Knight26

Ok, I lied, one more pic, this one of a syringe making a forced dock to a GF Galaxy III heavy dropship.

One more for tonight, the main boarding tube, able to cut through a ships hull for forced boarding if necessary.

Another quick update. This time I am showcasing the dropship landed with and without the main cargo bay. The wide stance of the landing gear without the cargo bay is to allow the bay to be fitted easily. The ship can kneel though, retracting its landing gear enough for the crew to climb out with out an extendable ladder. I've also fitted the chin turret, which is equipped with dual medium caliber gatling Plasers, primarily for enemy troop suppression not for attack fighters. As for the cockpit, it may be updated further, but will not take on a hind like appearance, this is not an attack craft, more of a cargo ferry that can shoot back.

A quick update on the progress. I have hollowed out the main bay, added landing gear, doors, etc... I have also made it that the cargo bay will be a removable box, so I will add another set of landing gear to main portion of the ship. I also have to add doking hardpoints to the upper surface, access panels, etc... Here is a test render of the syringe in hanger dropping off a Confed heavy beam tank (old design, may be redone).

Are you going to mod the pilot figure as well, make her into a TV Millia?

Okay I can the resembelance to the Aliens dropship, and maybe a little of the halo dropship, though it is significantly larger than both. But where in the world do you see the batmobile in it? UCSB (Universal Confederation of Sentient Beings) I'm using AutoCAD 2002 as always. ANy comments on the actual design though?

And now the atmospheric configuration. As always any constructive critiscm is appreciated.

Here is the temporary textured undetailed version. The cargo bay is a little smaller, as is the whole craft, it is narrower for one thing and the whole length is not cargo bay like the original. I am liking how it is shaping up, the cargo bay is still large enough to hold a single tank or APC. I also decided to to give two different engine types, one for atmosphere, one for space. The main space engines are on the side and are shut off during atmospheric flight, when the wings are extended. It still needs detailing including a new chin turret, landing gear, bay interior, bay doors, etc... Here is the space flight configuration.

Well another old design is getting a total ground up redesign, I'm still working on the mosquito but I want to get some new ones started before my trip and I will detail them while underway. This time is the UCSB's heavy strategic dropship the syringe, designed for carrying large numbers of troops and supplies, or vehicles. The original was nice, but never was satisfied with it. It tried to find the original sketches and recreate it from there but those sketches have all been all but lost, bummed me out. Anyway I decided to start fresh and this new syringe is the product of that. Here is the original for a comparison.

Sweet, ever think of going 1:48 and selling the unassembled kits, people here would pay serious money for that.

I burn all my important data, models, texture maps, stories, images, etc... to CD (now DVD) at least once every 6 months, or right before I go on travel, then I put the disks someplace safe aweay from the computer. That way if the computer is lost due to fire, theft, flood, accident, etc... the data is someplace else and safe, usually at work or my Aunt's place, if not on my person.

Movies/TV -Battle of Endor (hey the biggest star wars space battle, gotta love it) -Death Blossum (LS) -Macross Plus OVA (openning and Earth orbital insertion) -The nebula battle in ST:WOK (terrible from a technical standpoint, but a great game of cat and mouse) -Macross DYRL (openning and ending battle) -New BattleStar Galactica Nebula Escape battle (mostly for the somewhat realistic physics and the desperation it showed) -THe battle for Earth (B5, again props for the realistic physics) -Colony Drop (Gundam 0083, just for the tactics used, the tech is iffy, but the tactics are an interesting study) Books (short list)- -Last Battle of Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) -Battle of Eltair Green Nebula (oops that's one of mine, lol) -Battles in the Concquers Trilogy (Tim Zahn) -Battle of Coruscant (X-wing Rogue Squadron, Mike Stackpole) -Battle of Kilrah (Wing COmmander FLeet Action, I think Mercedes Lackey) That's all I can think of right now.

Planetes is great hard sci-fi, and while it would be more feasible economically and man power wise to use machines to retrieve space junk its doesn't make for good storytelling. SPace junk is problem faced by astronauts today, though not to the extent that the show has. Infact pretty much every space flight gets assaulted by space debris and the international space station is routinely pegged, making a nice ringing sound throughout the station, freaks the astronauts out. I think one of the most interesting things that Planetes shows in regard to space travel is the effect that commerical space travel can/will have on space flight. Once space is opened up to commericial interests you will see the number and extent of missions grow rapidly, right now with NASA and the Russians having a monopoly on space travel very little is actually being done. Were space more opened to commercial development tommorrow we would have missions on the moon and mars ready to go in five years due to corporate competetion. ANd, the safety would go up, just like in early the days of flight. Burt Rutan wrote a very eloquent report about this just prior to the Columbia accident. I know I may get flamed for saying this but it is true, NASA no longer has the vision and drive it once did to go and keep on going strong, and most of that is due to the leadership who is afraid of taking risks and of political pressure. At the same time NASA is able to keep its grip on space development by underselling every single commerical competitor that pokes its head out, but it does this by operating at a loss.

Those engine "nacelles" are actually the main weapon, the Stinger class Light Razer Cannon, a light anti-capital weapon. The open bays, one is opened the other closed to show that they do open and close, they are the torpedo mounts, that is the yellow thing inside the left one. The primary reason this beasty has such large caliber weapons is that its primary us is as an attack or anti-bomber craft. Even fighter shields are thick and a strong punch is needed, but capital ship shields are so thick that most fighters simply cannot attack them. The 90mm Plasers are actually a fairly common caliber even on fighters for a single barrel weapon. Now on Gatling types you are looking at a 45mm caliber. On Fighter scale MDCs the caliber is similar. Thanks for the comments guys.

Two attack shots, one from above, the other below. The topside does need something I admit.

Next update. I added the weapons next will come the details, panels, fins, etc... The two large guns on either side of cockpit are 180mm smooth bore gauss rifles, high speed and penetration, the projectiles are so magnetically charged on launch that they will actually degauss the electronics of a fighter if they connect and don't destroy it in the process. The gun pack on the belly has four 90mm O2 Plaser Cannons, basically its a nod towards the P-61 Blackwidow. I was originally going to mount in on the top of fighter like on the Widow, but then the cockpit interfered with its line of fire. I may add a pair of guns to the top on either side of the cockpit, but that is up in the air. So what do you guys think?

Deep space combat would be based more on sensors then visula tracking. However I see most space combat taking placing near planets since that is what you will be fighting over for the most part. That is why I put so much influence on visibility.

I know Graham asked this before but I did not see a reply, what scale does that cockpit work out to? Also, are all the rest in scale with each other? If so then Roy if fricking huge by comparison.

Ok a quick attack shot, still needs the rest of its weapons and detailling though.

oops. double post.

Here is a slight variation on the design, with the neck flipped. It looks a little more interesting but with the cockpit so low it limits visibilty a great deal, what do you all think? I will likely stay with the other version, or possibly go for an intermediate position, but anything lower then the first version limits visibility.

Well here is a quick update, I've been experimenting with the cockpit adapter neck since I got home from work. I think I've found I like that doesn't destroy the overall look. Let me know what you all think. I will probably mount the gauss rifles under the cockpit where it meets the main fuselage, that or on either side, with the Plaser cannons under the cockpit on the neck.

That is frigging awesome, almost what I imagine for my characters combat armor too, except for the helmet mostly.

Beautiful as always, how about shots with it and your other model VFs and aircraft, for a size comparison?

Ok, I'm freaked out enough by tarantulas, that was just damn... Mental note if my boss ever sends me to the gulf on a Cas-Rep take several large cans of raid and a shot gun.