nice, preferrd the more streamlined earlier design for the liner though, that old one could have been atmosphere capable as well. still great work on the redesign.
nice, preferrd the more streamlined earlier design for the liner though, that old one could have been atmosphere capable as well. still great work on the redesign.
he put that one one the backburner beacuse it looked to much like a ship design from b5
And tonights update. Got the base of the engine assembly done, added magnetic bumpers for the folded radiators and started work on the commo tower. Still need to add connectors for the radiators, tart up the engine bells, add a bit of detail to the heat shield and do the passenger module. So far I'm pretty jazzed with how it is coming together.
Looking good :thumb: How long/wide is it and what's its capacity? Also how will the passengers disembark? Is there a shuttle bay or are there simple docking ports?
I suppose if you were feeling masochistic you could put a hinge on the front and have the whole heat shield swing out to reveal a shuttle bay . On second thoughts that would be rather silly
Looking good :thumb: How long/wide is it and what's its capacity? Also how will the passengers disembark? Is there a shuttle bay or are there simple docking ports?
It's 250m long, but the habitation module is 58m tall and 94m in diameter. I'm guessing around 200 to 250 passengers and 50 crew. I'm planing on a collapsible docking ring rather than than shuttlebays.
Thanks for the comments guys.
I've started texturing, going for an overall very drab monotone scheme. Basically just have the heat shield and forward hull done so far.
Texture on heat shield looks interesting, but do you intend to simulate "burns" from previous aerobrakings? If so, it won`t do without some post-render correction (or completely different texture). And those white details on forward hull looks somewhat like cathedral windows
Other then that - awesome looking model, just as all your works are.
Here is a reference image (note - the hottest place is the bottom of the capsule. Look at how burn marks change from white to black with change in temperature gradient):
Man what a busy week! Didn't have a chance to work on much but the ferry is just about done and I started working on the next round. This one is going to be frontier fighters designed to be rugged multipurpose craft for service in the boonies. This one is the American. The cockpit is a placeholder. I think it stick with the establishe look of the US craft, maybe a bit too advanced looking for the purpose but I'm happy with the overall shape.
Also going to see about developing this one, maybe soviet, maybe CEGD. The shape came from a rough I did as a suggestion on spacefighter's 'history of spacefighters' thread. I re-arranged the parts and sort of dig the way it came out. Obviously this is just a rough idea.
I like the shape of US fighter. Sort of crossbreed between Corsair II and "classical" US designs of VIA. It got nice vibe of blend between past and present designs.
Soviet|CEGD fighter looks somewhat strange. Maybe overly-pointy wings make it look this way, I don`t know.
You can definitely see the lineage in the US fighter, especially in the wings and the end of the fuselage. That other fighter has a certain Soviet vibe in the bow section, beyond that it's totally unique. Hmmm, maybe its a CEGD fighter which incorporates design technology "borrowed" from the R-USSR. Are those wings variable geometry?
both of them very nice, the american fighter looks like it could turn out to be something awesome. that russian one(looks like it should be a bomber a bit like the tupolev tu160) based on my design is also pretty cool, i agree the ends of the wings are a bit pointed but for now they look good like that. despite being a seemingly very simple element of the design it's nose looks great.
Thanks as always for the comments. @Borkless;I like ships with personality too! I'm actually thinking of making this the JSF of its day; overbudget and long delayed also trying to do waaay too much with one airframe. @Stonecold; Thanks, that was exactly what I was aiming for, it's going to be an older design that was originally a frontline fighter that has relegated to less important duties. In that respect I imagine it would be like an F-4 or MiG-21 in the later stages of their careers. @Tombo; Right now they are variable geometry but that might be going away. Also might make it a soviet/cegd joint design. @Psacefighter; Thanks! It wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you. The pointy wingtips will probably be rethought as well.
Here is an update. I'm really thinking about doing it in a bare metal finish and am playing around with the reflectivity and shine.
