As always, my aircraft designs through what seems like endless iterative loops in which I sculpt, refine, and sometimes scrap entire features. The other day I posted an image of my new canard, and at the time I thought it looked mostly alright. But over the next days, I replaced the fuselage with a more streamlined sculpted prim, added wheel pants (pants!), and air intakes. Every revision means fighting the limitations of Wings 3D and SL sculpts to produce something that at least resembles the image I have in my brain.
The result is closer to what I want, but this canard isn’t ready for scripting just yet.
After helping a new SLer yesterday to get started with Wings 3D and sculpts, I was inspired to attempt some thin, swept wings for a canard that I’ve been roughing out lately.
The general shape is coming into focus, I think. I want to improve the fuselage some more and smooth the join between wings and fuselage. Control surfaces would be nice to have too, but as usual with SL vehicles, the prim count for vehicles is only 32, so I might have to sacrifice that kind of detail to the prim gods.
Over a year in development. More than 90% sculpted prims. Four torpedoes. Two cannons. One great big steam engine.
Cubey Terra and Reitsuki Kojima are pleased to introduce the TERRA-KOJIMA MERLIN-CLASS CUTTER AIRSHIP.
In this new world of lighter-than-air aviation, in which one navigates the clouds as easily as a steamship plies the waves, the Merlin-class airship will make you master of not only the sky, but also the sea. Fly kilometers into the sky between mountain tops and clouds, or skim the ocean to hunt ironclad ships with your potent array of torpedoes.
Terra-Kojima Merlin airship in profile
Through the advances in modern mechanicals and automation, the Merlin-class cutter airship may be crewed by a single individual; however, in the unfortunate event of an engagement with an enemy, you may wish to call upon the assistance of up to two gunners, with a third individual as lookout, for a total of four crew including yourself.
EASY TO NAVIGATE AND FLY…
Carry up to four persons: a pilot, two gunners, and one passenger.
Choose who can be the pilot. Set the access lock to “anyone”, “group”, or “owner”.
Use the shiny control panel. A durable brass-and-wood HUD has all the gauges, buttons, and knobs you could ever wish for.
Terra Kojima Merlin Control HUD
EFFECTIVE IN COMBAT…
Engage in battle using the Ironclad Combat System (ICS) by Kandace Commons. This standard combat system uses physical ordinance and damage tracking without requiring damage-enabled land.
Track battle damage to your airship. The ship tracks where you were hit, and alters its flight characteristics accordingly.
Engage in team-based combat. Use nation flags and ensigns to identify your ICS team.
Recruit a gun crew. Gun crews can aim and fire the port and starboard cannon.
Fight without a crew. The pilot’s HUD lets you fire the cannon (without aiming) and drop torpedoes, even without a crew.
EASY TO CUSTOMIZE…
Pick a colour. Choose from several colours. Paint the hull and the fins separately.
Pick your flags. Choose one nation flag and one ensign from a list of flags that include both modern and 19th century flags. If your flag isn’t in the list, you can apply any texture from your inventory.
CREATE AUTOPILOTED TOURS…
Plot a route. Plan a route for your airship by adding route waypoints to a notecard.
Provide scenic tours to visitors. Even when you’re not around, you can get your airship to offer automated tours without giving away full piloting control.
WHERE TO BUY…
Starting Saturday, May 15, 2010, you can find the Terra-Kojima Merlin-class airship at these locations.
One week from today, on Saturday, May 15, the latest creation from the labs of Cubey Terra (hey, that’s me) and Reitsuki Kojima will finally take to the skies. This project is the culmination of many months of design, planning, and long hours in the workshop.
Specifications, locations, and pricing to be posted at a later date.
After yesterday’s pitiful lack of progress on the airship (I ended up breaking more than I fixed — such is the way of coding), today’s scripting session fixed a half dozen bugs and added some nice new features, like ammo counters on the HUDs. If my testers and I can get some combat testing done this weekend, then I think we’re on track for a possible May 15th release.
I have to say, it will feel great to finally send this flying machine out into the world. It’s been in development (on and off the backburner) for almost a year. Maybe it’s like a ripe casu marzu cheese: it needs to be aged fully before being consumed. But with fewer larvae.
