Oops! Sorry, @BorgMan I'm going to work on the separated royal decks this afternoon (in papercraft again) which will have three retractable masts for solar/subspace sails. In the meantime, though, here is the fully-stuck-together, complete HMY Britannia (now with added keel!):
Right. I think that having the masts retract over and next to the aft bulge would look best, but that would mean sacrificing the aft observation deck. Let me ponder this...
Ah, but not if the aft obs.deck was split in two! To be honest, I haven't given much thought as to what goes where, but I envisage the aft obs.deck to be made up of state rooms - perhaps royal boudoirs/suites on one side of the mast space and a reception room and banquet hall on the other? I've cut out new pieces to make up the royal decks (and masts), but haven't had time to put them together yet (far too sunny to be indoors!): As you can see, I've added a little bridge superstructure to the dorsal bulge (although, I don't know if I'm going to keep it), and the masts are split two up, one down. The main dorsal mast is raised just behind the bridge (when retracted, it reaches the aft end - the last few metres telescope in to fit), the secondary one rises where the bulge meets the flat aft deck, and the ventral mast rises (falls?) at the forward end of the red keel. P.S. Sorry to create more work, @BorgMan, but your wonderful take on this keeps inspiring me! EDIT: I meant to say, I included those old sketches of solar/subspace sailers on the right because I thought (if I have time) I might "finish" one to become Bloodhound to accompany Britannia.
The sun's moved around and the garden's now shaded, so I've come in, had tea (the meal, not the hot drink), and moved all the little card pieces of royal yacht together in a "verging on haphazard" composite. They're a bloody bugger to fit together without glue as they're so light that the slightest movement to one piece nudges all the other bits out of alignment - as is evident below: The reason I haven't stuck them together is that I might make some amendments...
I'm going to need to adjust the height of the bridge a bit. If I only let it just out by about a meter, I can probably still manage to blend it into a superstructure so that the combined whole at least looks like a complete vessel instead of an Oberth with a yacht docked underneath ;-) [EDIT] Sooooo I was busy and figured that the ribbing on the side of the pod could perfectly be converted into masts for the sails. IMHO, it looks pretty great!
- IMO, it looks awesome! What a fab idea - it's in the process of scuppering my plans for having a row of portholes there... I like your little cut-out where the pylons connect (and the little door!) - I was just going to stick a bit of white card there to convey a connection/docking point. In my mind, the bridge is quite small - just enough room for the CO and two or three flight crew (helmsman, navigator, and general dogsbody) - but it does have bridge wings (that are not visible in this side-on, just-a-piece-of-cardboard view ) I meant to ask, @BorgMan: What dimensions do you envisage the Oberth having? I favour a small ship - 120 metres long, or thereabouts.
I'll measure it up shortly, but it's small enough that accessible bridge wings really are out of the question I'm afraid. That includes a version where the bridge is bigger. In the image, the highest point of the bridge is a meter above the bulge, meaning the bridge itself is recessed as well. As said, going larger will look all kinds of weird. I'll whip something up to show you guys! [EDIT] Alright, per Wikipedia, "In two short decades (1988–2009), the largest class cruise ships have grown a third longer (268 m to 360 m)". That is substantially bigger than what the pod of an Oberth offers: 152 meters. In the following image, I've marked the current decks:
Waaaaaahhh! I want my accessible bridge wings! Ah, well. I've been trying to convince myself that a 120m Oberth would work (especially as the real Britannia is "only" 126m long...), but I'm not doing a very good job at it. Besides, the bridge superstructure on my version has made it look a bit like a submarine... I haven't done anything more with my little papercraft Britannia this past couple of days - work and helping my sister move house have taken up all my time. I'm hoping to get it finished (although, I still don't know what "finished" looks like) at the weekend because that's the deadline for this month's art challenge. I hope you're going submit your Britannia (or something else, if you've got other ideas), @BorgMan?
Hey, the Britannia is yours man. I'll finish up the deployable wings and after that, just give me pointers what you want to do with it! Speaking of submitting something...
- Just the fact that you've spent time bringing my little paper ship to life is enough for me. Besides, I can't even think of a final design/scene for mine at the mo - although, I have managed to stick it all together and added some gold [sub]space sails (I kept the protruding bridge as I think it looks less submarine-like now it has masts and sails). Although, it might be nice to see your version in space if you can find time to render a scene like that at some point...
- Kind of. I imagine the British monarchy and the Commonwealth Realm (if not the United Kingdom as it is now) to still exist in some form in the late 23rd century. This is my take on the reigning monarch's Royal Yacht of the time. It's certainly a Federation vessel as the Commonwealth is part of United Earth, which itself is part of the UFP. As to whether it's a naval ship - it depends if the Royal Navy also has a space fleet, or if there's a separate branch of the armed forces for space service. [I don't think this is going to be my final piece...]
- Oh, WOW!!! That's absolutely stunning! Thank you, @BorgMan (you snuck in as I was replying to gazomg) - I love it! EDIT: I've been gazing at your beautiful Britannia render for the past hour and a half (in between working on my own final piece). It's so atmospheric. I want to go for a sunlit cruise amongst some asteroids now! Instead, I'll have to settle for an actual atmospheric jaunt over the English countryside:
I've made a start on this month's art challenge - In Times of Crisis as set by BorgMan - but first up, here's the almost final image for May's challenge which I'd neglected to post here: [I didn't like the stats on the graph paper - not least because the paper wasn't level! - so used a previous version for the final image instead] And here's a snippet of my idea for June along with a possible look for the title. This is just a quick sketch to establish the layout and probable colours. I'm only showing a small part of it as I don't want to spoil the ending!
Thanks, @Captain pl1ngpl0ng Here's a snippet of the final piece (unfinished at the moment) - I'm just trying out lettering...
Despite a couple of setbacks (a spelling mistake "aerfvadh" instead of "aefvadh", and a distracting background behind the Romulan refugees), I've finished the physical part of my entry for this month's art challenge: In Times of Crisis... I need to take a better photo of it (when the sun's out), but here is an "almost ready" version, complete with lettering: I just hope that you find the flow reasonably logical, and that it makes sense?
Hot damn dude... That's a great piece! Totally embodies what I was aiming for! You make sure to get a high-res version out there, I'd love to print this!