Fighter...needs a name!

[Starwars4J]

Like I said in the droid topic, these are some MOCs I threw together that I had been thinking about. Sadly, it needs a name! Help :'-(

This design was born from my want of a cylindrical fuselage for the bubble cockpit. It took me awhile to do, but I eventually did it. It's not the most stable design in the world, but I plan on improving on it. There's so much about it I'm not happy with. Anyway, here we go!

3/4 perspective:

I plan on Brassoing the cockpit bubble

From the rear

Sideview. Perfectly symmetrical wings. The black parts are born from the fact that I ran out of dark bley ones. They'll be replaced when I get the chance. Not as thrilled with the colorscheme as I thought I'd be, either.

Overview. here the engines are in landing configuration. They spread out to allow for maneuverability while landing. As this is supposed to be a cheap, mass produced fighter, there is no on-board landing gear, though I could throw some on if you guys think it's needed. I really don't see the need on this, it would just get in the way.

From the back, with the back part removed (it can be removed and replaced easily, actually). Starts to show how I did it.

Back tip, sensor suite

Shows this baby's secret. Two rings to provide extra strength. It works nicely, though the plates do pop off from time to time. When I go back, I'll experiment with using 1x1 square plates, instead of 1x1 round plates to see if that adds any stability.

Simple cockpit design to lower cost. While difficult to get used to at first, it becomes second nature after awhile, and is preferred to standard piloting configurations.

The seat. It slides in and out easily, using a rod to stick into the holes of the rings. This allows quick repair.

Cockpit without the chair.

Gallery when moderated

Disclaimer: While I have not seen these techniques used before, there's every chance someone thought of some or all of these techniques before I implemented them.

Thanks for looking!

[oo7]

I'm no space builder but I can tell you that your ship here looks nice and sleek, the only impurity being the chunk up top that connects the bubble canopy....although I could be wrong. But I do like the color scheme, and I'm sure it will be even better once you replace those black bits. Overall, inovative snot technique makes unique ship *y* .

As for a name.........How does "The Nexus of Grisaille" sound?

[Starwars4J]

I'm no space builder but I can tell you that your ship here looks nice and sleek, the only impurity being the chunk up top that connects the bubble canopy....although I could be wrong. But I do like the color scheme, and I'm sure it will be even better once you replace those black bits. Overall, inovative snot technique makes unique ship *y* .

As for a name.........How does "The Nexus of Grisaille" sound?

Thanks. Yeah, that bit up top annoys me too. I just can't figure out a way around that though, any suggestions?

Hm...the Nexus fighter. I like the sound of that. We'll see ;-)

[oo7]

Personally, I think the 3-sided slope only makes it worse and as I am not a lover of total tile and often integrate them with studded plates I would probably remove the slope and place another plate behind its previous position to achieve a sloping affect.

Another other solution would to Bricklink one of the older hinged canopies that I believe have a higher connection point, as you don't like that printing anyway. You could also play around with the location of the whole hinge itself, but if you installed it on the bottom it might not open fully before it comes in contact with the ground.

That's my thoughts.

[xenologer]

It reminds me of a Tie Figther... which... bothers me a little; I guess because the Tie Fighter shape is so... done to death.

Repaint it bright Yellow and I'll let you get away with it :-)

Anyhow, For the body panels popping loose issue...

I'd recommend taking the clips on the first ring, and having them face the other direction -clips on each ring facing towards the other ring group.

Then bridging 1*4 plates across from one group of clips to the other.

...thats a bad description...

let me try again:

take a 1*4 plate, put a clip on each end, put another 1*4 on top to make a sandwich 'beam' with clips sticking out on each side.

Repeat to make 8 total of these beams, have them clip onto your rings.

This way, rather than each clip being weakly attached to the hull panels with a single 1*1 round, pairs of clips from each ring support one another.

So these 8 beams, and the two rings form a solid 'birdcage' skeleton for your hull.

It should be able to stand up to more squeezing pressure when you pick it up and swoosh.

Kinda understand my suggestion? Sorry its not clear without pics...

actually, looking at your pics again, tight spacing might mean you can only do my suggestion on 4 of the 8... but still ought help...

[Starwars4J]

It reminds me of a Tie Figther... which... bothers me a little; I guess because the Tie Fighter shape is so... done to death.

Repaint it bright Yellow and I'll let you get away with it :-)

Anyhow, For the body panels popping loose issue...

I'd recommend taking the clips on each ring, and having them face the other direction -clips on each ring facing towards the other ring group.

Then bridging 1*4 or 1*6 plates across from one group of clips to the other.

...thats a bad description...

let me try again:

take a 1*4 plate, put a clip on each end, put another 1*4 on top to make a sandwich 'beam' with clips sticking out on each side.

Repeat to make 8 total of these beams, have them clip onto your rings.

This way, rather than each clip being weakly attached to the hull panels with a single 1*1 round, pairs of clips from each ring support one another.

It should be able to stand up to more squeezing pressure when you pick it up and swoosh.

