Not a Scout

This would be my most recent large project. Obviously it started with me studying all the published versions of the old Traveller, Mega-Traveller, New Era... basically all the deck plans I could find.

There are also two basic shapes out there. The traditional very angular wedge, and the slightly flatter and curved version that I think belonged to the D20 incarnation.

But I'm old and the one I wasted my teenage years with was the wedge, so that’s what I went for. Now as anyone who has studied the plans knows, they don’t really work. So I got out the graph paper and started trying to work up something that looked OK, and I could build.

scanned version of my sketch with some paint-shop to make it readable.

Dimensions in mm

I decided the simplest solution was to go for a series of diamond shaped bulkheads with the floors and walls spacing them out. Styrene sheet is probably the usual favourite, but as this is a scenery piece I wanted it strong, so I built it out of foamed PVC. There is also a load of it lying in my drawer. Internal structure is 3mm, the outer skin is 2mm. 

 so here are the diamonds sketched, then cut out.

and the cargo bay floor

Now I know scouts didn’t really have much of a cargo bay, but you always need a cargo bay for troops to storm in through, or for an alien menace to hide.

 

So that’s the innards. Didnt take any pictures until the outer skin was on. But now you can see the cargo bay, engineering off to each side, and a bridge raised up near the front.

cargo bay

bridge

The landing gear needs finished, but there is a start made on the skids and the basic struts are in place, but wrapped in masking tape.

And how it looks now. Thanks for all the people on TMP who said they liked it. But it still is an unfinished project. Internal detailing, landing gear, engines, and painting to complete. 

I will get it done eventually.