BFG: Zeus Frigate

[mangozac]

[Vaaish]

I almost think if you can slice it down the middle and add maybe a 1-2mm spacer it would be fine for thickness. The other option I see is to cut the prow in half and take out a section about half the thickness of the eagles beak. That should thin up the prow so it doesn't look as wide compared to the mid ship region.

[mangozac]

It's too fine to go doing anything like cutting the prow in half. It is a lot thinner than the previous prow but obviously not enough!

Slicing down the middle of the hull I can't see happening so the two options are either:
1. Pull off all of the details from the sides of the forward hull and then bulk it out.
2. As I suggested before, simply bulk out the area above the cannon domes.

At this stage number 2 is far easier, but it is a risk whether it will give the necessary result...

[Vaaish]

I think that option one will give you the best results even though it'll be more difficult.

[mangozac]

Fortunately I'm dedicated to my cause! I'll strip some bits off tonight and have a look

[Commissar-Krad]

It definitely seems better now. Though you are right about the thickness of the mid section, I think you've made the right choice in making the whole thing thicker. It may be more work but it will be worth it.

[aussiekirgan]

Gawd, posted in the wrong place. clearly new. Love it so far, in particular biting the bullet on the prow, it looks nicely in proportion. If it's too hard to add 2-3 mm of thickness in the centre (this woud allow people to mount a lance), then how about putting on a wider/ bridge section? If that was a wide as the Prow at its broadest point it might give added continuity. Other option might be to mount a broader strip along the top, with arches down the its underside to meet the current vertical, for the mounting of a lance along the top?

[mangozac]

Well this afternoon I hacked off the details on one side of the forward hull and bulked it out by 0.5mm. By the time the detailing is added I'm certain this will have done the trick!

Regarding the lance prow, I've already got that covered. What I haven't shown yet is the alternate prow I've been working on which will have an underslung lance. The bottom of the prow kind of curves around it. I'm yet to turn up a barrel for it in brass on the lathe but I'm pretty confident you guys will love it

I'm heading off for a couple of days but will hopefully have an update on Monday afternoon...

[Curundil]

I really like the design of the frigate. I especially like the supporting struts under the small bridge, which lets the whole ship appear really vast (as it should, at a length of what, nearly 2 km?). I like the falchion escort GW did, for exactly the same reason. In my opinion, the illusion of size works better there than e.g. with the firestorm frigate. My own escort so far fails to produce this illusion of massive architecture and height.

How did you do the domes? Pieces of styrene rod filed into dome shape?

Awesome piece of work so far! Can't wait to see the finished ship.

[mangozac]

Thanks Curundil. Yes, it is a very different hull shape to the stock Swords, but if it wasn't then there would be no point making a whole new ship - I would have been better off just sculpting new prows only and converting the metal Swords!

You have a good point regarding the illusion of size. I figured that always came simply by adding that extra level of fine detail. I do prefer the bridge styles on the original swords though as they are more interesting.

Any white styrene domes I use are simply styrene rod turned down into a dome using my miniature lathe and sandpaper. You could achieve something similar by sticking the rod into a drill...

[mangozac]

This project isn't dead! Yeah I've been distracted by Warhound assembly, but I have been sneaking in some styrene work in-between

Just a quick update to show how things are looking now with the fattened forward hull. The entire ship is looking quite beefy now - quite a contrast to the "lanky" nature of the GW frigates. The other side of the forward hull still needs a lot of fine detailing.

I should make up the other three cannon turret domes on the lathe tonight. On that note however I have been giving it some thought and feel that maybe going back to the square cannon shape as per the standard GW weapons batteries might look better. I may just try it out on the other side first...

[Commissar-Krad]

I like the round cannon domes on your ships, it sets them apart. The whole thing is looking great, man. Really makes me want to get going on my own scratch building.

[aussiekirgan]

I know it must have been hard to widen the body of the ship, but I really love it. The crenelations remind me of the decorations along the same area of the IN Battleship. I really think it's great, well done! Don't tempt me, my project list is long enough

[mangozac]

Glad to be inspiring guys!

Maybe I just need to detail the dome style cannons a bit more? I do think the barrels need to be shorter. Maybe I need to turn up the barrels in brass so I can add some more detail to them? Or maybe I'm just being too anal...

[Commissar-Krad]

That detailing would help, Zac. They look good as is, but I think if you turned some brass barrels it would just make it all the better. If you stick with the styrene, then they could do to be a bit shorter.