Transport ship

[Albertese]

Also it seems to me that you might need to do some sort of maintenance on the lower hull at some point while you're on the ground. You might want to allow a couple meters for DC crew to move around down there. I would suggest a ramp that comes down from the middle-ish area of the lowest deck that lets foot traffic embark/debark and maybe a cargo elevator or two. Having large cargo doors on the sides are certainly welcome as well as they would be easier to load in orbit. And if the ship landed near a loading dock (like modern day semi-trucks have for the past century or so) those large doors could be used on the ground, too. In fact, if there was some sort of lift-gate mechanism like on modern trucks, that would make those doors easily usable without a specialized dock.

There's lots of interesting options.

--Alex

 

[SonicRanger]

You need gear of some type to level the ship. Otherwise the crew will be walking uphill in some direction.

They don't in space... They have artificial gravity.

 

[The Axeman]

I love just how much thought has to go into the design of even the simplest things.

Assuming we rule out rough ground landings, we still need the following criteria - self leveling, clearance for ground maintenance staff, way to disembark/unload in austere ports.

If we are ruling out tall gear suitable for uneven ground then I still think that simple extending pads on shock absorbers is the way ahead. They could give a meter or more of ground clearance, take up little interior volume and could level the ship if the landing area is off by a few degrees here or there. I could build them into protrusions on the undeside so that they dont take up interior volume. I'll go build some ideas and see how it looks.

 

[The Axeman]

OK, how about this setup. The gear is recessed into the underside detailing, and I've left room at the front and the middle for an exit stairway ramp or loading bay doors. I also did a quick picture of it on the ground with the gear deployed to show the size and height next to a guy.

 

[B.J.]

Nice and simple. I like it!

 

[Mike 1732]

This is great!!!
The four-pad landing gear looks the best.
One thing - how warp-capable would this ship be?

 

[The Axeman]

Not very, is the answer. My thought was that this would be the equivelant of a tramp steamer or local merchantman, a ship that can ferry goods and people between colony worlds in numbers that a big operator wouldn't touch.

Long distance freight would be handled by much larger vessels which are more cost effective, so it would be hard getting crap moved from a city to a site on the other side of the planet, or to a neighbouring planet or system. Smaller general purpose ships like this could make a nice living running between several nearby systems moving freight and passengers along a semi-regular route. They dont need to be fast, they just need to be versatile and hard wearing.

I also haven't given this any specific Treknology, since I want it just to be a generic ship that could be used in animations or pictures for all sorts of universes. That's the reason there's no warp nacelles or blue glowing strip to say it's Trek warp capable.

 

[sojourner]

You need gear of some type to level the ship. Otherwise the crew will be walking uphill in some direction.

They don't in space... They have artificial gravity.

But when using the LANDING GEAR are you in space?

 

[Kaiser]

You need gear of some type to level the ship. Otherwise the crew will be walking uphill in some direction.

They don't in space... They have artificial gravity.

But when using the LANDING GEAR are you in space?

Surface of the Moon or a Asteroid?

 

[The Axeman]

Latest updates. I paneled the underside, cut in an underside loading bay/dock and then started adding nurbs and greebles in the blank areas left for detailing. It's all generic stuff from a little greeble toolkit I made, I just copy and paste bits in everywhere.

 

[Starship]

Hi old friend!
She looks magnific!

 

[-SS-]

The more detail you add the more I like it.

Maybe it's weird but I like the way untextured models like this look, in just plain flat white.

 

[Reverend]

Latest updates. I paneled the underside, cut in an underside loading bay/dock and then started adding nurbs and greebles in the blank areas left for detailing. It's all generic stuff from a little greeble toolkit I made, I just copy and paste bits in everywhere.

I've always had a soft spot for there types of utilitarian design. Almost reminds me of my attempt to extrapolate the Erewhon...just without the whole squashed frog look.

Maybe it's just me, but that front cut-in is just crying out for a big fold down ramp for ground vehicle access (agricultural equipment, earth movers, construction rigs cargo hopper etc.)

I'd also give the bridge a set of big wrap-around windows for a nice 180 degree view. Some small external docking blisters for worbees/maintbots/generic cargo handling pods might be worth thinking about too. Come to think of it there should probably be some escape pods or an an evacuation shuttle of some sort too.

...oh, hey Kenny!

 

[Tom Hendricks]

I agree for the most part. I would leave the majority of the body looking like this, untextured and white. However I would texture the engines, doors, greeblies, landing gear and such. Love this design, but don't get it being Star Trek.

The more detail you add the more I like it.

Maybe it's weird but I like the way untextured models like this look, in just plain flat white.

 

[publiusr]

Great ship design. Solid.

 

[sojourner]

I agree for the most part. I would leave the majority of the body looking like this, untextured and white. However I would texture the engines, doors, greeblies, landing gear and such. Love this design, but don't get it being Star Trek.

Then The Axeman has acheived his goal!

 

[The Axeman]

I have added more details, antennae and greebles here and there, and have started to try and get some textures on this thing. I also stuck in a few escape pods, something I planned to do for some time. I suck at photoshop, which is why I used to get Reverend to do all the more detailed work on my models for me. However, it's time I took a stand and actually tried some tutorials to see if I can get the weathering effects I want. I may be some time.

Rev, I know it's screaming out for a ramp at the front but I wanted to avoid that cliche if at all possible. I decided to make the bottom deck mainly engineering and machinery spaces, with the upper two decks at the front being for passenger & crew accomodation, and the rest of the ship devoted to cargo and engines at the very rear. If I put in a ramp I'd have to make it a through deck and there would be nowhere to put the landing gear, etc. Whay I am thinking of doing is adding a much smaller ramp for passenger and crew embarkation tucked away under the front. It would make it easy to get on and off without going near the huge cargo doors.

 

[Reverend]

While I agree there should certainly be a smaller passenger ramp for ground level access, I would have thought that if the passengers are mostly up top then the best means of mass ingress/egress would be a docking tube to a large airlock somewhere along the ship's side(s). Even if it's sitting on the ground, such things shouldn't be too hard to set up. Just look at real world airports, same basic idea.

If you dont want a hug clanging ramp up the front then how about some sort of sensor/deflector apparatus? It needn't be anything too obviously "Trek." Perhaps a heavy duty looking grill or radiator like structure? Think old steam engine cowcatcher, but with a bit of an art deco twist. Perhaps even a similar looking cover/cage for the engine bells? Something to break up or obscure the round shapes & make that end consistent with the rest of the design's angular look. Might make for some interesting lighting set-ups having the glowing engines behind a big chunky grill, like an old coal furnace...hmm, this whole design appears to have me thinking in terms of cast iron plates and old steam engines...

As for the textures; my first bit of advice is to not bother with sodding photoshop. Find an old copy of PSPX and try that instead. It's served me fine for everything from vector design to airbrushing. Photoshop is probably better suited to compositing, fiddling with filters and other such jiggery pokery.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

I agree for the most part. I would leave the majority of the body looking like this, untextured and white. However I would texture the engines, doors, greeblies, landing gear and such. Love this design, but don't get it being Star Trek.

Then The Axeman has acheived his goal!

Maybe some aztec-ing would change his mind.

 

[The Axeman]

I am going to put an airlock on the side at the mid deck level, but I think a ramp underneath would be a good idea too. It's a low tech solution ideal for austere ports and lets ground crew board easily as well.

As for covering the engine area to make it angular, my plan is to build plates that go over the top of the reactors so I may try and extend that idea and see if boxing the engines in a bit looks ok or not.