Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update XIV

Got some work done on the engine section, mostly on the small auxiliary engines. Added a few more bits to the front of the superstructure and did a little more with the hangar. I've kinda stalled on the hangar though, the floor is giving me trouble, not getting the reflections I want, but I'm not going to tinker with it too much longer, I still have the AT-AT bays to finish and I have to finish out the forward portion of the bay. I've decided I'll have two bays (one on either side) in the side trenches. Those will be for bombers, interceptors or anything else that doesn't fit in the regular TIE bay. Next post is going to be Indundator related, and then I'm going to post some fighter stuff. Anyway, here's pics...

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update XIII

Did some rebuilding of the hangar bay. Separated the bay into a larger main bay aft of a smaller bay. The AT-AT's and their carriers work out of the main bay and also the TIE fighter's launch from there. I still have to add in a couple of side bays for some small craft stowage. I'm pleased with how it's turning out so far, still lots of stuff to do but not much more in the way of small details since you won't see those anyway. In fact I put in some doors in the bulkhead at the end of the TIE rack gantry's but I stopped working on them because they're obscured by all the stuff connected to the racks and gantry anyway. So, I determined that TIE's will launch out of the main bay and be recovered in the forward bay, then go down below the forward bay deck for servicing and back up along the tracks to the main bay ready for another launch. There are four holes at the end of the gantry to allow four pilots to enter their fighters at a time. With four racks abreast and conceivably 12 pilots suited up and ready, you could launch a whole squadron real quick (I think). Anyway, here's a couple of pics...

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update XII

Not a lot of new work done but I did install the guns... (on one side anyway, no fair attacking on the opposite side)... a little more paneling done too... I'm going to try and finish off the greebles on the superstructure this week (lol I know... stop...)

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update XI

I'm still working on the hangar bay. Still lots to do there but the main structures are blocked out, now on to some of the smaller details. I'm not going to go crazy though, not likely to have views much closer than this anyway.

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update X

I was taking a break from greebles and decided to have a look at the interior of the ventral hangar bay and started thinking about where I could stick some AT AT pens and such. So I wanted to make a simple box mockup of the correct dimensions and as luck would have it, this is another one of those things where there is debate and disagreement and discord. So I went to the Technical Commentaries for guidance and settled on the size of a walker being 26 meters long, 22.6 meters high and 7.9 meters wide. I know there are some blueprints out there that give a height of about 15 meters but I think Saxton made a good point about that adjusting all of the dimensions to the point that a man would not be able to stand in the cockpit as Veers and a trooper are clearly doing, unless they were considerably shorter than we know them to be. I any case, I got distracted by the AT AT dimensions enough to want to make a still simple but more complex than a box mock up. Once I was done with that I plopped it into the Tormentor's bay and you guessed it, that bay was way too shallow to have walkers, well, walking about. So I'm splitting up the bay so the forward portion with hold fighters and the after portion will be the location of the walker pens. The large bay doors are going to be split up too so I can just open portions of the bay to outside if I want to. Here's some unimpressive pics of the new arrangement. No really... there's really not much to look at right now...

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update IX

Some greebling progress and starting in on the engine section. The panel lines are still going in, they'll be a lot denser when finished but overall I'm pleased with the little progress I was able to make this weekend. Getting a really nice stockpile of greebles which will come in handy for the Imperator, Enslaver, Persecutor etc...

Star Wars: Imperial Warship Comparison Chart II

This is an updated chart now that the Tormentor has been redesigned and the Inundator has been rescaled. Of course the dimensions listed on the chart are of the unfinished models so they'll change slightly once sensor globes etc are added. The Imperator was modeled after a toy but I thought it was a good representation so if those dimensions are a little off, I'm okay with it. Blogger doesn't seem to like this images size so to see the full pic you might have to right click and "view image" then you can zoom...

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update VIII

So this is probably the fourth, fifth maybe even sixth total overhaul and redesign of the Tormentor Class. I see this ship's role as more of an armored landing ship. It's able to enter the atmosphere (but not actually land) to deliver ground forces and provide support. The large hangar bay on top keeps it protected from ground fire. This time I'm happy with it from just about any view. Still at the initial paneling stage, although the trench lip is more or less done, just need some pieces here and there to tie it to the hull. Greebling should go pretty fast in the trench now that I have a lot on hand, but then I started this model in 2006 and here I am, starting it again, so we'll see...

Star Wars: Imperator & Inundator Class Updates

Well, I've finally decided to take a crack at the Imperator (Imperial) class star destroyer. I had one that I had built for the old website but like all of those models it was eyeballed and extremely inaccurate so this one will be less inaccurate. Also, I've gone ahead and rescaled the Inundator based on the scale of the details compared to the ISD. So the Inundator now comes in at 944 meters long, by 433.5 wide and 122.9 high. So here's some pics of the new ISD model with the rescaled Inundator.

Star Wars: Imperial Warship Comparison Chart

Trying to get a handle on scale, I thought this might help me to keep things in proper perspective.

