Best Yardsticks
Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2021 7:45 am
Been playing with Sketchup again, which is the tool I used for Starship Volumetrics stuff. It may also serve as a nice way to keep the place tidy by being able to have ships to play with that don't take up any actual space, but don't tell anybody I was playing with toys. ;-)
I once made a big mash-up of Starfleet shuttles, which then grew via Star Wars fighters, then the Maquis raider, then the Falcon, and by the end of it I had a KBoP and a Raven-type sitting there and instead of "Shuttles2" it just became "110m-and-below".
While it's far too busy a mash-up for video use, it remains fun to see them all together like that. For real comparisons I prefer to just have a ship or two together, which brings me to the question of the hour. What, in your opinion, is the best large-ish object for use as a yardstick that is of immediately recognizable and even touchable size? I'm going for something bigger than a person but where everyone knows it well enough to be able to, say, guesstimate if it would fit in a certain room, or on a certain area of an office or outdoors. I settled at first on cars, but that's a tricky one, too.
Considering the previous ubiquity of the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, with Vics even in Moscow and the Middle East, I went for that . . . but, other than TV use, that leaves it a bit mysterious for Europeans. The Toyota Hilux is a worldwide thing, but I'm not sure many of the circa-1990 ones that really have that famousness about them are around in sufficient numbers. The Volkswagen Beetle may be a good choice, too, but also a bad one for the same reason as the Hilux . . . yeah, there *were* a lot, but now? I wouldn't know where to find one, and I couldn't tell you if it would fit in this room, but I can lay hands on a Vic in minutes by calling 9-1-1 (though some areas no longer have them active), trying to find an assisted-living facility or bingo hall, or checking the Wal-Mart parking lot for those stripped police cars people buy.
Technically, I could use the Toyota Corolla, which is currently a worldwide bestseller . . . but, as I noted, I want something recognizable. I mean, sure, with weeks of careful study to distinguish all the goofy Far East cars, one might be able to ID a Corolla to approach and get to know the size of in person, but who has that kind of time?
I've also thought of shipping containers, though of course those have issues, as well . . . heaven forbid I use a standard 40 footer only to have someone misapprehend the size when they see a high-cube or a custom-size one, or a high-cube custom, for that matter. But, as a side note, hooooly crap, neither Trek nor Wars can even begin to deal with such containers with small vessels . . . Yikes.
Any other suggestions?
I once made a big mash-up of Starfleet shuttles, which then grew via Star Wars fighters, then the Maquis raider, then the Falcon, and by the end of it I had a KBoP and a Raven-type sitting there and instead of "Shuttles2" it just became "110m-and-below".
While it's far too busy a mash-up for video use, it remains fun to see them all together like that. For real comparisons I prefer to just have a ship or two together, which brings me to the question of the hour. What, in your opinion, is the best large-ish object for use as a yardstick that is of immediately recognizable and even touchable size? I'm going for something bigger than a person but where everyone knows it well enough to be able to, say, guesstimate if it would fit in a certain room, or on a certain area of an office or outdoors. I settled at first on cars, but that's a tricky one, too.
Considering the previous ubiquity of the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, with Vics even in Moscow and the Middle East, I went for that . . . but, other than TV use, that leaves it a bit mysterious for Europeans. The Toyota Hilux is a worldwide thing, but I'm not sure many of the circa-1990 ones that really have that famousness about them are around in sufficient numbers. The Volkswagen Beetle may be a good choice, too, but also a bad one for the same reason as the Hilux . . . yeah, there *were* a lot, but now? I wouldn't know where to find one, and I couldn't tell you if it would fit in this room, but I can lay hands on a Vic in minutes by calling 9-1-1 (though some areas no longer have them active), trying to find an assisted-living facility or bingo hall, or checking the Wal-Mart parking lot for those stripped police cars people buy.
Technically, I could use the Toyota Corolla, which is currently a worldwide bestseller . . . but, as I noted, I want something recognizable. I mean, sure, with weeks of careful study to distinguish all the goofy Far East cars, one might be able to ID a Corolla to approach and get to know the size of in person, but who has that kind of time?
I've also thought of shipping containers, though of course those have issues, as well . . . heaven forbid I use a standard 40 footer only to have someone misapprehend the size when they see a high-cube or a custom-size one, or a high-cube custom, for that matter. But, as a side note, hooooly crap, neither Trek nor Wars can even begin to deal with such containers with small vessels . . . Yikes.
Any other suggestions?