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