Designing ships [possible BFG scale]

[Islacrusez]

I rather preferred the previous iterations; it felt more balanced, and had a better distribution of weapons and blank plates. As for the new torps, what's their diameter? I'm also tempted by the idea of a dorsal weapon, but (the previous iteration of) the ship has such nice lines and shapes that I don't want to spoil it with an additional gun. If there's anywhere I would put one it would be on the seam just forward of the bridge. Something smaller perhaps, a twin cannon rather than a plasma beast.

[Malika]

The amount of blank plates hasn't changed that much actually. The new torpedo tubes have a diameter of 1mm each. Need to ponder a bit about it, the torpedo tubes feel a bit too big, might reduce them to 0.75mm diameters instead.

In the meantime, a quick update:

[Islacrusez]

It's not so much the amount of empty space, but rather the location. It's all about the balance of layout, the overall shape and effect.

[Malika]

Continuing with the Light Cruiser:

[mangozac]

I'm with Islacrusez - I think the large forward facing cannons on the sides look a bit silly. The first iteration looked the best.

[Malika]

Hmm, I'd need to look into that again. Any suggestions for another weapon system for that ship?

At the moment it'll look like this:

[Malika]

Been working on the ships some more. The escort with the removed big guns will be some sort of fast ship. Very lightly armed, but able to move really fast (maybe even with some sort of stealth thing). Mainly used for invasions and boarding actions, it is capable of transporting elite units fast and quietly.

The one with the missing bridge part (basically the other ship) is a heavier escort. A relatively slower ship, but able to give quite the punch due to its torpedos and plasma cannons (lances?).



I've also been busy updating the light cruiser. Some of the small gun turrets have been removed, it felt a bit too much. However, I did add something else to compensate that...

[mangozac]

[Malika]

Revisited my transport ship. Altered the design of the "ship" component a bit (including adding a few tiny turrest), as well as created a variant cargo component. Idea is that the ship is a two part kit, allowing you to add different kinds of cargo to it.


Also continued working on the escort craft, I've started detailing the wings:

[Islacrusez]

New cargo modules look very odd attached to the hull this way. It's a visual balance thing... Maybe try with the widest part of the modules towards the top, giving an inverted triangle sort of cross-section?

[Malika]

I need to rethink the chunkier module a bit! I've been tweaking the way it's connected to the rest of the ship.

In the meantime...

Another update on the escorts:





I've been tweaking the bridge components of the two ships, as well as some minor things here and there.

Shapeways just came out with some good news, seems we can now print out stuff in which, if I understand it correctly, will be pretty amazing. None of those nasty printlines, just a clean, smooth model that's ready to be cast! However, I've tried doing a test print, but for some reason Shapeways keeps telling me the model isn't suitable for printing in that material, which is odd since it follows all the parameters. Guess I'll have to contact Shapeways about it.

Luckily for me though, Shapeways is still testing the material, so it might improve in the coming months, enabling me to finish up the designs!

[Malika]

Little update, I've also added the dimensions:

[RageofAchilles]

Looking good Malika!

I had imagined the ships at twice that size though, will some of the smaller details print ok?

[Malika]

I will have to experiment with that. But most of the smallest details are either 0.375mm with some extremes of 0.25mm, which all more or less worked with the printed version of a ship I previously did (look up the painted pictures elsewhere in this thread). Most details are around 0.5mm though, which work just fine.

[Malika]

The big guns on the escorts have been bugging me for a while now, so I decided to make some variants!



The ship on the top/left (depending on which pic you're looking at) is a carrier craft, launching waves of fighters to intercept incoming ordnance, but are also capable of launching their own bomber waves to deal with larger targets. Its torpedo tubes are replaced for plasma batteries.

The other two ships are basically the same model, but with different weapons. Instead of launch bays, it is armed with additional turrets. Whilst not that effective against more armored targets, mass waves of fighters, bombers and torpedoes don't stand a chance against this configuration. Its prow weapon can either be the traditional torpedo tubes or plasma batteries.

All in all the models should be relatively easy to cast, the only potential challenge might be the launch bays and the plasma batteries, so I need to see whether this could be done as a single piece model, or if I might have to cut it up.