Awesome design and a great little story with it too, love the features
Sounds like it'd be a haven =)

Thanks so much! C: I keep adding more and more... xD I tried to design it to be both practical and enjoyable.

Ah but would it be practicle for people to clean up all the loose fur, such a place would be awfully busy I imagine
And rifghtfully so ^^

No problemmo~ I'll send in a cleanup crew armed with industrial-sized floor cleaning equipment. xD Have that baby washed and waxed daily~ :D

Cool =3 Seen your other pics of The Soler Surfer too, pretty amazing stuff you've got here
Some really cool ideas

Thanks! ouo I try to come up with some pretty cool stuff. I've thought of countless solutions to a lot of engineering problems with this particular project. Seems like no matter what becomes an issue, I can come up with a way to fix it. C:

Ah but isn't that the job of every engineer? To find solutions through inovation
You most certainly do that, be lovely to hear more about this project, it's really cool

Well I'm no schooled engineer by any means. xD But... I've thought of a lot of things necessary in order to make this whole thing fly. I'll give you a basic overview of how I came to the conclusions I did.

Since I wouldn't exactly be able to create a test model of this... I based my specs on the Hindenburg. The Solar Surfer is roughly three times the size. It would be the largest flying object ever created by the hands of man. Right away we are presented with a large problem - and that is the entire way that the Hindenburg was built and functions. I took everything that existed about airships and re-invented it. I think it's a grossly under-exploited technology with one hell of a lot to offer.

Lift: The gas used to achieve lift would be helium-based instead of hydrogen... for safety if nothing else. Rather than releasing the gas into the atmosphere to descend as the Germans did, it would be compressed... allowing function similar to that of a submersible. Releasing gas back into the bags will cause it to expand and cause lift.

Frame: The Germans used a particular type of metal called Duralumin in order to build the frame of the Hindenburg. I would choose a different material for construction - carbon fiber, which is half the weight of duralumin, and allows a MUCH greater buoyancy ratio... permitting the ship to carry a much larger amount of passengers and cargo.

Maneuverability: The ship, although large, is extremely maneuverable, with the utmost precision. This is achieved through active monitoring, done on the fly by an array of computers that monitor airspeed, temperature, elevation, trim, center of gravity, and weather conditions to provide the smoothest performance while allowing the craft to stay completely still in the air when necessary. The tail fins include a vertebrae structure that allows them to curl, rather than use flaps, which give the ship much more surface area for turning force. The forward area from the engine nacelles feature a hidden and recessed 12 ft orbital fan that can be deployed for precision maneuvering; usually used in the case of landing or stabilization.

Powertrain: Hence its name, the Solar Surfer is powered by a massive array of solar cells, fitted into the top of the superstructure. This power plant is enough to propel the aircraft and supply the rest of the passengers with all the amenities and comfort desired. Many skeptics will argue that while the sun shines only during the day... where and how does one store the energy necessary to power it overnight? The solution is both far-fetched and completely practical. Moisture is taken out of the air itself, condensed, and put through electrolysis, turning it into hydrogen... which is then compressed and stored for combustion overnight... while still being zero emissions and completely environmentally friendly.

Fun shit: While the above are necessary for functionality of the ship itself, I've added a few extra things... The ship features a platform that can be lowered via cable to the ground. This platform is fitted with a scale that will tell the ship exactly how much lift it needs to compensate for as the passengers/cargo are loaded onto the ship. The platform would also be used during fair weather conditions as a diving platform in the open ocean on special occasions. Inside the lower tail, rock climbing would be offered. And at the very tip, one could try their hand at bungee jumping. On the very top of the ship amid the solar cells would be a sun deck.

ouo I'm still not completely sure about the total capacity of the ship. There are still a lot of unknowns... but I guess that's why people have R&D. xD

I thought it looked vaguely familiar to the Hindenburg and it makes sense to make some adjustments given that we know better now than when the original was made =D

The lift and frame again make sense and it's actually really clever =)
But as controls go would there be some anthro/human capacity to manually control it or would it all be done by computers? =o.o=

