3DDropship

liam887

Dropship work in progress.

spacefighter

nice features, cool engine pods and tail. shame about the position of the landing legs coupled with the painted mouth on the nose, looks for a moment as if it were some sort of animal shaped mech. once this is finished will the nose be different or still using this blunted form? would like to see images from other angles.

liam887

spacefighter wrote: »

nice features, cool engine pods and tail. shame about the position of the landing legs coupled with the painted mouth on the nose, looks for a moment as if it were some sort of animal shaped mech. once this is finished will the nose be different or still using this blunted form? would like to see images from other angles.

The nose will still be blunted but there will be two stub wings with hardpoints above the 'mouth' so it will resemble a hammerhead shark.
You can see it from other angles here: http://m1.behance.net/rendition/modules/115450585/fs/8ebeb913913070a0c23550f39db524ea.jpg

Other variants will exist, shown here is a military version (unarmed) and a civilian police version (light armament).

1.jpg
2.jpg

Hundred

I'm liking the overall design, but as it stands it's a little blocky. Great job.

liam887

Hundred wrote: »

I'm liking the overall design, but as it stands it's a little blocky. Great job.

yes once I have finalized the design I will smoothed a lot of it out. At this stage however its much easier to edit the mesh before I have started subdividing anything. One of the drawbacks of Google Sketchup I am afraid, once you go down the organic route its a one way trip (without a small army of pre-saves to revert back to).#

The overall design will remain blocky but with subtle rounded edges similar to this http://walyou.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/District-9-Allien-Drop-Ship.jpg

liam887

Started work on the cockpit and have settled on using wheels rather than legs.

Jeff

Very nice design, I actually like the bull nosed look, though I might angle it down toward the bow for better vis, also, is there an internal access up to the cockpit, or some separate hatch? Another concern is the location of the belly door with regard to the down wash of the landing engines, could get an over-anxious passenger a little bit toasted maybe. Great rendering btw.

spacefighter

use of wheels is a significant improvement over the legs version.
p.s. if you're using sketchup why not show some images in the standard sketchup style, this style makes the lines too prominent and seems hand drawn, which makes it a little bit harder to see the details.

liam887

spacefighter wrote: »

use of wheels is a significant improvement over the legs version.
p.s. if you're using sketchup why not show some images in the standard sketchup style, this style makes the lines too prominent and seems hand drawn, which makes it a little bit harder to see the details.

The style shown is intentional, I do not render my work but instead paint the models in photoshop, the image shown is actually just a clay render with a profile line overlay from Sketchup, everything else including colour is painted on. Thats just the style I have used for my personal work and freelance work for the past few years. See here for an example of what the finished style will look like.

sorceress21

Liam, nice design. Is this intended to be an "aerospace" craft?

Since you usually put a lot of engineering thought into your designs I have some questions as I really like this craft.

I think the main landing gear is a bit oversized for a VTOL (you'd save weight there). And if this is a trans-atomospheric capable vehicle what sort of sci-fi tech are you using to address heat protection with re-entry. I would suggest anti-friction energy shields or the hull being compose of some kind of "unobtainium" impervious to that kind of heat. I also see that this will fly using ballistic lift vs. aerodynamic. Are the engines some kind of fusion rockets of sorts or are you incorporating anti-grav? Just wondering about fuel weight and thrust to weight ratio.

liam887

sorceress21 wrote: »

Liam, nice design. Is this intended to be an "aerospace" craft?

Since you usually put a lot of engineering thought into your designs I have some questions as I really like this craft.

1. I think the main landing gear is a bit oversized for a VTOL (you'd save weight there).
2. And if this is a trans-atomospheric capable vehicle what sort of sci-fi tech are you using to address heat protection with re-entry. I would suggest anti-friction energy shields or the hull being compose of some kind of "unobtainium" impervious to that kind of heat.
3. I also see that this will fly using ballistic lift vs. aerodynamic. Are the engines some kind of fusion rockets of sorts or are you incorporating anti-grav? Just wondering about fuel weight and thrust to weight ratio.

1. Its quite heavy to be honest, I think the angle I used does not give it the real proportion but when I am done you will see it all around (see more here). I have taken into account that it may be used on higher gravity plants than a standard 1G, plus its not always a smooth landing when you have dropped from orbit. I looked at countless helicopters and carrier based aircraft (they always have strengthened gear to take into account the pure shock of carrier landings) and I believe my gear ratio is quite spot on. Remember this is nearly three stories tall and has crew compartments over two floors.

2. It is possible it can achieve (low) orbit under its own power and limited space flight (although I would not use this passenger compartment shown here) but its generally a utility/transport planetside, it doesn't have shields just relying on some material science that has not been invented yet. It can be dropped from orbit in this configuration but it has an ablative aeroshell that encapsulates the bottom half that is disposed of once in the atmosphere. The compartment seen here is only rated for in-atmosphere, if you look at the police version with the legs that has vacum rated compartment, with doors open (also note hardened encapsulated cockpit).

3. There is no antigrav, if you look closely it has 4 lift engines in 4 pods around the main body and then dual engines in wingtip pods. The fuel is exotic as I cant base it on anything that exists. The engines are also impractical, you may notice the winch above the passenger section that would just kill anybody who used it. I am still working on the logistics, I have an idea to solve this but you can see how far away the engines are here.

I still have work to do on the front, I am currently forming it into a blunt V shape (if viewed from above).

sorceress21

Drop capsule idea is brilliant Liam! Never even thought of that...I assume there off camera vessel to transport these back up to the assault ship in orbit when an op is complete...or are these designed to be "throw-a-way" for military ops?

You may want to consider reshaping the engine nacelle "wings" into airfoils so this beauty can make lift..just an idea...

liam887

sorceress21 wrote: »

Drop capsule idea is brilliant Liam! Never even thought of that...I assume there off camera vessel to transport these back up to the assault ship in orbit when an op is complete...or are these designed to be "throw-a-way" for military ops?

You may want to consider reshaping the engine nacelle "wings" into airfoils so this beauty can make lift..just an idea...

There are wings you just cant see them on these images unfortunately.