Star Wars: Inundator Class Light Cruiser Update IV

After some feedback at Scifi-meshes.com I went ahead and trimmed back the parts on the conning tower. Also got a little more greebling done I'm working on the guns right now, adding another layer of detail. More pics at some point lol...

Star Wars: Persecutor Class Command Ship

Digging out another old model to rebuild. I'm just eyeballing this behemoth so the new model would best be described as slightly less inaccurate than my original lol. All I've got so far is the top and bottom portions of the hull and the rest of it is going to take a good great deal of time. Since it won't be an exact copy of the Executor, I'm going to name this one the Persecutor. And here's pics...

Star Wars: Inundator Class Light Cruiser Update III

The latest, progress has slowed because of a busy weekend, hopefully I'll be able to get back on track and have the top finished by the end of next weekend. I'm considering where to place a hangar bay. Nothing too elaborate, just enough for some fighters and shuttles, I'll leave the landing craft etc to the Imperator Star Destroyers. Starting off with a couple of pics to show the difference in size between this and my Tormentor Class, which is itself still smaller than an Imperator Class.

Star Wars: Inundator Class Light Cruiser Update II

This should really be update 1.5, just a few slight changes. I added a second heavy turbolaser battery behind and above the first one. I also made a few changes to the tower to lighten it up some, it was a bit too bulky looking for a light cruiser. Lots to do still, the engine section is almost completely untouched as is the bottom. Onward and upward... here's pics...

Star Wars: Inundator Class Light Cruiser Update I

Got some more greebling done. I'm still tinkering with ideas for the command structure so I might bring back the Venator style bridge and I'm still wanting to do something asymmetrical there just to break up the monotony. Right now the greebles are just mirrored on both sides but I'm going to mix those up, again just to break up the monotony. Anyway, here's pics...

Star Wars: Inundator Class Light Cruiser

Just taking a break from the Tormentor while I sort out some scale problems. I decided to take a swipe at an Imperial version of the Republic Light Cruiser. Using my greebles from the Tormentor and learning from all my mistakes (so far) has really helped move this little project along. Here's a couple of quick pics showing a weeks worth of progress...

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update VII

The damn trench again, I know....  I was just about finished with it and as I was looking at I realized two things, first that I was slapping stuff on just to take up space so I could call it finished and not really putting forth my best effort and second, the rounded guns and platforms really were giving it a Star Blazers look that just doesn't fit with Star Wars stuff. So, I deleted all of that and have started again but here's a couple of pics showing the new trench guns, kinda reminiscent of the tower guns on the Death Star, and the heavy turbolasers more in keeping with the Avenger style guns. So with those changes this ship will appear as it would have after refits and upgrades around the ESB/ROTJ era. And here's a couple of pics....

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update VI

What? Another greeble update, I know but that's all I've had time to do lately but I am making some decent progress. I'll try to break up the monotony with the next post though. So yeah, still more greebles but I'm almost half done with the gun belt and then I'm going to tackle the engine section, which will mean more greebles (I'm sorry)...

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update V

Did some more refining on the panels and I'm taking another pass at the gun belt details. I decided I might like some closeup views looking out from the gun belt at some passing fighters or such and for that I'm going to need a whole lot more greebling...

Star Wars: Imperial TIE Avatar Update V

Got some more details stuck on here and there, most of the work was done on the wing struts and wing, still a ridiculous amount to finish but I'm making some progress this weekend.

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update IV

So recently (yesterday), I rendered these two pics of my Tormentor SD and at long last I am happy with my panel lines.

Star Wars: Imperial TIE Predator - Hiding in the dust

Just playing with model and some volume lighting which didn't turn out the way I intended, but was cool in and of itself...

Star Wars: Imperial TIE Avatar Update IV

Had some time to work on this today and added a few bits of detail. Also I recently rebuilt the cockpit window and the fuselage because there were a few mesh errors that I missed earlier on. Work continues...

Star Trek: A meandering look at an unproductive week...

I haven't been feeling too inspired to work on any models lately. I've been picking at these over the past week, but I can't seem to summon up any drive to work on them for anything more than a few minutes at a time. So, I thought maybe if I posted some pics, it might inspire me to get moving on some of them and replace them with pics that don't completely suck. I apologize in advance...

First up is the Sineus Class, this is meant to be a medium cruiser in the TOS era. I was all gungho about this one for about a week a few months back. Things started to fizzle after I couldn't figure out where to stick a hangar bay. I thought about in the pod slung underneath but I really wanted that to just be about the deflector and sensor machinery there. So then I thought in the strip of hull that the warp engines are attached to. Well that seems kinda cramped what with the warp engines there but I guess it could go there. The warp engines do angle up so they are above the plane of the primary hull. We'll see...

