Interrupter Dropship - Mech and Map Scale by RainingFire

Last crawled date: 3 years, 4 months ago

The "Interrupter" attack dropship. At 69m in diameter and 61.5m in height, this medium sized dropship boasts more firepower than the similar "Unity" dropship. This proxy model is designed for a specific mecha tabletop game and represents a certain vessel class. The files are provided in both map-scale and mech-scale. The details show up well in both scales. Please post your makes and leave feedback so that people can see the results and compare settings! I'd love to see pictures of various peoples' prints.
Please consider leaving a tip if you like this model. If it's well received, I will consider modeling more ships. If it doesn't work through Thingiverse (sometimes it glitches), you can tip directly through paypal.me/rainingfire416
Turret files here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4639715
Notable features:
-This is the first time this ship has ever been modeled, and it has more accurate details than any other dropship model for this mecha game.
-Smooth transitions for elements like the turret mounts and thrusters that extend into or out of the hull, which I think is more realistic than other models that have these details jut out at harsh angles.
-20 turret mounts so you can print your choice of weapons to be slotted in, rotated, and glued into place if you'd like.
-2 cargo doors and 2 hangar doors for fighter-craft.
-Peg holes in front of the cargo doors that allow you to align and attach the cargo ramps.
-2 docking collars, which I believe no dropship model has ever bothered to include until now!
-6 escape pod hatches - 4 on the fore and 2 on the aft sections of the ship. Again, a first for dropship models!
-Attitude thrusters in various locations, windows/portholes on 3 upper crew decks, and doors/airlocks placed around the ship.
-Interestingly shaped aft/engine area with piston-type landing gear in the retracted landed position, lowering the engines to the ground to prevent damage from enemy forces. The pistons extend before takeoff to allow clearance for the engine exhaust.
-Various other details such as inset areas for exterior lighting and antenna ports (on the top of the ship).
-Model is scaled to be precisely 69m in diameter and 61.5m in height in real life dimensions.
Instructions:
-All file units are mm.
-There are two versions of the main files. One is map-scale and one is mech-scale. Print the version you'd like or rescale however you want.
-For whichever version you choose, print the fore and aft sections of the ship. Then clean them up and glue them together. Feel free to rotate the top in a different direction if you prefer the look of the dropship in an alternate orientation.
-There is a whole version of the map-scale file which you can print with supports, but the bottom details will not turn out as well compared to printing both halves separately.
-You can print 1 or 2 cargo ramps and attach them directly to the ship or leave them separate for easy storage. The ramp may print best on its side with a few supports added to the pegs.
-You can print turrets for the 20 weapon mounts, mixing and matching armament to outfit the ship any way you'd like.
Suggestions:
-The model is easy to sand since so many surfaces are curved. You don't have to worry about rounding off sharp corners like on other models.
-The model prints with a fine level of detail in FDM, but printing in resin will allow the details to show up significantly better in map-scale. In mech-scale the FDM print shows all the details very clearly.
-Depending on your settings and scale you may need to add a few supports. It's your choice how you'd like to add them.
-Feel free to fill in the peg holes if you don't want to use the cargo ramps or turrets.
-A nice paintjob with your chosen faction colors would add detail to the ship. It might be nice to paint the bottom of the aft section black to represent heat shielding. That would add some more detail to the ship in addition to whatever other colors you choose.
-Flat/open areas would be great spots to add a large logo or decal.
-Another suggestion is red, white, orange, yellow, or other colors painted around the escape pods or the airlocks.
My design philosophy was that important components would be placed within the ship, particularly given that this is an attack dropship and would be shot at a lot. I didn't want to add inset lines for "armor plating" because in reality those plates would probably have no gaps between them. I also chose to use smooth transitions for things like the turret mounts, attitude thrusters, and inset window areas because I thought it would be more realisitc and also sets my model apart from other dropship models.