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3DAlaska class battleship
J.Wilde0
Posts: 0Member
The Alaska class is an American battleship design on the verge of obsolescence after fifty years as a category one fleet combatant, and examples still in service are being shifted to the Fleet Reserve as ships of the follow on class are commissioned. The Alaska represents a now bygone age as practical meson and neutral particle beam spinal mounts become the new mark of a battleship class vessel. Its heavy laser and missile armament is still formidable, however, and while Alaskas will no longer be the big stick of American interstellar diplomacy, they remain as steadfast protectors of U.S. core colonies.
This is definitely a design in flux. This is also a departure (somewhat) from my usual flying skyscraper designs. Everything's still oriented vertically, but with the torch drives set off from the main hull on three large booms amidships (the big empty space between structural elements of the boom is a heavy duty droplet radiator for the torches), this is a radical parting of the ways from my older models.
The spin habitat may actually be self contained within an armored boundary, or it might not. I haven't decided on that one. I think I will also be making the portion of the ship between the booms and the aft end much more narrow than the big barrel shape I currently have. Like I said, a design in flux.
This is definitely a design in flux. This is also a departure (somewhat) from my usual flying skyscraper designs. Everything's still oriented vertically, but with the torch drives set off from the main hull on three large booms amidships (the big empty space between structural elements of the boom is a heavy duty droplet radiator for the torches), this is a radical parting of the ways from my older models.
The spin habitat may actually be self contained within an armored boundary, or it might not. I haven't decided on that one. I think I will also be making the portion of the ship between the booms and the aft end much more narrow than the big barrel shape I currently have. Like I said, a design in flux.
Post edited by J.Wilde on
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Looks great anyway keep doing us Sketchuppers proud!
1. Click 'Settings' -> 'Sun and Sky'
2. Click 'Skip' or 'Next'
3. In the pulldown section for 'sky type' select 'background fit image'
4. Click on the rectangular button next to 'map color' to browse for your desired image.
As for lighting, I typically use one omni light as my main light source, plus a bunch of point lights for the various strobes and navigational lights. I may add one or more spotlights in various places to make the lighting more even or add some color, as I did in this case. I have the main omni light shining down and from the right in the images, while a much fainter omni light (0.15 multiplier, no attenuation) placed in the aft port quarter adds a little fill, but still from the right, leaving the left hand side and bow of the model in shadow.
Mostly it's a trial and error process to get lighting the way you want it. I probably spend two or three times more time experimenting with a shot than I do rendering multiple views of the model once I get something I'm satisfied with. I recommend using the 'Photon Map - Quick' render setting in these cases to check your lighting setup.
"he spin habitat may actually be self contained within an armored boundary"
I think this is an interesting idea definitely worth exploring anyway!
It was going to be an aft facing sensor array, but I'm not sure that it will be retained as the build goes on.
I can understand that with a warship, things might be different, however consider a little bit more modulation, even if you have armour covering the gaps!
Beyond that, keep going!
go on with it, so i will have keep an eye on this ;-)
Well, each is unit is probably dumping close to a terawatt of waste heat at full thrust...
Aside from the redundancy factor of very large heat rejection arrays, I went with a big wide collection trough to help compensate for pivots while the radiators are active. I assume directional nozzles for the sprayers will be de rigueur for any vessel with a droplet radiator, but even then I imagine that there might be losses during maneuvering transients without a decent sized trough.
Well, I was also commenting on the fact that the radiator arms are apparently armored. Which makes good sense on a warship.
Yes, steerable sprayers will be de rigueur. Now, I had seen some designs where the droplets converge on a "collection bowl." The bowl is open on the "top" where the droplets enter, it spins on its upright axis to create centrifugal gravity, and the droplet liquid is gathered at the bowl's "equator". So each curtain of droplets would have the shape of an upside down triangle, instead of a square sheet. The horizontal upper edge is the sprayer arm, the triangle is the converging droplets, and the bottom point is the bowl collector.
There might be a series of triangles side by side.
This was all diagrammed in a link from my website, but alas the link has gone 404 and I cannot seem to find it in the Wayback machine.
Of course this does not work well with your trough concept. Feel free to ignore what I just said.
Ah. Someone noticed!
I remember going through that on your site when I was looking up droplet radiators. Ultimately I rejected the centrifugal bowl idea and triangular shaped spray patterns on largely aesthetic grounds. The collection trough idea uses a somewhat similar concept. Instead of a bowl, a series of interlinked screws (not modeled) rotate along the long axis of the trough, using centrifugal force of the interlinked screws to entrain the hot fluid and channel it into a header that pumps by MHD action. Can this actually work? Be damned if I know, but it doesn't seem much crazier than the bowl, and allows more surface area for radiation than the bowl for the same general size of sprayer arm.
Also, an engineer where I work suggested liquid Gallium instead of Lithium as a working fluid. Gallium has a higher vapor point, allowing rejection temps of around 2000AoK as opposed to Lithium's just under 1600AoK. Assuming your plumbing and other infrastructure can survive that higher temperature for extended periods (it might all have to be made of tungsten or other high temp metal, which would suuuuuck from a mass standpoint), it would mean a great deal for radiator minimum size reduction. If this is not practical, operating Gallium at 1600AoK will result in lower evaporation losses than for Lithium. Gallium also has the advantage of remaining a liquid at near room temperature, so the risks of coolant freezing in the system are lower, and will not require as much support infrastructure in the form of heating elements that must be powered from a protected power source.
The downsides are a much lower specific heat capacity than Lithium which would necessitate a higher mass flowrate for the same thermal power radiated, and obviously the cost of much scarcer Gallium over Lithium. I figure if Gallium really turns out to be a superior working fluid over Lithium, than for the warships of well-heeled first rate powers, it will be worth the expense.
http://www.shipschematics.net/startrek/images/federation/battlecruiser_alaska1.jpg
We have a planet of the Titans ship, the Ingram--I wonder if anyone ever did a CGI model of the Trek-Alaska class.
The idea is that ships like the Alaska are the last of the Big Laser battleships. Large spinal mount particle and meson weapons are the new standard big-ship killer, with a smaller battery of lasers as a secondary.
One of the conceits of the backstory to which the Alaska belongs is that there have been no battleship versus battleship capital ship fights. Ever. No one really knows how the Alaska class would have fared against the battleships of other Great Powers, or even if the move to heavy particle beams is actually an improvement. The only comparisons have been made through simulations.
Who knows, perhaps the old warhorses may return from their retirement pastures to take the new kids to school?
Anyway, I've made some more progress on the model. I really like the way the laser mounts rendered. They look pretty damn intimidating, IMO.
yes, never discount the old warhorses, sometimes everything old is new again.
Nah, I really like your design as is. "Leonardo, put the paint brush down and step away from the Mona Lisa..."
If implementing the Rule of Cool is not the correct answer, then you are asking the wrong question.
-Will