[Assignment Models] Delta-7 Aethersprite: Part 1 - Ship Body and Cockpit

The final of the 3 assignment models that I have to create is the Delta-7 Aethersprite. This is the ship that I originally assumed to be the easiest of the 3 models due it's to relatively simple geometry. To begin, I set up my work space using schematic images from the top, front and side views before creating a simple cube to shape into the shape of the main body. To create the pointed end to the ship I took the vertices at the end of the cube shape and merged them to center, creating a point.

With this basic shape in place I then proceeded to shape, scale and move the vertices around to match the shape of the schematic, creating a much flatter diamond shaped body.

Next, I extruded the face at the back of this shape to start filling out of the rest of the detail required in the body. I made some cuts across this shape to help match the details found on the top down and side on schematics as shown below.

Below is a picture of the shape of this object after I spent some time moving vertices/edges around to match the general shape of the ship.

With the basic shape complete, I now began focusing my attention on the cockpit shape. To create this shape, I made a basic sphere and then cut the sphere just above the half way point on the Y-axis. I then stretched this shape to match the cockpit shape found in the schematic. With the basic cockpit shape in place I then started to make cuts across this shape to match the border detail that goes around the glass, as shown below.

With these cuts made (and unnecessary edges deleted) I then selected all of the faces that represent the glass in the cockpit. I then extruded these faces inwards to create an inset effect, as shown below.

After creating this cockpit shape I came to realise that the main body had some geometry errors, with some faces hidden that shouldn't be there. I decided that it would be a good time to fix these issues now, rather than wait until later. With this in mind, I deleted all of the faces extruded spine on the main body and started again with a flat surface.

I extruded these new faces out to create the basic detail I needed to connect the cockpit to the main part of the ship.

Next, I took the face at the back of this newly extruded shape and used it to create a point, matching the geometry found in the reference images I have been using. The pictures below show the shaping/scaling of this face that I needed to do to make the correct shape.

Next I made some extra cuts along the spine of the ship towards the cockpit in order to extrude some faces out and create more depth.

While working on this model I have quickly realised that the shapes used to create this ship are actually more complicated than I original thought, making this one of the harder models I have had to create so far. Despite the shape of the ship being close to a diamond, the extra detail that had to go into the ship's spine and cockpit made this a much more difficult endeavour than I first anticipated.