3Dmy new project: NX-Phoenix from ST-First Contact

anystar

My Son recently found my old model rockets up in the attic, and just thought it was awesome that he could make models that he could "blow up" yes thats his goal to lauch a rocket and explode it... but anyway

It was all i needed to get this one rolling, i've been wanting to make a replica of the Phoenix for years and this was all the nudge i needed. i plan to have the finished product 3d printed, then maybe try vac-forming to get a lightweight version, but we'll get to that when we get to it. i want the final version to be full RC with some sort of camoflaged or clear glider wings and a camera setup.'

this is just a rough draft of the nose/cockpit section that i worked up over the weekend:
i'm still studying the main body parts, i'm having trouble finding good reference for it, so i'll probably work up the titan rocket shell next.

spacefighter

i recognise it from the film star trek first contact, looks good but the texturing and details need to be added along the rest of the fuselage.

anystar

edit, previous posts pics:
NX-PH_0.5-000.jpgNX-PH_0.5-001.jpgNX-PH_0.5-002.jpgNX-PH_0.5-003.jpgNX-PH_0.5-004.jpg

anystar

the lower 2/3 of the missile's first stage is done, still working on the rest since it needs the insides done too for the breakaway.

theres a LOT more geometry than i was expecting, even standing in front of the real things before i never really paid attention to how they were built.

still working on the new version of the nose too, this time its based on the full size prop instead of the model. still think its going to be the one i go with.

Tii_S1-01.jpg

VALKYRIE013

looking good! good luck on this.. tried searching for some good refs awhile back and came up dry for the most part.. hopefully you'll have more luck!

Rekkert

I think this is the first 3D model of the Phoenix I see around here, and it's definitively starting nicely!

Schimpfy

Nice start on this. The crew capsule is looking great so far. Good luck with the lack of refs. :thumb:

anystar

VALKYRIE013 wrote: »

looking good! good luck on this.. tried searching for some good refs awhile back and came up dry for the most part.. hopefully you'll have more luck!

there's good pics of the nose section, both the model and the full scale one, but for the rest of the ship not much at all. i looked at some of the plastic and resin models, but they dont hold up well to whats seen on-screen

i tried reaching out to both Doug and John through facebook, but didnt get any responses from either, so it will be mostly just guesswork.

aside from screenshots of the dvd these are the only good pics i have of it at all:

cochys_rockie.jpgDSCN0330-1.jpgDSCN0334-1.jpg

CWinn

There's a few good pics on this site. Hope it helps.

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/scans/prefed1.htm

oldmangreg

Doug said check Eaves blog when I asked him a while back.

anystar

finished off the first stage this afternoon, boy is it hard to find a good angle to render just a cylinder... hah!
just the engine left to add in, then its time to get down to the Phoenix body itself

Tii_S1-02.jpg

edit: aaand finished off the engine today, next weekend i'll probably start on an easy part of the phoenix, like the nacelles

Tii_S1-03.jpg

anystar

i didnt realize this would be such a slow work week... heh
researching and modeling the rocket has been a lot of fun, i always enjoy reading NASA history, but sadly that part's done now, and its on to the actual Phoenix!

finished roughing out the basic shapes for the Phoenix, and did a quick mockup of the launch sequence yesterday:
Ph_001.jpgPh_002.jpgPh_003.jpg

the original shape seen earlier in the thread was based on the illustrator gifs that are floating around. this one was proportioned more on the available space inside the rocket. in the end its really close to the popular gif's. mine is almost 7 feet shorter in the mid section, and the nacelles are about 2 feet shorter. its still not perfect though, i havnt gotten matches to the model photos i like yet, but its geting there!

spacefighter

that launch sequance stuff is very cool.

BolianAdmiral

Agreed... very nice!

gerb200

This is an awesome project, can't wait to see it in action.

anystar

thanks guys

I woke up to a really nice email on this subject today, i was looking at the watermark on those model photos i posted earlier. about a month into this thing and i only just realized i knew who's mark that was... (boy i'm gettin old ) anyway, i sent him a message, and got a reply this morning (from Search4 over at the TrekBBS, he's a very nice gentleman and Trek collector and has helped me in the past too, check out some of his collection at www.ncc1701.us ). Well It turns out he has this little gem in his collection too, and he said that he'd put the photo's back up on his website soon, so there will be little left for guestimation on the ships body now!

anyway; i'm almost finished with the design of the new cockpit section though, i will be going with the full-scale version (it's just looking better) i'll post up my cad sketches as comparison of both versions later today once the new version is done

Aresius

Nice work so far...

anystar

ty!

the new nose is shaping up nicely, still a few things i think i'll change though. i started out with the more narrow dimensions of the mock up, but i really like the thicker shape of the model, so it ended up a mash up of the 2. its a much more economical mesh too, only 16k polies vs 38k on the original rounded shape.
Ph_004.jpgPh_005.jpgPh_006.jpg

the old one:
NX-PH_0.5-003_1.jpg

Aresius

Nice... Did it also take you 4 month to gather enough titanium?

