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3DCruser C57-D

2

Posts

  • Number 6Number 6331 Posts: 0Member
    Your engine and casing looks great. Yes, getting the copper coils right was a real PIA. I was being a real 'rivet counter' when I was doing my ship down to the main inner coil had the exact number of plates that the coil had in the movie. I took lots of frame grabs from the DVD and studied them. I did have a set of detailed plans that I scanned and also used. The plans had very good deck plans of all 3 decks along with the exterior elevations. I used them as the references for a lot of the work. I think I found them on eBay. I also found very good scans of the original set designs that were used in the movie. They showed dimensions, everything.

    My coils did extend into the lower dome so they did look like the ship does while in flight. I counted the coil segments from a frame grab to be sure that my outer spin coil matched the movie saucer.

    I was lucky that I had started to keep my renders in a separate folder so at least those were salvageable. I guess I had a bad sector on my HD or something because everything seemed OK one day and the next day half the folders on the drive were corrupted. Lot of my project files etc. were gone I could see the file names but when I checked the properties the size was zero. Like they were empty files.

    Anyway...Here's some you might like. as I got further into the ship I tried to recreate some of the scenes from the movie.
    Here's a couple from right after the ship landed. Never could get the angle quite right.
    Also a shot from the interior:
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Boy the quality of your work speaks for itself. I hope to do the same. I actually redid the reactor coils last night and finished early this morning. I realized there was a better way to do them. Slightly faster but much better. However I can't tell for sure about one thing. Do you think the coils are shaped like an olympic track with the ends bent over, or like an upright rectangle with rounded corners with the ends bent over? I lean toward the latter because it sticks too far into the chamber when the round version is bent over. I will post the new coils tonight. Much better. There are now 16 coils on each side instead of the outer layer of seven.

    I'll also have more work on the reactor itself and the rotating coils.
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    You have one step too few on those stairs.... :P
  • Number 6Number 6331 Posts: 0Member
    I was going to agree that it was a bent over rectangle with rounded corners but I started plying around with the shape and comparing to a screen grab I took and if you look closely at the coils I think it's rounded like a bent over oval. Here's a comparison I did of the two shapes. I tried to get the lighting as close to the pic. Your right I just recounted there are 16 coils on each side, 32 coils total, but I think you really only need to model the outer coils because the coils that are nested inside will never show.
    Dug around and turned up a pic of my old core.

    Also here's a pic of my old ship with the lower dome set to be transparent and the coils changed to glow red.

    AHHHH! Your right. Actually I recounted the steps and I have TWO few! There are 18 in the screen grab and I only have 16...;)
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Great stuff. I appreciate your input! I have already done the 16 coils and they are in the images. There is an artifact ring in the one. Not sure of the source yet, but had to post it.

    Counting Rivets and oops missed two stairs... ;)
    88197.jpg88198.png
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Built the second ring of coils. As usual the artifact was a non-planar polygon. The coils appear to be in contact with the other ring but aren't. I may pull them in further.
    88226.jpg
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Done:
    Outer Spin Reactor Coil
    Auxiliary Lower Reactor Coil - Partial
    Primary Upper Reactor Coil - Partial
    Main Drive Fusion Core

    Number 6: I am curious, did you try to make your saucer skin have physical thickness as applied to the frame?
    88232.jpg88234.png88236.jpg
  • Number 6Number 6331 Posts: 0Member
    That is looking really good. I like the copper coils they're looking very crisp and the metallic texture looks great. Yes the outer skin on my model did have a thickness, not too much though, maybe about an 1". I figured it would have to be light, that was why the frames were so thin, to save every ounce of weight for lift offs and landings on planets.
  • Capt DaveCapt Dave0 Posts: 0Member
    This is really starting to come together. Absolutely awesome!
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Thanks guys. Here's a question. Where do you think they stored the tractor? Any thoughts on how it was deployed? I guess there is room for artistic license here because we never saw this in the film.
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    Hm. The most reasonable idea would be to have some kind of ramp that comes down, maybe a storage area.
  • Number 6Number 6331 Posts: 0Member
    Thanks guys. Here's a question. Where do you think they stored the tractor? Any thoughts on how it was deployed? I guess there is room for artistic license here because we never saw this in the film.
    As it happens that problem was the last thing that I was working on just before my HD went Ka-Plooey.

