The Ghost Who Walks get a make over

[Knight26]

Well since the redesing kick has restarted in me with my friend Kevin showing interest in doing a colaborative book effort with me based in my sci-fi universe I decided to hit up another enemy fighter first. This one is the Phantom-4, a product of the Sukhoi design bereau and is one of the oldest active fighters of the war. As such the design will be clunkier then others in appearance, made for exo-atmospheric combat but with some limited trans-atm capability. As such it will have no under carriage, just the upper docking mounts. The design is pretty basic at this point and needs work, but the most major salient features are present. I appreciate any comments. I am attaching the old registry picture of the original and the first prelim shot of the redesign. THe other enemy craft, while finished will get slight face lifts along the way, and I have two more friendly craft yet to redesign, one minor, the other major, despite the fact that is an inactive in the main storyline.

First shot is the old registry pic.

[Knight26]

The preliminary redesign shot.

[Agent ONE]

I like the redesign much better. Did the cockpit get super cramped or did the thing get bigger?

[Knight26]

Quick update, still adding the major salient features right now. I've cut out the engine exhausts installing baffle vents and added the fixed armament. I've changed up the armament from the two fixed gatling plasers to four larger caliber single barreled wing root mounted cannons, and added a single gauss rifle to the belly. Reason being that at the point in the war that this craft was introduced it was the only craft that stood a chance 1V1 against the confed craft of the day. So it was decided to add a single heavy Gauss rifle to it to give it some anti-bomber capability while the next gen interceptor was being developed. The weapon has stayed throughout the years though. Next up, I'm not entirely sure what direction to take this design, but here is what I am considering:

1) thrust vectoring plates on the engine exhaust, similar to the original (??)

2) Manuevering vents along the engine nacelles

3) External hardpoints for the missiles, on the wings and nacelles

4) Ventral fins (??)

5) ATM control surfaces

6) Recontour of the fuselage immeidately behind the cockpit (??)

I appreciate any thoughts or ideas anyone has that they think will help.

Oh and those colored bits midway down the fuselage are the dorsal docking mounts, just a stand in texture right now until I model them in.

@Agent One: No the cockpit is about the same size, maybe slightly larger, the fighter just got a bit bigger.

[Knight26]

Small update: I started on the engine manuevering vents yesterday, but decided to start working on the larger salient features this morning instead. I was considering a large ventral fin for use a thermal radiator sprouting off the belly. It would fold for storage, but I just couldn't get it look right and still be able to fold. Instead I have opted for four fins sprouting out at angles from the main fuselage, but am not sure about those. I've also added the missile pods to the wings, the missiles will go inside and the front will split open to allow the missile to launch, then can close back up again. We will see where this leads. I am really unsure about those radiator fins though, thoughs?

[Knight26]

Update time:

1) I nixed the radiator fins.

2) Because of a program error I lost all progress on the model this morning. As an experiment I took the triple missile packs off of the later model Solaar fighters and with some modifications to make them dual launchers slapped them onto the engines. Each engine now has two standard launchers on top and two triple-mini launchers underneath.

3) I recontiured the area behind the cockpit.

4) The canopy is now a more bubble type, I will still need to frame it, and the framing will be pretty heavily done.

5) Small change moved the guns down a little.

6) Fixed the docking mounts

I'm not sure how to proceed, I want this one to be a dirty design, so it will be covered in anntennae soon, plus I still need the reactor radiators and a lot of other details. I will work more of the manuevering vents on the engines tonight while I consider how to proceed, any ideas?

Edit- Reuploaded, still having a problem seeing it?

Edited January 9, 2005 by Knight26

[Agent ONE]

I may be the only one who has this problem, but I can't see that last image you posted... Just the red "X".

[Knight26]

Update:

Ok, the manuevering vents on the engine nacelles are in. Now I think I may have to come up with shutters for the engine exhaust to in order to make them effective, bugger. Right now, ignoring the open main exhausts, I have them set for a right roll combined with a nose over, to give you an idea how it looks with them in use.

[Knight26]

Okay major update Time:

The cockpit tub has been cut, though I need to fix it in a couple places, and the canopy has been hollowed out and framed, though I may frame it a little more heavily.

I added a bunch of details to the engines including the thrust vectoring plates, which will shutter closed when using the manuevering vents. I've also colored the whole plane a sort of haze gray for now. Next I will get back into the main fuselage, I am still considering the large ventral fins and filling that trench in the rear full of hardware for the reactor. BTW the engines are designed to be interchangable left to right, just flipped over

I've also added the main dorsal wing fins and ventral fins and I think they work well together, though I was originally only planning the ventral setl. Along with that I added the external generator coils on the dorsal and ventral sides. The ventral coild are strictly for powering the Gauss Rifle and the shields. The original model was unshielded and because of the power requirements of the gun and shields additional generators had to be added. The generators have stayed despite technological advances that made the various systems more energy efficient giving the fighter excellent power reserves, but if not managed properly the systems can overload.

I also added lights to the engines and the cockpit, the cockpit glow looks ok right now, but I may need to turn it down a little. I'm trying to figure out how to proceed from here, I think I may build up the wing roots and start adding the external anntennae. Any Thoughts?