Kinda understand my suggestion? Sorry its not clear without pics...

Hm, well this is just the prototype (hence the bley/dark bley). I am planning on redoing the engines, the stupid thingy up top, and the color scheme. Any ideas on how to make it less TIE-ish? I want to stay away from that too ;-)

I think I get what you mean about the connection. I'll try it when I get near my parts again, but the problem I would think with that is that it wouldn't hold the 2x8 panels as well, since the supports would be closer to each other rather than further away. It may not be an official technique, but I found that sticking a small bit of tissue paper on top of the stud causes them to stick almost like glue :-D Though I would rather find a more plastic-y solution.

Thanks for your comments. I'm definitely taking all this into consideration when I fix it up. Maybe I'll even make a yellow one just for you :-D

[Darth Doggfather]

I was just thinking of names:

Imperator

Interloper

Infiltrator

Invader

Arachnid

Dueler

Rifter

Ripper

Buzzer

Slasher

Mako

Hammerhead

Valkyrie

Maybe I shouldn't have spent 10 mins thinking up names...

Maybe I need a life! :-D :-P

Nice ship BTW!

More names:

Fuser

Ambassador

Admiral

Popper

Edited March 20, 2007 by Darth Doggfather

[xenologer]

I think I get what you mean about the connection. I'll try it when I get near my parts again, but the problem I would think with that is that it wouldn't hold the 2x8 panels as well, since the supports would be closer to each other rather than further away. It may not be an official technique, but I found that sticking a small bit of tissue paper on top of the stud causes them to stick almost like glue :-D Though I would rather find a more plastic-y solution.

Well, at the moment the rings are..2studs apart, as are the 1*1rounds that the hull plates fit onto.

My suggestion of making 'clip sandwich beams', would spread them to 5studs apart (I hope there's room in that hull, might need to compromise), with 4studs on each beam for connecting to the hull plates. So this potentially solves the tissue paper issues as well.

Not entirely sure if I'm saying it right, and my camera's broken... I guess I'll have to wait and see how it turns out on your end...

As for the TIE fighter resemblance... hmmmh, Now I'm thinking that a TIE and a Droid Starfighter had children. :-D

I'm thinking the best way to break those associations...

is to change the two 'wings' into something wider and more claw-like to help make it look less rounded.

TIEs and their derivatives seem to be small and round to easily fit into egg cartons, know what I mean?

How about something like this: http://www.wcnews.com/ships/wc3strakha.shtml (yours would be symmetrical of course..)

[Starwars4J]

Well, at the moment the rings are..2studs apart, as are the 1*1rounds that the hull plates fit onto.

My suggestion of making 'clip sandwich beams', would spread them to 5studs apart (I hope there's room in that hull, might need to compromise), with 4studs on each beam for connecting to the hull plates. So this potentially solves the tissue paper issues as well.

Not entirely sure if I'm saying it right, and my camera's broken... I guess I'll have to wait and see how it turns out on your end...

As for the TIE fighter resemblance... hmmmh, Now I'm thinking that a TIE and a Droid Starfighter had children. :-D

I'm thinking the best way to break those associations...

is to change the two 'wings' into something wider and more claw-like to help make it look less rounded.

TIEs and their derivatives seem to be small and round to easily fit into egg cartons, know what I mean?

How about something like this: http://www.wcnews.com/ships/wc3strakha.shtml (yours would be symmetrical of course..)

Ah, I'm sorry, I completely misunderstood what you meant the first time *wacko* As things stand now, I like the length of the body, and that would likely elongate it. If I don't get a stiff connection from the 1x1 squares when I redo it, I'll definitely try your method.

As for the wings...they didn't exactly come out as planned. The original design was much...sharper. Let me try to ASCii it for you

\.........__

.\______/

for the right wing. I can't get the angles right with the limited slopes though :-P The wings were thrown together in the span of about ten minutes with a 1x10(?) technic beam and alternating 1/2 technic pins to hold the rest on. It ended up much more..."chibi" than I would've liked. Like I said, this fighter needs much improvement :-D I get back to my bricks in around 2 months, plenty of time to design, right? ;-) Thanks for your suggestions. If you have any more I'd be happy to take them off yours hands for you :-$

[Chuck]

Call it the spruce goose.

-l2k-

[xenologer]

2 Months?? :-X

How could anyone survive so long without legos?...

well... if 1*4's take up too much... 1*3's ought to take up about the same space as what you have now.. with still some strength benefits.. compromise solution. but where would you find so many 1*3's?

[Starwars4J]

2 Months?? :-X

How could anyone survive so long without legos?...

well... if 1*4's take up too much... 1*3's ought to take up about the same space as what you have now.. with still some strength benefits.. compromise solution. but where would you find so many 1*3's?

Bricklink! But it is a bit...eh parts intensive :-P I like the idea though. How to link it up with the clips though? The clips are offset in the middle of two studs, how would they connect to the 1xX plates? Maybe the 2x3 jumper plate? I'll have to experiment some.

Any ideas on reducing that ugly attachment to the bubble?