    I had modeled the tractor. My idea was that the tractor would be stored in a small garage next to a ramp on the engineering deck. Here are the only renders I have of how I imagined it fitted on the engineering deck. I knocked down a wall between two compartments next to the ramp and had a garage door on the end. My idea was that the tractor would be partially disassembled for storage, some parts like the boom would be removed for it to fit onto the ship. It would be driven off the saucer down the ramp and then be reassembled on the planet for use.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    It is notable that (viewed from above) the tractor is somewhat triangular or pie shaped. It must have had the front wheel toward the center and the 4 back wheels toward the rim. You're right - we only ever saw crew leaving the C57-D from two of the 3 ramps. Keeping in mind that the ramps are quite steep, I would imagine another hydraulic lift, (a hydraulic already used for the landing pod) that let the tractor down the ramp a little like those electric lifts they use for people who can't climb stairs in their own home. Your tractor is spot on!

    Also, now that I see the engineering deck, it makes that cutaway drawing I posted 2 -3 pages back make sense. Thanks.
  • Number 6Number 6331 Posts: 0Member
    I like your idea better than my garage plan. Probably they would just have the tractor on the ramp and as you say carefully lower it down by cables when the land. I was always a little skeptical about the garage idea anyway. I was quite never sure how the tractor would (or if even could) make that tight right hand turn to get out of the garage and down the ramp. I would guess that the tractor would be the first thing that they would unload anyway to move any heavy machinery so having right on the ramp it can do straight down makes much more sense.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    The sixty-four dollar question is, "are the human stair ramps / openings wide enough for the tractor or does it come from its own compartment?" The drawings (top, front, side) you have on the 3 sides of the tractor. Do you still have those?
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Taking liberties again on the layout of the Engineering level. Left space for the Tractor and made it possible for the crew to look down into the coils and lower dome (the red railing). The tanks could be hydraulic fluid containers. They are opposite the tractor lift and are also connected to the center pod.
    88307.jpg
  • BuckaroohawkBuckaroohawk2 Posts: 0Member
    It's been a while since I've seen the film, but I seem to recall some lines about them having to build the tractor. If that's correct then that would solve the storage problem since it would be disassembled to save space. Where the parts are stored and how they off-loaded it is anyone's guess.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    I believe you are correct. "Bosun, you can assemble the tractor." at index 11:50 (just after they landed and the doctor makes his comment about the color of the sky). It would be hard to believe that they built it completely, although that is possible. I think Number 6 and I thought he meant unloading it and attaching the boom.
  • Road WarriorRoad Warrior206 Posts: 813Member
    Oh, this brings back many memories. Such a good movie - don't make them like that anymore.
  • Number 6Number 6331 Posts: 0Member
    That engineering deck looks great. Only minor suggestion is to add a wall and door across the main corridor on the left at the top of one of the stair ramps. If you look close on the screen grab I posted on the previous page you can see it. That's all I've got other than that it looks spot on, miles ahead of my deck.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    You mean like a sealable safety bulkhead? I thought about that - protection against a loss of seal around the stairway(s). I also still have to put in the circular shaft with the ladder to the main floor. It comes up through that hatch you see the Id monster lift in the movie.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    I'm playing with the scale of the tractor before I go much further and do a lot of work that I have to scrap. I wish I had more of the tractor done for this post but...

    About the right scale? Possibly small?
    88330.png
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    Seems appropriate to me...
  • Number 6Number 6331 Posts: 0Member
    Here's a rough model of the tractor I did today for a size comparison with the saucer. Also A over head comparison of the tractor and the ramp. Looks like the Tractor wouldn't fit on the ramp. It would have to be modular design to be easily broken down into component parts and then assembled on the planet.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Thanks so much for all the help Number 6. I started the 3rd floor in order to self check and to make sure everything lines up. The following pictures are the main floor and then the main with 3rd floor. I wish I had more done but here is a start. As I study the floor plan, there are a lot of bathrooms / showers on this ship!
    88404.jpg88405.jpg
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    Amazing work, I love the third ba... uh floor. :P
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Thanks Aresius. Some of this is rough for now, but the refinements are coming. Your comments and all the comments make it more fun.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Been working on the main floor. Sinks, toilets, showers, beds, pillows, furniture and shelves. :) There is still a fair amount to be done.
    88472.jpg88473.jpg88474.jpg
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    This is a clear saucer body with the decks inside.
    88475.png
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Working on the frame right now. I have to tie it into some of the interior deck work and to make sure a tractor fits.
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