"A digital NeoSoviet space fleet concept" Topic

I have a pretty sizable collection of starship miniatures from such excellent sources as Brigade Models, Ground Zero Games, Kallistra, and others, including some scratchbuilt items. About a year ago, I noticed that Brigade's excellent line of starships did not cover their fluff's NeoSoviet faction, so I decided to try my hand at it in Sketchup.

The style is largely inspired by the Eagle Transports from Space: 1999 and the Cygnus from Disney's The Black Hole. I wanted to capture the sparse, no-frills, industrial feel of the NeoSov approach to warfare.

Each ship is constructed of modular components that allow them to engage in a variety of missions. The main weapon is the dual-mount railgun turret, followed by the turrets of nuke-tipped smart missiles. The carrier packs a complement of Ferret-class heavy fighters.

First, the Frigate:

Destroyer:

Light Cruiser:

Heavy Cruiser:

Battlecruiser:

Battleship:

Dreadnought:

Heavy Carrier:

And a group shot:

All the ships were built from these basic elements:

I realize now that I should have designed a lighter-weight turret for anti-fighter use, and the missile turrets are a little off, somehow. Maybe they're too big. I'll have to think more on that concept.

I haven't even attempted to upload these to Shapeways yet, but I'm pretty certain they would be prohibitively expensive. *sigh*

Thanks,
jav98

very nice , the same design aesethic follows each class of ship .

I am not fond of the girder look of the elements though the same ships done in a smoother finish would suit me fine. Don't know about Shapeways pricing but I have been told that if an item is hollowed out to save the cost of material it is less expensive. You might discuss this on the Shapeways forums. Perhaps other users could suggest a way to reduce the cost.

Great stuff. If you convert some of the "greebly" bits into shaded 2D art, and made the engine modules polygonal rather than smooth sphere elements, this could easily be made into printable 3D paper models. The overall shapes are basic, after all-- mostly rectangular boxes. Dead simple stuff to fold and glue that sort of thing together.

I find them wonderful. There is something very real and utilitarian about them. IMO don't change a thing. I love the look. I would use them as lower tech ships. Like them a lot.

jav98 Mate, these are Brill. If I had the cash I'd help have these done as a plastic spruce kit ( to make 2 or 3 big ones and up to 10 smaller all in a box,bit o glue – can even have them pre-coulored in a faction colour Red/green? and away you go :) I'd have a fleet of these sure enough, you've got talent and it needs to become reality. Pity I can't help but how about kickstarter for this? I may not be able to be a big punter here, but I'd be up for it as part of the crowd. 10 out of 10 and I'm sure you could do all the other factions in a similar way;) Again mate, way to go.

I like the girder look and the modules, but not the "noses." Do they really have windows? Why do the windows have such a 2D orientation? Do the decks really run parallel to the long axis, instead of perpendicular? The engines look like real rockets and these don't look like designs where they would have artificial gravity, so the decks need to be oriented so you don't "fall" down the floor toward the aft wall when you thrust.

I'll echo the praise part; not a fan of 3D prints, but these may work in spite of me. ;->=

Out of curiosity, do you speak any Russian? I took a couple of classes, many decades ago, and somethings still bother me when I see them.

The backwards R, for instance. It's actually a vowel. Pedantic, I know. ;->=

(As is the backwards N, and the ersatz U is the consonant TS. Blame the Greeks.)

Doug

Nah! That's just a font called "Kremlin" that I downloaded from dafont.com!

Of course, I could have tried naming them from the few Russian words I do know. The "Rodina" would have worked, and "Do Svidanya" would make a certain amount of sense, but naming ships the "Borscht", the "Piroshky", and the "Kvass" would most likely fail to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy.

Awesome work as usual :)

Only complaint I have is that you need to have the guns at the same level, and you need them at different elevations The guns that you have in a row, can't all fire forward because they are on the same level. You need to stair step them. Look at any bow on shot of a naval battle ship and you wills see what I mean.

otherwise they are nice designs.

Yeah, I thought about that. Maybe the NeoSov doctrine is to engage in broadsides? But it's a point well taken and an issue easily fixed.

All the ships were built from these basic elements:

Back before the whole Wargames Factory debacle (and let's not dredge that up any farther), there was a concept to create modular spaceships that would allow the buyer to stick together basic components and turrets into the ships of their fancy. I think you may have stumbled onto a similar possibility here. Come up with some snap-on prongs and holes, particularly for the girder parts and the turrets, and you could sell these as kits capable of producing a variety of vessels (or one or two big vessels0 in a single set. Frankly, I'd drool over that.

As it is, the flat surfaces might let the do-it-yourselfer to pull off a glue together ship anyway. You might be able to contract the design with somebody like Bergstrom Studios for resin or metal components, and hopefully offer cheaper ships than Shapeways will allow.

Of course, I could have tried naming them from the few Russian words I do know. The "Rodina" would have worked, and "Do Svidanya" would make a certain amount of sense, but naming ships the "Borscht", the "Piroshky", and the "Kvass" would most likely fail to strike fear into the hearts of the enemy.

Although as "Neo-Soviets," they could be the product of a society of clueless English speakers who discovered obscure references to a long lost culture from "ancient" human history, and decided to emulate it. They of course have no clue what "Borscht," "Pirojskhy", "Kvass" or any other Russian words actually mean (not even the term "Soviet")— they just think they all sound intimidating. A lot of fun could be had with that…

"Captain! We're being hailed by the Neo-Soviet Dreadnought Babushka!"
"Ye gads, what a horrible-sounding name— it just chills the blood. I wonder what it means…"
"Probably some fearsome hero no one could stand against."
"Stands to reason. Well, hail them back."

