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ICC players/fleeters: M230 tailfin |
Kenny_Naboo
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: January 11, 2010
Posts: 3823
From: LobsterTown
|  Posted: 2012-12-29 23:31
ICC fleeters and players.
Some of you have commented on the design of the M230 cruiser, especially how the tailfin is placed immediately behind the central engine nozzle, resulting in the trail going through it.
And again, some have commented that IRL, the exhaust would have probably destroyed or melted that poor tail fin.
Now that the M230 is in line for reoptimizing or a rework, I've tried to toy with some ideas on how we could get that tailfin out of the exhaust trail's way.
This is one of them. A Tri-tailfin arrangement.
(Click on thumbnails to enlarge)
  
Simply put, I split up the lower half of the tailfin and angled them at roughly 30+ degrees left/right to clear the rear exhaust.
What do you think of it?
And what would you propose if this doesn't suit your taste?
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Walrus of Apathy
Admiral
Templar Knights
Joined: August 07, 2005
Posts: 466
From: Dorans Basement
| Posted: 2012-12-30 00:00
To me the bottom fins look a bit long, like they tail out under the ship in a way that looks bad IMO. I like the Tri-fin idea, but could you shorten how far down the bottom 2 fins go, like to 50-60% of what they are now?
Or maybe it's just the angle I'm looking at it.
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Kenny_Naboo
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: January 11, 2010
Posts: 3823
From: LobsterTown
| Posted: 2012-12-30 00:26
Quote:
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On 2012-12-30 00:00, Walrus of Apathy wrote:
To me the bottom fins look a bit long, like they tail out under the ship in a way that looks bad IMO. I like the Tri-fin idea, but could you shorten how far down the bottom 2 fins go, like to 50-60% of what they are now?
Or maybe it's just the angle I'm looking at it.
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OK the fins are actually still of the original length vertically. This means that on the Z-axis (height, side view) the fins' vertical length remains the same. This is because I skewed, rather than rotated the fins. I stretched them diagonally.
So yeah... I can try rotating them such that they're physically the same length, but would appear shorter if viewed from the side profile.
OK, so if we simply rotated the lower fin instead of skewing/stretching them, this is what they would look like.
  
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Kenny_Naboo
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: January 11, 2010
Posts: 3823
From: LobsterTown
| Posted: 2012-12-30 00:34
On the side view we have.
M230 original tailfin over exhaust.
M230 Tri-tail (Skewed) - the tail is of the same length vertically
M230 Tri-tail (rotated) - we rotate the tail instead of stretching/skewing it
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Talien
Marshal
Templar Knights
Joined: May 11, 2010
Posts: 2044
From: Michigan
| Posted: 2012-12-30 01:06
Rotated looks better.
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Kenny_Naboo
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: January 11, 2010
Posts: 3823
From: LobsterTown
| Posted: 2012-12-30 01:27
Quote:
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On 2012-12-30 01:06, Talien wrote:
Rotated looks better.
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Noted. There are several variants of the M230 design. So the original tailfin version will still be present. The Tri-tail M230 will be assigned to some of the other variants.
There will also be detailing, modules and/or slight design variations on the hulls for each of the different cruisers. The idea is to go with the official DS Lore that ICC uses the same base hull and modify them for different roles.
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YIIMM
Grand Admiral
Joined: June 16, 2005
Posts: 851
From: Barcino, Hispania Tarraconensis
| Posted: 2012-12-30 06:18
A few proposals:
1) A reduced, single, ventral fin that's slightly further forward so as not to block the engine.
2) Your current idea reminds of the anhedral tail on an F-4 Phantom or a Harrier, which I like the look of but I would make the angle much shallower, certainly less than 45 degrees from the horizontal.
3) Reverse the angle of the ventral fins so that they converge rather than diverge (not necessarily meeting in the middle)
4) Edit the existing fin with something resembling thrust vector control (image search "y-wing engine" to get a better idea of what I mean.
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Kenny_Naboo
Marshal
Pitch Black
Joined: January 11, 2010
Posts: 3823
From: LobsterTown
| Posted: 2012-12-30 09:54
All good suggestions YIIMM. 
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Bardiche
Chief Marshal
Joined: November 16, 2006
Posts: 1247
| Posted: 2012-12-30 11:08
Heck yes, finally that sorry sight is getting rectified! I'm a fan of any design that saves the poor fin from being burned. <3 (Rounded looks best.)
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Koda
Marshal
Fatal Squadron
Joined: August 29, 2002
Posts: 1384
| Posted: 2012-12-30 15:12
The look is fine.
Just curious to see the model without the whole fin assembly as I am unsure why there are even fins. I can see the reasoning if we will "someday" be able to land on planets (sort of similar to StarFlight, Sega Genisis).
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