Old Republic Star Cruiser

RussC · September 21, 2011, 04:10:45 PM

A few years back, made a 1/144 scratchbuild Millenium Falcon, to accompany the Ftoys Star Wars 1/144 craft series.

note- this was before the 144 scale resin kit by Anigrand or the Fine Molds one came along, besides, mine cost about 2$ in materials versus the 99 and 49 dollars respectively!

After this, thought it might be worth a try at a slightly larger ship, but not on the scale of the Star Destroyers. Drew up a craft for high speed patrols and long range shuttle missions, carry of essential freight or dignitaries or small forces. Went with the "arrowhead" layout of the republic cruisers scaled down, but also the hammerhead of the Alderaan transports and a few more touches outside of Lucasfilm thinking. Made this with a mix of hard faced foamboard (gatorfoamboard brands) and bristol 100 weight smooth art paper, plus some wooden shapes, mostly from hardwood dowel.

Markings are for the "red circle fleet" of the period of the first three prequel films and clone wars.

Taiidantomcat · September 22, 2011, 08:07:03 AM

Wow!! Flying wings and sci fi!? It just gets better and better Russ

scooter · September 22, 2011, 08:12:52 AM

Impressive...most impressive. ::cue the cowled, cultured, and evil voice of Palpatine::

RussC · September 22, 2011, 01:25:02 PM

Thanks, everyone.

BTW, while looking about the web for decent 3-views of the Millenium Falcon, I actually uncovered the trivia that there is a actual freighter serving on the US Great Lakes called the Millenium Falcon. How cool is that? Of course if you were working as a hand on that vessel and walked into a bar, you would have to dodge the "What ship are you from"? question - lest you get barraged by jokes like- 'pour the wookie a pint'.

arkon · September 22, 2011, 04:23:22 PM

man you got some super wicked skills.

PetarB · October 03, 2011, 10:57:15 PM

Some very nice work there!

lancer · October 04, 2011, 01:31:03 PM

That delta weinged thing looks pretty good, shame an even prettier Corellian Corvette was sacrificed to build it.

[rant on]You know, I really wish that the CGI types and ship designers for the Star Wars prequels had been more creartive with thier ship designs instead of making them based on original and in the timeline much later and original designs.[/rant off]

scooter · October 04, 2011, 02:51:58 PM

Quote from: lancer on October 04, 2011, 01:31:03 PM
[rant on]You know, I really wish that the CGI types and ship designers for the Star Wars prequels had been more creartive with thier ship designs instead of making them based on original and in the timeline much later and original designs.[/rant off]

Agreed. Also CGI loses a lot of texture and shading that physical models have. I can believe that the Star Destroyers in the Original Trilogy are actual ships over the computer models of the prequels

Taiidantomcat · October 04, 2011, 03:37:01 PM

Quote from: lancer on October 04, 2011, 01:31:03 PM

[rant on]You know, I really wish that the CGI types and ship designers for the Star Wars prequels had been more creartive with thier ship designs instead of making them based on original and in the timeline much later and original designs.[/rant off]

I hear ya. Wasn't really their call though $:-\$ Still a few very cool designs at least, even if they didnt look particularly real thanks to CGI

Russ your falcon has given me ideas!

RussC · October 04, 2011, 04:01:39 PM

Interesting about the differences between models and CG, a lot of the subject about perception and vision. There are trade - offs. I also liked the effects done with big 8 to 20 foot "Hero" models in the early Star Trek and Star Wars, but one thing that drove me crazy was how each ship was composited onto the final print attached to its own little square or rectangle of black "space". While I have always required glasses for nearsightedness and some astigmatism, my perception of very low levels of shading is really good. And so while viewing that scene in Return of the Jedi where the rebels get swarmed by Imperial fighters after realizing they had been expected (Adm. Ackbar - "Its a trap!")- all I could see was this blizzard of little dark blue and black squares racing at the screen. When the films were re-tooled in the 1990's and some CG done, all those print artifacts are gone and the scene is breathtaking as intended.
Done well, CG can be an asset, its when lesser studios like those who supply bulk films to the likes of the Sci-fi Channel use graphics that wouldn't make it even on video games.

No corvette or blockade runner or CR90 or Tantive-4 was sacrificed, just some dixie cups.