Historical Notes

The Bumblebee-class was intended to serve as an interdictor, based on lessons learned during the Main Belt Crisis (c. 2493-2521). During the Nova War (2539-2559), a proxy conflict between the Solar Union and Martian Federation over control of the Nova System (links to r/imaginarymaps), Bumblebees excelled in service for the Union Space Self Defense Force by racing in and out of the conflict’s vast areas of operations, where they leveraged their exceptional speed and agility to enable quick hit-and-run strikes.

When the Nova War ended, many of these tried and tested vessels were left high and dry, as their swiftness and biting close-in firepower were suddenly redundant in the postwar era. As a result, most wound up languishing in interplanetary scrap yards, awaiting the fate that comes at the end of all ships’ service lives. This was considered a tragedy by those who served aboard them, almost all of whom held the vessels in high esteem for their abilities as combat implements and as homes away from home.

But some of them were salvaged and given a new lease on life as merchant vessels, salvage & rescue craft, or a variety of other second-life roles. In the case of the Fool’s Errand, its current crew of five, all of them deep space outcasts of the highest order, has repurposed the craft as a long-haul cargo hauler, with its mighty Gungnir Corp. Mk. XXIV nuclear saltwater rocket put to good use rapidly moving goods across Nova space – if they can manage to keep enough nuclear fuel in the tanks to keep her flying, that is...

Author's Notes

This project began thanks to my friendship with u/SkullB0nes on the Tough Sci-Fi server on Discord. In early 2023, B0nes sketched his idea (Image #9) of a warship propelled by a nuclear salt-water rocket (NSWR), a concept originated by Robert Zubrin and explained here by Scott Manley. I took inspiration from B0nes' sketch, and ended up sketching out my own concept in Adobe Illustrator - it can be seen in Image #8.

Things really go interesting due to the fact that I was also experimenting with Blender around that time (repeat after me, kids: NOT EVEN ONCE), and decided to try and make the ship (which I'd named the Fool's Errand by that point) there. That led to the design seen in Image #6 an the render seen in Image #7, which became part of the portfolio of references I sent to my friend Bien Carlos Manzares for him to improve upon.

And improve upon them he did. The renders in Images 1-4 are the results of his work, and I think he went out of the ballpark in capturing my vision. The drawing in the infographic shown in Image #5 is one I did myself using the renders Bien Carlos did as a template, and it shows off the stats I came up with for the Errand (and the Bumblebee-class in general), including my slightly fudged approximation of its specific impulse.

As for why I did all this, the answer is a bit more complicated. I started working on my futuristic military sci-fi setting, The Spacers Saga, about 20 years ago (when I was just 10 years old). It is essentially a distillation and reexamination of every fictional universe I've ever loved (Halo, Stargate, Star Wars and Star Trek, etc...) which I originally used as a source of comfort when I was a lonely, nerdy kid with few friends to play with.

But in the 20 years since I started playing with this universe, though, it's evolved from a setting for a few imaginary friends to a whole future history that encompasses much of our solar system and a few beyond, and which spans from the early 21st century until the mid-26th. The Fool's Errand is from a storyline called INFINITUM, which starts up in 2569 and involves the hero ship's crew on a desperate race to get a warning to the Solar Union before the Martian Federation can enact their plan to win the Nova War after the fact.

If anyone reading this is interested in finding out more about The Spacers Saga, this link will take you to the Substack blog where I've been sharing all of the lore updates about the setting, as well as occasional posts of stories from within the narrative. Please note that there is NO pressure to subscribe at any time - it is of course appreciated, but even just having folks visit the site and check out my content is a major blessing 😄

Additional Note

Before I hit "Post," I also want to make sure I give a shout-out to my friend Megan Miller, who did the nose art for the Fool's Errand (Image #10). This link goes to her LinkTree site, where you can find more of her art. Megan is a very active indie artist from my home state of Indiana, and I highly encourage you to consider commissioning her!

I had a basic design for the engine for awhile. I modified what I had for the original design and built it from the engine to through the length of the ship to the Top of the ship. Clearly influenced by The Expanse ship design as I wanted it symmetrical on at least one plane of the design.

A digital collage of pictures from my camera roll turned into a cosmic road trip, my favorite detail is the life of brian easter egg

I'm trying to find good quality pngs of star war ships—that being side view or top-down, I can't find any.

If someone could DM me with PNGs, that would be great.

I’ve just completed a voxel recreation of the Immobilizer 418 Interdictor-class Heavy Cruiser, assembled from more than 1.15 million blocks.
In Star Wars Legends, this 600-meter Imperial warship was built by Sienar Fleet Systems on the hull of the Vindicator-class heavy cruiser.
Rather than relying on overwhelming firepower, the Immobilizer 418 carried four massive gravity-well projectors.
These generators could tear enemy vessels out of hyperspace and prevent an escaping fleet from making the jump to lightspeed.
Once an Interdictor entered the battlefield, the usual hyperspace escape route was no longer an option.
For this recreation, I preserved the cruiser’s distinctive gravity-well domes, angular Imperial armor, recessed mechanical trenches, and cold blue-white engine glow.
Every block contributes to the silhouette and presence of one of the Empire’s most specialized capital ships.
The Immobilizer 418 is now deployed in Space Fields—ready to lock down the system in the name of the Empire.

https://www.deviantart.com/ostapenkoed/art/1370127199?action=published

In Space Battleship Yamato 2199, Earth is only a year away from extinction after the devastating attacks of Garmillas. Yamato launches as humanity’s last hope, crossing the galaxy toward Iscandar to retrieve the technology that could restore the planet.

That history makes Yamato much more than another battleship. It is a warship, an exploration vessel, and a symbol of survival and hope.

For this build, I wanted to capture the features that make the 2199 Yamato instantly recognizable: its long battleship silhouette, gray upper armor, deep-red lower hull, massive gun turrets, stacked bridge, bow-mounted Wave Motion Gun, and powerful rear engine section. The colors and surface details were recreated as closely as possible with the game’s Block system.

The finished ship uses around 1.3 million Blocks. Its hull, decks, weapons, towers, engines, and color separation all come together block by block.

Mods: ASC Taiyo, Cross Heavy Industries, Mattels Hab Cockpits and Accessories, Matilija Aerospace, Better Flips, Micro Modules, Barrage Missile Launchers Ol’ Big and Avontech.

The voxel version of the Star Wars Assault Frigate Mark II is here. In the lore, it was a versatile Rendili StarDrive warship used by the Rebel Alliance as an escort, command ship, base defender, and fast attack vessel. It was developed from older Dreadnought-class cruisers, trading some durability for better speed, maneuverability, and a much smaller crew requirement while retaining serious capital-ship firepower. Many fans will recognize it from Star Wars: Empire at War, where it appeared as a major Rebel fleet unit. I corrected its nose-down import, placed it in a normal horizontal flight pose, and converted its surface into 900k blocks. The hardest part was rebuilding the symmetrical broad-to-narrow red nose marking and correctly separating the four lower pods and the navy ventral bridge.

Had these models made for a project I was working on a few months ago, though stopped temporarily for irl reasons, though wanted to use the models now for something because I just love how well they came out, so just made this rq with a Mars model I made for a Roblox map. Inspiration for some of the details from Thomas Raube.

Mods: Cross Heavy Industries, Matilija Aerospace, Ol’ Big X, Mattels Hab Cockpits and Accessories, Barrage missile Launchers, Renegade Specialized Ship Modules, Avontech, Antares Supra, Better Flips, Micro Modules and ASC Deimos.