MCRN Morrigan Class: Build Log

[Cheesy Wotsit]

So I've been suffering from a pretty bad corneal abrasion which has meant I've been unable to do anything with the computer for around a week or so. No modelling, no texturing, however I have just about been able to do some building, on and off as stabby watering eye pain allows



Means I've been working on some stuff I had already pre printed for the final build rather than working on new parts for the prototype. So here's a few of the images of the final build's progress.


Some of the parts for the final build





New docking bay





One of the two new engineering sections





Along with some of the detail parts for the engineering section





One of the two railgun pods that sits behind the railgun mounts.


The following are just a few glamour shots showing the new parts built and installed on the model.















The biggest part still left to do is the drive cone, the inserts for weapons and comms that go at the front of the model, one more railgun turret and then it's just a few detail parts, various fins, the front RCS thruster pods and various grebel detail.


Then it's on to coming up with a stand for the model.

[Arne2019]

Sick.......

[Cheesy Wotsit]

A bit more work done on the model.






Engine bell is for the most part done, this is version four of the engine bell. Just like the Donnager finding something that was the right size, shape and could be put together easily proved to be a challenge but I am liking this desgin.






Quick test fit to the final model just to get an idea of how it looks compared the the rest of the model. It's not attached just now as it still needs a little bit of tweaking and tidy up before I go ahead and fix it in position. I'll also add some of the additional details to the main body and leave the engine bell final fit to the final stages of the build.

[Millenniumfalsehood]

Man, this is coming along so nicely! I am looking forward to building this one so much. It'll look really great next to my Rocinante.

[Cheesy Wotsit]

Been working on the front section of the model. Have gotten the comms, weapons and other bits that go in the front of the nose cone installed.

[Cheesy Wotsit]

A few additions to the model.


Did some work on tidying up the detailing on the front of the model and added additional insert features. I basically added an edge cowl feature to the front, it helps to hide the slightly rough edges, and just helped tidy the front up a bit. I also redid the antenna and comms stuff.






Also completed the 3 x Engineer Pods, along with detailing






Not too many main parts left to be completed now.

[Cheesy Wotsit]

So I haven't done any updates on the progress with the model for a while.


So what's happened


- Engine bell is on, along with detailing
- Upper Intake and body detailing has been completed
- Lower Intake and body detailing has been completed
- Under side detailing has been completed
- Built the second railgun
- Applied both railguns to the model


- Oh and finished the model along with a stand


Lol geesh so I thought this would be an easier ship to create than the Donnager... boy was I wrong about that assumption Nearly five months later but finally the model is done.


From this





To this





















I don't know how many iterations, prototype builds and various parts got built and then rebuilt, that front nose section probably got at least seven versions. Yes their are a few things that can be improved and tweaked, I've actually done a tweaked Blender build of the model with a few tweaks in scale, size and detailing but that's going to be used for experimentation purposes, testing new exporting and texturing techniques to try to remove errors introduced via the various export and import software that I use but that's a whole different project.


So next up will be to pull together a set of instructions on how to build this model. I am hoping to try something a bit different from The Donnager instructions but I'll see what happens as I start to pull the info together.


I few things before I do go ahead and set up the instructions.


Do you folk want the option to name the ship yourself? I opted to go with the Scipio Africanus as it's the only version of this ship that actually gets shown in the TV series but I think I've come up with a way that will allow the builder to choose the name of the ship.


Railguns, I love them, I think it gives the ship a real presence, same with the Roci, it makes the model look like it means business. However I know some folk prefer the cleaner no weapons deployed looked. I think it would be easy enough to add a none deployed version to the model for those that want it.

[dhanners]

Looks great! Personally, I prefer the "clean" look, if anyone is asking....

[Millenniumfalsehood]

This has turned out GREAT! I can't wait to build a copy and display it next to my Donnager!

[thunderbolt13]

YES!!!!
Continue to lead the papercraft way into The Expanse.
BTW, I'm playing around with a sort-of 2.5D modular figure design, and had thought about doing a small, scaleable figure of MCRN Gunny Sgt. Bobbie Draper in exo armor suit, to show a scale human next to the ship builds. Will post when I get past my Apollo/Saturn V build mania.
Thank you sooo very much for your AMAZING designs from from the BEST sci fi genre!
James