Design thread for the SA-43 Hammerhead Fighter (Space: Above and Beyond)

Awry_Chaos

OKB-4155
... And so it begins ...

Welcome to the the design thread for the card/paper model of the SA-43 Hammerhead Fighter from the late-1990s TV show SPACE: ABOVE AND BEYOND!!!

This design was requested by @Rhaven Blaack . And after giving it a quick thought, I decided to take up the challenge of designing my first card model. This thread will serve as documentation of the design process, and will serve as a tutorial for future card model designers. It will also help me to keep my thoughts in one place, a design notebook of sorts.

For designing the card model I will be using Blender 2.93.6

Blender is a free and open-source program for 3D modeling and animation. The key words here are "FREE" and "OPEN SOURCE." That does not mean, however, that it makes it any easier to design a card model, just that I've chosen a certain tool with its own features and quirks (love them or hate them).

The first step in the process was to gather my reference. I will be using CG renders provided by the website, ByYourCommand.net, a website dedicated to the fandoms of Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, and other TV shows such as Space: Above and Beyond.


I owe @Revell-Fan and @Rhaven Blaack a debt of gratitude for pointing out the website to me. Thank you guys, you're awesome!!!

After downloading the CG renders and reference I made sure the different orthogonal views were matched up so I could use them in Blender to model from.

Then i added the trusty cube mesh from which I will model the Hammerhead. The two attached images show this.

***

My workflow will look something like this:

1) Model a 3D mesh of the Hammerhead Fighter in Blender blocking out the main shapes and refining details as necessary.
2) UV unwrap the model, getting a basic template from which I can develop the card model template.
3) Build an alpha prototype from the card model template, noting what fits together and what does not fit together.
4) Revise the card model template and start texturing the model.
5) Build another alpha prototype incorporating and necessary changes.
6) Revise the model's textures as necessary, and release alpha-build to testers for beta-testing.
7) After beta-testing is complete, make any revisions to card template and model textures.
8) Release to the Resource section here on Zealot.

***

Please let me know if you have any questions or would like to be a beta-tester.

THANK YOU and I hope you enjoy this thread!!!
 

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Rhaven Blaack

!!!THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!!
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Thank you for taking on this project! I am looking forward to seeing how it will turn out!
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Many have tried, and failed. I really liked that show. I encourage you to go for it. If you succeed, you will be shocked by how many people download it. Blender really does look like 3DS Max. :)
 

Awry_Chaos

OKB-4155
Now for a small, but important, update.

Here you can see I managed to get the front of the Hammerhead blocked out. This part, as you can see, comprises the cockpit, canopy, and the canards. Right now I am preety much in the process of blocking the craft out, not worrying about medium- or small- details. At this stage, it's more important to worry about the general shape (or "silhouette") of the object being modelled.

Next step is to block out the rest of the fuselage, wings, and air intakes. Once everything is blocked out, I can start rearranging vertices, adding loops to help hold the overall shape better and then on to detailing the model. At that point, I will have some design decisions to make.
 

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mijob

Tie designer
Staff member
Moderator
I love space above and beyond and this model should be on my todo list. Looking forward to see your progress and add me to the beta builders.
It would be great to build this one as a group.
 

mijob

Tie designer
Staff member
Moderator
Nice thank you, and indeed it takes a lot off time to create a new model. For the tie phanthom im still in alpha build mode. some parts are at the third time to be build.
 

Revell-Fan

Co-Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
@mijob Thanks! I'll add you to the the list.

In fact, It would be a good time to make a list of potential beta-testers:

The ones who've actively volunteered:

1) @Rhaven Blaack
2) @mijob

The ones I'd like to recruit:

a) @micahrogers
b) @Revell-Fan
c) @zathros

If all goes well, I'd like the beta-testing to begin in March or April of next year (2022).
We all should move together in a shared house. Everyone builds one particular part of the model and then we join our pieces together. That would speed up the build process tremendously. ;) :D
 

Awry_Chaos

OKB-4155
We all should move together in a shared house. Everyone builds one particular part of the model and then we join our pieces together. That would speed up the build process tremendously. ;) :D
Sharing a house would be a cool idea! My wife is an excellent cook, and from what Rhaven has said, his fiancee is a good cook too. And Zathros's wife is probably good at cooking and baking! We'd be set for life!
 

Awry_Chaos

OKB-4155
Nice thank you, and indeed it takes a lot off time to create a new model. For the tie phanthom im still in alpha build mode. some parts are at the third time to be build.
If everything goes well during the modeling and UV unwrapping, the alpha build *should* be relatively simple. I'n giving myself plenty of room for when I run into "unforseen" problems. I'm keeping in mind Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong."
 

zathros

*****SENIOR ADMINISTRATOR*****
Staff member
Administrator
Moderator
Can you read .stl files. I have a file of this model completed. All the work is done, you would have to only simplify it to unfold it, which is one heluva job, but this is an extremely accurate CAD model. I have attached it.
 

Attachments

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