Manufacturer: 3D print, own model
Scale: 1/700
Additional parts: none
Model build: May - Jun 2020
Reban Plasma Cruiser
3D print, own model
1/700
1/700
Space Travel
Captain Vela gripped the command console, her brow furrowed in concern. The usual hum of the Naeboe-Noer's plasma drive was punctuated by an erratic sputter. Warning lights flickered on the instrument panel, casting an ominous red glow across the bridge.
"Engineering report!" she barked, her voice echoing through the tense silence.
A young Reban with grease smeared across his brow appeared on the main screen. "Plasma drive instability, Captain. We're losing containment in the main reactor core."
Vela's stomach lurched. A plasma drive breach on a ship designed for civilian transport could be catastrophic. They were halfway between Icin and the Lorvabee colony, a desolate world with limited repair facilities. Panic threatened to bubble up, but Vela quelled it with a deep breath.
"Rinn, plot an emergency course to the nearest known asteroid rich in dilithium crystals," she ordered, her voice firm. Dilithium was a rare mineral crucial for stabilizing plasma drives. It was a long shot, but their only hope.
The Naeboe-Noer lurched as Rinn, the ship's navigator, charted a new course. The once-familiar comfort of the bridge felt suffocating. The crew, usually a jovial bunch, worked in tense silence, their movements betraying a flicker of fear.
Days bled into one another as they limped through space. The plasma drive sputtered and coughed, a constant reminder of their precarious situation. Rations were cut back, and the air grew stale with recycled oxygen.
Then, a glimmer of hope. Rinn's voice crackled over the intercom, "Captain, readings confirmed! Dilithium-rich asteroid dead ahead."
Vela felt a surge of relief. It wasn't a guaranteed fix, but it was their best chance. Docking with an asteroid in deep space was a delicate maneuver, even more so with a malfunctioning drive. But the Naeboe-Noer's crew rose to the challenge.
Vela guided the ship with practiced ease, navigating the treacherous dance around the tumbling rocks. Finally, with a hiss and a clang, the magnetic docking clamps secured them to a particularly large, shimmering asteroid.
A nervous energy filled the bridge as a three-Reban EVA team prepped for the spacewalk. Their mission: extract enough dilithium to stabilize the drive. Time was of the essence.
Hours ticked by. The silence was broken only by the rhythmic hiss of the oxygen tanks and the occasional crackle of communication from the EVA team. Then, a triumphant voice filled the bridge.
"We have it, Captain! Enough dilithium to get us home."
A wave of relief washed over the crew. The repairs were long and arduous, but with each passing hour, the erratic hum of the plasma drive settled into a reassuring thrum.
Finally, after a tense week docked to the asteroid, the Naeboe-Noer emerged, its engines purring contentedly. The journey back to Icin was uneventful, but it held a newfound weight. They had faced a crisis, relying on their ingenuity and courage, and emerged stronger.
As the Naeboe-Noer docked at the Icin space station, Captain Vela looked out at her crew, a deep sense of pride swelling in her chest. They were a peaceful people, but they had proven their resilience. The vast expanse of space held unforeseen dangers, but aboard the Naeboe-Noer, they were ready to face them, together.
When the Rebans were discovered in 2127 by an explorer ship from Earth, they had already had 123 years of sublight space travel.
Their planet Icin is the 4th planet of the sun Räb and in the last 30 years before their discovery the Rebaners established small colonies on the 3rd planet Leysahm (a dense jungle world) and the 5th planet Lorvabee (desert world with a thin but breathable atmosphere).
Between Icin and Lorvabee exists an extensive asteroid belt, in which first attempts of asteroid mining were made.
For supply and transport between the colonies, the Rebanians mainly use spaceships of the plasma cruiser type - this is what the Terranian Explorer crew called them.
The most commonly used variant has a total length of 134 meters with a 32 meter diameter command sphere, which usually accommodates the crew of 25 Rebans. Transport containers or smaller space ships can be docked at a total of 16 docking positions. There are also shorter and a few longer versions of these spaceships.
The ships are powered by a plasma drive, which can accelerate the ship up to 25km/s. Thus the journeys to the colonies take between 4-8 weeks, depending on the planet constellation.
Since the Reban people are a peaceful people who have never fought wars among themselves, the plasma cruisers are not armed - except for a plasma cannon at the command dome to destroy smaller asteroids when crossing the asteroid belt.
The model shows the "Naeboe-Noer", on this ship the first contact with the Terran Explorer EX-1 took place in 2127.
Mark Fleck posted a picture of a GWA plasma cruiser in the Facebook group "Perry Rhodan Visuell" and since I liked the design, I tried to recreate and print it in 3D.
The model is built and printed component by component, i.e. it was not constructed completely, but as single parts (command sphere, reactor, tanks, grid structure, etc.). Some adjustments had to be made for better printability.
The software used was Tinkercad, but it definitely reached its limits during construction, when I assembled all components to a complete model.
The scale is 1:700 and the printing was done on an Anycubic Photon SLA printer. The model was painted with Revell Aqua Color, the decals are from the spare part box.
7 Images