@ SVC on a serious note, could we have the FRD in size comparison to the bases too please.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Monday, May 06, 2019 - 03:11 am: Edit

Not unless one of the sculptors does it, and I think that sizing an FRD (which has never been done) would take days of emails back and forth between me, Will, and Steve Z to figure out. (I can hear Sculptors screaming already. "How am I supposed to get these ships done while you want me to spend hours and hours figuring out how big an FRD is?") You see, there is no data on an FRD. No scale drawings in the FJ tech manuals. We will have to check the docking point system and figure out what combination of ships supposedly fits inside and then build an FRD around that volume. (Repeat for each empire, as they would all be different since their ships are different shapes. A Klingon FRD will be wider than a Kzinti one.) I think Steve Z is the man to build them.

I can guess that an FRD on Shapeways is going to have issues with bounding boxes and support structures, meaning it must be parted and sprued.)

I have only ONE day in the office (Monday) before I go see the wolves and that day is pretty much booked solid with critical items.

So, no, you cannot have one, not any time soon. Maybe after CL53. More likely after the base stations are all done and some of the BATS and then the augmentation modules which also have to fit the FRD and ComPlat. December?

By Mike West (Mjwest) on Monday, May 06, 2019 - 07:27 am: Edit

Thank you for the pod comparison! That was very instructive!

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Monday, May 06, 2019 - 10:31 am: Edit

Before anyone starts taking calipers to the pods, there's a chance the F32 and C25 models are scaled for 1/3125. (Some of my freighters models started out as SL2500 models and I may have grabbed those out of the wrong folder.)

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Monday, May 06, 2019 - 11:35 am: Edit

I've been meaning to ask what data you used for the Klingon and Fed pods. The Fed pod in particular looked too big compared to the Klingon.

By Alan W. Kerr (Awkerr) on Monday, May 06, 2019 - 11:57 am: Edit

Could we see a SCS for comparison?
With the large secondary hull plus a third engine "sticking up", how much TIGHTER is the space?
We should make sure a size class 2 ship "still works" in the pods and I *think* the SCS is the largest ship.

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Monday, May 06, 2019 - 11:57 am: Edit

The tube pods are probably 3125's and need to have some pixels sliced off. (It was late.) The other three were labeled as 3788's, so they should be good with each other.

(I don't have accurate copies of the H, L, or R pod models yet.)

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar2) on Monday, May 06, 2019 - 05:52 pm: Edit

FRD capacity = 14 (C13.33), tunnel structure …

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Monday, May 06, 2019 - 11:46 pm: Edit

Fed pod (1/3788 tug pod and Omni freighter pod) compared to Klingon 1/3788 pod.
https://imgur.com/5DK0IrS

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar2) on Wednesday, May 08, 2019 - 11:44 am: Edit

If I got the math right, your K-pod comes in at about 70.84 x 11.21 x 18.75 m (LxWxH) … [Five 3m decks plus the connecting structure]

However, the illustrations in the MSSBs are 5.5 cm for the Klingon and Romulan K-pods and 5.7 cm for the Lyrans (which, for the Lyrans, translates out to 142.5 x 21.25 m) …

By Mark Hutton (Trynda1701) on Wednesday, May 08, 2019 - 09:39 pm: Edit

Understanding that this is not on the schedule in the short term, would a FRD mini have to be able to encompass ship minis?

Yes, it might seem cool, but as the Base minis are Omni Scale, wouldn't the FRD mini be too? Therefore, no need to match ship scale!

Seems that would save a lot of possibly unnecessary work for the sculptors.

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Thursday, May 09, 2019 - 11:01 am: Edit

I can only imagine what the new pricing formula is going to do to a full-szie dock model, so maybe smaller Base-scale versions may be something to look at.

There are already a couple glorious generic dock models out in the wild, so much of the design work would be largely duplication unless we're really serious about making a dozen different empire-specific docks.

(I'm assuming the TMP spacedock model is a non-starter due to licensing issues.)

