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Ravendeviant — Starfleet Starfighter Schematics
#federation #scififantasy #starfighter #starfighters #starfleet #startrek #startrekfanart
Published: 2019-11-05 04:21:40 +0000 UTC; Views: 15573; Favourites: 255; Downloads: 321
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Description
This is my design for a Federation Starfighter in the era of the original series. I tried to pick up on some of the styling cues of the Enterprise and its Type-F shuttlecraft, and extrapolate an exciting design that one could envisage launching from a Constitution-class starship. The classic TOS era warp engines and early Federation fonts do a lot to root this design in the correct era. The greenish body tone is taken directly from Constitution class ships of the era. The chiseled nose, gray belly, the seamless body, and winglets growing out of the belt-line rib are further details that trace back to the Galileo-era shuttlecraft. The rest of the design cues are pure starfighter, . . . Starfleet style.The Vanguard is a fast, maneuverable multi-role starfighter. It can work as a fighter, interceptor, recon, fighter/bomber, or attack craft. It can be used in a defensive role, or in an exploratory role, extending the sensor range of its starship, launching probes, etc. The 4 photon-torpedoes (or alternatively probes) on the belly are meant to provide a relative scale, and suggest that one of the Vanguard's missions it to project power beyond the normal range of Constitution-class starship. In my headcanon, the U.S.S. Constitution was the first Starship to deploy the Vanguard, largely in response to its prior encounters with enemy starfighters.
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I find it funny that the Federation even in the TOS never had fighter craft.
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I know! Right? What a great comment! Especially when you consider that the starship Enterprise must've been inspired in large part by the WWII aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise. So fighters are very much part of the history of the Enterprise. I guess fast-moving fighter craft were just technically beyond the special effects capabilities of the day when they made the original series. (It wasn't really until John Dykstra and Star Wars in 1977 that fast-moving ships were really credibly done in SPFX.) Fighters might also have been a lot to convey in the context of a one-hour drama in the '60's. Anyway, thanks for the great comment!
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What clued me in was the warp engine.
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Thanks for your interesting comment. My primary touch-point for this design was the Type-F shuttlecraft. That's what took me in the more angular direction. I very much like the idea of including some of the familiar dome or dish elements, but I tend to associate those design cues with larger Federation craft. Anyway, once I decided to explore the angular chiseled nose of the Type-F shuttle, the main challenge was finding a way to make it more exciting than the shuttle, and less like a brick. I leaned the front angle of the nose way back, to give it a much more aggressive look, and then gave it a much more slender body (reminiscent of the Type 9 shuttle as you correctly noted.) I've always loved the Type 9 shuttle, so I thought it would be fun for this fighter to be an early precursor of that design. The slender, angular nose reminded me of the angular F-117 Stealth Fighter, so I gave it some stealthy lines. I liked the mini-wings on the Type-F shuttle, so I enlarged them a bit to give my design the look of a fighter. But I was careful not to make the wings too large, lest it start to look like a modern 21st century craft. Then I gave it upturned winglets reminiscent of a number of early NASA space planes. Anyway, that was my thought-process. I'm glad that you like the design, and I appreciate your comments.
FYI, judging from the size of the torpedoes, this fighter would be approximately 10.17 meters long, or about 2/3 the length of an F-16, which is 14.8 meters long. So you could fit a lot of them into a relatively small shuttle bay.
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Oh my god this looks awesome! You don't see many fighter designs for star trek, especially in the tos era.
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Hey, thanks so much! I'm glad that this design has filled in a little niche for so many people who are into the genre. I love classic TOS Trek, and fleshing out that era with a new design was a lot of fun. It was exciting to combine my love of fighter craft with my love of TOS to create something new. Probably the best part was creating a modern new design but anchoring that design in the era by including so many design cues from the original series (the classic warp nacelles, the familiar torpedo design, the colors, fonts, and graphic iconography, etc.) to create something that really feels like it would be at home parked in the shuttle bay right next to the Galileo 7. Thanks again for the great comment!
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I see all of your points, but the beauty of sci-fi is that you can use tech to justify almost any creative result that you want. I could argue, for instance, that Mr. Worf has a pretty hard time locking onto any relatively small fast-moving target in the Next Gen era. And honestly, nothing in the next gen episodes is even really that fast-moving or maneuverable. Based on that logic, way back in the TOS era, it would have been next to impossible to lock onto a very small, fast-moving, highly maneuverable fighter. Even if you throw all of that out the window, all we would need to justify fighters in this era is Scotty saying, "Aye, but these fighters have advanced stealth features and electronic counter-measures! No ship in the fleet could get a lock on them!" and presto, you've established the premise that it's very difficult to get a sensor lock on these fighters. And even if they were vulnerable to attack from starships, all that they would have to do would be to fire long range torpedoes from beyond phaser range. That would allow them to project power without exposing themselves or their mother-ship to direct fire. The fighters could even be launched as unmanned UAV's to project power without risking the lives of pilots. I think that there are a number of ways to justify this if you want to. Or you can justify the opposing positions if that is your preference.
PS: I thought about blending the warp nacelles into the design more. I'm sure that it could look very modern and cool. But I really wanted to anchor this design in the heart of Kirk's era, and the classic nacelle design is so synonymous with Federation starships and shuttlecraft of this era that it really seemed to the correct solution for what I had in mind. Thanks so much for your interest and for your excellent comments!
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AWESOME designing as always! Great ship and clean and crisp schematics.Nice engine lights effect.
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