Author Topic: 600-ton Free Trader  (Read 11277 times)

Online Dr. YoKai

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600-ton Free Trader
« on: July 06, 2014, 03:44:56 AM »
 If you ever played the old SF role-playing game Traveller you'll recognoze the nomenclature. Traveller measures Strahips & spacehips in hundred tone increment, and this is toward the low end of the scale.
 The idea has been bouncing around in my head for ages - this GB just gave me the motivation. I'm calling
 it 1/350 - I think most of you will recognize the major comonents. ;)

 :icon_twisted: Or you wouldif Flickr didn't seem to want to prevent me from posting pictures. For some reason, the 'view all sizes' tab which I typically use isn't showing up, and I'm not able to link from my photostream...I'll have to try some experimenting.



 Ok, that's better! Thats the basic form - lift engines in the pods, jump drive in the stern.
 I'm pondering two different configurations: either this,


or this
« Last Edit: July 06, 2014, 04:05:45 AM by Dr. YoKai »

Offline taiidantomcat

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #1 on: July 06, 2014, 04:36:25 AM »
Flickr re-redid their page again  :icon_twisted:

I like the second picture better personally  :)
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Offline jcf

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #2 on: July 06, 2014, 04:39:59 AM »
Numbah 2.  :icon_fsm:
“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
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Offline Weaver

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #3 on: July 06, 2014, 04:45:44 AM »
This thread is meaningless without a spec sheet... ;)
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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #4 on: July 06, 2014, 05:03:47 AM »
  in hundred tone increment

I am sure you meant either tonne or ton...otherwise you are going to need a lot of paint ;)
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Offline jcf

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #5 on: July 06, 2014, 06:21:52 AM »
... or amps that go to 11.


 :icon_fsm:

“Conspiracy theory’s got to be simple.
Sense doesn’t come into it. People are
more scared of how complicated shit
actually is than they ever are about
whatever’s supposed to be behind the
conspiracy.”
-The Peripheral, William Gibson 2014

Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2014, 06:37:33 AM »
Being a Traveller fan, the name tweaked my interest immediately, so really like this idea.


Online Dr. YoKai

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2014, 08:49:47 AM »
GTX observed
Quote
I am sure you meant either tonne or ton...otherwise you are going to need a lot of paint

oOoops. I was figuring on Chris Foss - style paint job. That sounds like a Peter Elson.... :D ) ( Tons, yes.... )

Weaver reminds us

Quote
This thread is meaningless without a spec sheet...

Trust me, I'll dig out my old boxed set before the build ends! 8)

A bit of reflection, and I realized I could have one from column A and one from column B...
I just built a second box, this time adding a trough to the bottom so it would simply fit over the
two curved sections. A few more pictures this coming weekend - thanks for looking!


Offline Frank3k

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #8 on: July 08, 2014, 07:28:29 AM »
Craig,
 I'll go with the second configuration as well. The big box doesn't seem to flow with the lines of the rest of the ship.

Is that a 1/144 B-377 fuselage you're using?

Offline Jeffry Fontaine

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #9 on: July 08, 2014, 08:17:57 AM »
Craig,
 I'll go with the second configuration as well. The big box doesn't seem to flow with the lines of the rest of the ship.
Yes, what he said!  ^ :)

Version two looks much better and that space between could be considered a loading platform perhaps?  TBH, not familar with Traveler as I was never much into the RPG stuff but some of the equipment/hardware did interest me. 

Is that a 1/144 B-377 fuselage you're using?
Pretty sure that is the Boeing Model 377 fuselage.  All of the KC-97/C-97 kits were moulded in grey plastic while the 377 was moulded in white. 
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Offline Brian da Basher

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #10 on: July 10, 2014, 06:09:03 AM »
Wow I really like this concept, Doc!

The shapes are like sculpture and very pleasing to the eye!

Brian da Basher

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #11 on: July 10, 2014, 10:54:13 AM »
Yep, another vote for No. 2 :)

The gap is a bit odd, though, &, overall, she looks to me like she really wants to be "Guppy-ed" to give her that extra carrying capacity. ;)
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Offline Weaver

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #12 on: July 10, 2014, 10:56:05 PM »
Concept 1 might not be "elegant", but is IS in keeping with Traveller, some of whose ships are more influenced by the "Foss school" of 1970s art, with it's odd shapes and emphasis on non-aerodynamics, than by Star Wars or Star Trek. Having said that though, another strand of Traveller ship design is relatively stark "modified tubes" so Concept 2 would also work. Basically, Concept 1 looks like it came from the same shipyard as the Donosev-Class survey ship, while Concept 2 could be a move into starships by the outfit that produces the Modular Cutters.

Found the perfect illustration, a Donosev and a Modular Cutter. Note for non-Traveller afficionados: the rectangular block on this side of the Donosev does not appear on the other side...


