Union-class Dropship (Battletech) 1:1000 scale

[Tirick]

I am a man of a 1,000,000 projects, so no guarantees on when this one will finish. However, I've taken a fancy to the idea of making a game-scale Battletech dropship. There is already a good paper model of the Overlord dropship available here. However, I'd like to try my hand at the smaller of the two ubiquitous Battletech dropships, the Union-Class. My guide is taken from two key pictures, shown below from Sarna.net:





I have started with the landing gear. It is not my intent to make a full interior (at 1:1000 scale, this will only be about 4" in diameter), although I may include interior elements that would be visible from open doors/hatches to allow modeling in various states. To this end I've tried to make a landing gear mechanism that both matches the visual evidence, practicality and will show near interior elements when deployed.

I should note, I am not a mechanical engineer, or an engineer at all in fact. I tried to make a design that would work from a deployment, mechanical motion consideration, while still matching the interior/exterior evidence in the pictures. To me this is seems like an awkward way to have the landing legs mounted, but I'm not the designer, just the interpreter.









That said, I have no objection to constructive feedback. Until I start texturing nothing is set in stone as far as the design goes.

Thank you,
Tirick

[Banyon]

Wow. As an old BTech player, I'm REALLY looking forward to seeing this come together.

Whoa Baby!! I'd be happy with a 3D model to play with! Please, show us the nitty gritty details.

[lehcyfer]

Looks very interesting

[Tirick]

Thank you all for your interest!

I've begun to rough in the underside/engine section. I'm taking a few liberties here as it is not a well defined area, at least in any pictures I can see. There are definitely 4 engines, although I am not certain the original has a 'main' engine in the center. I should note the landing legs appear in some pictures to also house engine thrusters (which makes a kind of sense) so their final model will include this.

The positioning of the gear-bay doors conflicts with the interior layout plan in a few key ways, so I will have to remodel my planned lower-deck to accomodate. This is by far not the first (nor will it be the last) scifi ship design with an unintentional tardis-style interior so I won't belabour the point, although it really drives home a good reason to not model a full interior.

I've shown the bulbous exterior plan here with the gear doors extended and retracted. There are unsurprisingly conflicts, some of which can be easily resolved. It may appear crazy (heck, it may be crazy) to be modeling mechanical motion that will not actually be present in the model, but I like to have some element of practicality in the look/feel of a model. It hurts my brain otherwise.









Anyway, enjoy. I'll keep this up as design progresses.

Tirick

[Sanginus]

looks great !!
I think you are right, with your engine section,
look at this very old and bad quality MW2 trailer,
there you could see a take off of a Union.
section looks like nearly your design

+ YouTube Video

[thomvz]

looks grate would love to use it in a game

[dschmohe]

Very interesting! I had a bunch of Battletech stuff a long time ago and attempted to make a dropship out of cardboard (soda boxes) but I'll be building this when you get it done.