Since I obtained my 3D printer, I have periodically printed one or two Elite: Dangerous ships out. Sticking with the scale 1:1000 (1mm = 1m) it has made the size of the ships really stand out.
If you compare the Type-9 Heavy with the Sidewinder the size difference is astounding; what's more, the Sidewinder carries an SRV which is itself, the size of a Range Rover!
As my 3D fleet began to assemble, I gave some thought to where to store and/or display them. Glass cabinet with them all painted gold? Hung from the ceiling on fishing line? Big shelves? None of these options really appealed.
As part of the 3D printing process, the models are hollow and have a "drain hole" in the bottom to let excess resin drain out during the washing stage. My idea was to create a display stand that plugged into this hole. That idea didn't go so well, as a stand per model meant a pretty large shelf. As you can see in the photo above, even jammed together the ships I've printed already cover a 2m window ledge.
Then I thought "Why not mount them on a blueprint?", so I tiled (printed across multiple pages) an old CorelDRAW size chart out to see how it would look.
Not too shabby, but this poster was out of date. Also, I don't have room for too many A0 posters in my study. I was loath to glue my models to a poster as I might want to play with them after all!
Instead, I found what I hope is a better solution. Small Neodymium magnets that can be glued into the drain holes of the models, a poster printed at A3 with one poster per ship manufacturer, with an adhesive magnetic sheet stuck to the back.
I have hammered out a design I am happy with, which just leaves getting the posters all done, sent off to be printed, adding the magnetic backing and fixing magnets to the ships.
Then as I finish printing the remaining ships, I just need to add a magnet and stick them out.
I created a poster for LaveCon, which was A0 (it had to be to fit all the ship data on it).
For the fifth anniversary of Elite: Dangerous' release, I thought I would release an updated copy with the more recently drawn Thargoid Hydra Interceptor. I've had to remove the ship stats to make the poster A3 sized otherwise the text is unreadable scratches, but in addition to the bitmap below, you can also download a PDF here : ship-chart-5th-anniversary.pdf (2.73 mb)
Enjoy!
I’m glad you asked!
The landing pads in Elite dangerous come in three flavours. Small (66m x 55m), Medium (150m x 90m) and Large (213m x 128m) and these are rotating tables that sink into a shaft and rotate 180 degrees before reversing your ship into the hangar below.
See this early render of the Panther LX.
So far so good.
Now a Lakon Type-7 Transporter is (according to my blueprints) 56.1m wide by 81.6m long and 25.4m high. Which means the Type-7 sits well within the maximum size of the pad.
It’s not so big
Compared to the more expensive multi-role Python, the Type-7 is both shorter and narrower despite having similar cargo sizes and yet the Python is Medium ship. So, what’s the problem?
Height. That pesky 3rd dimension is raining on our Medium pad parade!
The highest Medium pad ship is the Federal Assault Ship which is 49.5m wide by 73.8m long and 22.8m high. That means the maximum headroom for a Medium hangar is somewhere between 22.8m and 25.4m, the average of which is a few centimetres short of 24m, so it’s safe to assume that the ceiling is 24m for a ship with gear deployed.
Which, for the Type-7, is a problem because without gear out, it’s already more than 25m high – closer to 27m with feet on the ground.
Like really tall men and women everywhere the poor Type-7 just has to shop elsewhere for hangars big enough, because what fits all those other Medium ships just isn’t tall enough for the Type-7.
Aww.
And that's why the Type-7 Transporter cannot land on Medium pads. Not because the ship is too big for the pad, but because the ship is too high for the medium hangar.
Having added a number of new ships, I thought I'd revisit an old concept.
The size comparison chart that got me started on the blueprint project. I wanted something for the LaveCon raffle this year, so a poster is most likely going to be the thing. Below is a 4K bitmap of what will be an A0 poster.
UPDATE
The poster is done and will be in the LaveCon raffle this year.
This is what I do with my free time.
First draft of the Mamba Blueprint and Datasheet for the Vehicle Codex. Hope you like them.
I've made adjustments to scale since initial measurements were not accurate enough and I have also added the inner cylinder.
The two versions are now linked on the original BluePrint post here: http://www.elite-dangerous-blog.co.uk/post/Elite-Dangerous-Ship-Blueprints-23-Update
Following a request from CMDR Andrew Indelicate from Facebook's Mobius PvE page, I've stuck a Beluga Liner in the access corridor - CMDR Vincent Chu demonstrated that the Beluga's folding tail makes little or no difference to the overall height when the landing gear comes down.
My original assertion that the station was over 3km across was incorrect and the figure is a little over 2km, which makes it more or less as wide as the Farragut (which I have also recently redrawn). The pads in the cylinder are red for large, orange for medium and cyan for small. The diameter of the cylinder should be very accurate, but the length is an approximation based on the depth of the access corridor.
I have updated the set of Thargoid data obtained (can't say how) from the Federal Navy.
Thargoid Sensor
Previously the Unknown Artefact.
Thargoid Scout
The scout ship seen only at a crash site so far.
Thargoid Interceptor
The Cyclops variant Thargoid ship.
Comparative scale
To see the Thargoid vessels compared with the human vessels. (4K+ image)