Image from here: http://tahspeck.wikidot.com/ships:donosev
« Last Edit: July 14, 2014, 04:43:25 AM by Weaver »
"I have described nothing but what I saw myself, or learned from others" - Thucydides

"I've jazzed mine up a bit" - Spike Milligan

"I'm a general specialist," - Harry Purvis in Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke

Twitter: @hws5mp
Minds.com: @HaroldWeaverSmith

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #13 on: July 11, 2014, 02:15:07 AM »
I actually prefer concept 1.
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Online Dr. YoKai

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #14 on: July 12, 2014, 08:15:16 AM »
Well, Gents, I'll take pics at the end with the box in place and absent. ( Its a floor polish and a desert topping, you see. ;) ) The cargo box will bear the livery of Yo Hemp  & Fungals, a supplier of fine botanical
products throughout the Spinward Marches...

It is a Boeing 377, by the way - I just looked at the box. On that subject, does anybody have a profile
blank for the plane? I'd like to tinker with some color schemes before I actually start spraying. This weekend
wil be dedicated to detailing, and hopefully a trip to the cinema to catch Snowpiercer. And I'll do up the stats, too.

Online Dr. YoKai

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #15 on: July 28, 2014, 07:59:48 AM »
A bit of progress -


And the two thirty ton ;) ship's boats.



Sorry for the tardy reports - This has been a summer of honey-dos >:( ... :P

Online Dr. YoKai

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #16 on: August 12, 2014, 10:50:07 AM »
And a wee bit further - ( I really gotta tinker with the light settings :-[ )


Its an under coat of yellow, with the black striping applied with decal film. Its a technique I have yet to
perfect, but its getting better. Better pictures next time, too. That's the port forward sandcaster, by the by.

Offline Weaver

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #17 on: August 12, 2014, 05:41:42 PM »
Ship from a '70s game gotta have it's Foss-stripes.......  8)

Interesting take on the sandcaster.

I always thought the simplistic treatment of small ship weapons was a weak point of the original Traveller. It basically made armament quantity rigidly related to ship size, so the only trade-off you could make was quality-for-cash.
"I have described nothing but what I saw myself, or learned from others" - Thucydides

"I've jazzed mine up a bit" - Spike Milligan

"I'm a general specialist," - Harry Purvis in Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke

Twitter: @hws5mp
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Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #18 on: August 13, 2014, 07:00:07 AM »
Doc.. that is looking alright

I always thought the simplistic treatment of small ship weapons was a weak point of the original Traveller. It basically made armament quantity rigidly related to ship size, so the only trade-off you could make was quality-for-cash.
LOL, I seem to remember the same philosophical arguments around the magazines when Space Opera was released and Phil McGregor and co roundly canned Traveller.
The simplistic, easy to plan, easy to play , easy to build Traveller universe versus the much more complex but somewhat richer Space Opera.

Sorry for the thread hijack Doc.. oops :-[

Online Dr. YoKai

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #19 on: August 19, 2014, 09:19:45 AM »


Its getting closer to finished. I need to spray some alclad on the tail cone and cargo container, which will
then get some salt weathering as befits a well-travelled crate.

The somewhat limited stats: Gila class modular freighter 600 tons, power plant M / Jump drive M for Jump 4,
maneuver drive D for Maneuver 1 ( Which, I think corresponds to 1 g acceleration. Its got legs, but its not
real spry ) 4 hard points, typically two sandcasters forward, and two triple laser or single fusion turrets aft.
Two 30 ton ships boats.

As to game mechanics, I remember Space opera, but never actually bought the system. ( though I still have
a few of the really splendid minis realeased for the game. ) Indeed, after running one game session with
some rather...too enthusiastic kids in the early 'eighties, I just treated it as literature and inspiration ever since.
I do think Traveller remains one of the most elegantly packaged role-playing games ever released. I like
the universe, too - it owed a lot more to Poul Anderson than it did to George Lucas, and I really wish it had become popularenough to spawn the same kind of popular following the D & D enjoys to this day.

Online Dr. YoKai

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #20 on: September 04, 2014, 08:29:26 AM »
Just about finished.

I decided to go ahead and start a base for it as well.

Offline Tophe

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #21 on: September 08, 2014, 11:46:45 PM »
Wow! :-*

Offline Frank3k

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #22 on: September 09, 2014, 01:03:58 AM »
It looks like a real workhorse! The base looks cool as well. Do you have the Pegasus "Mercury 9" kit? It has a base/control tower that may look good as well.

Offline Weaver

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #23 on: September 11, 2014, 12:21:27 AM »
It's looking great. The control tower will really make it.  :)
"I have described nothing but what I saw myself, or learned from others" - Thucydides

"I've jazzed mine up a bit" - Spike Milligan

"I'm a general specialist," - Harry Purvis in Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke

Twitter: @hws5mp
Minds.com: @HaroldWeaverSmith

Online Dr. YoKai

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Re: 600-ton Free Trader
« Reply #24 on: September 11, 2014, 08:39:49 AM »
 Thanks for compliments, colleagues.

 Frank - No, I've seen some nice things done with it (the Mercury 9 ) but I'm saving my schekels for the
 Cosmostrator. The Mercury 9 just doesn't send me. I'm kind of enjoying doing my own buildings - you can
 just see the first version of the tower behind the Gila in the main shot. I'll probably use it in another build in the 
 near future. Mind you, I'm not looking forward to doing the masking on the tower... :D