I was inspired by a shape I saw to try and make a smallish transport and utility ship that would fit into the Trek universe, while at the same time looking like it could fit pretty much anywhere. This is the work in progress on it so far. The idea is that it is only 3 decks tall and small enough to fit in city space ports and colony landing sites. It carries some passengers forward in cabin space and bulk cargo in the mid section. It's kind of a 7.5 ton truck for city/planet/system transport of all kinds of stuff in less well established star systems. Currently I'm doing the very tedious and time consuming job of paneling and basic detailing, so it's going to be a while before it starts to look finished. I also want to figure out a decent looking landing gear system, which isn't easy for something this size.
Nice! Kinda similar to the holoship from Insurrection, but I look forward to how you end up fleshing this one out.
Looks reminiscent of the INS holo-ship: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Federation_holoship Edit: B.J. beat me to it.
Yeah, few people have pointed that out. The shape was actually based on a head-on shot of a Trek ship in a friends painting on Deviant Art. It looked like it was a wide, squat ship but in actual fact it was basically just a saucer section seen head on. When I was doing the front end I tried to make it slightly reminiscent of the merchantman model by flaring it slightly. It also broke up the boxy shape a little. When I detail my way down to the lower half I need to pick a landing solution, so it may well end up looking more like a Space 1999 Eagle than the holoship.
I had some time tonight so I did some more work on this. After looking back at the painting that originally inspired the shape, I figured the proportions were wrong. I've played around with it so that it is now flatter, wider and longer, but I've pulled back the nose protrusions slightly as well. I also redid the bridge windows to help sell the scale of the thing and not look too large. The bit that has taken me the time is the landing gear. I've added basic landing legs which are just articulated pads on the end of big cylinders, but I dont know if I'll stick with them or go with something different. I want it simple but believable. I dont want intricate legs which unfold in a ballet of technology, I'd never make it look like they would hold up a crummy cargo ship. I thought about extensions on the sides to spread the legs out a bit, but then it looks too wide to successfully support the ship too. Challenges and opportunities, I suppose.
OK, more work on this one. The paneling is mostly finished, I've cut in the passenger windows and built basic rooms behind them, redone the landing gear (again) and started building the engines and reactors at the back. My plan is to just keep throwing detail onto this thing until it starts to look a bit realistic. I need practice at sticking with these damn things until the detailing is done.
I'm not doing the underside until last. I cant decide on a landing gear system that both looks good and could realistically hold the weight of the ship. I dont want to make it so large and complex that it would take up a lot of valuable interior volume. I am also thinking of fitting a passenger stairway that unfolds underneath near the front of the ship so that people can get on and off easily without getting in the way of the cargo doors. There's also the fact that the doors are about 3m off the ground with the landing gear extended, which is a bit of a drop for someone.
Maybe try a tricycle arrangement with a deep rake on the front gear, then mount the boarding ramp/stairs along the top of the front gear?
Like the Planet Express ship, eh? It's a thought, I might give that a try. Only thing is that the ship is quite wide, I dont know if tricycle would look stable enough. No harm in trying though.
If you're only doing still pics with this, visually this wouldn't be a good idea, but what about having the gear squat after landing? Many cargo planes do this to make it easier to load.
I'm wondering if gear is even necessary. It wouldn't be much use on a very uneven surface anyway, and all you need is a bit of shock absorbtion for the touchdown. I'm tempted to make just a few pads that extend a meter or so out of the lower hull just before touchdown to take the landing, and then they retract back in to settle the ship down. It leaves it low enough for easy loading and avoids filling the interior with gear.
You need gear of some type to level the ship. Otherwise the crew will be walking uphill in some direction.