Fuel Tender Spaceship

[Samuel_Sullins (Samuel)]

Up-to-date latest coolest image:

Original post follows:

Working on a “fuel spaceship.”

History for spaceship nerds: this craft (the Savion Instruments Tender 07, model TS-3, generally called the “Dubber”) is used to transport fuel or crude oil. It was originally made to transport fuel from oil wells to massive transport craft. During and after the Betrayal it saw service as a fuel tender, on both sides. Many TS-3s were refitted with the proper attachments for refueling FF shock ships.

Here’s an upclose of a fuel tank with temperature regulation equipment:

And here’s the blockout of the full ship:

Next I’ve got to work on more modeling!

[LMalachi (Lawson)]

Its looking amazing thus far. Keep up the great work!

[Samuel_Sullins (Samuel)]

Progress on the internal frame structure + initial fuel transfer ducts! Challenging to model all the bits and pieces.

[JWC]

Wow!! How do you model the pipes and curves and stuff, I can’t imagine individually moving each point to make it, so do you use modifiers, geometry nodes, or addons?

[Samuel_Sullins (Samuel)]

Nothing special, just plain old modeling. You could totally do it. For the huge pipes I take a curve, set the bevel to Object, and give it a profile made of a bunch of little circles mashed together:

Eventually I’ll convert them to meshes and UV unwrap with a long seam down one side, then apply a texture, like these:

[JWC]

Thank you for your help.

[Samuel_Sullins (Samuel)]

@JWC I just wrote up a tutorial / breakdown on the big pipes, if you want some extra details!

Giant Fuel Tubes

[JWC]

Hey thank you so much for the help!

[Samuel_Sullins (Samuel)]

I’ve used Geometry Nodes to make a quick ladder/railing generator.

Simply changes edges to curves then to pipes:

Though I’m getting a strange glitch on sharper corners—anybody know how to solve?

[Samuel_Sullins (Samuel)]

New work on the front engine support arms.

[Samuel_Sullins (Samuel)]

Construction / industrial style work platforms. The front engines (linked ion repulsers) will be under these platforms.

[Samuel_Sullins (Samuel)]

Big spaceship headlights:

[Samuel_Sullins (Samuel)]

Modeling linked-ion repulsor engines, based on a sketch. I used my railing generator to create the pipes.

Turns out details are easy enough if you model one really good detail and use it everywhere.

More on this here:

One Magic Detail

[JWC]

It’s coming along great! So amazing to see the progress.

[Samuel_Sullins (Samuel)]

Haven’t brought an update for a while. I’ve updated the design a bit from my original blockout (by adding a GIANT FUEL TANK on top ) and also slapped my operator’s cab on the front arm of the ship.

Next up is building the main fuel offloading port—it’ll be between the two arms.

[JWC]

Looking amazing, I can’t tell whether I prefer the spaceship with or without the extra fuel tank tho

[Samuel_Sullins (Samuel)]

I t makes it look heavier, but it really drives home what it is for me. You see it and you’re like “oh that’s a fuel ship, got it.”

I think was maybe a bit ambiguous before.