fan of backups so being able to egress from the airlocks is a win-win to me. Besides, what if the ship lands on a planet with a non-breathable atmosphere? In that event logically it would be better to open a smaller door (airlock) than a bigger door (cargo ramp). Even with force fields it minimizes the chance of failure.
Ship size and function wise it struck me as something similar to perhaps the Colonial Marines Dropship from Aliens, or a C130, which I believe you compared it to earlier in the thread if I remember rightly. So for a Trek role I guess it would be rapid troop deployment tool for relatively small units. I'd figure the cargo bay could be converted into a passenger section for a payload of troops should the need arise? I'd see them as support craft deployed out of a Starbase, or as part of a larger fleet. I guess it would see action in arenas where transporter tech was unavailable or undesirable for some reason, and this would make them the fastest alternative to get personnel and material on the ground swiftly.
Since it's primarily a police action ship I could see it dropping personnel off here and there if the need arose.
I've got the preliminary layout for the front landing gear done and most of the components are in place. The only things missing are some hydraulic actuators and brackets along with the structural components of the landing gear bay. The main strut where the pad is attached is rigged, but the downlock brackets aren't connected to anything so I can't show the whole thing folded up right now.
This is a view from ground level and you can see that the ship will sit pretty low. I'm okay with that because it jives with the way the cargo ramp opens. It also allows the gear to swing out a bit further to give the ship a more stable base.
The rear pad will deploy straight down so it's much simpler. I just wanted to get the front gear sorted and see if any of you have opinions on improvement and what not.
Are you sure the landing legs and the deflector are not overlapping in their use of space? Somehow they don't feel good that close together.....
I've spent a lot of time making sure everything works so there are no space issues. The front bulkhead of the landing gear bay is the other side of the bulkhead used by the deflector so the only space needed is for wall thickness, which works out to about a half meter.
I've completed the main structural components for the entire landing gear system except for the downlock braces for the rear gear. After that I'm going to flesh out the gear bays a bit and then I'll move on to something else...probably paneling, greebles and the umbilicals. I'll probably work the cradle assembly that the ship will normally utilize on planet surfaces and starbases in tandem with the umbilicals.
It's looking great. I love the gear animation. My hat's off to you for that.
Thanks! I don't know why I was initially having so much trouble with it. It was just one little thing and once I got that sorted out everything else fell into place pretty quickly.
Thanks! I don't know why I was initially having so much trouble with it. It was just one little thing and once I got that sorted out everything else fell into place pretty quickly.
That's the way it is in 3D. You're having trouble with something, then you finally figure it out and it seems so simple. You're like, "Why didn't I think of that sooner?"
Eh, a little more progress on the landing gear. I think I'm going to say the main pieces are finished now that the main framing is there. Now I just need to add brackets to the landing gear doors and I'll call it quits in that area and move on to something else.
Posts
I finally have an idea that will (hopefully) work...will post update after I have everything roughed in.
Oh, and another challenge for the gear is that when it's retracted it still has to have a suitable placement to sit in a cradle assembly and hold the weight of the ship. My plan is that normal home stations will have a cradle that the ship will just sit in so that the landing gear doesn't have to be deployed. It will also have umbilical connects for refueling and what not.
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The convenience of this setup is that the doors can double as a set of stairs from the ground to the airlocks.
If that has been expained in previous post please don't mind my comment.
I've covered its purpose here and there.
Ship size and function wise it struck me as something similar to perhaps the Colonial Marines Dropship from Aliens, or a C130, which I believe you compared it to earlier in the thread if I remember rightly. So for a Trek role I guess it would be rapid troop deployment tool for relatively small units. I'd figure the cargo bay could be converted into a passenger section for a payload of troops should the need arise? I'd see them as support craft deployed out of a Starbase, or as part of a larger fleet. I guess it would see action in arenas where transporter tech was unavailable or undesirable for some reason, and this would make them the fastest alternative to get personnel and material on the ground swiftly.
The primary means of exiting the ship would be the cargo door at the rear of the ship, but I'm a fan of backups so being able to egress from the airlocks is a win-win to me.
Since it's primarily a police action ship I could see it dropping personnel off here and there if the need arose.
That's really cool. I can't wait to see how it looks once you get all of the cool bits in there to make the doors work.
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This is a view from ground level and you can see that the ship will sit pretty low. I'm okay with that because it jives with the way the cargo ramp opens. It also allows the gear to swing out a bit further to give the ship a more stable base.
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The rear pad will deploy straight down so it's much simpler. I just wanted to get the front gear sorted and see if any of you have opinions on improvement and what not.
Agreed.
I've spent a lot of time making sure everything works so there are no space issues. The front bulkhead of the landing gear bay is the other side of the bulkhead used by the deflector so the only space needed is for wall thickness, which works out to about a half meter.
That was a huge PITA.
Here are a couple of pics showing the gear deployed:
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Thanks! I don't know why I was initially having so much trouble with it. It was just one little thing and once I got that sorted out everything else fell into place pretty quickly.
:thumb:
That's the way it is in 3D. You're having trouble with something, then you finally figure it out and it seems so simple. You're like, "Why didn't I think of that sooner?"
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