"Scratchbuilt Mobile Shipyard/factor ship (work in progress)" Topic

I am working on a Mobile Shipyard/factory ship for my upcoming new alien faction for Full Thrust. Called the Wanderers; they are basically nomadic traders who wander from area to area, trading and breeding like mad. :D

The basic concept is a mobile shipyard that builds ships via nano-tech; think a 3-D printer that builds ships, and the various pieces of equipment are constructed by the forward factory module of the ship and installed into the nano-tech constructed hull.

The engines that attach to the rear of the ship (3 of them) are surplus rear hull halves of some Spartan Terran Alliance Teuton cruisers.

The front of the hull is a cut down base from a Ravenstar base station that I had lying around.

The front part of the ship isn't designed yet, but is to hold the rest of the factory units, and docking facilities for a mining ship that delivers semi-processed materials for the nano-systems to build ships out of (as well as spare parts and other needful things).

It will have clear styrene sheets for "windows" to keep the interior of the ship construction area tidy, and a folding rear door so ships can enter/exit.

There will also be 6 long rods that have bent pins inserted in them to serve as arms that construct the ship.

4 of the 6 sides taped together to test fit.

Folding rear door.

Looks great, thanks for sharing it.

i like the window , it shows off the ship very well , and that base worked out well as a templet.

Yes, it was very handy to have that spare base lying around. :)

is the model in the pic with the drawing the the controll and propulsion part of the yard?

Yep, looks like a great concept, and start.

Who makes the vessel and base you have shown inside the production facility now?

They look very nice too.

Ravenstar,

The large hexagonal part is the shipyard, and there are 3 engine assemblies that will be attached to the rear. That ship-like thing next to the drawing is a left over rear hull from a Spartan Terran Alliance Teuton cruiser. When you buy a Cruiser squadron box they give you the rear hull assemblies for 3 Hauberk and 3 Teuton cruisers. I used the Hauberk assemblies, and had the 3 Teuton assemblies left, which I decided to use on the Mobile Shipyard as engines.

The model that is inside the hexagonal shipyard is the largest ship the shipyard can construct, and I simply put in there to show how it would fit inside.

Mako11,

The vessel inside the shipyard is a Spartan Terran Alliance Hauberk cruiser. The base is a Corsec 50mm base with 1" stem. The firing arc sticker on it is a sticker I had made for myself (I have both 4-arc versions that were made for A Call to Arms: Star Fleet, and 6-arc versions that I have for Full Thrust – which I sell by the way).

Cool. Looks likes going to be a fun build

Thank you for the info.

In retrospect, I probably should have made the body from thinner styrene. I used .060 and while it gives some needed stiffness, it take a while to make cuts through it. But this is meant to be a miniature to be used on the gaming table and I don't want it either drooping due to it's own weight, or breaking when some ham-fisted gamer breaks it, you know? :)

Do you think you could have gotten by with five sides of the hexagon frame on the door end? Enough to allow the base to be slid in?

As you can tell, I'm an old fan of DLD's space dock, and Ravenstar's reimagined one.

By the way, I know it's more work, but believe your first decision to design for strength against stupidity was correct. ;->=

Doug

Doug,

The rear end of the shipyard where the door is has a notch cut out to allow the stem to pass through. I did that after taking the picture of the door. I also added window glass into the rear door.

I am not planning on putting the "window glass" on the bottom; I thought about putting it in, with a long groove-like section cut out from the rear of the shipyard to where the miniature would stop when it's in place.

I thought it might look weird, though there is something to be said for having it so you can't force the miniature too far into the shipyard and smash against the front wall of it. :)

More photos:

I've added styrene windows, and some shipyard equipment. The long tubes with pins attached are construction equipment – think 3-D printing heads for ship construction, as well as grappling equipment for manipulating equipment modules that were constructed in the front of the ship and put into position around the "printed" hull. There will be 2 large hatches from the front of the ship to move equipment constructed in the front of the shipyard to where the "arms" can grapple it and move the equipment modules into position.

The rear door, completed:

I goofed and didn't paint around the edges of the windows/tubes before gluing the tubes into place, so it will be tricky getting in there now. Oops.

More pictures. I'm steadily but slowly making progress.

Rear view through door:

Front section, made from 1/16" sheet styrene:

Rear view of front section showing construction:

Base, made from a Mongoose base, drilled out for a 5/16 brass rod section. Also shown is a firing arc sticker I had made up for Full Thrust:

Base platform made from 6x3" plexiglass, with base attached to it.

Coming along very nicely! There's something of a 70's Sci Fi vibe about it. Can't exactly say why, can say I completely approve. :)

Definitely an 'oh my!' moment.

