Spacecraft - a futuristic look on aeronautics
The major advantage of spacecraft is that they can look any which way, for the simple reason of not being
restricted by the atmosphere or gravity (more or less). While airplanes must have lift surfaces, the spacecraft
merely need to be keep the cold vacuum of space from entering the hull. For all practical purposes, a beer can or a
stuffed Teddy could be classified as spacecraft.
I have recently drawn a pair of these craft and will show them here. While not overly aesthetically pleasing, they
do have some interesting angles. Fortunately, you'll be spared the drone of my usual commentary as talking about
the features of these sci-fi gadgets is beyond even me. The proper lingo should probably include difficult words
like hyperspace, subspace, anti-matter, phasers etc. To avoid future ridicule of me persona, I'll refrain from
doing it. Talking about planes and castles might be excused; rambling about geek-rockets might not.
Gallery
Well ... some commentary is still needed, after all.
My first spacecraft elegantly some of its looks from the Star Wars fighters. It has four engines mounted on
collapsible nacelles, inverted wings that serve no purpose in vacuum and a sleek, narrow, Century-era fuselage with
a single-seat cockpit, and no place for R2D2.
Oh, by the way, the most adequate name I could think of is Vampire. Go figure.
Despite being a rather simple design, I think it does have its handsome side, especially the engine nacelles. The
seemingly fragile looks of the perforated metal bars add to the overall looks. The dark-red color is a nice touch
as well, you must admit.
Plus, the spacecraft is really imposing from all sorts of right angles.
The engines are also quite cool.
Lastly, the cockpit.
The second spacecraft is a much, much bigger vessel. While the little fighter would probably measure only about
30-40 meters, this one is truly gigantic, about 700-800 meters. Let's call it Bear.
Bear has a very aggressive, insectoid look, with a dropping nose and two colossal engines flanking the fuselage.
While Vampire was stark gray with brave patches of red, this baby sports muddy greens and yellows, somewhat akin to
Ferengi or Klingon ships.
I have enjoyed making this model, especially the engines (again ...), but also the odd tail section and the
somewhat elaborate fuselage spine. The spiky protrusions on the engine nacelles also add to the general effect of
danger.
Some more dramatic looks:
That looks ugly ...
Just to emphasize the size, the tiny gray strip slightly right of the gray triangle is supposed to be the ship
bridge.
I'm really proud of the tail ...
A few zooms on the engines ... I really invested quite a bit in trying to make the engines interesting.
Well, I guess that's enough for now. I hope you have enjoyed it. Cheers.
