Thanks, Ptarmigan. Although, as much as I really hate to be seen as fishing for praise... truth be told, though, I've been kind of underwhelmed by the response so far. Not really looking to be pat on the back or anything like that, but for some constructive (or even destructive) criticism from the community. I had been hoping that Loaf would have something insightful to suggest, seeing as he seems to have the market cornered on Wing Commander expertise, but I guess that never really materialized.
So, since nobody else has anything to say about it, I guess I'll throw out some self-criticism. You know, because I like to hear myself talk. Or see myself write. Yeah.
If I had it to do over again (and come to think of it, I probably will eventually), I'd slim the overall profile on the Y axis a bit by bringing the top of the hangar closer to the deck. This would involve moving the engine structures accordingly, which would help bring the propulsion nozzles in line with the ship's centerline. As matters currently stand, they appear a little high to me. That's a major revision, though, so it's going to have to wait at least three months.
I'm also pretty dissatisfied with the breech of the phase transit cannon (poor use of vocabulary, but close enough). The overall shape of it is distracting, and the curvature of the hull strikes me as out of place. In a future revision, I'll probably approach it with a structure more similar to the upper hull of a Star Destroyer, with a layered appearance.
On the topic of layers, I am pleased with how the deck came out. Trying to give the surface more texture introduced a lot of unpleasant modelling compromises, but I think I handled them fairly well. The end result strikes me as more aggressive. The same can be said for the sloped corners added to the projecting fins.
The particle scoops were a late addition to the model, but I think they work pretty well considering that they don't actually appear on any ship prior to Wing Commander 3. Originally, I had a pair of funnel scoops on the bow, similar to the appearance of the cover of End Run, but I scrapped that early on in favor of the more consistant post-WC3 style panels.
One of the biggest leaps I took with the design had to do with fighter recovery. I introduced a pair of recovery decks on either side, amidship, similar to the Super Wing Commander version of the Tiger's Claw. This helped to dress up what would otherwise be a pretty unremarkable expanse of hull, but without doing too much to undermine the inherrent fighter management issues that plague the Confederation-class.
Additionally, I decided to go ahead and make the primary flight deck fly-through. Upon further review of screen captures from Wing Commander 2's cutscenes, it looks like they may very well have been fly-through to begin with. That's reassuring, since it seems like a design flaw that egregious ought to be reserved for small ships that aren't purpose-built carriers. It brings me a bit of peace of mind that I'm not too far out in the left field.
The prominant buttressing and panelling along the ventral hull was meant to give a better sence of scale to the ship without going nuts and completely greebling the model. Aside from the fact that such a thing is beyond my limited skills as a modeller, I don't think it really fits with the design aesthetic present in the Wing Commander series. Further revisions will introduce more hull details and protruding geometry, but nothing too terribly excessive.
The bridge tower was built mostly from memory, incorporating a couple elements from the cover of End Run and the design of the Bengal-class' tower structure. I didn't want to get too far off the beaten path with a more angular look, but it's something I might experiment with later.
That's pretty much it. Frankly, I consider this a huge improvement over the previous version, which I descended upon only a few short months ago to fix a couple 'minor' issues with the phase transit cannon. About the only geometry left unaltered is the forecastle sensor dome. Maybe I'll post a pic of the old version at some point.
I'd been giving some consideration to kicking off a series of these designs, moving on next to the Bengal then to the Ranger, but I've got to confess that the overall lack of interest has kind of killed my motivation. So, I think now I'll just take a bit of a break, revisit the above mentioned issues in a few months, and reevaluate things from there.