One thing for certain is it is going to have a sharkmouth
Here is an update. I'm really thinking about doing it in a bare metal finish and am playing around with the reflectivity and shine.
One thing for certain is it is going to have a sharkmouth
bare metal is nice and so are the panel lines but i think i preferred the overall shape in the previous picture of it. it seemed stretched a bit more on the nose-tail axis and it looked a little more streamlined which i preferred.
You know spacefighter has an interesting point about the Soviet/Imperial fighter. That part of the fuselage between the engines could hold a bomb/missile bay. Or maybe even a swap-outable* mission adaptable pallet, you known the sort of thing - recon pack, strike missile launchers, or extra fuel tanks.
The air-intake-looking thing under the nose reminds me of the XF-32
Not so sure about the other craft, though. It doesn't look bad, but it really stands out of the usual shapes we saw so far. But then again it didn't realize the awesomeness of the Mig-233 before the final sheet, so maybe it will turn out absolutely great as well.
I think, the main visual problem with Soviet-CEGD fighter is that design is too "nose-heavy". Wings are moved to the back too much in swept position. If you could move wings a bit forward (for example, make the base of the wing delta-shaped, instead of arrow shaped), or give it somewhat longer tail - it would look better IMHO.
Was thinking about the JSF and F-4 parallels and think by lopping the nose off and changing the engines it can either be an earlier (or later) mark if we go the F-4 route or the navalized version on the JSF one. Either way, I like the look of the snub-nose one, looks tough and scrappy to me. Might switch the engine pods and have the squarer ones on the snub nose.
Looks like earlier model to me. Also, why nose intake, if there`s no thruster in the fuselage? Maybe you can add third, central thruster, to justify the intake (since I DO like the shape...)?
Looks like earlier model to me. Also, why nose intake, if there`s no thruster in the fuselage? Maybe you can add third, central thruster, to justify the intake (since I DO like the shape...)?
could be an aurodynamic thing to keep it it stable in flight intakes have more then one purpose you know
A little progress made on the engines. To be honest I never really thought of the blunt noses on the US fighters to be intakes, but sort of shrouds for flat panel sensors or something.
I'm rapidly falling out of love with the idea of a bare metal finish...
Posts
I suppose if you were feeling masochistic you could put a hinge on the front and have the whole heat shield swing out to reveal a shuttle bay
I didn't imagine it being THAT big
I've started texturing, going for an overall very drab monotone scheme. Basically just have the heat shield and forward hull done so far.
Other then that - awesome looking model, just as all your works are.
Here is a reference image (note - the hottest place is the bottom of the capsule. Look at how burn marks change from white to black with change in temperature gradient):
Also going to see about developing this one, maybe soviet, maybe CEGD. The shape came from a rough I did as a suggestion on spacefighter's 'history of spacefighters' thread. I re-arranged the parts and sort of dig the way it came out. Obviously this is just a rough idea.
Soviet|CEGD fighter looks somewhat strange. Maybe overly-pointy wings make it look this way, I don`t know.
@Borkless;I like ships with personality too! I'm actually thinking of making this the JSF of its day; overbudget and long delayed also trying to do waaay too much with one airframe.
@Stonecold; Thanks, that was exactly what I was aiming for, it's going to be an older design that was originally a frontline fighter that has relegated to less important duties. In that respect I imagine it would be like an F-4 or MiG-21 in the later stages of their careers.
@Tombo; Right now they are variable geometry but that might be going away. Also might make it a soviet/cegd joint design.
@Psacefighter; Thanks! It wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you. The pointy wingtips will probably be rethought as well.
Here is an update. I'm really thinking about doing it in a bare metal finish and am playing around with the reflectivity and shine.
One thing for certain is it is going to have a sharkmouth
*It's a real word honest
Not so sure about the other craft, though. It doesn't look bad, but it really stands out of the usual shapes we saw so far. But then again it didn't realize the awesomeness of the Mig-233 before the final sheet, so maybe it will turn out absolutely great as well.
I'm rapidly falling out of love with the idea of a bare metal finish...