Knight26

rear starboard quarter

Ok here is the new version, biggest changes are to the cockpit and forward guns. I redesigned them, think they look a lot better. Plus I completely replaced the textures and altered the design to match them. All I have left to do is the inner panels of the weapons packs, and the rear panel of the main fuselage. Oh yeah and those funky lights are from the Ion Disruptor Cannons, should have turned those off, oops. I also will retexture the guns, they kind of need it.

Well since I redid the GF Solaar Line I decided to rework the Merlin Fighter as well. This is a later model fighter, probably the best of the war. The Modern equivalent would be a Su-37 (two seater). Well here is the original design so you can see the difference. Comments are as always appreciated.

I hope it will be good, but looking at the guy producing it he primarily seems to work on kid movies. Though they are kid movies that adults can enjoy. I therefore fear that it will be more akin to the ubercrappy cartoons, and less like the much better written comics, particularly the early Larry Hama storylines. If I hear news that Larry Hama or his early staff is working on it I will be much more hopeful. Until then however I will not be looking forward to it, infact I will likely avoid it.

Nice work man, good thing you specified it was Millia though, only that and the FAST PACKS really showed that without any color. Still great picture.

Normally I am not one to feed the trolls, but where are you getting your "facts?"

Nice, looks like a Hank Caruso Aerocature, I love those.

Damn, except for this arm joints it looks damn near real.

Close up of the three cockpits.

Ok, unless specific questions come up this will be my final post in this thread. Here are the three Solaar Variants together, the Tharsher Cannons on the MK-3 have been redesigned, they kind of look like shotguns now, cool IMHO. I recolored the MK-2 to give it a more distinct appearance, as well as colored the glass of the canopies the same as the squadron markings. That may or may not change, but it actually looks ok from inside the cockpits. After rendering I realized I should have altered which fighter has which color scheme, but decided to stay with the ones here. I guess you could say these are Skull Squadron Solaars, but then Mk2 and Mk3 should have their colors flipped, or the Mk2 should have a green scheme. Hmm, maybe when I do the Merlin I will put it in skull leader colors and the Mk-2 in green or brown Kakazaki. Anyway here are the pics.

Yeah I was the first to notice the flapping wings back in episode 1, we had a long discussion abouyt it on the old boards. You can probably find it in the archived forums.

Graham, in reference to your comments, well I think Egan may have hosed this one. When referring russian aircraft fixed armament, i.e. guns, the first two letters are the caliber. So the GsH-231 should be a 23mm and the GsH-371 should be a 37mm. The 23 is a common russian aircraft cannon size, the 37 as well, though they have not used it for a long time. Currently all modern russian birds use either a 23 or 30 mm cannon, though a few still use 27mm, but they are older planes. The number of guns it probably suspect too then, and if the lineart says two weapons that is waht I would put my money on. Hope that answered your question. BTW I love the Sv-51s design, so cool and unique.

OH Bugger, I just realized I forgot to add an AMMO hatch for the Thrashers, ok, will work that into the redesign then.

Damn man that thing is a work of absolute beauty, wish I had that kind of talent. And looking at that thing the actual plane would be freakiing huge, both of them. Great work man, really, makes me wish that model kits of my design existed so that I could see you work your magic on them. Man that thing almost looks real.

Next shot, here you can kind of see the ventral missile packs, only missile armament, no rocket packs this time. Remember htis one is a pure fighter, not an anti-bomber intereceptor. Still getting that buggering sticking problem on the leading and trailing edges though, dang.

Time for the major upgrade. The Solaar Mk-3 more of a fighter killer this time, I am still hedging whether or not I should replace the textures on the Thrasher Cannons (the two flanking the cockpit) and the engines. Anyway here a couple pics of her. Bonus points to whoever can ID the markings, as I actually put a squadron sigil on this one.

Wait for the Mark-3, six PLASER cannons on flex mounts, eight missile tubes, for long range or clusters, and dual thrasher cannons, basically a giant shotgun. Plus four engines spaced away from centerline for increased manueverabilty. I won't even go into details on the merlin yet, but she's even more viscous.

Bugger forgot th picture. That's all for the MK1/2 except for squadron sigils to be added and more color schemes. Next up the Mark3 which is a major redesign retaining only the cockpit and fuselage, everything else is new, wings, engines, weapons, etc...

A lightened close up of the galtings under the wing.

Ok, now for your typical Mk2 configured Solaar. The primary alteration to the Mk2 is the replacement of the lower triple 120mm MDC pack with a three barrelled 60mm gatling MDC. The gatlings were added to give the Solaar an anti-fighter capability, the slower refire rate of the big guns made them hard to bring to bear against fighters.

Guess what more updates. First the secondary weapons packs on the upper surface. The larger weapons packs each hold three of the triple cluster missles. These smaller ones are for the longer range missiles, which are larger then the smaller cluster type, but still smaller than the three stacked type. Mk1 Solaars typically carry the cluster missiles, while MK2s usually carry the more standard missiles. The packs are interchangable though, so that can change.

Do you ladies have pics of your Millia Cosplay, just out of curiousity, like to know what outifits you used and see how well they were made.

Maybe the TF-Armada StarScream is a VF-11MAXL, lets face it there are a great number of desing similarity there. I'm sure a clever customizer could make it work,

And a close up on those big guns. Twelve 120mm MDCs, and two 240mm Heavy PLASER Cannons. These Weapons are designed to be used in conjunction to bring down a bomber's shields and tear it's hull to pieces in a single pass. In fact they are all fire linked firing in a cyclic pattern. If I weren't so burnt out from my games easrlier I would explian more, but later. Anyway here are those big guns.

Actually I am actively writing it, the first book is currently under review for pulbication. Thanks for the comments. Here are the two latest additions, or really 18, the six heavy Mass Drivers and 2 Heavy Plasers plus their mounts. I will work on several color schemes for this fighter, including a low vis. But first I have to do the other set of upper weapons packs. They use differenet missiles and are smaller. Well here she is in all her glory the SOLAAR MK1 anti-bomber interceptor.