Federation Commander

Very productive afternoon and evening on Solidworks today.

Based on new understanding of what Solidworks wants, I went back and improved the tangency on the surfaces of the boom of the Romulan SaberHawk. It wouldn't have made a lick of difference on the part as-molded, but I'd know they weren't quite tangent. Now they are and it's all the smoother.

I also spent several hours making more progress on the Klingon HF5.

I've nearly finished the command hull "bulb". Most of the time was spent finding a good balance of draft-angle versus the round shape I want the windows to have. Improvements there fed back into the windows on the boom part I had previously declared "done" (it's always a bit "two steps forward, one step back" when pushing the limits of a new tool). An hour or two tomorrow and the entire boom assembly will be completed. Then, to start the unique aspects of the HF5's rear hull, none of which should be very difficult to model.

As a distraction to give me something else to do, I also laid in the reference images for the upcoming Klingon G-1 gunboat/PF mini. I should be starting it and the other PF minis as soon as the HF5 is done.

Mr. El Thomas - You'll be happy to know that today I put calipers to the G-1 minis you loaned me.

djdood wrote:it's always a bit "two steps forward, one step back" when pushing the limits of a new tool

So is that two days forward, and one day back? So we'll hear back from you on tuesday, eh?

Extrude, rotate, and mirror are favorites of mine.

This involves applying draft to thicken-cut recessed features on a complex contoured surface, using a separate plane to control the neutral, so that the draft angle opens up biased away from the expected mold parting-line.

The things I do to make windows happen on a starship mini.

Scoutdad wrote:I think I'm going to paint an F5 in that multi colored pattern and give it to Jean.

Happy dance! Although I would love the Her Pirate Majesty's Ship Parrot, too.

I remember, it was the Jayhawk. Or aka the Romulan F6 that got the centerline torp.

Yup. The JayHawk does indeed have a centerline plasma torpedo (however it's the small type-F size, the same as on the outboard engines).

I did a kitbashed JayHawk mini in Starline 2400 size, several years ago.

Some day, I'll go through and fix all those broken image links that Photobucket is orphaning.

In the mean time, I thought I'd start posting images of the ships I am modeling for ADB's Shapways store.

First up is the most famous starship in science fiction, the trusty Federation CA heavy cruiser (specifically, the CAR refitted version).

Next up is the Federation "lollipop" destroyer, specifically the ADB DDG guided weapons destroyer version (the classic Franz Joseph version is also available).

Today's render is the brand new (to Shapeways) comb of 6 Federation F-18 fighters.

The render for today is the Federation GSC galactic survey cruiser.

Here is my 3D version of the Fed POL police cutter, based exactly on the deck plans I drafted. This model is NOT "water tight" and therefore cannot be used on Shapeways.

I did send a 2d version in DXF to a couple people (Will and Steve Z.) in hopes they can make a good 3D model.



I don't see a need to include all the crew-quarters windows along the sides / front-face outboard of the phasers, nor the windows for the optical telescopes / visual scanners (grey squares on the vertical front face plate), nor the Phased-Array Lateral Sensor (PALS), the purple panels along the lower side of the front hull. However, I would like the seven air lock / docking port doors (three per side plus the nose) be depicted. The nav-lights are optional, probably too small to bother with. Phasers are obviously mandatory.

The Federation police ship will come to Shapeways in due time, but there's a lot to come first.

Today's render is the (conjectural) Federation Thunderbolt PF gunboats.

The priority of picking new Shapeways minis is complex. (We use Chinese ideograms for simplicity.)

Some ships are very easy to do.

Some ships don't have minis at all.

Some ships will sell great and others badly.

Some ships are things the sculptors want to do.

djdood wrote:The Federation police ship will come to Shapeways in due time, but there's a lot to come first.

Understood. No problem. I just want to make sure my inputs are on-file well before anyone starts on the model. For instance, I don't want you to put mount the engine pylons into the crew quarters area, like one artist did on a cover piece.