Borkless

Forget titanium, you going to mount a sufficiently over-powered stereo to blast Magic Carpet Ride? That was my favorite part of First Contact (and that movie was awesome in all.) Great work!

anystar

Shhh, not so loud!

Z kept me up all nite trying to finish that case of Tequila....

:devil:

Saquist

Might want to put the Phoenix on top of tall stack. The space shuttle is 100 tons empty and it needs 3x time the trust of what First Contact showed for launch. Phoenix is sporting a reactor of some sort, a 3 man Cabin equivalent to Apollo and a set of warp coils on an articulation frame. Far too heavy of the launch vehicle they showed.

anystar

not only that, but in FC they showed it launch as a SSA rocket (single stage to orbit) the Titan-II its based on (which also carried the gemini missions to orbit) was a 2 stage rocket.

the engine in the booster stage is different thought, its not a titan double engine, they made their own motor and engine bell to "fudge it" with 22nd century tech :P

the original Titan S1 engines:
ksc0217z.jpg
and the FC variant:
12-36-52-37.jpg

anystar

Saquist, you just have a nack for pointing out intricacies that will show problems... LOL

last nite i just couldnt get it out of my head (thinking about 10 steps ahead in the project) and started thinking about just how i will eventually get the final model UP, and how high do i want it????

i finally decided on a scale for it all, 1/24. it will give me a tube diameter of about 5" (also means i can cut out a large chunk of design and testing by picking up a commercial kit, theres a lot of great ones at that scale)

but then i started thinking about weight, what kind of power do i want to use on the phoenix, glider?, full rc?
just the Phoenix itself w/o any wings will have a 16" span for the nacelles, and be almost 28" long.

that means its going to either weight a LOT building it the way i used to. or cost a TON going with newfangled carbon fiber and other modern mediums.

either way, you're right, in order to get any decent separation height for it, i'm going to need at least 2 multi-engine stages, unless again i go with more modern (more $$$) custom engines...

and finally, i hadnt even STARTED thinking about airfoil designs yet, and now to fold them up into a rocket tube...

needless to say, my brain was a very interesting place last nite... i'm going to go over to the hobby shop later today and throw some ideas around with the guys and see what they can come up with!

anystar

after a little design work and sketching, i came up with something i like. also it can easily be converted from display model to flight version.

the flight version also only marginally changes the profile of both the Phoenix and the rocket itself, and i can manufacture the wings and canards from clear plastic to camoflage them too.

by using the extension of the nacelles to open the wings, rooted on the structural outer beams of the phoenix itself, creating a biplane i still dont have any weight estimates yet, but this is with a large 5" set of wings

TitanII_1.2.png

anystar

it seems a few posts were lost during the migration, i'll re-post the new stuff later tonite!

anystar

ok, seems like the forum is finally letting me back in (i was getting DB errors trying to enter the wip area), as well as it looks like its done eating posts so before i dig into it today, here's some re-postage and a little new stuff, going to finish up a few other projects this weekend, i'll wait untill i get my eyes on the new pictures of the body before i get any further into detailing that part

here's the theoretical biplane idea: (seems the new server doesnt like .PNGs? i had to convert it to a gif to make it show)
TitanII_1.2.gif

and a mishmash of some other things:
PT_003.jpgTii_S1-04.jpgPh_012.jpg

anystar

and here's the new finished cockpit section:
Ph_009.jpgPh_010.jpgPh_011.jpg

a couple fun ready-to-launch pov's:
PT_001.jpgPT_002.jpg

Chris2005

Looking epic.

anystar

finished the first draft of the nacelles, i love how greebley they are, there's lots of little parts missing still but the general shape is done.

1.3_001.jpg1.3_002.jpg

crasher925

Cant wait for this to finish!