Modifying a Model
From Elite Wiki
The underlying 3D models are contained in .dat files.
$PROGDIR/ AddOns/ ShipX/ ShipY/
To modify a .dat the file must first be converted to a Wavefront .obj file. Conversion utilities are available here [1], although they are listed under Linux they are cross-platform and require the installation of Python[2].
[Oolite forum thread about the conversion tools [3]]
Run dat2obj or dat2objTex on the .dat.
The resulting file can be imported into any 3D program that supports .obj.
[The free, open source program Wings3D [4] is the de facto standard, Blender[5] also works.]
When finished export the model as an .obj and run obj2dat.