The Merlin Gets Another Makeover?

[Knight26]

You guys must be getting sick of these. But I am considering redesigning my Merlin class fighter again. I've had issues with the current merlin ever since I finished it. Mostly with its size, it is just way too small, so I am considering three possible options. 1) Leave it alone 2) just size it, which will require a full rebuild thanks to ACAD 3) Go for it and redesign the whole thing. As for redesigning the whole thing I have put together a quick blocked out thinking out loud that sketched today at work. I am attaching a pic of it as well as of the previous version. To illustrate the size point I am attaching the old scale chart for the fighters. Your input is appreciated.

[Mr March]

Draw, redraw, and draw more. Keep at it until your satisfied, that's the best advice I can offer. Most of the science fiction spacecraft that many of us fans now call classics of the genre all went through one redesign after another until they finally reached completion. Desigining fictional craft is hard work, but well worth it once you complete a quality design.

Keep in mind that some elements of you initial designs might "carry over" into several drafts, often making it into the final design. So don't throw away your old work. Sometimes the best creative elements from multiple drafts are combined to create a very inspiring final product.

Oh, I personally think your work is getting better and better. When you first started I didn't post much about your designs, but you've continued to work at it and the quality shows. I'm very impressed with several of your fighters. The second picture you posted in this thread (the small black fighter) is really striking. I'd say it could use some tqeaking, but overall you're really onto something with that one.

Edited January 24, 2006 by Mr March

[Nightbat]

refine it!

if you think it's too small Size it up!

don't scratch a desing that has already shown much promise, in real life

nothing would get of the drawingboard that way

[Guest Bromgrev]

What they said. It's always worth working through designs again and again. You may never be satisfied, but at some point it will get to the point where everyone else says, "Wow! that's amazing!".

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Ermmm, maybe I've been under a rock or something but what are these fighters for? You making a game or something?

[Knight26]

Thanks for the comments guys. I am still on the fence on this one. The new concept is still very rough, and will still incorporate a lot of the old designs salient features. The most notable being the weapons pods, those will remain largely unchanged, just sized up a bit if I go ahead with it. One of the biggest changes to this design is going back to an older version of the design where the engines were buried in the "wings". If I go ahead with this design it will incorporate that feature and a few others. Thanks for the comments and let me stew on this for a few days.

[Knight26]

Well so far on this and another site the general concencous is to leave the design be, and possible to a bomber varient. That has me intrigued. Therefore I am considering leaving this one alone, and just making sure to write in that it is unusaully small, coming up with a good reason why, and using the new design as the basis for a bomber version. Of course the bomber will infact be a whole new craft, so it will need a new name, but will incorperate the same technologies just adding the ability to carry torpedoes or more of the advanced warhead that this beast packs. Thoughts?

[Graham]

I like the middle pic. Not sure if that's the old one or the new one?

My only comment would be size-down the cockpit, so that the rest of the craft looks bigger.

Graham

[Lindem Herz]

I say keep it. Unusually small, big guns, engines that make up roughly half of the fuselage, it IS a fighter packing a light bomber punch. Would love to take it for a spin, and sure as hell would like to fight in it.

As for the bomber, would like to propose a name, how about Prospero? It's a bigger version of Merlin, and really knows how to make a storm.

[Knight26]

Well other than, some who will remain nameless (I know who at least two of you are), the majority on this and another board agree to leave the design stand, with maybe some minor mods. I will look at fixing the canopy Graham. I will just make sure to state that it is unusually small for a fighter due to the new tech crammed into it that is light and small, but it does not leave much room for upgrades. I will also pursue the new design as a sister ship, a light bomber or attack craft that is halfway between the Merlin and Mosquito. I will keep you apprised of updates.

Prospero? As in the guy from the Shakespeare play? I was thinking of a different wizard myself to name it after, probably one penned by Lovecraft. And no I will not name it the Harry Potter, Dumbeldore, or any other character from those books. Though Gandalf might be viable, jk.

