Rama spacecraft from Rendezvous With Rama

RocketmanTan

Well-Known Member
Well, my previous project was kind of a disappointment, but hopefully, this one won't be. The Arthur C. Clarke fans on this site are probably wondering: "Why the hell would you want to make a paper model of a 50km by 20 km cylinder?!" My answer is : I'll put in an interior.
So far, I've got the cylinders done and all I need to do now is design the propulsion system and the interior landscape.

For those of you who don't know what Rama is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rama_(spacecraft)

--Bryan "Opposite Over Adjacent" Tan
 

RocketmanTan

Well-Known Member
Interior landscape

Well, I have the raw texture for the interior of the ship. From the photo, you can easily make out the southern and northern hemispheres, and the Cylindrical Sea (with New York in the center).
All that's left for the landscape is some small detailing, noise, and strip lighting.

For the record, the reason I take screenshots with a webcam with terrible quality is to deter impatient pirates.
 

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RocketmanTan

Well-Known Member
First pages

Well, the "prototype" pages are complete. Since the design is very simple, there shouldn't be any problems when I start the beta build
 
You're going to need to modify the terrain to incorporate the lighting strips? The "farmland" area looks fine, but the other "inner cylinder" was fairly bare with the light strip trenches and small villages, yes?
Yogi
 

RocketmanTan

Well-Known Member
You're going to need to modify the terrain to incorporate the lighting strips? The "farmland" area looks fine, but the other "inner cylinder" was fairly bare with the light strip trenches and small villages, yes?
Yogi
Thanks for the suggestion, I guess the landscape I chose doesn't seem "barren" enough sign1 Well, I have attached a picture of the new landscape, this time using an african landscape with some villages here and there (they're not discernible in the photo). As for the lines bordering the light strips, they're just the borders for the image sample; they won't appear when I transfer everything to a pdf.
 

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Marco Scheloske

Active Member
What a cool idea! I love the RAMA series, as well as "Ringworld". :cool:

Hope to see your model soon ready for downloading... :mrgreen:
 

Tirick

Member
Very neat... depending on how big you make it, there are some detail structures on the end of the cylinder too, if I recall correctly... and don't forget the smear on the outer side, how they discovered it was rotating.

Great series overall. Were you planning on a layered interior, or just textured? It would be neat to see the depression of the inner sea.
 

RocketmanTan

Well-Known Member
@ Marco: Well, who doesn't love extremely large spacecraft? sign1 I did, for a split second, consider making a ringworld, but it would just turn out being two flat paper disks..

@Tirick: Yup, the drive assembly is there. And I forgot about the streaks, thanks for reminding me! :mrgreen: As for interior textures, I'll try to make it like those topographic models kids do in school today.

Thanks for the support!

--Bryan
 

RocketmanTan

Well-Known Member
Well, the model's done, although I have run into some problems: when I converted the model into a pdf, the lighting effects just turned into greyish streaks. So, instead, I have placed simple white strips to represent the lighting trenches. I'll tell you guys when the model will be up in the downloads section.
 

Marco Scheloske

Active Member
Well, the model's done, although I have run into some problems: when I converted the model into a pdf,

Which program did you use for the converting? I`m working in a small printing business company and have a lot of tools to create PDF files, so maybe I can help here if you send me the source file (if it is made in a program we have here, too).
 

RocketmanTan

Well-Known Member
Which program did you use for the converting? I`m working in a small printing business company and have a lot of tools to create PDF files, so maybe I can help here if you send me the source file (if it is made in a program we have here, too).

I use primo pdf. If you could convert it for me, that would be of GREAT help! Thanks in advance! :mrgreen:
 

Vger1981

Active Member
Hm Rama was so clean and sterile.. Until human comes.. How big it will be? Using layers can be great, rised back wall to avoid overleaks of the ringsea during acceleration.. :twisted:
 

RocketmanTan

Well-Known Member
@Vger1981: The model is fairly small; about the length of an X-acto blade.

By the way, I'll be going on vacation in a few weeks, and I won't be back until late august, so I might not be able to answer any queries until then. Nevertheless, feel free to leave a message! :wave:
 

RocketmanTan

Well-Known Member
@ Marco: I meant for the model to be built with either an open end (like a cutaway model), completely closed, or with an improvised endcap.

Happy building! :wave:

--Bryan
 
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