What a great project to take on Lars! And congrats on your new house and home! I am very keen on the final look and where you will display it.
Wow were you after Christopher Lloyds sig? For the life of me I can't remember why. Need a free room in Cheltenham and a travelling companion?
I would say a rectangle would be most appropriate,the contour that follows the main body of the ship...something similar like that wooden board we see in the pictures.Sober & classy and it will look perfect among your other ships with similar shapes. And of course you can't break continuity now which means a mirrored,black base.
I'm beginning to familiarize with your arguments, though the undoubtedly more complex original base design as envisaged by the model creator is still tempting: But, yes, probably too big of a distraction from the model itself and also an unspeakable space hog. On another note, I was thinking about adding a slight tilt so as to give it a little more dynamism instead of that ship-on-a-stick look but, upon taking a second look at the steel armature, straight is probably the only reliable way to support the enormous weight.
I agree Lars,this would be a distraction from that awesome ship itself. Personally I'd also prefer the rectangular base positioned lenghtwise as in the WIP pictures...looks better imho.