According to TF wikia, the Ark was big enough to house 300 Autobots. We know it had a bridge, repair bay, shuttle bay, and the main computer room that housed Teletraan 1, but wikia says it had 5 decks. So does anyone have a serious guesstimate as to the Ark's actual dimensions... maybe use a comparison to an average-sized Autobot? I'm working on a scale model and I need something to go by. Any guesses are better than no guesses!
For scale, its roughly the same diameter as the base of a mountain which could be said to be the same size as Mt. St. Hillary, the mountain it was based off of. However, its important to remember in G1, size is relative and often inconsistent.
G1? How about all of Transformers lore (with the possible exception of the movie-verse.) Size and scale has always been fluid. Given the Autobots' tendency to all fly (in robot mode or car mode) aboard Jetfire, one could say that the Ark is roughly the size of Jetfire. And given that all of the Decepticon army flies back to Cybertron in Astrotrain in the '86 movie, one might guess that the Ark could be as big as Astrotrain. Or, given that the Ark crashed with both Decepticons and Autobots on board, maybe it is as big as Jetfire and Astrotrain combined. My point is that scale or size doesn't matter in Transformers, and it generally only serves whatever the plot of a given episode requires.
Let's figure this out.... I think the first thing we need to do is figure out the height of the largest G1 Autobot in the first wave of the toyline, Optimus. There are many formulas one could use to estimate Optimus Prime's height. Using average human height scale for the Diaclone mini-pilot figurines as a baseline measurement, the original Convoy/Optimus Prime tops out at 42 feet/12.8 metres tall. Conversely, early Diaclone toys were done at a 1:32 scale to the real vehicles, which makes Optimus Prime's robot mode of 6.3 inches a mere 16.8 feet tall in real life. The 2004 20th Anniversary Optimus Prime figure, on the other hand, is of an imprecise scale existing somewhere between 1:24 (the same scale as Transformers: Alternators) and 1:30, making Prime somewhere between 24 and 30 feet tall. We'll use that 42 feet as a baseline. So, 42 feet plus an extra 8 feet for comfort and clearance equals 50 feet per level of the Ark. Five levels equals 250 feet. But wait! What about the thickness of the floors? Maybe five feet thickness to support aliens made of metal? That seems reasonable. So an extra 25 feet is added to our original estimate of 250 feet, giving us a total of 275 feet. Hold on to your horses, Daisy May. Surely the hull of the Ark is going to be thicker than the floors for the rigors of both space and battle. What seems reasonable? Let us add another 20 feet of thickness to the hull. So 275 plus 40 (Top hull thickness and bottom hull thickness) equals 315. Taking that guestimated figure and using this picture.... Image:CrashedArk1.jpg - Transformers Wiki we can extrapolate the Ark's width is around 2887.5 feet. Using this picture.... http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Image:Arkbw.jpg We can figure the Ark's length at around 2992.5 feet. My estimates are length=2992.5 feet, width=2887.5 feet, height=315 feet. Damn.
It is really is arbitrarily large depending on plot. Just pick your favorite scene with something to compare to, say hound in jeep mode...and do the calculation
Beast Wars seemed to have slightly better scale consistency so it might be easier to go with that. I suppose you could always take the size of Beast Wars Megatron when he was at the doors to the Ark and then compare how small he is to G1 Optimus when he's about to kill him and then use a still of the outside of the Ark in space in BW and see how small that entrance door is compared to the rest of the ship So, you work out the size of G1 Optimus from how big an Earth truck would be if it was an Autobot leader. You then work out the size of Beast Wars Megatron when he's floating at Prime's head. And then you work out how big the entrance doors are to BW Megs, perhaps by comparing his size to other BW characters when they were stood next to the doors as well. And then you work out how big the doors are to the entire ship. Simple.
completely on crack. Seriously. May as well go with the "about a half mile wide" estimate. - Coeloptera
Wow, that's remarkably closeto what I figured. I used the base of Mt. St. Helens (assuming that it was the same as the fictional Mt. St. Hilary since was based on the St. Helens) measuring roughly 10,000 ft. Based on the images from the G1 cartoon, the Ark's width looks as if it's about 1/3 the base of St. Hilary. That puts the Ark's width around 3000-3300 feet. Which is very close to your estimate. So what would be a 1/24th scale model's measurement be?
Big enough to fit 2 of each living thing on, male and female... Thank you, thank you I'm here all night! Nothing? NOTHING? Oh, come on! Tough crowd...
Not to throw a wrench in the works, but which version of the Ark? The Marvel comics version of the Ark is distictly different from the Sunbow cartoon version.
If you really are planning on constructing this in 1/24th scale, jon3pnt0, then I hope you've got a big backyard. Good luck to ya'. At least it's not a 1:1 scale Millenium Falcon, like that one guy did.
This is the Transformers fandom. No one -here- cares about the Transformers comics. As for the topic of the Ark: I figure it's big enough to transport the entire cast of the toyline. Mainly because the rest of the guys sitting on Cybertron and twiddling thumbs for 4 million years is a ridiculous concept.
I would like...no, I DEMAND a link to this. I have to see this. No. I have to OWN this. I need to live in this.
Yeah, I know the comics appear low-down some people's orders, but there are many of us who care about them. And, yes, want a link to this Millennium Falcon chat. I can't google it, I'm lazy.
I care. The only reason I used the cartoon Ark was that it was the most familiar. Personally, I think the story lines in the comic were better than the cartoon, especially the Straxus storyline and the Unicron and Primus origin. Primacron can just go die for all I care!
