mung
Sr Member
I came across this thumbnail in my Pinterest feed.
When I followed the link I ended up at a "missing page" error on Artstation so I have no idea who the artist is.
If you recognise this drawing please let me know who the artist is.
I instantly thought this could be a future scratchbuild project and I was inspired to start the planning phase.
I took this image into a computer modeling program to make a low poly study model.
Modeling off any drawing can be a bit fiddly as you need to match the rough perspective of the drawing.
I start by modeling the simplest known geometry in this case the engines as they are basically cylinders.
I then with a 50mm virtual camera lens rotate the camera about until I get the best fit.
If it looks like the perspective lines are more convergent, or the drawn perspective is a bit more wide angle I will try a 35mm lens or if it seems like the perspective lines are less convergent then I try a more telephoto lens such as 85mm.
As you build more parts you may have to keep adjusting the lens focal length and the position of the camera to get a better fit.
Because the image is drawn and not photographed the perspective may be all over the place and it can be really difficult to make everything fit logically.
Eventually I ended up with the view below where the model is slightly transparent over the thumbnail image and it lines up the best I can make it as well as being pleasing in proportions from all views.
The grid spacing in the images below is set so that each major square is 100mm and the small squares 10mm.
From this I can use the side and top view to measure of the size of each component in model size.
The thumbnail does not suggest any bridge as there are no windows in evidence.
I will be departing from the thumbnail in that I want a set of bridge windows at the front.
As to the scale of the model I am still deciding on 1/24 or 1/35 haven't made up my mind yet.
I then set up an orthographic camera looking straight onto the ship front on and set up clipping planes that only show a narrow slice of the model.
Moving the camera along and taking screen grabs I generate a series of bulkhead shapes that can then be used for the ribbing of the model.
I had eight bulkhead stations in total that can be used to build the frame of the ship much like shipbuilding.
The picture below shows one of the screen grabs.
The screen grabs were then processed in photoshop to enlarge them to model size and clean them up for printing onto paper.
Note that there is a vertical and horizontal datum line printed on all the bulkheads so that they can all be correctly aligned.
n this case its pretty simple as most of the stations top edge lines with the top deck.
These paper templates then get stuck onto 2mm styrene for cutting out.
Where there are vertical recesses between some of the stations I made double bulkheads separated by an 8mm strip.
I started with the top deck gluing it to a wooden mounting structure.
The top pattern was derived by tracing over the top view low poly model in LibraCAD at the model scale.
It was then cut out of 2mm styrene.
I am using 15mm water pipe flanges for mounting points as is my usual practice and you can most of the wiring has been installed including a switch for the engine lights inside a recessed PVC tube. This switch gets mounted to the rear panel between the engines and will become just another surface detail.
Eagle eyed viewers may spot sneaking into the background of the pictures above a centre section under construction for the Container spaceship project.
I am endeavoring to get back to that project but this one proved too tempting not to start.
To be continued...
When I followed the link I ended up at a "missing page" error on Artstation so I have no idea who the artist is.
If you recognise this drawing please let me know who the artist is.
I instantly thought this could be a future scratchbuild project and I was inspired to start the planning phase.
I took this image into a computer modeling program to make a low poly study model.
Modeling off any drawing can be a bit fiddly as you need to match the rough perspective of the drawing.
I start by modeling the simplest known geometry in this case the engines as they are basically cylinders.
I then with a 50mm virtual camera lens rotate the camera about until I get the best fit.
If it looks like the perspective lines are more convergent, or the drawn perspective is a bit more wide angle I will try a 35mm lens or if it seems like the perspective lines are less convergent then I try a more telephoto lens such as 85mm.
As you build more parts you may have to keep adjusting the lens focal length and the position of the camera to get a better fit.
Because the image is drawn and not photographed the perspective may be all over the place and it can be really difficult to make everything fit logically.
Eventually I ended up with the view below where the model is slightly transparent over the thumbnail image and it lines up the best I can make it as well as being pleasing in proportions from all views.
The grid spacing in the images below is set so that each major square is 100mm and the small squares 10mm.
From this I can use the side and top view to measure of the size of each component in model size.
The thumbnail does not suggest any bridge as there are no windows in evidence.
I will be departing from the thumbnail in that I want a set of bridge windows at the front.
As to the scale of the model I am still deciding on 1/24 or 1/35 haven't made up my mind yet.
| Side view |
| Top view |
I then set up an orthographic camera looking straight onto the ship front on and set up clipping planes that only show a narrow slice of the model.
Moving the camera along and taking screen grabs I generate a series of bulkhead shapes that can then be used for the ribbing of the model.
I had eight bulkhead stations in total that can be used to build the frame of the ship much like shipbuilding.
The picture below shows one of the screen grabs.
The screen grabs were then processed in photoshop to enlarge them to model size and clean them up for printing onto paper.
Note that there is a vertical and horizontal datum line printed on all the bulkheads so that they can all be correctly aligned.
n this case its pretty simple as most of the stations top edge lines with the top deck.
These paper templates then get stuck onto 2mm styrene for cutting out.
Where there are vertical recesses between some of the stations I made double bulkheads separated by an 8mm strip.
I started with the top deck gluing it to a wooden mounting structure.
The top pattern was derived by tracing over the top view low poly model in LibraCAD at the model scale.
It was then cut out of 2mm styrene.
I am using 15mm water pipe flanges for mounting points as is my usual practice and you can most of the wiring has been installed including a switch for the engine lights inside a recessed PVC tube. This switch gets mounted to the rear panel between the engines and will become just another surface detail.
Eagle eyed viewers may spot sneaking into the background of the pictures above a centre section under construction for the Container spaceship project.
I am endeavoring to get back to that project but this one proved too tempting not to start.
To be continued...
Last edited:
Great start, btw; eager to see the next update
