VLOG: Dropfleet Space Station Update!
November 18, 2016 by warzan
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I get more of a Babylon 5 vibe or even Utopia Planetia ( really not sure that’s the correct spelling ) ship yard from Star Trek 😀 .
It was Babylon 5 I meant lol
Tiredness is taking a grip 😉
i dunno whats more impressive, the modular nature of them or @johnlyons heroic 2 day slog getting them off the sprue…
Obviously the parts i clipped off made all the difference 😉
indeed 😉
No surprise @ warzan . Coming off a bootcamp like The Walking Dead, only to begin the work filled countdown into DFC.
There may be no weathering in space (unless you fly through funky, corrosive nebulae) but there is going to be plenty of debris orbiting the planet (go watch Gravity!) that will ding up the paintwork, not to mention battle damage! So I think you a little weathering won’t go amiss 😉
One of my favorite space stations is a shot from Galaxy Quest where there is a station built into what is left of a planet that was apparently blown up, presumably by Sarris.
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/galaxyquest/images/7/71/Thermian-station.png/revision/latest?cb=20121216175616
For paint schemes, perhaps base coat a semi-metallic silver, then add (effectively) racing stripes in colors representative of the function of the station. Some general use stations can be multi colored striped, medical research could be red, engineering could be blue, botanical could be green, etc. I don’t imagine any bureaucracy would spend the money to paint an entire station, but identification stripes would be “cheaper” to add. However, there should be one station that is flat black, a dark money research station where things like the Doom movie are set. Anyone docking there better be well armed and suited… Read more »
Instead of a lot of weathering, you could practice a lot of object source lighting techniques. Light those mother ships up. For the central core of the big station, can you use acrylic rod and light it with fiber optics? Possibly change colors? I find that this close to Christmas, there are plenty of shops that carry cheap decorations made with fiber optics. They make great sources of parts to re-purpose for models.
@warzan by “central core” you mean “shaft” right?
Also there is weathering in space. kinda. all the junk ships throw out has to go somewhere, exhaust gasses will mar the surface of anything close enough etc. Its really one of those times were what’s realistic and what people expect to be realistic don’t match up, so you’ll get away with either clean colours with just zenithal lighting or dirt covered junk heaps.
A harsh object sourced lighting might work well. One side brightly lit by the local star, the other side unlit by any light source save from the stations windows.
I’m assuming that the skewer being used is to line up the parts and is removable. You might want to consider putting the skewer back in after you finish painting it up a nice bright blue like a lit up reactor core that runs thru the station. Then use paint / airbrush areas near the ‘reactor’ in a glow effect.
Id say its entirely possible to write in small amounts of weathering, whether it be damage from battle, space debris including asteroids, or accidents from the ship yard where explosions stripped away the paint. Space stations are generally going to be a bland mega structure unless they come from the mind of Luc Besson, then you can paint them all colours of the rainbow. You could add in panel work, where repairs are done, this render of Ragnar Anchorage from BSG is a good example – http://media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/27/26776/Ragnar.png It was weather and damaged due to being stationed in a gas giant.… Read more »
Should also spray a poster tube silver for a rendezvous with rama station…
I am so going to steal the idea of a space dockyard…lol
On and on the colours 50 shades of grey…seems appropriate 😉
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I would still consider there to be weathering in space. First off you have your battle damage and repairs. You have maintenance from leaks and wear and tear. Don’t even get me started on space debris and meteors. Did you fly through a nebula or other particle based cloud? Do the stars you visit bleach out the paint jobs because there is no atmosphere to protect the ship? There is plenty of stuff to weather in, it is just not the same stuff. Trying to figure out how space weathering works and looks, now that is a fun challenge. Remember,… Read more »
true, but you’ve got to consider the scale of these things.
Especially in the Dropfleet commander universe.
The ‘tiny’ ships themselves are massive.
If you see ‘rust’ at that scale you’ve got one heck of a problem …
As such one could argue that the net effect of ‘weathering’ is that the paint scheme itself isn’t as bright as it would be up close.
Think of it as how a image on a monitor consists of tiny spots.
You don’t see those spots, untill you’re really really close to the screen.
I can’t wait for my pledge to arrive, because those space station variants look good.
Are these based on sketches from the Dropfleet rulebook ?
Any plans on publishing the schematics for them before or after the bootcamp ?
I vote bulge at one end. The butternut squash class space station.
Yup deff need a gourd class station
This is really exciting to see, can’t wait for my pledges to come in! Regarding the Babylon 5-esque space station and its rotation: Babylon 5 was conceived as having 2 parts, the cylindrical rotating piece for habitation, and a station-keeping spine that served as the “rotisserie motor” (if you will). It was off of this spine that Babylon 5 had its massive solar panels (and station defense cannons), and could provide a means for creating the rotation of the miniature. Although, that would provide a challenge for the ship docking. Don’t forget Fort Ticonderoga in Starship Troopers as well!
O yeah, also meant to mention that any of the troop carrier ships will having hull burning from entering atmosphere. Replacement of hull sections would be a very logical way of giving character to a fleet – would lend nicely to that sort of ‘battle-hardened battle group’ image. Fading of logos is something that makes a lot of sense, but rust wouldn’t really happen anywhere as one needs oxygen to get achieve the patina on metals associated with oxygen. Not sure what effect a dust cloud might have on a hull – dust only really sticks on vehicles, for instance,… Read more »
Four articles / discussions I found related to weathering and aging of vehicles in space:
http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/17196/do-things-get-dirty-in-space
http://space.stackexchange.com/questions/5329/do-solar-panels-on-satellites-gather-dust-and-need-cleaning
http://www.space.com/9397-mystery-solved-nasa-space-shuttles-dirty.html
https://www.quora.com/Does-the-ISS-ever-have-to-be-cleaned
The last one is related to the interior of a space station, but is still interesting. I find it fascinating that the velocity of meteorite impacts is so fast, it’s more akin to a splash than an dent.
No their is a type of weathering in space, The solar wind is a collection of electrons and protons and atomic nucli traveling at different speeds. The higher speed particles can do damage to satellites so the out layer of a space station could show some signs of erosion. It not going to be the same type of erosion you would see on earth. Think Sand blasting but at the atomic level. areas would need to be repaired or repainted every once and while.
@Warzan – if you’re such a science geek then surely you get a sense of “Mass” rather than “Weight” with regards to orbital space stations? 😉 😛
That space station already looks amazing in all its phallic glory. 🙂
But I really like the production lined designs. I might borrow some of those layouts.
you could pant them like Starfleet ships having a range of shades so each panel is different from the ones surrounding them?
I think you mean Babylon 5 not DS9? https://goo.gl/images/wFLgPm