aeralure Posted July 6, 2015 (edited) Location: The Fascini Cluster E11 Tags: Spaceship, Kawashita, Military, The Fascini Cluster, E11 :: Aera's Diary :: 06 Julali 3815 1304 hours I left Sorn with mixed feelings. Once the fighting had ended, I began to imagine myself settling down in such a place, the quiet beauty of the endless sea and sky soothing my soul. Perhaps someday. Instead, I was offered a promotion to the rank of commander and, along with that, orders to transfer from the Ryūjō to the Murasame. Being a pilot is my life. I accepted. It's quite a change moving from a flight leader on a light escort to commander on a heavy cruiser. I welcome the challenge - I only hope my team find another flight leader who will serve them well. Having said my goodbyes, I took my leave of Sorn and the Ryūjō and took a transport to The Fascini Cluster. The Murasame is currently in The Fascini Cluster in a reserve capacity. Helmed by the highly regarded Captain Quentin Voss, I imagine it won't remain there long as his skill will be desired on the front lines. My first order of business is to assess the Murasame's pilots and to assemble a new team. While I was offered many personnel files, I opted for something a little more hands on - live-fire flight drills within the asteroids of The Fascini Cluster. Nothing better to test the resolve and skill of the pilots than mock combat in an environment like that! For a little added fun, I'll join them. I chose the Shōkaku fighter for this task. I was even able to get one done up for me in my usual red! Perks of being the commander. It couldn't be better suited, given it's extreme mobility and highly accurate blaster. We'll of course hone the frequency such that it won't do much more damage than register the hit, but it will still be able to displace some rock. I'm curious to see who uses this to their advantage. :: Entry end :: :: Aera's Diary :: 05 Julali 3815 1309 hours Oh! I almost forgot! I have to remember to send that technician some Orinshian Tea! :: Entry end :: :: Aera's Diary :: 05 Julali 3815 1926 hours Well that was even more fun than I hoped! We have some good pilots on the Murasame, as expected. I scored more than a few hits and came away clean, so even though there's room for improvement, I can work with these pilots! In the coming days I'll choose my flight and make proper introductions, as well as share more about Captain Voss and the crew of the Murasame. I'll also tour the hanger deck and get a few close ups of the Shōkaku. Truly a fine plane and I haven't talked about it much here. I'll also tour the rest of the Murasame - there's much to see! For now, however, it's reports. Tons of reports - and it's getting late! :: Entry end :: Full build Just the asteroids Shōkaku mico fighter So this was interesting for me - my first SNOT rocks and my first micro! I had a picture in my head of some fighter-sized asteroids along with a couple huge ones, with some combat in amongst them. Micro was the only way to go for that. Really had no idea how to actually do it though when it came time to put it together. This was the result. I'd like to do some more work with SNOT rocks and maybe another micro in the future. A large scale Shōkaku will feature in a future build. Also, I'm having some ideas for a broader, more episodic story. This starts to set some of that up, but I'm missing quite a few things still (enough minifigures, bricks etc , as well as a bit more time to plan). Working on that! Hope you enjoyed it. Edited July 6, 2015 by aeralure Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccoyed Posted July 6, 2015 Nice work. Great micro ships. I would do different colors next time, though, as the grey ships are a bit hard to spot against the terrain. Unless.... that's intentional? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aeralure Posted July 6, 2015 (edited) Nice work. Great micro ships. I would do different colors next time, though, as the grey ships are a bit hard to spot against the terrain. Unless.... that's intentional? Thanks! Yeah, I realized that was a problem and tried to use angled shots that minimized the issue. It was sort of inevitable, given our main color is dark bluish grey and the base color I imagined for that ship is dark bluish grey, as well as that was also the ideal color for asteroids. The custom Shōkakus I have in mind are black or red like Aera's and thankfully at least hers is there, but as regular pilots are there also here I decided to let it play out like that and theirs would blend in some to the background since it's accurate (although at size, they have coloration along with grey - I just couldn't get much variation onto a micro - little bit of black - the full sized ones have black striping and some light bluish grey). The other option I considered was to modulate the color of the asteroids a bit but the SNOTing took me too long and I'm out of time. Edited July 6, 2015 by aeralure Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike S Posted July 6, 2015 Nice build! Great technique for making the asteroids and ships "float". The ships themselves actually make me think of robuko's build where the ships are carved from asteroids even though they are a different design. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Commander Turtle Posted July 6, 2015 The landscaping here is very nice. You should pump out a Bluerender version of this to really show it off Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pombe Posted July 6, 2015 Great microships! And beautiful terrain! Also, fantastic composition to create such a dynamic scene! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aeralure Posted July 6, 2015 (edited) Nice build! Great technique for making the asteroids and ships "float". The ships themselves actually make me think of robuko's build where the ships are carved from asteroids even though they are a different design. Thanks! I wasn't sure how I was going to accomplish it, but I'm glad it worked out. Now that you mention it, there is a bit of synergy between the two builds. The landscaping here is very nice. You should pump out a Bluerender version of this to really show it off Thanks! I'm pretty happy with the big asteroid. It was my first attempt at SNOT rocks so I wasn't sure what kind of result I was going to get. I'd love to do a Bluerender of this (and my other builds so far), but as of yet, Bluerender doesn't work on Macs despite it's being a Java app. I've been commenting a bit in the Bluerender thread elsewhere and I'm happy to see there are now three developers on the project and they know about the issue. Maybe it will be addressed in the future. You remind me though - I should check my circuitous method of getting a build into POVRay. It worked on a small test, but on my last couple of fighters I was missing a host of parts - to the point that the build would have to be completely remade in Bricksmith to do a render - and I haven't had time to do that. Maybe this build will land in Bricksmith a bit better off and I can run this through POVRay. If I have time today I'll test it. Small chance Blackhawk's PC can run Bluerender - maybe I'll text that too. Great microships! And beautiful terrain! Also, fantastic composition to create such a dynamic scene! Thanks! A series of firsts for me. I had fun trying the micro ship and SNOT rocks. The composition was the trick I was really worried about as the build progressed - I could see the scene in my head - but how or if I could portray a sense of dogfighting off of the rectangular plane was another matter. Didn't turn out exactly as I imagined, but it has the essence of it. I would have liked to more ships, but I posted very late and was in danger of falling asleep. Glad you liked it! Edited July 6, 2015 by aeralure Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LittleJohn Posted July 6, 2015 Excellent work on the asteroids, the SNOT works quite well here Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Blackhawk STX Posted July 7, 2015 Nicely done! I like the micro ships, but then I've seen the full-scale version so I know what's coming... The Murasame? Captain Quentin Voss? Those names seem somewhat... familiar. Hmmm... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aeralure Posted July 7, 2015 Excellent work on the asteroids, the SNOT works quite well here Thanks! Nicely done! I like the micro ships, but then I've seen the full-scale version so I know what's coming... Thanks! You have, although it's not fully complete. Mostly. I may make a custom version too. Really turned out to be the counterpoint to the Reppū I was hoping it would be. The Murasame? Captain Quentin Voss? Those names seem somewhat... familiar. Hmmm... I thought you might. May be seeing more than a few cameos, actually. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andromedas Gates Posted July 7, 2015 The judges awarded you 3 points. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Big Sal Posted July 9, 2015 Nice build! You really managed to convey the dynamic action well! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
