Knight26

The gun barrels don't look any different in size to me. And as to seeing the D and P in orbit, I thought that was considered to be an animation error. Especially since it is stated in one of the early episodes that the crews of the D+P were killed after the space fold since the two ships were not initially spaceworthy.

Man hovering that close to a phalanx mount, he must not have been there long or its ammo had to be dry because otherwise he would have been toast.

As stated in pretty much every other redesign thread I have made... This is all conceptual designs for my books, which by the way a publisher is looking at again, so wish me luck. Anyway I am designing this for practicality, I don't care if it is sexy or would make a good toy, I am trying for a sense of realism. If people think it looks cool enough for a toy great, if not, it's no skin off my nose. I made some progress on the engines last night but did have a chance to post those changes, will do so tonight.

Shawn and a few others usually show at Edwards, it almost becomes a mini-MWCon some years.

I thought it was the AFOS that made it fly not gravity generators, but it has been a while since I watched M0

Edwarsds Airshow this weekend who else is going?

A main rear ramp will be added, just haven't had a chance to. The question is whether or not I should keep the rear crew doors

Update time, nothing major I just put in the crew doors and drop hatches as well as modified the wing to accomodate them. The hatches open at the top and angle out 28 degrees, so the troops are fired out at a slight angle, I may be able to adjust that a little, but openning anymore they will hit the engine pods, oops. I currently have 13 on each side, but I can fit in two more if I drop the aft crew doors. Any thoughts?

I doubt that the intake covers fold in. That impingment on the intake, see the lumps up in the inner corner, would prevent such a thing.

the best part of FF was the dropship and the gel drop. I had a similar idea for a long time and have used it in my stories, but mine works a little differently, from what I can tell anyway. It is a great idea for an in atmo drop method. I have read startship troopers, heck I think at last tally 75% of the board had before graduating high school. I love that book and the ablative drop is great for oribital insertions, though it does make for an obvious drop. This way is a little more surruptious, for the most part.

Ok I have some ideas on how to take this now. This one is not a vehicle carrier it is a drop and retrieval ship. But I may make a vehicle carrying variant. What I am envisioning right now is drop hatchs on both sides. The main ramp and four troop doors will remain for onloading, but drop chutes will be added along the sides too. I may have to increased the glove areas width to accomodate this as the engines are probably too close right now for that. What I am thinking is that the outer bank of seat (along the outer walls) will incorporate drop cannons into them. The wall will hinge outwards from the top, or slide out I haven't decided, and shoot the occupant out in a shock gel cocoon, this qill require atmo drop of course, shock gel will not protect you from reentry friction. If more troops are carried they would simply take the empty seat after it returns and get fired out in the next volley, how does that sound?

I was able to make some progress today, the main fuselage is blocked out, it will be refined, the main wings as well, the engines and main turrets, have to add the underwing turrets still and refine the engines/missile launchers. Comments are welcome, and yes the textures are temporary.

The dropship as DeathHammer is describing it should be is more derivative of the Aliens Dropship. The one I am playing with is more along the lines of the one from SAAB. But I may play with the design some more and work on a modular system for vehicle/troops/cargo variants, I am still deciding. As for how to deliver the troops quickly, the dropship it self need not set down to release the troops, they can be airdropped once in atmosphere. I'll probably include shock gell launch tubes in the belly, just need to figure out where and how. My large dropship has these as well. The dropship itself is also pretty well armed, four anti-personnel turrets, a large upper turret for air defense, two lower turrets for vehicle suppression and a pair of light beams for clearing any crunchies off the LZ. Then there is the holographic and sensor masking system but we'll get into that later.

Read the conqueror's series of books by Tim Zahn. In that he has a type of fighter that uses a BDI/BDC system and it explains how the crews are heavily screened. In his books it is mostly because of addiction to the system problems, but the system also "neuteralizes" the pilots emotions while they are jacked in. It also links the minds of the crews creating a sort of hybrid hive mind. It's interesting stuff and almost what you would have to do in order to make a BDI/BDC system work. Alternatively I have a similar system for BDI/BDC in my books, but the pilots are not a part of it. The WSOs are, they in effect become a part of the fighter and its computer system which allows for better control of all the systems, but they generally do not directly control the fighter.

AH ok, there is some confusion, the sketch is the new version, the CGI one is the old version that I am tossing out. @DH: the manidble were originally, back when I first devised it ten years ago, going to be a new type of very powerful, but innefficent beam cannon. That idea has since been tossed primarily for the reasons you stated, but also because it just looked silly. Also a dropship is used because you can deliver the troops/equipment much more efficiently and precisely, and also it can be used to lift them back off as well. The term dropship implies that one that make planetfall and retrieve troops/cargo as well. A drop pod is just used for insertion. @kin: Hey I was on a plane doing a boring ground test when I sketched it. I was sucking diesel fumes off the hydro cart all day so needed to write out the math to check it. That is just for figuring out the troop capacity, though I realized I forgot something inside so the number will decrease slightly. @Phyrox: I see where your confusion is coming from. I am ditching the old version partially for the reasons you describe. But the new one will have some similiar textures to the old one, at least at this point. oh FYI, I found another possible publisher and they are reviewing the book as we speak, they are a POD publisher though so it will probably limit my market since those tend to cost a little more, but we will see.

What's your issue with it Phyrox?

manueverability, shorter take off distance, etc...

This one may take a while as I do not have a whole lot of time work on it. But, I thought you guys might like to see sketches I made for the redesign, plus I would like your comments on it. I won't go real high detail right away but I will do it up right. I will attach the old version and the sketch for your comments. I look forward to them.

But it is still clearly derived from the YF-23, just look at the arrangements.

F'n sweet, and for 150 that isn't too bad

The sig has changed to: 2000___________________!

Man it seems like only last march that Phalanx brought up the same idea: http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?showtopic=18042

There would be some interesting drag effects during the wing transition to be sure based on that CGI of the fighter on the ground

I think the pivot must be at the wingtip, that or the FSW section retracts, very poor idea

The neo-glaug and Konig having two modes makes sense, it allows them to move about faster, but the battroid modes were just bad ideas.