USS Hummingbird - Work in Progress
Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2010 9:09 pm
Hey all,
I think I posted this in another thread, but since I've actually been able to sit down and work on this for a few hours today, I'll start a new thread.
Name: USS Hummingbird
Registry: NX-? (Undecided. Any suggestions?)
Class: Hummingbird-class Prototype
Role: Courier/tug
Decks: 4
Maximum warp speed: Warp 9.5
Weapons: Wayward-ish or so.
Other goodies: Quantum slipstream drive. (That doesn't usually work right.)
I've started to put a little more effort into the Hummingbird, as it's been coming up more than I expected as I write the first few Halfway to Haven stories.
The basic design of this ship was a cross between Voyager and the Wayward model I half-finished for Alan a couple of years back. The nacelles are almost identical to the Wayward, just stretched out. The ring nacelle was added due to the fact that the ship is supposed to, in theory, be able to scout safe routes through quantum slipstreams, then tow larger ships through.
This project has actually been very educational, from a modeling and Photoshop standpoint. Usually, I'm working with perfectly symmetrical and round objects, like Silverado's saucers, waystation, or Haven's main hull. To make the Hummingbird's main hull, I actually used a technique that was very much like drawing contour lines on a map, then having the software contect them and create a three-dimensional surface. It turned out fairly well, IMHO. The downside was that the deflector grid and such can't be drawn in photoshop with nice, easy circles and lines. So I finally sat down and learned how to make more complex paths and shapes.
I still need to do weapons, the lower side of the hull, windows, sensors, the deflector dish and a few other details. The windows is actually something I'm shifting on. Originally, I wanted to have a few rows of windows, Voyager-style. But now that the model has some paint on it, so to speak, I'm thinking I might just do a single row of windows on the edge of the saucer...sort of like on the Enterprise-A. It think it would make sense, since it's such a small ship.
Oh yeah...I also decided the thing was too tiny for a shuttlebay. So it has a sort of custom (read: easy to model) shuttle clamped into a socket near the rear.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
http://www.khobrah.net/silver/images/vimy/HumNov13a.jpg
http://www.khobrah.net/silver/images/vimy/HumNov13b.jpg
I think I posted this in another thread, but since I've actually been able to sit down and work on this for a few hours today, I'll start a new thread.
Name: USS Hummingbird
Registry: NX-? (Undecided. Any suggestions?)
Class: Hummingbird-class Prototype
Role: Courier/tug
Decks: 4
Maximum warp speed: Warp 9.5
Weapons: Wayward-ish or so.
Other goodies: Quantum slipstream drive. (That doesn't usually work right.)
I've started to put a little more effort into the Hummingbird, as it's been coming up more than I expected as I write the first few Halfway to Haven stories.
The basic design of this ship was a cross between Voyager and the Wayward model I half-finished for Alan a couple of years back. The nacelles are almost identical to the Wayward, just stretched out. The ring nacelle was added due to the fact that the ship is supposed to, in theory, be able to scout safe routes through quantum slipstreams, then tow larger ships through.
This project has actually been very educational, from a modeling and Photoshop standpoint. Usually, I'm working with perfectly symmetrical and round objects, like Silverado's saucers, waystation, or Haven's main hull. To make the Hummingbird's main hull, I actually used a technique that was very much like drawing contour lines on a map, then having the software contect them and create a three-dimensional surface. It turned out fairly well, IMHO. The downside was that the deflector grid and such can't be drawn in photoshop with nice, easy circles and lines. So I finally sat down and learned how to make more complex paths and shapes.
I still need to do weapons, the lower side of the hull, windows, sensors, the deflector dish and a few other details. The windows is actually something I'm shifting on. Originally, I wanted to have a few rows of windows, Voyager-style. But now that the model has some paint on it, so to speak, I'm thinking I might just do a single row of windows on the edge of the saucer...sort of like on the Enterprise-A. It think it would make sense, since it's such a small ship.
Oh yeah...I also decided the thing was too tiny for a shuttlebay. So it has a sort of custom (read: easy to model) shuttle clamped into a socket near the rear.
Thoughts? Suggestions?
http://www.khobrah.net/silver/images/vimy/HumNov13a.jpg
http://www.khobrah.net/silver/images/vimy/HumNov13b.jpg