So this isn't the most original design out there and it was obviously heavily influenced by the Nostromo but I wanted a "Nostromo Concept" for my universe so I designed the Destria. This is still a huge WIP, I am still modeling in "clone" mode so the all the textures on the starboard side of the ship are mirrored which will be rectified soon along with some mapping errors. I still have a few more external details I want to add and then I'll embark on the final texture work then onto interiors.
Basic specs:
ACSV-21200 Destria
Model TL1300-D towing vessel manufactured by Soran-Keysub Aerospace
Registry: Aquellan Commercial Space Vehicle
Owned and Operated by Miria Coda
Crew: 6
Maximum towing capacity type 1 dollys: 126,000,000 mt
Maximum pushing capacity class B containers: 960 mt
Maximum Sublight velocity: .4c
Maximum Hyperspace Velocity: c10 relative
Image notes: The image of the Destria towing Dollys does not reflect the final Dolly attachment design. The structure linking the load to the Destria is a basic placeholder until I get to designing something more detailed which will place the load a bit lower on the ship's centerline.
Modeled entirely in Sketchup 8, Rendered in Kerkythea
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Yeah I am really happy with the textures...I finally started creating them from scratch and mufti-layered so I could control dispersion of the weathering better. And have a "weathered" look for this vessel was critical to capturing what I wanted to illustrate.
I have always thought the concept of the real world "Intermodel" cargo transport system was very cool. And the mega container ships with all the different container liveries creating that "hodge poge" of color just caught my eye as being interesting. So I imagined huge interstellar container ships and their smaller conterparts such as the Destria.
The image of the "cargo train" are large Class A containers on their dolly. Class A containers are used in 3 sizes the smallest pictured above. Class A containers are not typically transported to the surface of a planet as there are few vessels capable of heavy lift to the degree necessary to get several of them at a time into orbit. So stacks of them in a yard would be a rare sight except for save planetoids, small airless moons or asteroids. They are primarily used for space only transport and they are loaded with either bulk freight or Class C containers.
Here's the process in general as there are endless variations depending on the actual freight and how the load was set up,size of shipment, facility considerations, where it's going etc..:
Items/freight is packed into Class C containers or palletized and loaded into Class B ( not displayed ) containers that are sitting on either a hover or wheeled chassis. The "truck" then takes the container directly to another location or to a shipping terminal to go either to another location on the same planet or to another world. If the goods are going off world the container is taken to a spaceport and removed from the chassis and loaded onto a container shuttle that takes it into orbit to a transfer dock or platform. Now, often times the container will be unloaded, reloaded with inbound goods and sent back the the surface. If the container remains sealed it will be loaded onto various types of dollys or directly onto Class B container vessels. Larger shipments are typically consolidated and loaded into Class A containers modeled above. They are then placed on a dolly and the dolly can be used by numerous types of tow vessels or freighters for intra-system or interstellar transfer.
In the case of the "little" Destria, she cannot tow more than 6 fully loaded Type 1 dollys (modeled above) on interstellar flights as her hyperdrive is not powerful enough to shift any more mass though the dimensional barrier into hyperspace and back again. She can however tow an impressive amount of weight through realspace and can haul up to 120 fully loaded out dollys up to speeds as fast as .4 c. And in addition to that she can push 16 more 24 meter class B containers (the hex ones) on her forward couple. The Destria also has a fairly large internal cargo hold of her own and the owner and captain of the vessel, an Aquellan woman named Miria Coda, often takes point to point jobs without towing or pushing any containers. But the freight performance of the Destria shines with intra-system runs over any other type of operation. Like any other privateer crew, they go where the best paying loads take them.
Thank you very much gents!
It's incredible how different you see the "space commerce" from me... I'd love to know more of your universe, is there a topic where you wrote the setting/story/whatever?
Now that is something I am looking forward to reading!