I've started work on the Russian Kirov Battlescruiser. I'm borrowing the hull from a low detail kirov model, but I may make my own. I'm building everything from scratch (except the hull for now) using a 1/700 Trumpeter model.

The preview picture shows my current progress.

Picture removed to save space.

Looks very promising :)

Looks very promising :)
Indeed :D (10 letters- my kingdom for 10 letters)

Looks good so far. :)

Jesus Tap-dancing Christ! Me likee.

It's time we got a decent Kirov!

My suggestion: Lot's of smoke for the VLS.

Isn't the Kirov nuclear powered?

Can you make it glow in the dark ? :D

Displacement (tons):
Designer:
Builder:
Displacement (tons): 24,300-25,860 tons standard
25,396-26,396 tons full load
Speed (kts): 32 knots
Dimensions (m): 251.2-252 meters long
28.5 meters beam
9.0-10.33 meters draft
Propulsion: 2 nuclear reactors
4 x 70,000 steam turbines
2 shafts driving 5 bladed props
turbogenerators: 4x3000 kW; GT generators:
Crew: 727 (aircrew 15)
Armament:
Missiles: 20 Granit (SS-N-19) ADGM S-300F 12 launchers, 96 missiles)
2x2 SA OSA-MA Total:40
ADGM Kashtan Total: 192 missiles (24000 cartiges)
10 Vodopad-NK (SS-N-16) (total: 20)

Guns: 2 AK-130 DP (130 mm; R: 28'800 m, 840 rounds)
8 x 6 AK-630 gattl. AA (6x30 mm; 6'000 rds/m/mount, 48000 rounds)

Electronics: Combat information centre
Radio communications system
Satellite communications system
Anti-ship missile firing control
RBU-1000 and Udav fire control system
Surveillance radar system
Low flying and surface target acquisition radar
2 Air defence missile system fire-control radar
4 Fire control radar for 30 mm air defence gun
2 Navigation radars
Active and passive sonar system
Electronic countermeasures system
Decoy dispensers
2 x PK-2 with 400 rockets
Other: 1 x 10 RBU-1000 ASW RL (R: 6'000 m, total: 102)
2 x 6 RBU-Udav-1 ASW RL (R: 1'200 m, total: 40)
3 /Helicopters KA-27


Intresting that it is actually the world largest Cruiser.

Intresting that it is actually the world largest Cruiser.

If there were scads of these (i.e., like in a Civ game, or some alternate world) there would probably be a different designation for these pups. Any thoughts?

-Oz

If there were scads of these (i.e., like in a Civ game, or some alternate world) there would probably be a different designation for these pups. Any thoughts?

-Oz

ozy, the kirov cost $2 billion US for each one!! There cannot be scads of them. :eek: I don't know for sure, but the USSR could not have had more than a couple of these. The kirov's powerful AA defenses were virtually unpenetrable by missiles launched from opposing navies.

fingerjoe, very nice model! And we really need a good kirov for the game. I'm wondering if you can overcome one small problem with your Iowa when making this. To me, your Iowa was a bit fuzzy and hard to see. Like if you compare it to Wyrmshadow's stunning Montana which I think is the best ship ever made for the game. His ship is perfectly crisp and clear without the fuzzy, bacterial effect. Sorry if this sounds harsh cause I'm not a creator but can appreciate your hard work. That said, I really like your missile cruiser. ;)

I don't know what to say about this alleged fuzziness. I render all animations in 800x600, then run them through Steph's Storyboard Builder ( where I reduce the frame size to work with Civ3-usually 240x180 or 240x240 depending on the original size) finally I apply the custom pallete. Unless I'm skipping a step, I do not know what would be creating the fuzziness you refer to.

A quick fact about the Kirovs, there were four of them built. Two are still operational, possibly a third, and a fourth is being used for spare parts.

New preview picture updated. Check out the first post for it.

Maybe that might be why VJ. I don't render mine at such resolution but just the normal 240x240. I also only use a regular anti-aliasing setting, but I can go as high as 256 rays per pixel, that would take weeks to render anything at that setting. I don't know what else to say.

Scratch, do you always mispell poeples names?
My name is Wyrmshadow, not Worm.

His is VinegarJoe, not Fingerjoe

Now that you mention it Wyrmshadow, I think thet rendering high and reducing resolution may be the problem. I'm going to check into it.

