In this diorama, we see the Conestoga docked at Generosity Station. There are hard contacts at both the engineering end, via a massive service arm, and at a couple of the cargo doors forward on the port side. The service arms conceal the support rods that hold the Conestoga in place. The smaller armed and armored cargo ship sits on the external landing pad. This was kit-bashed from a Halcyon Sulaco kit and an MPC Star Wars Rebel Transport from the Rebel Base kit.
David Forier
USS Conestoga
First in a new class of Starship completed in 2120, was generally used as a transport by the military, though occasionally used for commercial purposes to transport materials and other supplies to distant stations and outposts. This early, original design differs slightly from later ships (Sulaco) of this class. The Conestoga has a larger engineering section with auxiliary Rolls-Royce N66 Cyclone thrust engines in the lower section. Additionally, there is an extended lower mid-section with small plasma cannons fore and aft. The hangar bay doors are a bit more forward than in later ships and are just ahead of the forward firing plasma cannon. There are also short-range antennae arrays amid-ships on both the port and starboard sides.
My design for the Conestoga is inspired and influenced by Syd Mead’s early concept art of the Sulaco. It is a modified resin Sulaco kit that I purchased years ago, and measures roughly 39” from the tip of the longest forward antennae to the rear edge of the main engine vanes. The model has a full hanger deck, with three Drop-ships and support vehicles and equipment. One Drop-ship is prepped for launch and is visible from below at the open bay doors. The hanger deck is visible when the upper mid-section of the Conestoga is removed.
I borrowed or duplicated everything I could from the parts box. The lower plasma cannons are re-cast gun turrets from a 1/72 scale Aliens APC. Two of the upper guns are from WarHammer 40K kits, though there are alternate turrets that I fashioned from other parts. Of note, some of the mid-ship pieces on the Conestoga are swapped in upper or lower positions from the Sulaco, further indications of how the Conestoga would have differed from modifications that this class of ship likely went through in later vessels. Also, the larger, lower rear of the Conestoga, is a re-cast upper drive unit from the Halcyon Nostromo that’s been mated to the bottom of the original drum shaped rear drive unit of the Sulaco. This has the polygon shaped docking area (where the Sulaco mated to the refinery platform) which here has several articulated clamping arms securing it to the large rear service arm.
Generosity Station
Completed in 2125 by Weyland Yutani, WY–DS20 was located near Beta Virginis, more than halfway toward the Zeta Riticuli system, and was one of the most distant stations at the time. It was unofficially re-named Generosity Station due to the well-earned reputation of its station master, who was known to be unusually generous in providing services and supplies, while bartering for ferry or transport services in exchange. Crews welcomed the added “extras” to their “grocery lists” that had become quite regular over time.
The station can provide a variety of services, everything from refueling and re-supplying of provisions and materials needed for life support or mission specific needs. It also offers regular mechanical servicing and maintenance as well as full restoration, repair and rebuilding of many ship types. Smaller ships can even be serviced in its large interior hanger deck. Externally, hard docking is available via a large service arm that has multiple service ports, and cargo gantries, that can also connect at several points. The service and cargo arms would be mobile as they are on rail-guided motorized platforms that can be positioned to accommodate a variety of ship configurations. There is also a large external landing pad, which currently is occupied by a small armed cargo ship.
Like the Conestoga, my construction of this section of Generosity Station creatively used everything from old laser printer panels to various styrene sheets and pieces. There are also road wheels, track sections, two mated tank chassis and all sorts of other stock shapes and pieces.
David Forier
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Barry Jones
United Kingdom
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