And the power is clever too but I thought electrolysis is as yet criminally expensive ^^;; At least that's what I last figured and it's been a while so what does the snowmew know xD

Anyway, thank you for sharing, it really would sound like a fascinating project =3
And sorry for the lengthly delayed reply, snowmew was busy and he doesn't visit FA often anymore

Ahh that's oki! ouo And yes, electrolysis is very expensive in terms of energy usage. It actually is a bit of a wash in terms of spending energy to make energy out of hydrogen... but when it comes to using it as a storage medium, it makes sense... especially given that hydrogen gas is compressible, combustible, and lighter than air. c: Much more efficient than lead-based batteries. xP

As far as controls go... absolutely there's manual control. c: ...manual overrides for everything. That would be important to me. Can't have someone tapping into the control systems and hijacking the aircraft, now can we? I actually need to re-design the control gondola below the craft. You can get a good idea of the size/shape of the craft from this.

While the ship is fully capable of being set on autopilot, the majority of autonomous control lies with menial tasks such as craft leveling, stabilization, environmental control, electrical routing, telecommunications, and propulsion stabilization. Makes sense not to have to bother with most of that. :3

Yeah that makes sense in terms of efficeny and by the time we have things like this in the air you can only assume electrolysis would be more efficient ^^

This is true and mainly my concern with things nowadays, just things running on auto-pilot all the time so it's nice something like this would have manual overrides

Efficency is key, leave the menial tasks to the robots, it makes sense when all that sort of stuff is all mostly electrical anyhow

I agree. But you have to admit, having a legit ship's wheel adds coolness points. :3 ...plus makes it a lot more fun to fly~

I'd talk more but I can't really tolerate FA just now, sorry for not responding often

How come? :o Fed up with the weird new ads? xD

Eh, pretty much ^^;;;
Just not keen on the way FA's going and I've gotten all my commisions here finished so I've got no reason to stay really
It's a damned shame since I love your work

Awww thanks! ;u; I'm glad you like my work... although my art isn't all that prolific anymore. x'D

I don't really like the way things are going either. The admins don't seem too clueful about how to run a website, have it make money, and keep their userbase happy at the same time. All the same, this is the only site I'm all that active on anymore. I'm one of those people that absolutely hates facebook and prefers his FA anyday. xD Eh... it's shitty, but it works. Good nuff for me for now. ~u~

Perhaps someday you'll return. ouo Never hurts to check your favorite sites each day~

I'm a writer and you'd be lucky if I put out content month to month, I think you're fine xD

Eh, I prefer my furry fandom, it's a great place to be especially considering I don't even have a facebook x3

Ehhh, I really wouldn't bet on it xD
if I'm here I'm asking about a commision for the most part
But you're pleasent compant =D

Thanks! :D Feel free to add me to skype if you want for the times I end up on there. owo I always like making new friends~ I probably won't show up until I get back home though... :x I'm out of town at the moment.

And yeah, I hate facebook with a passion. xD People spend waaaaaay too much time going about their superficial lives on that damn site. At least on furaffinity I have at least ONE thing in common with everyone. P:

Hey if you're gonna' be busy just add me whenever you'd like. It's roainrah and I'm on all the time. You'll know me because..
My name's Leonard ^^ Pleased to meet'cha

Yeah, this is true =3
Furries won't agree on everything either but at least we can all agree we like anthro animals xD

This is true. xD I guess I'll pop on skype when I can. C: Nice to meet ya... it's always nice to have someone to talk to. xD Seems like friendly people are disappearing. :B

Oh I know, nice people are a vanishing breed so we are, so it's all the better to stick together =D

looks great, awesome design ^^
I really like all the lights on the floor and in the stairs, and the universe in the ceiling is a nice touch which makes it seem even bigger.

Thanks! :D

I feel like it still needs more lights. ¬¬; And I tried, but it just didn't work out. Got any suggestions? :S

I don't think it needs more lights, but if you want to, you could try adding some spots along the ridge of the roof.

...that could work. :o

I tried to use other lamps... a gantry... stuff like that. But it just looked so out of place. :c