I just tried it. I rendered a frame at 800x600 and then reduced it to 240x180. I also rendered a frame at 240x180 to start with. The frame that was reduced from 800x600 to 240x180 was crisper than the frame that was originally rendered at 240x180.

Scratch, do you always mispell poeples names?
My name is Wyrmshadow, not Worm.

His is VinegarJoe, not Fingerjoe

Warmshadow, you misspelt "misspell".

Worm --> :blush: :p <-- unscratchedfoot (not 'Scratch' cause it is opposite meaning)

It's looks great, we need more modern naval units

Warmshadow, you misspelt "misspell".

Worm --> :blush: :p <-- unscratchedfoot (not 'Scratch' cause it is opposite meaning)
'Unscratch' ???

ozy, the kirov cost $2 billion US for each one!! There cannot be scads of them. :eek: I don't know for sure, but the USSR could not have had more than a couple of these. The kirov's powerful AA defenses were virtually unpenetrable by missiles launched from opposing navies.


Admiral Ushakov (ex-Kirov)
At the end of 1997 only the Admiral Nakhimov remained operational.

The Admiral Ushakov, which had been inoperable since 1989-1990, was stricken in October 1998 to provide material for a refit of the other active unit of the Kirov class, the Admiral Nakhimov. However, on 14 January 1999 the Russian Duma voted the Admiral Ushakov be repaired and restored to service, using funding allocated for other construction and repair projects. In September 1999 the Russian Northern Fleet's Admiral Ushakov cruiser was sent from Severomorsk to Severodvinsk to undergo modernisation. The ship's nuclear powerplant will be replaced. Besides, the cruiser wil be armed with the latest weapons and fitted with most advanced navigation equipment. The money for the upgrade was provided by the Russian regions. As of 1999, over 10 million roubles have already been allocated of the total of 100 million roubles needed for the Admiral Ushakov upgrade.

The Admiral Ushakov was reportedly written off in 2001. By in April 2001 Russia Navy Commander-in-Chief, Adm Vladimir Kuroyedov stated that the Kirov-class battle cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, which had been laid up since 1999 at Severodvinsk, will be re-commissioned by the Russian Navy.

Admiral Nakhimov (ex-Frunze)
At the end of 1997 the Admiral Lazarev was said to be slated for disposal because of insufficient funding for needed repairs.

Admiral Nakhimov (ex-Kalinin)
As of early 2004 the Admiral Nakhimov was undergoing repairs at Sevmash. Its overhaul is due to be completed in 2007.

Petr Velikiy
The much-delayed Petr Velikiy, which arrived in the Northern Fleet in November 1996 for acceptance trials, was finally commissioned on 18 April 1998, but in the Northern Fleet rather than in the originally planned Pacific Fleet. However, she was subsequently laid up at Severomorsk awaiting completion and repairs.

On 23 March 2004 Russia's navy chief reportedly said that the nuclear-powered Peter the Great missile cruiser, was in such dire condition that it could "explode at any moment" - only to backtrack on his statement a few hours later. Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov said the massive cruiser had been badly maintained and could "explode any moment", adding that "it's especially dangerous because it has a nuclear reactor". Just three hours later, however, Kuroyedov retracted his ominous statement, saying he had been misunderstood by the media. "There is no threat whatsoever to the ship's nuclear safety," he said in a statement. "The ship's nuclear safety is fully guaranteed in line with existing norms." He added that some flaws in maintaining the cruiser's living quarters would be fixed within three weeks, after which the ship would become fully combat-ready.

The Petr Veliki cruiser docked for repair at Roslyakovo starting on 19 April 2004. The ship repairers will clean and paint the submarine part of the ship, repair the armature and examine the steering system. The floating dock PD-50, where the Admiral Kuznetsov had been repaired, was prepared for the flagship of the navy. As of July 2004 the flagship of the Northern Fleet, the Pyotr Veliky, heavy nuclear guided-missile cruiser, also fresh from repair, was carrying out missions so as to be in what is called "first-line" readiness in the second half of August 2004.

Kuznetzov
Budget cuts at the end of the Cold War led to discontinuing the construction of a fifth unit of the Kirov class.

