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BrickShelf gallery includes ongoing prototypes and alternate sizes, but no
reference images yet:
David Weber is a prolific writer of mil-SF novels, including the dozen-volume
“Honor Harrington” (HH) series published
(in the US) by Baen Books. (On Basilisk Station, War of Honor, etc.) The
warships described therein have a distinctive shape that I haven’t seen produced
in brick.
I haven’t decided what class or allegiance this represents, because all warships
in HH look very much alike, from destroyer (DD) to superdreadnought (SD): a
double-ended spindle (i.e. cylinder with tapered ends), tipped by the “impeller”
rings (that produce the gravitic drive fields) and “hammerheads” that contain
“chase armaments”. The widest part of the cylinder contains the broadside
armament (depending on the class, several decks of lasers, grasers, missile
launchers and energy torpedo emitters) and small craft bays (including numerous
LAC bays for a CLAC).
Cylinders are, of course, a challenge in brick; this is a SNOT-based compromise
between shape and durability, since I prefer my MOCs to be
pick-up-and-SWOOSH!-able. The sides of the tapered sections are panels swung
into place with free-hinges (click-hinges don’t have the right angle). The
impeller rings are represented with 36-tooth gears (from the “G-60 Gigamesh”
Spybot).
The model is semi-schematic in nature, designed as a gamepiece in a
tabletop (or floor) sim game. I.e., surface features can be popped off and
replaced with damage markers. “We’ve lost Grasers 3 and 4 and Gravitic 2!”
This particular combination of colors (blue, blue-grey, grey, white, black),
isn’t representative, it’s simply the bricks I could most easily access at the
time (some discounted “Alpha Team” sets were atop the pile). In the books, the
ships are variously grey or white, with red hull numbers. (But most space
navies, and some merchants, use a nano-based paint that can change color.)
Official image references are limited, so there’s room for interpretation. The
more recent books have diagrams in the back, and these show both hammerheads as
the same shape (except for SD(P)s, which have a large after hatch), but I like
to know which end is which. The recent CG-based cover illos by
David Mattingly are fairly
accurate, but earlier ones often pasted random superstructures atop the hull, or
featured generic blobby ships with multiple reaction engines.
FWIW, Weber and Mattingly are the Author and Artist guests at this
year’s Philcon and probably we’ll have Ad Astra Games
and its tabletop HH combat
sim; yours truly is responsible for the Children’s and LEGO programs. AFOLs
from the region (the con draws most of its attendees from the NYC-to-DC
corridor) are welcome to attend and join in the SF-themed MOC display.
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