[xenologer]

How to link it up with the clips though?

I figure, since the hull plating is long 2*8 plates anyway, the 1*3's would just jam into their 'tube' holes. The tubes that are inbetween the normal studholes? what do you call them?

The same thing you're doing already with the 1*1rounds.

[Starwars4J]

I figure, since the hull plating is long 2*8 plates anyway, the 1*3's would just jam into their 'tube' holes. The tubes that are inbetween the normal studholes? what do you call them?

The same thing you're doing already with the 1*1rounds.

Eek, you're right. Sorry, I read that as 2x3 and not 1x3...now that I see what you mean, I think it will make the design much more sturdy. I can't wait to implement it! In...two months :'-(

[Asuka]

That

[Starwars4J]

Hm, by the time I have V.2 up and running I'll have it named from one of the suggestions given X-D

[Kikuichimonji]

I like the design, but you should try adding a secondary color to it, it's just too dark for my taste. The darkblue doesn't fit the bley too well in my opinion. I'd also try connecting the two 'hinged parts' at the back to each other. Other then that, there's very little I'd change.

As for a name...I'd call it the Scissor Skiff or something like that. The overall shape reminds me of a skiff and the back looks vaguely like a scissor.

[Vader]

Call it the spruce goose.

-l2k-

And you wonder why we tell you not to spam :-|

Anyhow the ship has that Tie feel to me, so how about Tie Exterminator ;-)

In the first pic the ship looks really small but i can see in others its alot bigger than it first appears, like others i agree its a sleek little moc.

Looking forward to seeing what v2 will be like.

[Starwars4J]

I like the design, but you should try adding a secondary color to it, it's just too dark for my taste. The darkblue doesn't fit the bley too well in my opinion. I'd also try connecting the two 'hinged parts' at the back to each other. Other then that, there's very little I'd change.

As for a name...I'd call it the Scissor Skiff or something like that. The overall shape reminds me of a skiff and the back looks vaguely like a scissor.

Well, as for the secondary color, maybe I will in a future project. This is the prototype for now ;-) though I admit the dark blue and dark bley doesn't mix as well as I had hoped (probably due to the blue part of the blue/grey).

I considered connecting the parts in the back, however I couldn't find a way to do it that looked nice. I'm probably completely redoing the engines and wings anyway though

In the first pic the ship looks really small but i can see in others its alot bigger than it first appears, like others i agree its a sleek little moc.

Looking forward to seeing what v2 will be like.

Thanks, it's not as small as it looks, and is the largest fighter I've built to date (then again I have just started seriously MOCing :-P ). Overall I have a lot I'll be changing, thoguh I'm trying to keep the original concept there. I just need to figure out what to do about the engines, and how to slim down the connections between the cockpit bubble and the fuselage.

Thanks for the comments everyone!

[Mister Phes]

Like I said in the droid topic, these are some MOCs I threw together that I had been thinking about. Sadly, it needs a name! Help :'-(

I approach this post with a vast degree of ignorance so I must ask is this creation from the Star Wars universe, or a universe of your own?

The reason I ask is because this nameless vessel looks very "Star Wars" to me, with my limited knowledge of Space MOCs. I never would pick it as a Space MOC unless I was told.

[SuvieD]

I say call it Storm or something rainy and violent.

I am not a big fan of the funky shape at that size. I think something on a bigger scale would be very nice though.

[Starwars4J]

I approach this post with a vast degree of ignorance so I must ask is this creation from the Star Wars universe, or a universe of your own?

The reason I ask is because this nameless vessel looks very "Star Wars" to me, with my limited knowledge of Space MOCs. I never would pick it as a Space MOC unless I was told.

Well, I draw a certain amount of inspiration from Star Wars (mainly since it was the first science fiction work I saw as a child, and really got me into the genre). The similarities end with the fact that there's an Empire and a Rebellion in "my universe", or at least they're supposed to. If you can help suggest some way to make it less Star Wars like, it would be appreciated :-)

I am not a big fan of the funky shape at that size. I think something on a bigger scale would be very nice though.

So what kinds of shapes do you prefer for fighters? This shape is staying as-is for this baby (well, removing the thing connecting the bubble cockpit to the body, and redoing the engines and wings, but I'm sure you mean the overall shape, regarding the round body and bubble cockpit), but it's always nice to know what other people are like in respect to space preferences. And I am planning a SHIP that is somewhat similar, having the top two floors in a large dome of sorts ;-)

[JoeMI6]

Great ship you've got there. How does 'Sailor of the Void' sound for a name?

[Starwars4J]

Great ship you've got there. How does 'Sailor of the Void' sound for a name?

Thanks. It's a great name...for a private ship. This is supposed to be a prototype of a ship that will be mass-produced, and if I called it a "Void" fighter, I really WOULD be stealing from Star Wars :-D

[Norro]

Much as I hate to praise endeavors in space... this one is quite nice! ;-) That spyrius fig was inspired, the torso really compliments the ship!

Thanks for sharing and God Bless,

Nathan