:)

Cool info- thank you MarineCorps :) I say its good to see 4 Kirov Class fully operational again: I kinda miss the times when merely mentioning Russia would produce a bad stomache condition and send a chill down one's spine. Better 4 well maintained ships than 5 not-so-well ones...

Unscratchedfoot, the 'fuzziness' you refer to in my units compared to Wyrmshadow's, may be that I have less lighting in my renderings than he does. His renderings have few dark areas, while mine contain more shadows on the unit, thus giving a different visual appearance. I'm not saying one style is better than the other, it's all personal preference, and so far, you are the only one to voice concern over this matter. I will continue to render my units as usual, until a time comes where I find a process or technique that increases the quality of my units.

Yes, I agree, just different style. I used to have dark shadows on my older units but I changed it to what it is now.

Cool info- thank you MarineCorps :)

hehe. I can provide info on 90% of the world navies. :D :D :D :p

hehe. I can provide info on 90% of the world navies. :D :D :D :p
Yes, god bless the internet ;)

Yes, I agree, just different style. I used to have dark shadows on my older units but I changed it to what it is now.

Are shadows what cause the bacterial effect? :confused: I'm just wondering acuse I've seen some tank units which look like the surface of them are literally swimming with some kind of microbiorganism even though they looked like a perfect 3d model in the civiopedia gif. I think some were the matilda and Chieftain II but can't remember. It seems to me that Bebro's units are the most crisp/clear of all so he must know something about avoiding it.

Are shadows what cause the bacterial effect? :confused: I'm just wondering acuse I've seen some tank units which look like the surface of them are literally swimming with some kind of microbiorganism even though they looked like a perfect 3d model in the civiopedia gif. I think some were the matilda and Chieftain II but can't remember. It seems to me that Bebro's units are the most crisp/clear of all so he must know something about avoiding it.
pm him then

All I can think of is that the 'bacterial' effect, is caused by the movement of the ship, thus affecting lighting and shadows. When my ships are in the Default and Fidget animation the ships are rolling to simulate the effect of waves upon a ship. When they are in the Run animation, the ship is rolling and pitching. In the Attack and Death animations the ship is rolling, pitching and bobbing, motion affects the shadows and lighting angles upon the moving surfaces..

VJ, it may be some sort of filter that MAX uses. I remember Ripptide saying something about redoing his ww2 tanks using a different filter to make things clearer.

I have 12 different filters to choose from in Max. Although, I personally never noticed a 'bacterial' effect on my ships. I may ask Ripptide about the filters anyway.

Look further down for recent preview pictures.

*whistles* :eek:

Now thats a ship.

Wow. Thats quite awsome.

Yes, you've gotten quite good. You must have quite a detailed model/plans to work from.

I'm using a 1/700 scale Trumpeter model. It sucks measuring the really small parts, especially when I can barely hold them.

Here is the latest rendering of the Kirov model. I'm pretty much done with the model. I will start animating after I experiment a little with textures. I ended up building my own hull, although I'm not completely satisfied with it, I feel it's better than the hull I was using. That one needed too much work. I'm still getting the hang of building hulls. I use Rhino for hull building since it has a sleek loft feature. Anyways, no ETA on the animations, but they're coming.

I think I went overboard in some areas. Building radar and scaffolding meshes sucks.

If you can get the Radar to rotate then it would look cool. ;)

If you can get the Radar to rotate then it would look cool. ;)
I'm not sure the mesh will show mush as civ size, but I will be glad to use the unit because I know it's there, even if I can't see it.

Here's a still frame from rendering. This is what the Kirov looks like at 240x240.

Excelent color and proportions

I would have posted a gif, but somehow I changed the settings and can't get it to save to the usaual gif settings as my other unit previews.

:eek: its beautiful !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Indeed. Beautiful it is!

I finally figured out my gif format problem. So, here's the AttackA preview. Four SS-N-19 missiles launching from their angled VLS containers.

:drool: Ooooo baby baby! I just might throw this in the WH40K mod because it looks so fine!

I finally figured out my gif format problem. So, here's the AttackA preview. Four SS-N-19 missiles launching from their angled VLS containers.

Thats quite an attack. :eek: :)

I've been busy doing some other things lately, but now I have time to get back to work on the Kirov. I've finished setting up the death animation, so here's a preview.

I love hte spinning radar in the attack animation. a glorious unit

It's done. Look in the unit forum.