Viper

Whelp, this thing is done:

One thing I forgot to mention is that I'm trying to build this in a scale that works with my other models so I had to do some compromises. The original ILM size chart sets it out to be 120m. But that's just stupidly small making the ship basically unusable. Some articles talk about 150m, but that still makes the saucer internal volume too small. EAS suggests 220m as a good way to make everything fit and I tried that but it made the ship way too big when compared to the USS Enterprise. So, after some tinkering, I went with 180m as the length. It makes the ship a bit larger, but still much smaller than the Constitution. It also means I was able to use the same window sizes as I did on my other ships and still have it look good. Plus, the 3 saucer doors can now work as a small shuttle bays, fitting a full shuttle in the door with room to spare.

Thanks again guys I have some more stuff to share I have a couple of concepts that I'm not sure will ever see the light of day. These were developed while I was trying to make that cargo ship work. I just have so many projects right now. Anyway, the first one is this heavy cruiser type ship.



The second is this long range, recon, rapid response vessel. I actually like this one quite a bit and might bring it to completion at some point.



And fresh of the oven, I just spent an hour or so bringing the Saladin up to snuff with my other ships.

So, it has been a while. I got sick over Christmas and then work just have been crazy. The drydock scene still needs some parts done. I'll get to it soon. In the mean time, I'm trying to get back into a groove. So I decided to tackle an Akula Class proper. Here's my progress:




I had been thinking about doing that shuttle bay in the forward section for a while. I'll use the same idea in the Saladin as well.

Rekkert wrote: »

If there's one thing I'll never complain about it's seeing more Excelsiors around, great work here! You're amassing quite the TMP era fleet!

Thanks! I loved that shuttle bay you did. I might still some ideas from there Also, I like doing TMP cause I feel like not many people do for some reason. Anyway, the plan is to do all the Enterprises so this has to get done

BTW, Sean gave a great suggestion on these strips. Might tweak and change, but it's a nice improvement without messing with the original intent.

So, might as well give an update here. Been a while. As always, still chugging along on my projects, just had a lot happen with my life the past 4 months. First it was possibility of being out of a job, then knowing I would have a job but would be for a new client, and then I got a new offer, so had to scramble to finish everything on the old job so I could go to the new one with a clear conscience. It has been a long journey.

Inspired by @lewisniven, I decided to finish off the TOS Connie. Pretty close to done, just a few details left. Most of it is textured already.





And here's a fancy shot:

So, time to get back to this one. Over the past couple of years I've worked on this on and off trying to get proportions right and I think I'm finally at a place where I'm happy. Still some things to adjust as more reference showed up, but nothing major. Anyway, renders!

So in keeping with the current theme of actually finishing projects for a change, I spend the weekend fixing a few things and then adding the finishing touches on my TMP shuttle. Missing RCS ports and the engines at the back plus a few small bits, but very close to done.

I did some work on the deflector area as well as the deflector itself. I wasn't 100% happy with it yet. Here's a quick render to show it off (Click for 1080p version):