[Zentrandude]

Add one more knight. To me it looks good just maybe make the engines more aggressive looking and larger. Maybe shorten the weapons pod like an few inches but you already stated you didn't want to change them.

[ComicKaze]

Well other than, some who will remain nameless (I know who at least two of you are), the majority on this and another board agree to leave the design stand, with maybe some minor mods.  I will look at fixing the canopy Graham.  I will just make sure to state that it is unusually small for a fighter due to the new tech crammed into it that is light and small, but it does not leave much room for upgrades.  I will also pursue the new design as a sister ship, a light bomber or attack craft that is halfway between the Merlin and Mosquito.  I will keep you apprised of updates.

Prospero?  As in the guy from the Shakespeare play?  I was thinking of a different wizard myself to name it after, probably one penned by Lovecraft.  And no I will not name it the Harry Potter, Dumbeldore, or any other character from those books.  Though Gandalf might be viable, jk.

364143[/snapback]

Well, I've found the general trend rather to be that there are usually suggestions to reduce your cockpit sizes in all yoru threads but then you choose to let the designs stand yourself or generally take very little input from us and you are just using the opportunity to show your work which is fine.

[Knight26]

Actually I usually reply and respond to input well, sometimes making serious changes based on peoples comments. Infact I can't think of a single design that I have shown a WIP here of that I did not make some changes on based on peoples comments.

Edited January 26, 2006 by Knight26

[Knight26]

Meet the Stretch Merlin. Ok, based on some suggestions that have been made I have made a handful of changes, let me know what you think. The biggest change I made was adding a series of 2.5 foot fuselage plugs, the untextured bits. I then redid the front of the canopy to shorten it up, it does make the fighter look a little bigger. The last pic shows that change. Let me know what you all think, and yes I will be proceeding with the attack model.

[Knight26]

Ok since the server going down this weekend means you all missed it here are the results of the redesign. I kept the fuselage plugs, extending hte craft, and trimmed the canopy a bit in the only area I could, the front, thanks Graham for the suggestion.

[Nightbat]

Looks Great Knight26!

[Mr March]

Fantastic work. I like the new side pylons as opposed to the old. I must say the larger fighter looks as good or better than the older, smaller version. You could easily go either way and have a fairly tight design.

I don't like the truncated cockpit. It really interferes with the flow of the design, creating an odd angle that does not fit with the rest of the craft. I'd definitely recommend restoring the original cockpit or tackling a complete redesign of the cockpit area.

[Knight26]

I will play with the forward canopy a bit more, unfortunately without completely cutting off and replacing the forward fuselage there is only so much I can do, lol.

[Knight26]

Ok, I've come up with four versions of the forward canopy. Let me know which one looks best. The top two are the original and the previous one, the lower two are brand new. I'm leaning towards the bottom left version currently.

[Sdf-1]

I wonder how a more angular canopy would have looked. Like the one in Star wars snow speeder. I know it's maybe not that beautiful, but I just can't help that the rounded one doesn't seem to fit to the rest of the ship so well. Just how I see it.

Edited February 1, 2006 by Sdf-1

[KingNor]

what program are you using knight? why arn't you using maya?

i must have missed some updates, your fighters are looking ALOT better. Some of these are really snazzy.

my advice would be, start from scratch, redesign the whole thing from the ground up incorporating everything you can imagine to make it feel more "right"

you'll still have you're old file, so compair them, see which you like better and then decide.

don't ever settle, ever.

[Mr March]

The bottom right-hand canopy is the best. It looks perfect now.

[Knight26]

Noted. As for what software I use, I am still using ACAD, yes I know it is not the best 3-D modeler out there but it is what I know. I am reluctant to switch to a new package at this point, especially since I am getting ready to buy a house and that additional expense is not something I want to incur. As for a complete redesign, again, this iteration, I believe 4 or 5, I am going to hold off on that for now, and just progress with the attack derivative.