[Knight26]

Another shot:

[Zentrandude]

looks like another bomber

[Knight26]

Uh no, it's a fighter, way too small to be a bomber, though it would be entertaining to see what it would look like with a torpedo or two strapped on. Of course being that it was made by Sukhoi, that is entirely possible, lol.

[ComicKaze]

But it has way too many bulky parts to look like your typical fighter. It looks very much like a bomber I'm afraid. But hey, it's your universe.

[GobotFool]

It reminds me of a wing commander hellcat V

[Knight26]

Ok, I spent most of the day cleaning and going through all my junk, took a large load over to the Salvation Army, so I did not work on the design too much. I ddi make some progress:

1) Reshaped the Dorsal wing fins, I think they look better and match up with the ventrals better.

2) Built up the wing root, adding much needed additional structuring.

3) Worked on the area around the cockpit, adding some greeblies.

4) Reshaped the nose, should have done that before detailing the area around the cockpit but, oh well i think it turned out nice.

5) Added several sets of anntennae will add several more bumps and blisters all over the main fuselage.

6) I added the initial set of nose RCS thrusters, still need to add those that go underneath and those in the tail.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

@CK: the craft is kind of like a B-52, intended as a strictly interim fighter to be used as a testbed for developing new technologies for the fighters to come. So it was not designed for grace and came out very bulky to allow for its intended continuous upgrades. However it became well loved by its crews and with numerous upgrades stayed up technologically so stayed in service.

@GF: Interesting comparison, though the hellcat was never one of my favorite wing commander craft, I can just barely see the resemblance though, in design and mission.

[Knight26]

underside and rear

[Knight26]

Some shots with the pilot in the cockpit.

[Knight26]

Looking over the pilot's shoulder.

[Knight26]

Well you know me I love my registry pics, don't worry I still have a lot of work to do, but here is a quick glimpse into its future.

[Lynx7725]

Looks good.

You might want to cant the dorsal fins out a bit, current looks a bit strange sticking straight up, but slanting them might not achieve a good look, so maybe just a temporary tweak to see how it looks.

It doesn't look very predatory, but as long as it shoots down fighters, I'll use it.

EDIT: Just noticed the side profile makes this look like a bird-of-prey (the nose has a slight hook to it). Might want to emphasize this a little.

Edited January 11, 2005 by Lynx7725

[Zentrandude]

hmm since you said bird of prey the engine pods looks like warp necells, very treky. still looks like a bomber too.

[Agent ONE]

Looking better by the day. I liked the hard angle cockpit cannopy though. Why did you get rid of it?

[Knight26]

@ Lynx: I'll look into canting the dorsal fins. As for the profile view, I agree it is starting to look very much like a hawk or eagle. I may rename it now and just make the Phantom-4 an older fighter not seen in the books, we will see. I will not hook beak the nose though, sorry this isn't Buck ROgers, lol.

@ ZD: The nacelles were done that way intentionally as a nod, though I may make the sides opaque again so they don't glow, I am undecided at this point.

@A1: I went to the bubble canopy because it fit better in the overall GF Design scheme, all their fighters have bubble canopies. However, I plan to make a few variants of this one and one will be an early variant which may or may not have the angled canopy. This one is the standard late war model so it has the bubble canopy.

[Knight26]

Ok, been a busy week, but today I panelled in the wings. I think I may have overdone it a little, but I still have to add in other sundry bits to the wings, fill ports, hardpoints, etc... If you have any comments I appreciate them. I will start on the tail surfaces and fuselage tomorrow. Then of course I will have to start texturing it.

[Knight26]

I redid the wing panels, altering several of the wing panels, and adding access ports as well as hardpoints, plus I paneled the dorsal fins.

[Knight26]

Underwing hard points, sorry they are a little hard to see.

[Knight26]

Update time:

I finished paneling the dorsal fuselage, will start on the ventral side tomorrow since I have the day, gotta love being a federal employee, lol. I also had to turn off the lights, not uncommon when I go into the detailing process. For some reason AUTOCAD hates it when I start detailing and I invariably have to kill all my lights except for ambient if I want to render. Of course I can put the lights back in later no problem, the biggest pain here will be remembering the positions and values, especially on the cockpit glow light.

[Knight26]

Ok, the panelling is done, and I have cut it up for texturing. I have to make a few tweaks to the engine nacelles and missile pods but once that is done I can start into texturing full bore. Also, I have given in the temporary vandy-1 treatment to make sure the cuts are correct for texturing. Let me know what you think.

[Knight26]

fore starboard ventral

Edited January 18, 2005 by Knight26

[Knight26]

Update time, if anyone is still interested.

Basic untextured, uncolored, unmarked textures are applied to check for fit. I should have a few basic textures done tomorrow.

[Knight26]

Looks a little cartoony right now, but the texturing process should fix that, on the plus side you can really make out the panel lines.

[Knight26]

Ok, interest seems to have pettered off here but I press on. I have textured almost everything now except the little bits and the tails, which i will work on tomorrow, after my date, though hopefully not, any thoughts? Also, any takers on what squadron i should dress it up as, pick a modern military squadron, I am leaning towards the Puking Dogs or Jolly Rodgers right now, maybe the Red Rippers.

[Knight26]

Below and behind

[Knight26]

Ok she's finished, bonus points to whomever can identify the squadron logo.

Edited January 21, 2005 by Knight26

[Knight26]

below and behind