[Factions Ep. 6 - Cat B][L13 - Fondor - TT] Damnation

[marvelBoy123]

*Your entry has earned 13 XP*

Farantros narrative:

It was after I left the bridge that the real battle began. While the Carrion Crows were sent in an attack shuttle to the surface, I was sent with Damnation Squadron to complete an attack run before I could join them. After completing pilot training on Carida (a story for another time ) I had been given a heavily modified Porax 42 variant as my personal ship to lead the Damnation Squadron. The rest of the squad used I-7 Howlrunners, a new imperial design that would one day replace the TIE. I hear they are brilliant ships, faster than an X-wing, better weaponry than an ordinary TIE and all with an onboard deflector shield! The squad exited the Hell-Broth's hangar keeping a good formation and began an attack run on one of Pyerce's main ships...

Damnation 7: Damnation 7 to Damnation Leader. We are taking heavy fire

Damnation Leader: I'm on it, Pyerce's A-9s are no match for the Triumvirate's fleet. Initiate evasive manoeuvres. If we can get behind them we can tear them to shreds.

Pyerce's fleet had pinned us down on the Star destroyer surface so we executed a Mustafarian Special, coming in behind their fleet and taking down a number of their fighters. It was clear that Pyerce's fleet were a ragtag bunch and we were able to make a number of successful attack runs with minimal casualties.

Then I had to leave the battle in the skies and move to the ground assault. The Carrion Crows had been selected for one of the most important operations in the campaign and failure was not an option.

Spoiler

I decided to greeble a baseplate for this build so as I could add atmosphere without the need for photoshop. The grey was quite easy but selecting parts in yellow was more tough. I hope I managed to get a good range of parts in both sections (especially happy to use some old gate pieces and the yellow lantern from the DC CMF). As for the ships, I wanted to continue the red and black colour scheme from my TIE Advanced. I particularly enjoy building more obscure ships hence the Howlrunner and A-9 Vigilance.

The Howlrunner was difficult to get right as there seem to be multiple variants. From the classic variant, I took most of my inspiration and I am especially happy with the angles on the windscreen.

However the overall size and sharper angle from the cockpit to the fuselage are based on this variant: (sorry for the small picture)

 

My sigfig's starfighter is based on the Porax 38 which I wanted to make a it has a very unique design but also room for upgrades/ different variants.

This is a TIE variant based on the Stiker but with an ordinary cockpit. Pretty self explanatory.

The A-9 Vigilance is the fighter that I am least happy with but the shaping was difficult considering the scale. I kept attention to detail however with the guns being slightly different length (an unusual feature but one I made sure to capture).

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/A-9_Vigilance_interceptor

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/I-7_Howlrunner

As ever, I appreciate your feedback.

Edited September 5, 2020 by goatman461

[Ross Fisher]

That A-9 is adorable! It would make a great golf buggy 

[RocketBoy]

Great greebling, and I LOVE the Howlrunner. Takes me back to pouring over the Essential Guide to Vehicles. The windscreen is fantastic. Any chance we could get a look at its various parts deconstructed? I might actually want to build one!

[marvelBoy123]

1 hour ago, Ross Fisher said:

That A-9 is adorable! It would make a great golf buggy 

Love that idea! Planning to build a SW hotel at some point might have to steal that idea for transport around it.

51 minutes ago, RocketBoy said:

Great greebling, and I LOVE the Howlrunner. Takes me back to pouring over the Essential Guide to Vehicles. The windscreen is fantastic. Any chance we could get a look at its various parts deconstructed? I might actually want to build one!

The build is designed with modularity in mind and therefore splits into 5 main sections. The central section contains the cockpit (a full minifigure can be somewhat uncomfortably seated) and the generator area. Attached to this on either side (by modified bricks) are the red sections with laser cannons and engine nacelles. The wings are then attached to these (if you are making one I would recommend more connection points on the red sections - I have only 3 so that I could easily move the wings to the right position but I would recommend 5 connection points to make sure they are secure. 

The windscreen is put together as shown above. It is really pretty secure once put together but I would recommend using the modern lego window pieces as the 'glass' in the old ones is free to move. 

Hope that helps to give you a rough idea of how that is built. :)

Edited August 26, 2020 by marvelBoy123

[Ross Fisher]

1 hour ago, marvelBoy123 said:

Planning to build a SW hotel at some point

If you build it, Fnab will absolutely be there. Enjoying a spa day...

[n1majneb]

Great little story here, it's great to see the howlrunner as a build too!
The ship builds are fantastic and the Star Destroyer greebling really works well.

7 hours ago, RocketBoy said:

Great greebling, and I LOVE the Howlrunner. Takes me back to pouring over the Essential Guide to Vehicles. The windscreen is fantastic. Any chance we could get a look at its various parts deconstructed? I might actually want to build one!

The essential guides were and are fantastic! So many great ideas to build within it!

[Darth Bjorn]

Sweet! Really cool to see some new sw ships. You can only redesign a TIE in so many ways, so this is refreshing! I LOVE your sigfigs personal fighter, that one is really cool! I can imagine it wrecking some havoc! One small improvement - I think you should lift your star fighters a little further up, so it doesn't look like they are parked on the hull... :)

[marvelBoy123]

Just now, Darth Bjorn said:

Sweet! Really cool to see some new sw ships. You can only redesign a TIE in so many ways, so this is refreshing! I LOVE your sigfigs personal fighter, that one is really cool! I can imagine it wrecking some havoc! One small improvement - I think you should lift your star fighters a little further up, so it doesn't look like they are parked on the hull... :)

Thanks, my sigfig's personal starfighter might well be my favourite of the bunch too. I definitely would have raised the star fighters were I to make a similar build again. My lack of trans-clear bricks and how fragile some of the ship where definitely got in the way of some more interesting ship positioning. I have some more ships built for a future build so I will think about how to work in some more dynamic positions for them. Thanks for the feedback.

15 hours ago, n1majneb said:

Great little story here, it's great to see the howlrunner as a build too!
The ship builds are fantastic and the Star Destroyer greebling really works well.

The essential guides were and are fantastic! So many great ideas to build within it!

Thanks, the Howlrunner was the first of the ships that I built and one of the most technically complex. There are a couple of times they have been made in lego but I didn't feel they did the ship justice so I knew I had to try my own. Glad you like it!

[Tariq j]

That’s some excellent work and story! Greebling looks great and Good use of the SNoT on the Howlrunner.

[MKJoshA]

Love that you added the surface of a ship to your entry! Your ships are good, but it's the greebled surface that really sets this apart!