Traveller Illustrated

I don’t know since how long I wanted to do this particular ship. I actually quite like it because of it cozy little interior. Almost the perfect adventure ship for starting parties.

Personally I’d normally say the Patrol Cruiser is my top of the list favourite Traveller Ship, but the Beowulf – let’s face it – is the most common player owned ship next to the Suleiman scout ship. In addition to that it looks quite good and offers something that could be called a cargo hold.

There is good reference art too. The MT Starship Operators Manual has been around for 20 years at least and is featuring a good deckplan and different views of the exterior.

Recently Andrew Boulton has considerably upped the mark for quality of 3D Beowulf renditions and has to be considered the standard to be measured against.

So my Beowulf will try to fill the gap between Andrews variant and the original shape. There are a few spotting features that differ from the original drawings but adds to the design. I will point them out as I go along. As usual progress will be documented here and possibly on CotI.

So far I am busy blocking out the general shape and trying to figure out how to make the connection between tha main hull and the fuel-scoop-cargo-bay-bulge good looking. Also the transition from a rounded hull cross section to the more edgy rear section is a bit rough. But it’s a WIP shot, so please be patient.

 FOr the moment this will be called “finished” until I need that ship in a rendered scene. That might be soon but as time constraints limit the amount of time I can devote to a single model, I need to make a cut somewhere.

Continue reading “Starships – Beowulf Class 200 dt Free Trader”

The 200ton Free Trader as produced by MC&S Engineering is probably one less well known Traveller ship designs.

I wanted to do this model – along with the Type R – since I got my hands on a PDF-Version of the Judges Guild Starships and Spacecraft supplement. When I started doing Traveller Illustrated Mark Miller asked whether I could consider doing some of the Judges Guild vessels. So here is my contribution to that wish.

The designs are a bit more radical much in the sense of brutal architecture describing excessiv use of concrete in civil engineering, these vessesl are non-compromisingly effective in design. The crisp, clear lines of the streamlined hull portray a vivid and strong image of the craft. As compared to the Type R the Free Trader misses the dorsal fin, has larger carnards and only two top cockpit windows. The hatch arrangement is also different.

Quick Stats:

Length: 34.0m, Width: 24.0 m, Height: 5.5 m, 200dt, Crew: 4 (pilot, medic, steward and engineer), Passengers: 6, LowBerth: 20, Cargo capy.: 82 tons , Fuel capy: 30 tons, Jump Drive-A ( Jump-1), Maneuver Drive-A (1G), Power-A, two hardpoints with retractable reentry shields are located on the dorsal and ventral surfaces about 14 m back from the bow. Base Cost: approx. 37 MCr

Well, I had some spare time, found some excellent renditions of the gig by Marc Lucas on Distant Places  and thought:

I want to try that. And I did. That’s what came out of it.

Continue reading “Spacecraft – The Horizon Class 20dt Gig”

My apologies for the bad quality of the following images. I was on a trip last week and currently have little time at home. I painted the schemes with simple felt-tip markers  and shot the images with a HTC Desire smartphone cam. So that’s the explanation and I second that with a promise to scan the images for better quality as soon as I get the chance to do so. So much for the technical hassles, let’s get started…

The first paint scheme is inspired by the original Traveller artwork. It is very basic, the colors could be true or as far from authentic as can be since we can’t see this in black and white paintings. Personally I wouldn’t call this my favourite.

Continue reading “Starships – Patrol Cruiser color schemes”

I just noticed that this particular post was missing an image prior to the “read more” page break. Pretty pointless to run an illustration centered webpage an not showing an illustration to tease the reader into an article, isn’t it?

The new plan now is to have the current state of each model on the introductory part. I hope that will succeed to convince even the casual visitor to look into each article (which might show much more images).

A few words on the current state of the patrol cruiser. I added a forward facing cargo ramp. There is enogh room to load the ship over that ramp even with the foot of the forward landing gear being situated a few meters in front of the ramp. There is anough room to each side to back a truck into the vessel. So that’s fine i guess…

The model: I noticed a few flaws on my original take and rebuilt the upper and lower deck. The mesh is not yet complete, so the structural separations and sharp lines definitions are still missing.

I rebuilt the entire sub- and superstructure. I originally wanted to stick to the FASA ACS2 plans and Tom Peters “Inspection Boarding” image as close as possible. And the ship I created didn’t look like the one or the other.

Continue reading “Starship – Lurushaar Kilaalum Class Patrol Cruiser – Version 2.0″

Little is known about this little critter. At first I couldn’t even find any class designations and there is no detailed side or top views or even an image from another perspective…

Well, that’s the perfect reason to do the fighter myself. It sure would look nice in formation close to the Patrol Cruiser

My current take catches the overall proportions but obviously is only a reference or block model to finally start working on.

Continue reading “Small Craft – Iramda Class 10 dton Fighter”

The TL15 LOPEC Class G-carrier is an enclosed military or paramilitary grav vehicle. Simniliar in concept to an armored air/raft, the G-carrier has a gun mount and an armored rear hatch door. I build the model for the Lurushaar Kilaalum Class Patrol Cruiser I am currently working on. The LOPEC is featured in the MegaTraveller Imperial Encyclopedia and at only 8 tons displacement a bit smaller than the RESOLVE Class G-Carrier from my previous attempt.

Continue reading “Vehicle – Lopec Class G-Carrier (TL15)”

On my ongoing venture to find a suitable Grav vehicle for my Lurushaar Kilaalum Class 400ton Patrol Cruiser, my first approach was the RESOLVE CLass G-carrier from the MegaTraveller 101 Vehicles sourcebook (published by Digest Group Publications at that time).

The image above shows the vehicle’s last incarnation up to the point where I thought: Nope, that thing will never fit into the hull. The scale might still be a bit off, with mine now being a bit too tall, but I think this all falls into a 5% variation (error) range.

Continue reading “Vehicle – Resolve Class G-Carrier”

The Versiil Class ship’s boat – it is much better known as a patrol boat in conjunction with the Patrol Cruiser – is designed to perform odd jobs and minor operations for a larger patrol ship. It is a versatile craft available in passenger, mixed or cargo configurations, with streamlining for grav-assisted atmospheric reentry. It’s single hardpoint is  usually equipped with a low profile single beam laser turret.

Continue reading “Small Craft – Versiil Class Patrol Boat – Mk.I & Mk.II”

Well it’s probably about time to update our frequent readers to the current state of the Patrol Cruiser model. And as pictures tell more than a thousand words: Version 1.0

Pictured above is my revamped version of the Type-T. There are a few mock-ups on the model (one of the wing protrusions and the airlock), which I plan to work on during the  next few days. The turrets are also mock-ups that need some work.

Continue reading “Starship – Lurushaar Kilaalum Class Patrol Cruiser – Version 1.0″

As you might already know I am currently working on a Lurushaar Kilaalum 400 dton Class Partol Cruiser. And I will definetely need a small craft for the vessel’s boat hangar.

To get a feeling for the size requirements and deck layouts (after all, it would be convenient if the floor of the ship’s boat and the ship itself would align to a certain degree). I digged out a well known small craft deckplan, grabbed Blender and started blocking out the main features of these craft to have a working reference.

One by one I will try to model all the tubular small craft as well as the more specialized variants.

Continue reading “Small Craft – The Modular Cutter”