"How big should a dropship be?" Topic

I have had more than a couple of requests for Dropships and/or Freetraders.

Now I assume a Freetrader should be larger than a Dropship, kinda….

So I ask how big should a Dropship be? Or really how much should it be able to land?

I can see something along the lines of Aliens' Dropship, where a single loaded APC is the entire load. Which gives a general bulk of 3 to 4 times the carried load.

I also can see a larger Dropship that could land an entire platoon.

I also see that a small freetrader in the same size class as that larger dropship.

The other question is tail sitter or belly lander? To be very honest I am a huge fan of tail sitters, I have always liked Battletech's Dropships

I've always liked the dropships out of the starship troopers film, awful though it was.

YouTube link

I couldn't find a decent still, so instead I present a badly cut together video of the drop sequence (not done by me)

As to size, I think that it should be able to carry a platoon or so of infantry, or maybe 2 tanks

Depends on whether the drop ships are designed to continuously ferry troops down, or to drop and be recovered afterwads.

In the first instance bigger, as it needs more fuel etc. In the second instance they would be smaller and lighter.

have a look at the size of the space shuttle. big craft small payload. and it cant even get off the ground by itself.

I'd think of them more like modern transport chopper sized. Blackhawks, Hueys etc… Just without rotors. I think in skirmish terms though (a dozen models per side or so) so am biased. As said above, depends on what you think a drop-ship is, as they aren't actually real.

Depends. What 'cha droppin'?

Also, I'd say it would need to be larger then modern vehicles. You'll probably want better crash equipment and G-couches because those rides down are probably hell.

IMHO a Freetrader ship would be at least this large

Otherwise it's just a lander or shuttle.

You know, I have the templates for that very paper model on my computer somewhere… I also have a smaller one as well that would work in 15mm…

Also… the Falcon ain't that big. You sayin' its a shuttle?

I dont think our personal design whims are as important as intended tabletop useage.

You want a big f.o. statement piece, then a largish, platoon sized lander is the order of the day.

If like me you want to replicate a vertictal envelopment by flights of dropships which have a self defence/ground support capacity, then smaller is key. This will allow them to maneouvre and have a presence over the tabletop, whilst being able to sustain a couple of losses without it being catastrophic to the game at hand.

At a push my favourite multi-media dropship is the HALO Pelican

So, squad sized is best for my gaming.

Cheers
Mark

Check out Mil-Net a CAV web site. mil-net.net
They have a CAV drop-ship plan and paper print out to build on foam board. I believe it can actually hold eight CAV mechs with working doors. A nice size ship for 15s or 28s.

8)

Ah, the Hercules. I've built it so I'll give some VERY quick advice. Many of the pieces are broken down to allow you to print the templates. When you cut them out do it as single pieces. It will give you a MUCH greater level of structural integrity If you don't it can be pretty floppy, especially in the wings. I also suggest that instead of using templates you simply print out one of every piece and just PASTE it onto your Foam core. Saves a heck of a lot of time…

Now for other toys… I present the following…

This beast like the Herc mentioned above has no detail but with work can look… well… the pictures speak for themselves. The one above is this very ship properly detailed. The printing template is at the top of the page. You'd want to print it out at about 70% scale to get it to be 15mm scale, as while it's actually a hair underscale at 28mm scale, its well over sized for 15mm.

link

This one is fully detailed just print, but it doesn't seem to be quite 15mm scale to me…

link

I know this wasn't the topic of the post but it might help someone…

And here's a paper Pelican because it was mentioned above! Also needs to be scaled down…

link

what are you transporting in it????
a squad or a armored div.?
size would depend on its job..

At a push my favourite multi-media dropship is the HALO Pelican

Mark, I agree with you 100% – love the Pelican!

I started making one for 15mm gaming, but it's a big beast – at 1/100 a Pelican is over a foot long… can't see many people shelling out for one unfortunately, so it'll probably sit half finished on my shelf forever.

Cheers
Michael

When in doubt, papercraft it! :D

I made one out of a remote controlled Batmobile from then ew movies. The picture here shows it just after constructions, but shows the scale with 15mm figures.

I tend to think back to the dropships from Aliens and Starship Troopers, myself. Definitely room out there for a variety of sizes, though.

Traveller and Star Frontiers had a lot of good examples of small spaceships that were used for landing on the planets.

Thanks for the idea, emu2020! I've got one of those myself, and have been trying to come up with an idea of what to use it for…

A proper dropship should be designed to ferry the right amount of force to seize the ground it is landing on – so either a platoon or a company of troops plus their vehicles.

It should have adequate point defenses so that it can remain in place and act as a head quarters. It should have sufficient communications capabilities to access the troops tactical net and act as a relay to ships in orbit.

It may or may not be capable of returning to orbit. It depends upon the background and so forth. Landing is about 1/10th as hard as taking off. If it is not dependent upon larger starships and meant to act independently then of course it would need an ability to take off. It may be limited by the gravity well of planets as to which ones it can land on and remain independent.

@retzlaffmd – Also of use are the various plastic action figure versions. They are not so squat as this cheap RC one. You can get them bigger too just in case you wanted to make a larger ship.

-Eli

Best thing about the action figure ones is they open up! You can gut that compartment and turn it into a small gaming area!

OK, I did ask for input….

But how big on the table?

What is too big?

I thinking that 4 to 6 inches is about the size I should be aiming for. Which is one maybe two armored vehicles. in landing capacity.

I think that depends on it's intended use, which is what I think folks have been trying to communicate.

A squad dropship wouldn't have to be more than a 4-6 inches.

-Eli

Yah, emu2020 I know. I am just trying to wrap my head around a project.

And trying to normalize what people mean by what they say as discriptors, and yes I know everybody has different idea when they use the same discriptors.

And to be honest a Dropship is a function not a descriptor of size.

Looking at the Helo analogy a CH-47 is aprox. 6 inches long in scale and can carry 40+ combat equipped troops. I say this, I think a light comes on….

Overall volume plays a part in that too. a CH-47 occupies a similar amount of space to other helos on the table, but it is layed out differently with a big oll troop box in the space that would normally be spanned by a long tail.

-eli

Agreed about the minimum of a squad and a few pods (comms, gun drone/platform, etc.).

If the dropship delivers fewer people and equipment than a squad level support than the economics are way off target…special ops not considered.

I like squad level at least if not 2 squads.

Did some measurements on the one from Mil Net. If you extend the CAV bays by about 2CM on both sides they should be able to hold most 15mm vehicles. Tightly with the larger ones, yes, but they'd be a solid combat dropper…