All stand in awe of the fearsome Yummy Class SuperDreadnoughts! ;->=

Though, the thought of beet soup and rotted bread squeezings… *shudder*

Like I said, it's a personal thing, and I like the ships. As for the turrets, Traveller had retractable turrets, which these could be to an extent. Extendable to be 'stepped', as needed.

With the barrels in stages, I could see them shortened, and pulled inside the turret, and those dropped into the ship. Or, I'd claim such if asked.

Doug

Edit: Babushka. I was taught it had two meanings, depending on accented syllable. I've since been told that's not true.

Depending on printing – would it be possible to make parts in metal, and resin bodies?

Wow, those are great!

Parzival, I totally remember that debacle! That was back before I wrote off WF's Liberty and Union League… *sigh*

I could totally make these into interlocking, interchangable components. Not quite to Lego standards, but still very doable for the home hobbyist.

Windows are a weakness you don't build into a warship in space. Also you need radiators for all the heat. Engines produce heat. Reactors produce heat. Lasers produce heat. Computers produce heat. People produce heat. If you don't get rid of heat, your crew gets roasted and your ship starts to melt.

Weeeelll … not melt. Not unless you're using lasers that can fire from the Earth to the Sun, or your engines are so powerful that the radiators just snap off because of the massive thrust. Not that it matters, since you crew is now jelly.

Milk crates in space?

Windows are a weakness you don't build into a warship in space. Also you need radiators for all the heat. Engines produce heat. Reactors produce heat. Lasers produce heat. Computers produce heat. People produce heat. If you don't get rid of heat, your crew gets roasted and your ship starts to melt.

Do you want to discuss physics, or do you want to blow stuff up… in spaaaaace?

I'm for the latter, personally.

And maybe those aren't windows. Maybe they're massive fiberoptic sensor banks that carry information to display arrays within the ship.

And maybe that grid system actually represents radiating surfaces surrounding the vessel— or maybe they even unfold to better release built up heat once combat is completed (or as the final act of surrender, as envisioned by the game Attack Vector:Tactical).

Use your imaginations, lads.

Spaceships need windows. Without them, it is more difficult to associate with the 'crew' we imagine are on board, which we need, as their 'admirals', to give us a sense of personality. Also, windows are instantly recognisable as such, and thus, provide a sense of scale to a miniature.

I wasn't sold on these at first, but as I scrolled down through the bigger designs, I found myself saying 'yes!'

I like 'em. Now, where's the U.S. Space Force? ;)

Outstanding as always ! On these, the windows are fine. Its where the political oficers bunk :)

Very fine looking ships.

Should not the frigate and destroyer classes be in reverse? I mean, isn't a destroyer smaller than a frigate? Also, a battlecruiser should be a faster, lighter gun version of a battleship, shouldn't it?

Otherwise a nice job.

Most starship lines I'm aware of have the DD's larger. History is fuzzy; for the period of the great wars, (WWI-WWII) they were smaller, but both classes have grown.

Destroyers are now, in function, cruisers.

Course, in B5, destroyers were the big bad ships.

And maybe that grid system actually represents radiating surfaces…

This getting old crap is really beginning to rankle me. I could have sworn I already said that. Maybe somewhere else…

Doug

Yeah, I was just following the naming conventions of GZG and Brigade. Call 'em whatever you like!

I want, question now is. When? And can we get it in plastic? My crowdfunding monies are being counted as I write this ;)

They look great!

Very nice, very nice. The faux-Cyrillic hurts my eyes, though- it's literally unpronounceable, as there simply is not an 'S', 'I', or 'G' character. Your best equivalents are С, И, and Г, respectively.

@SouthernPhantom I share your pain, but it doesn't hurt their eyes…. ;->=

Doug

Apologies for minor thread derailment, but going back to the WGF modular ships concept for a moment: I still have the CAD concept models, and could upload them to Shapeways if there was some interest?

Getting back on topic: the Russian ships look great, nice and industrial looking.

@Lsutehall: Yeah, go for it! I'm sure there are people out there who would love to pick those up.

@Maddaz111: I wish I had the time, resources, knowledge, and inclination to cast these, but I don't. I'd be open to letting an established caster produce the line, but otherwise, Shapeways is as far as I go towards the entire production question.

They remind me of the skyfurnaces from THE RED STAR…

Another thought on the windows: They're windows, yes, but they're not glass (or plastic)— obviously, they're transparent aluminum! AND they're actually only transparent in the visible light spectrum— they completely block any wavelengths below infrared (the latter is allowed to permit incidental internal thermal excess to radiate through the "windows") as well as anything above violet (including UV, x-ray and gamma rays). So all the advantages of "seeing what's out there" with none of the risks.

See, pretty much anything on a spaceship can be explained away:

Fins? Thermal radiators!
Streamlining? Gas giant fuel-skimming ops/interstellar dust deflection!
Windows? Transparent aluminum!
Skullz (TM)? Uh… err… uhm… okay, nothing explains skulls. :-P

Well done, sir!

Javelin , all I have to say is:

Good Work!!

I have been searching for low tech-looking ships like these for some hard Scifi game (or to use them to represent the old B5wars Grome fleet) for ages…

Now you should go to Shapeways , so I can part with my (hard earned) money…