A Little Sci-fi Diversion

[AeroplaneDriver]

So there I was enjoying a day off.  My honey-dos were done, and I had a day of leisure to look forward to.  Perhaps pop a movie in?  An afternoon nap before the kids get home?  Make a fancy dinner for the family?

No.  Because of of you damned people has to start a thread about what to do with your Testors F-19.  Can I resist the temptation to post the F-19 I built 20 freakin' years ago?  Of course I cant.  And then I have to let my mind start wandering while this accursed things sits on the coffee table mocking me.

"Look at me" is whispers.

"Wouldnt I make a lovely space fighter?" is mouths, seductively.

Can I resist.  Hell no I cant resist.  And so my day spirals, once more into styrene madness......



**********

By 2143 Humanity has begun to leave the shores of Earth, taking the first steps toward a stellar Empire.  Earth, now home to 9 billion, a population largely stable since the 2050s, kept at this level by a combination of legislation, war, disaster, and disease.  

Away from Mother Earth mankind faces new frontiers.  A thriving Martian colony supports over 600,000 on a planet halfway to being terraformed.  On Earth's Moon various scientific, military, and industrial stations support over 6,000 people.  On Titan scientific, military, and mining outposts bring that moon's population to 4,000.  Mining outposts in the asteroid belt support another 9,000 humans, and orbiting shipyards, processing stations, military bases, recreation centers, hospitals, engineering and research facilities, and prisons add another 80,000 extraterran Humans to the mix.

With a growing Martian independence movement and piracy increasing along the shipping lanes, the Colonial Administration brings a new spacecraft into service.  the Boeing United General Corporation's Hornet is a single-seat heavy escort fighter.  the Hornet is primarilly tasked with protecting the ore shipping lanes from marauders and terrorists.  For this task it is armed with two 150 giggawatt heavy laser blasters built by Chandra Particle Physics Corp of Bangalore.  

The BUG Hornet is powered by a triple redundant General Electric HF-101g-9 compact fusion powercell.  This cell powers a 0.3g Hawking gravity drive for long range flight and a pair of BMW-Rolls Royce N403 plasma engines for combat maneuvering, short range flight, and atmospheric operations.

The Hawking gravity drive is made possible by the discovery of the Unified Field Equation in 2088.  The visible components of the drive, the two razor-sharp 'mandibles' protruding from the nose, focus a gravity wave to produce a small gravity well ahead of the craft.  The craft then 'falls' into this well, accelerating at 0.3g.  The Hornet's maximum speed using gravitic propulsion is 0.13c, enabling it to easily keep pace with the fastest of the  pirate raiders attacking the slower freighters moving ore from the asteroid belt to the lunar processing station.

Combat shielding is provided by four electromagnetic shield 'spikes', two on the cannons, and two protruding from the aft fuselage.  These four spikes generate a dual node shield bubble with greatest strength around the reactor and cockpit.



More backstory, specs, and pics to come as the build progresses.

[rallymodeller]

OOoooooo!

   

[Aircav]

Looking good there Nick, white with red trim by any chance?
Love the cow catcher on the front BTW, hmmm Space Cowboy.........  

[Brian da Basher]

Yowsa is that wicked, Nick! Those mods make it look very menacing. Don't be surprised if someone from Lucasfilms™ shows up wanting to buy it.

Brian da Basher

[ysi_maniac]

I like it . Can you post a profile pic?

[Rafael]

Melovesit!!!
The arrangement of guns and fins gives this subject an entirely different identity!!

Rafa

[John Howling Mouse]

I swear, you are another one of those "Eddie-guys" who can wake up early in the morning, stumble in the dark over some toys left on the floor by your kids, and thereby magically combine them into designs of sheer brilliance!

[BlackOps]

Mmmmmm Sci-Fi-ilicious    

[AeroplaneDriver]

One of my favorite aspects of a sci-fi build is the way it evolves during the build.  With a normal whif? the evolution is still there, but it is usually just limited to paint, decals, and weapons, but with a sci-fi the whole thing can change.

So it was this afternoon when I sat down to the Hornet.  This morning I wasnt as sure about the general arrangement as I was last night, so after work I did a little modifying.  The guns are now hanging down from the wingtips (if you can call that part a wingtip), with a pair of sharply raked vertical fins also mounted on the tips.  These fins are more for shield generation than aerodynamic effects, and they replace the long spikes coming from the tail in last night's version.

I may still put the 'mandibles' on the completed model, but I think the fins from the gun pods may be gone for good.  The canopy is from an SR-71, fiared in with milliput.  the windshield frame is scratchbuilt from styrene strip.  I've cut indivifual windshield panels from clear acetate, and they will be installed when painting is comlplete.

The weapons bay will stary open to display the torpedo racks, so I made doors in the open position from more styrene strip.  The door mechanism would close the doors by sliding them back in place.  The doors are actually 3 small door elements per side stacked on each other.  It may not make sense  the way I describe it, but you'll understand when it's finished.

Some photoetch surface detail had been added.  Most of it came from an Eduard Chieftain Tank set I found for $5 (75% off!).

Anyhoo...after these pics I sprayed a coat of Model Master Euro I Gray from a rattlecan.  First coat went on OK, sencond coat looked bad when wet.  I'll see how it looks tomorrow, but I may end up sanding it down and doing something different.

[BlackOps]

That's what I like about my current sci-fi build, I went into with no general direction and just kinda faking it along the way  Hoping to work on mine more this weekend.

I like what you have, it looks menacing like a hawk about to dive on a small rodent.

[AeroplaneDriver]

Now I remember why I stopped using Testors Model Master enamels.  I sprayed this model with a rattlecan of Euro I Gray over 15 hours ago, and it is still tacky.

The visible paint droplets arent as visible as last night, but they are still there.  

While I'm waiting for the paint to dry I'm working on the torpedo launch rack and landing gear.  

Anyway, here are a few pics of the progress.  The vertical fins really changed the look I think, and I dont think the name "Hornet" fits anymore.  I'm now thinking "Vampire".  To me it just screams for some 'Nosferatu' nose art!

[ysi_maniac]

I prefer it when was armed with flycatchers    

Seriously, I like it.
     

[GTX]

Wicked!!!!

Regards,

Greg

[AeroplaneDriver]

Well the awful Model Master enamel finally dried, so today saw a lot of progress.  The ship, now known as the E(Escort)-103 Vampire is almost complete.  Everything is done except the landing gear.  The diagonal red stripes across the fuselage identify this Vampire as belonging to Light Escort Squadron 23 of the United States Colonial Navy, deployed aboard the USS Saratoga.  Unusuallt this ship has a Maple Leaf next to the pilot's name, identifying Sqn Ldr JJ Attridge as a Canadian exchange officer.





Weapons fit includes a single light laser cannon in the nose, two heavy blaster cannon mounted under the wingtips, and a weapons bay able to accomodate up to six Mk.99 'Striker' variable yield fusion torpedos or two Mk.201 'Hades' anti-matter torpedos.  This ship carries a mixed load of 3 Mk.99s and a single Mk.201.  



Depending on what time I get home from work tomorrow and what Monday's schedule looks like, I'm hoping to get the gear on over the next few days.  I'm also working on a diorma base showing this Vampire on the 'Saratoga' hangar deck being readied for an escort mission.

[noxioux]

Excellent!

But wierd.  Before I got here, I spent a good chunk of the day on my new project, with "Space Above and Beyond" on DVD.  USS Saratoga, huh?  Creepy.