Star Trek: USS Excalibur Update V

Completely rebuilt the warp engines, although the back end is still unfinished, I'll probably throw in some light greeble back there. So these engines being experimental are sort of a merging of both circumferential and linear warp drives. Added a little character to the deflector dish, but it still needs more details. I still have to tear up some more hull plating to give it that under construction look all over but I'm deciding whether to give the secondary hull some more curve.

Star Trek: USS Enterprise 1701-D

Started on my first Next Generation ship, so why not tackle the one I've always wanted to tweak the most, the Enterprise. For whatever reason, this ship just has never sat well with me (no offense meant to those that love her). I don't know what in particular I didn't like, but I'm going to try and build a version that I find more palatable. So here's a start...

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update III

A few more bits here and there and even though I said I wouldn't do it, I started paneling, but no pics of that just yet. A better update next week (hopefully). Also, I've reworked the superstructure and the ventral hangar structure...

Star Trek: USS Excalibur Update IV

Worked a little on the impulse engines. At first, I thought about using one of Andrew Probert's discarded impulse engine designs from the refit from TMP, but as I was working I decided just to take what was done for TMP and dial it back a little so it looks like it's on its way to being the system we see in TMP but not quite there yet. I also tinkered with the warp engine grills, halved the number so they show up and aren't just an interference pattern in the renderings.

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update II

Greebling is still ongoing, it's really just plodding along but I'm almost halfway down the first trench there. I've made some changes to the hull, to help break up some of the plain expanse in the back (also had some bad angles that needed fixing). I'm really wanting to dive right into paneling but if I keep letting myself get distracted, the greebling is just going to take even longer. The big guns are in place now though. But anyway, here's some updated pics...

Star Trek: USS Bold Fury Deck Plans

Did a little more work on this, expanded the hangar a little since the shuttle was just barely fitting before... still getting the hang of inkscape...

Old GE Site Pics

Just added a page full of pics from the old version of the site, check out the page to your right there...

Star Trek: USS Excalibur Update III

Changed a bunch of stuff. What I intended to to was cut out some windows but one thing led to another and I never got to windows. But I did rebuild the bridge superstructure to make look like it was being rebuilt. Also scattered around some open spots on the upper side of the primary hull. Changed the main sensor/deflector dish to look more on the road to TMP version. Also rebuilt the hangar doors and worked on the hull around that area. And now Star Wars calls, probably work on some of that for the next post. Anyway, here's pics...

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser Update

Starting in on the greebling along the trench. I'm trying to make each greeble individually and not just copy and paste the same 5 or 6 that was my previous effort. So this is taking much longer, lol. The guns are just there as placeholders while I figure out their final placement.

Star Trek: USS Excalibur - Update II - The Wrath of...

More work and reworking done to the warp engines and pylons. After some discussion at TrekBBS I went with some of the suggestions there and ended up with this latest version of the engines.

Star Trek: USS Excalibur - Update

I was looking this model over the other day and I decided I didn't like the engines I had come up with for the refit Excalibur. I wanted something that would indicate that this ship was repaired at a time just before the major advances seen in the refit Enterprise. I wanted this model to show upgrades in their early stages that would be fully realized in the Enterprise.

Star Wars: Tormentor Class Imperial Battlecruiser

This is the latest version of this model that I've been working on for literally years. It's meant to be a bridge between the Venator and Imperator classes. I imagined this as something that would have been brought into service towards the end of the clone wars, and then the prequels came out and ruined the clone wars for me, but I digress... Anyway, this is smaller than an Imperator but bigger than a Venator, I'll get more accurate dimensions later. And yes, I know it hasn't got any engines yet.

Star Wars: Imperial TIE Avatar Update III

Added some brake lights, not sure why they have them, they're probably supposed to be something else but that's what they look like to me. Also started adding some greebling and detail lines here and there.

Star Trek: USS Pandemus - Update

Once again, a small update, just added some bits and did some tweaking here and there. I'll have a more thorough update soon though.

Battlestar Galactica: Galactica Redesign

Did a small amount of work on this model today. Mainly just rebuilt the hangar pods, and worked on the engines a little. Mostly it's just a lot of tweaking here and there to get the shape to look right to me. Since it's a redesign I don't have to worry about accuracy but it still has to look right proportionately. Considering how many unfinished models I have, I really don't have any business tinkering with this one, once you start greebling this is going to be as complex as a Star Destroyer...

Star Wars: Imperial TIE Avatar Update II

Got some more work done to this...

Star Wars: Imperial TIE Avatar - Update I

Got some more work done on this. All the parts have been completely rebuilt now. On to detailing now...

Star Wars: Imperial TIE Avatar WIP

Some people bashing The Empire Strikes Back, the GREATEST STAR WARS MOVIE EVER, motivated me to finally get back to polishing up my old Star Wars models. So here's the progress on the Avatar. This was supposed to be a post-ROTJ fighter, I'll have to dig up the write up I did for it on the original site and post it with the updates. Mostly I've just worked on rebuilding the cockpit and struts, the wings are untouched at this point except for the cannons.