Have to admit head-hit-hand at the large base; 'of COURSE the parked ship needs to move with it…' *blush*

Scrolled back, MM, and if it stays white, definitely Space 1999/2001 ASO feel going on.

Doug

This is looking really nice. The interior details are great!

Update?

Doug

Sorry for the late update. I had the flu, which wiped me out, and I was sick for nearly 2 weeks. It took me awhile to get caught up and work on the shipyard again.

I am planning on making the ship the same green color the Wanderer warships use. One big problem that came up is that I am super reluctant to try to prime the rear of the ship – all those windows are going to be very hard to cover up, and the windows are fairly fragile so pressing tape onto them is likely to separate some of them. So I will have to paint without primer, unfortunately. Same goes with matte spray, not going to happen.

Here's 2 pictures:

Front assembly with globular storage tanks for materials for the nano-tech to build the ship out of. There are 2 tubes on the front of the ship (left side) to allow the Mining ship miniature to dock with the ship.

Front view of the shipyard.

Can't shake seeing the 'tubes' as engines at the moment, but it might be because it's 0415.

…so pressing tape onto them…

Passing thought: isn't t here a brush on mask that might suit you? Don't know myself, but somebody might here.

Never apologize; I live for this crap, and am most grateful when you can crowbar it into Real Life [tm].

Thanks!

Doug

Paint on mask: link

Never used it, but worth trying. I would use a scrap part first.

Very cool. This is an impressive undertaking. I can't wait to see how it looks when painted.

Doug, just to let you know, I haven't forgotten about this project. I got distracted by my Full Thrust Trek conversion and new miniatures to paint. :)

I've started to paint this thing again, hopefully in the next week or so I'll have it done and I'll get pics up… Be nice to finish another project and get it off my workbench and on to the display shelf.

@bill Had no worries; I've whinged enough about my own RL[tm] issues. That said, I'll be watching this thread like a hawk.

Especially if Sean expresses continued interested. See, I have this Ravenstar FRD that could use his kind of talent. ;->=

Doug

Alright, the shipyard is FINALLY finished. :D

Pics:
The base – a 3"x6" piece of plexiglass with a 5/16th brass rod insert. I enlarged and printed out one of my firing arc stickers for this project.

Side view:

Front view. The cylinders are for a freighter to dock and deliver raw materials. I will be using a Spartan Terran Alliance Mars carrier on a separate base.

Rear view, showing the rear door:

Rear side view, showing the rear door:

Side view, showing a Wanderer Combatant class vessel inside the shipyard:

Rear view, showing a Wanderer Combatant class vessel inside the shipyard:

This project took a lot longer to complete than I expected. Whew.

Next up will be the Freighter that docks to the Shipyard. I have the mini primed; I just have to mount it, paint, and decal it.

I'm calling SWEET!

Doug

By St. Thomas Aquinas' Magnificent Hat!

That is a thing of absolute beauty,and would grace any table. Hell, I'd probably lose just because I'd be staring at it and not concentrating on the game!

Thanks guys. :) I wanted to do more decal detailing, but I didn't have enough decals.

VERY nicely done, Bill. The paint scheme just pulls it all together, which is what usually happens in scratchbuilds.

I am nearing completion of the Wanderer freighter, which is designed to dock to the front of the shipyard and deliver raw materials.

I'll get pics up in the near future (within a few days I hope).

Tease.

Yeah, you told us that a month ago. ;->=

And, haven't we been waiting patiently…

Doug

Those dang Trek miniatures keep sucking up my time. That and editing 2 fleet books for Jim Klein (NAC and the Kharadorn). :)

I think tomorrow will probably be the day I get pics up.

That is AWESOME!

I'm going to build something similar, but not identical. The Jovian Chronicles Gagarin-class Fleet Tender is similar, but has a cylindrical pressure volume. I think I will be able to use a PET drink bottle for the cylinder. Probably use plain paper for the door sections, unless I can figure out the endcaps.

Bill, as excuses go, darn good ones. You KNOW I'm all for new FT material. This is moi, hushing up.

LitS, if you were an OLD GUY, like some of us, larger, old pill bottles, cylindrical with caps, would be fine. Otherwise, simple styrene tubes are everywhere. I've some after-Xmas sale candy canes still waiting conversions.

Disposable drink lids, some PETE, some PS, can be cut for a simple circle with greebles, if you choose right.

Doug

Doug, here you go…

Wanderer mining ship

Rear view:

Front view:

Docked to Mobile Shipyard:

The Mining ship is a Spartan Firestorm Armada Terran Alliance Ares carrier.

Yep, that works. (He grins, beating understatement to death.)

Doug