EEM-3 Escape Pod by @Thorvald (El Thorvaldo)

@GenMarshall's various reskins of Mass Effect spacecraft and e350tb's establishment of a cosmic arm for the FWA have encouraged me to investigate the Union's own fledgling military space program. I figure, somewhere far in DYOS future, I'll want to put aside whatever second-hand Star Destroyers CG'll start me off with and look at laying down a home-grown fleet. Rather than take the easy route and sketch my ideas, I'm using Lego Digital Designer to construct entire 3-D models to scale, which while masochistic will provide the added bonus of internal floor plans. Thus when I do sketch everything, I'll have tangible references and can claim purpose to the design. =P

The first vessel, which was done to help set the scale of the capital ships, is a vehicle routinely overlooked by sci-fi writers: the escape pod. The EEM-3 is the staple issue evacuation craft for just about all the warships. Unlike the generic grey of the combat vessels, these pods are designed bright and colourful to make them easy to spot, either in space or planetside. It looks like a small shuttle and operates a little like one as well: while not powerful or manoeuvrable enough to maintain atmospheric flight, the stubby wings and two small thrusters above the main engine help stabilize the descent and slow re-entry enough to safely deploy landing parachutes. Onboard a ship, the wings are folded to conserve space.

[Originally submitted to DeviantArt August 2012.]