The Ship(s) That Ate My Dining Room

[pnolan48]

Pete, I first considered building the hull up out of styrene, as I do for most ship above 12" long. In fact the tank cover of the Mozah was built that way. I knew I could do it, and that it would be immensely strong, but I would still be building the hull today, and fighting with the skins. Extruded styrofoam is a blast to build with, and I used it all over my layout, and for some ship models. But it won't meet museum specs, I think. You can build dinosaurs out of it, but for ships most want a good 400-year material--and MDF has just barely been accepted. Hell, it's going to be resting on an MDF sea.

A large land-locked storage and distribution center would have piping much like the tanker, but the tanks would be above ground. A refinery is a much different beast.

[GaryHinshaw]

Ok, I would love to see you tackle a large land-locked storage and distribution center. 

[pnolan48]

Perhaps on my reconstructed layout in Decatur, Alabama. I am going to have to discard (reuse) most of the city landscape of the Portsmouth Branch, as it just won't fit in the attic layout room.

[pnolan48]

Museum projects are never finished; they are declared done, and the maker is separated from the ship. That's how I feel. I'm making new lifeboats for this, but then it's done. It's all matte white: colors, emblems, people, and activities will be projected on it by 3D projectors. I didn't know this until very late in the project, so took extraordinary care to avoid glue spots and finger smudges--which cover nicely with matte paint!

A masked version, with the mask still needing some trimming. I can cut in a ocean around her, instead of my poor dust-filled dining room.


Oops, still have to connect the main pipes with the two smaller pipes running around the main house.


Oops, still have to make nozzles for the manifolds, although they can probably by projected on. The starboard side will be connected to an offloading terminal.


These huge ships have huge winches and windlasses, lots of man ports and vents, but very few deck fittings compared to smaller ships. That's easy to understand: they can call on very few ports, so everything is tailored to where they can anchor.



Unless someone models the Knock Nevis, which was longer and, I think, had a little more capacity, this is probably going to hold the record for largest N scale ship ever built. If you can get to the high-res versions, try them: the detail is outstanding.

What do you mean, it has to be shipped? This has been a fun project that I never would have done without a buyer. The Mozah LNG tanker is next up.

[tehachapifan]

Wow, that looks fantastic!!!

[peteski]

If individual members could be made "best of TRW" - Pete would certainly get my vote!  That is frickin' unbelievable!

Pete, I'm curious about those 3D projectors you mentioned.  Is it just several standard projectors projecting the images onto all the sides of the model?

[pnolan48]

Pete,

All I know is that there are a number of ways to do it. Ten years ago, I showed a system from Infinite Z (now Z Space) at Sandia National Labs as an advanced technology. This used dual projectors and  polarized glasses, and used Z-axis perspective. It was incredible to watch--the resolution, because it was true 3-D, seemed infinite and the depth into an out of the screen was nearly unlimited. They are still around, but not a big success. I presume that others have worked around those patents by now, and have something similar or better.

[Lemosteam]

OLY CHIT MANG!

 

[davefoxx]

The ship is 7'-9" long . . . .

Haha!  That thing's longer than my entire N scale layout.  Beautiful work.  Kudos!

DFF

[peteski]

Pete,

All I know is that there are a number of ways to do it. Ten years ago, I showed a system from Infinite Z (now Z Space) at Sandia National Labs as an advanced technology. This used dual projectors and  polarized glasses, and used Z-axis perspective. It was incredible to watch--the resolution, because it was true 3-D, seemed infinite and the depth into an out of the screen was nearly unlimited. They are still around, but not a big success. I presume that others have worked around those patents by now, and have something similar or better.

Interesting...
But if the white ship model is already 3D (since is is a real object), why do they need to project 3D onto it?  I envisioned that they would just project some paint scheme onto the hull.

[pnolan48]

Ah, no--there will be men running around and other stuff happening.

[peteski]

Ah, no--there will be men running around and other stuff happening.

Something like holographic 3D men running around the ship?!  I would love to see that in-person!

[pnolan48]

Yes, and men on the bridge moving behind the "glass." The Z Space demos a decade ago were incredibly detailed. The resolution of each view was about 800 x 600, which seems coarse, until you realized the Z resolution has to be considered, and that things are moving. It is not at all like watching a large TV or movie screen. You are utterly convinced you are watching something in real life. When a spider jumps out of the screen at you, you cannot escape flinching. That was so scary for some people that we substituted a pretty little birdy--and everyone still jumped.

I was going to study this in a lot of detail, as I was in line for VP, marketing--but then the Vulture Capitalists swooped in and cleaned house.

[eric220]

@pnolan48 my usual BASIC joke doesn't begin to describe the awesome that is shown here. Absolutely incredible work!

[BCR751]

Pete, 

I just watched a documentary video about the construction of the Hellespont Fairfax, reportedly the biggest tanker in the world, at least when the video was made.  One thing they mentioned has me somewhat confused.  They said the single engine is connected directly to the ship's propeller, no gears, no clutch and no reverse.  So, when the engine is running, the prop is rotating and the ship can only move forward.  How do they stop or control the ship's movements?  That idea seems pretty dumb to me.  You seem to know a lot about these ships so I thought I'd ask.

Doug