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Thursday, May 09, 2019 - 12:23 pm: Edit

Most of the ones out in the wild are various takes on the roughly-rectangular Trek TMP drydock and the FASA variations thereof.

The ADB FRD is described in the fluff text as cylindrical, so it has that distinction going for it.

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Thursday, May 09, 2019 - 07:16 pm: Edit

I hadn't considered a true cylinder. My nemesis the emboss tool awaits...

Could always make the arms adjustable with printed joints, let players set the claws for the shape they want. Make the bridge/roof section a separate piece for empire specifics. (Hmmm...need to get my June batch out of the way first.)

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, May 09, 2019 - 08:39 pm: Edit

Cylinder? I don't remember that. Reference? I suppose something very very ancient might say that (not something I remember) but I would be surprised and baffled by such a reference.

I have always seen it as a rectangular box. I drew the official art, the only art, as a rectangular box open on both ends. I suppose if we did one for each empire the Kzinti one might be a cylinder. Maybe the Hydran one.

I would imagine any Shapeways model would be in two or four pieces.

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Friday, May 10, 2019 - 02:05 am: Edit

I could have sworn I read the cylinder thing somewhere, but must be remembering wrong.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Friday, May 10, 2019 - 08:49 am: Edit

Neither of us will know until someone looks it up.

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Friday, May 10, 2019 - 10:29 am: Edit

Schrodinger's Dock.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - 08:06 pm: Edit

To answer a question posted in another thread: how big is a Heavy Transport Shuttle?

Okay, so as a "best guess" based on SVC's B-52 clipart, assuming the Type-I drone is 3.00 meters long, I made my HTS icon to be 9.00 meters long by 7.00 meters wide. I created that icon before I adopted the smaller ADB-size admin shuttle, so perhaps the "final version" of the HTS could be a little smaller, too, anywhere between 8.00 and 9.00 meters long by 6.25 to 7.00 meters wide.


Garth L. Getgen

By Stewart Frazier (Frazikar3) on Wednesday, October 14, 2020 - 05:58 pm: Edit

Though that might be the Kzinti/Gorn sized HTS ...

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, October 14, 2020 - 10:52 pm: Edit

Fair point, Stewart.

Not sure if I mentioned before: the Franz Joseph (FJ-size) shuttle in the image I posted is 7.75 x 4.75 meters (I scaled it slightly to fit the snap-grid), and the ADB-size is 6.25 by 4.00 meters, same as the one seen in Nick Blank's FFG plans.

Oh, and the 2-seat & 4-seat shuttles are my own design for private / civilian transport. The Work-Bee is based on one-man utility pods seen elsewhere on the 'Web.


Garth L. Getgen

By Robert Russell Lender (Rusman) on Saturday, October 17, 2020 - 06:00 am: Edit

Garth, That HTS in your image seems a little small. If memory serves, I recall the HTS has 50 cargo space pints. And judging by the size of your drones (Which seem correct), it doesn't seem like the HTS will hold fifty of your Type-1's. At least not without taking up the crew area in front. Maybe I'm remembering the HTS incorrectly and it only has 25 spaces of cargo.

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Saturday, October 17, 2020 - 10:13 am: Edit

I don't think the drones and shuttles are to-scale?

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Saturday, October 17, 2020 - 10:36 am: Edit

Russ, The other headache is that a HTS in-storage takes up 50 cargo points. Kind of weird. I just try to not think about it too hard.

Terry, No, everything there is theoretically in the same scale. The FJ shuttle is a direct trace-copy from the FJ Tech Manual.


To make the HTS big enough to carry that many drones as cargo, it'd be gigantic. It's supposed to be roughly twice the size of an admin shuttle.

The other option would be to shrink the drones down to half (or less) the size shown. If you do that, however, it invalidates all of SVC's fighter clipart. I scaled the drones based on said clipart with a fair guess that the cockpit is one-meter wide. Ergo, making drones half-sized also make fighters half-size, too small to put a pilot onboard.


Garth L. Getgen

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Saturday, October 17, 2020 - 11:14 am: Edit

The HTS is a double size shuttle. I would think at least double the 6.25 by 4.00 meters.