[Hades]

Sup. I started working o the Ursa some today.

Thoughts so far?

[Mars]

OH ****!

I will never be able to convince myself to stay away from these huge, unsurvivable bombers if you keep make such a habit of making  them look so awesome.

Truthfully though, the stuff you've been doing lately is pretty amazing.

Are you going to make the triple guns round?

[Hades]

Thanks.

Anyway, yes, the guns are round. You can see them in the screenshot, the three round cylinders.

[Black Wolf]

Haha - I knew as soon as I saw the thread title - round vs. triangular guns are going to be the big issue in here. I have a sneaking suspicion, though, that there are actually round holes textured onto the front of the triangular guns - not sure, and unfortunately I don't have access to FS2 at the moment to check. But the shading on them seems to imply an intended roundness to me.

So far, I like what you've posted here Hades, looking forward to seeing more of the bulk as it takes shape.

[The E]

While I can sort of see the implied curvature in the engine pods and the guns, the missile bays are a different story. Those, I believe, should stay big and square.

[Shivan Hunter]

Let the haters whine and moan about the gun barrels... but I'm not so sure about the missile pods. The big, square missile pods were a major element of the original Ursa.

Other than that, looks good so far

[Kolgena]

Yeah, massive square bomb bays should remain so.

I'm fine with either triangular or round primaries though.

[Mongoose]

Yeah, I have no problem with round gun barrels (the triangles always did look kind of goofy), but you really don't want to smooth this model all that much as a whole.  The Ursa is supposed to be nothing short of a giant flying brick, like a hunk of stone that someone carved out of a mountain.  Streamlined and graceful it ain't.

[CommanderDJ]

Basically what everyone else is saying with regards to the missile bays. With the guns I actually like the triangular ones better, but really, it's not going to make that much of a difference. The way your modelling has been going lately, I'm sure this will turn out awesome regardless.

[Pred the Penguin]

The amount of work you've been putting out is amazing.

Too soon to comment on the model for me, but I like the rounded guns.

[Snail]

Please no rounded missile bays.

[Mobius]

I'd say to add a lot of details to the engines and guns, and leave the rest blocky. Except:

While I can sort of see the implied curvature in the engine pods and the guns, the missile bays are a different story. Those, I believe, should stay big and square.

Funny. I think the exact contrary.

[Nohiki]

Personally i don't care if the guns are round or triangular, but these seem to have lost volume somehow, i think they can be thicker, these seem too fragile for ursa.

OOOH Transparent hull! GO STEALTH TECHNOLOGY!

[The E]

Well, remember one of the mainhalls shows an Ursa resting on its missile pods. I have a hard time imagining doing the same thing if the missile pods would be curved.

[Mobius]

It doesn't make it impossible, though.

[Herra Tohtori]

It doesn't make it impossible, though.

It does make it more inconvenient, though.

Surface area pressure vs. point pressure of a curved surface. Curved surface would require a hardpoint at the lowest point to bear the stress of the craft's weight. A flat area, on the other hand, divides the contact force to much larger area.

On the other hand, modeling in some sort of landing gear structure to the bottom of the bays could be done anyway.


For the record I'll say I would prefer more angular shape of the secondary bays and don't care so much if the guns are triangular, round or star-shaped.

[Mobius]

Surface area pressure vs. point pressure of a curved surface. Curved surface would require a hardpoint at the lowest point to bear the stress of the craft's weight. A flat area, on the other hand, divides the contact force to much larger area.

On the other hand, modeling in some sort of landing gear structure to the bottom of the bays could be done anyway.

When dealing with a dam, however, curved surfaces are preferred. I like the idea of a landing fear structure, it has a lot of potential IMO.

[Snail]

Yeah but we're not talking about a dam.

[Pred the Penguin]

There are enormous pressure differences obviously.

[Mobius]

I was replying to a generalization, let's not derail this thread.