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I'm toying with the cargo loading ramp. While doing this I noticed that while landed, the long neck of the Leif is an amazingly far distance off the ground. It looked a tad unstable. Frank Henriquez pointed out the rectangular door on the underside of the neck. I should have noticed that, it is obviously the hatch for a landing leg. I'm just doing a crude mock-up now. I have to go study some photos of the ramps on Globemaster and C5A Galaxy cargo aircraft to make them more realistic. The problem is making the ramp [a] long enough so it has a slope gentler than 45° [b] but short enough so it can fold up into the Leif's neck. It might need a winch to help haul vehicles up the ramp. Of course at such close viewing, one can see all the spots where I cut corners making the mesh or places where the textures stretch in an ugly fashion. |
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Again just for fun, I tried painting the Leif with a pseudo-Strategic Air Command color scheme, as shown on this page. This is more mythic than functional. In reality, the US Air Force bombers of the Strategic Air Command have white bellies to shield them from the thermal blast from the atomic weapons they drop on the enemy, and the black paint on the nose is to prevent sun glare from interfering with the vision of the pilot. Neither of which make any sense with a starship. But the scheme does a good job of invoking the Strategic Air Command as the father of the Strategic Space Command. A more realistic scheme will be used once it is decided upon. |