[email removed] (Scott Kellogg) writes:
> Wildstar:
> }It was quite a while ago, but when I designed the Gold of Zurrian, I was
> }told (and this was "official" information at the time) that most Imperial
> }vessels used the *VILANI* conventions, not the Solomani. I don't believe
> }this has changed.
>
> Where did you read this? It kinda makes sence, even fitting with my
> estimate, but where did it come from? The Vilani setup I described
> would be a lot easier to handle than the Solomani one with rudder pedals
> if your feet were of the wrong configuration. PLEASE tell me where you
> read this. I didn't know anybody else thought about stuff like this.
I designed the Gold of Zurrian the Tukera Lines luxury passenger liner
featured in Travellers' Digest #4. Joe Fugate specifically requested
that I draw deckplans for the *whole* ship, including things like all of
the bridge positions and the layout of the engineering compartments.
Without thinking about it, I laid out the bridge with the pilot and
copilot all the way forward, and with the pilot on the left. Behind and
to either side of the pilot, I placed the engineering bridge repeater,
and the internal systems monitor station. At the aft end, I placed the
navigator and the ship's computer primary console; both of these facing
in the opposite direction, towards a large (2 meter diameter) spherical
holographic display.
After Joe Fugate and Marc Miller had reviewed the plans, a few small
changes were made. The pilot and copilot positions where switched "the
arrangement of pilot and copilot with the pilot on the right follows
Vilani tradition" (Travellers' Digest #4, p25). At the time, I was told
that most ships in the Imperium followed Vilani tradition (this may be
documented in a letter from Joe Fugate, but I cannot locate it with a
quick search of my files).
Designing the ship was a good bit harder than most starship designs I
have done. Part of the problem was that drawings of the exterior of the
ship (in particular, those done by Keith for the Traveller Adventure);
any deckplans had to match the exteriors. What I did then (and what I
still do for deckplans) is make a mathematical model of the shape (break
it down into basic geometric shapes, and relate them to one another: the
conical nose section is 1.5 times as long as the body is high, etc).
Then I solve for the volume of the hull (and try to err on the side of
slightly too much volume, rather than too little). In many cases, the
same shape gets re-used for other ships, scaled up or down in size, or
"stretched" in one dimension or another. There is precedent for this:
the Russian aircraft design bureaus use standardized airframe shapes,
scaled in size to fit the mission. This is why many Russian aircraft
look so much like bigger or smaller versions of other Russian aircraft.
Then I can do a dimensioned exterior drawing of the ship, and a
cut-away. I then divide the cut-away iinto decks, and figure out the
planform of each deck. Meanwhile, I use the ship design to figure out
the size of all of the components in terms of deck-plan squares. I
xerox the planforms several times, and block in the major components in
different ways until I am happy with their placement. This rough sketch
is refined, and details filled in. Using this as a guide, a scale
drawing is prepared (to the same scale, 1/2"=1.5m, as was used by the
Azhanti High Lightning, if at all possible). Copies are made (most copy
shops can duplicate drawings up to 11"x17") at full scale, and in
reduced size (almost any copyier today can reduce 11"x17" down to
8.5"x11" with a standard setting). And that's it: deckplans for every
purpose.
> Hey, Wildstar, go to Garber Flight Restoration Facility in Silver Hill.
> Call in advance & find out when my brother Jim is giving a tour of the
> hangers. He's a docent on weekends. :-)
I intent to very soon. I just finished Boyne's "The Treasures of Silver
Hill" and I want to go out there and see all the neat stuff. The "Jug"
(WWII Thunderbolt fighter) is currently on temporary display at NASM,
and I understand that the Ar-234 (the WWII German jet bomber) will be
next.
[email removed]
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Science-Fiction Adventure
in the Far Future