Flashback 1942: Variable Me-262

[dialNforNinja]

Hey troops, I'm making a variable Me-262 Schwalbe (plus HG.II version with 35 degree wing sweep instead of 18) but I have two nearly equal variants of the robot mode I can't decide between.

Considered on its own I tend toward type 1, but with space-tech versions of the Lorins a VMe-262 HG.II would be able to make orbit on its own, and "get earth ready to fight the aliens" is basically the whole justification for Germany being the aggressor (by wiping out undesirable "weak" strains of humanity, communism, etc. - I never said they were the good guys!)

Got sidetracked. Anyway, givn the emphasis on capability to fight space-based enemies, fighters that can get up there or back down without needing a mothership have obvious importance - otherwise, the only option for that mission type until the 70s style original designs that only appear very late and if you put particular effort into creating them is the variable V-2.

So, do you prefer TYPE 1:

* can use OTL landing gear
* V-shape folded backpack is common element with variable V-2
* less time to pop the wings out for boost jumps
* arms have room to swing back for melee or holding a gunpod

or TYPE 2:

* flatter backpack
* better field of view from head & cockpit
* easily mounts OTL Lorin ramjet boosters




It is possible to have the normal transformation use type 1 but switch to type 2 with optional equipment attached, but this still means I have to come up with different landing gear... for voting purposes, call this TYPE 3

Game design is not a democracy, but I will count audience response when making the final decision.

[SeminNV]

Quite original I must say,

could make a video of the animation?

[Mr March]

Type 2 would make more sense, but for some reason Type 1 seems to be the way to go visually. Although I think it would make sense for the horizontal stabilizers on the rear empennage to fold upward/downward into the vertical fin for the Type 1 Battroid mode.

[dialNforNinja]

A video will come when I finish modeling the legs (though I've already recolored the parts that are done to Carmen Richthofen's "Red Baroness" livery, I can easily enough switch it back to the high-contrast patchwork) but in the meantime, I've actually found a good looking compromise position - wings still folded in a V as in Type 1, but rotating that down about 2/3rds as far as Type 2 keeps the visual appeal while making the back shorter - folding the H.stabs down as March suggested (which I can't believe never occured to me) will also make things neater. I tried it with a V-tail too (ala the first version HG.II) but it just doesn't look as good, and (a far greater sin) gets in the way of the transformation. I'm most likely going to still go to type 2 for boost parts, though - the act of writing the bullet points down sold me on the strategic need for orbit-capable boosters, and that's the best way to fit them.

Carmen is the daughter of the Red Baron's brother and second in command Lothar and one of the aliens who evacuated from the ship that crashed in 1920 - the real Lothar had a daughter by that name but in this continuity the mother persuaded him to use something different, so Carmen comes form the second marriage he never had OTL, due to becoming a commercial pilot rather than a test pilot in the mecha program. He was a much more aggressive and aerobatic pilot than his brother, but the more famous Richthofen's livery was adopted when the propoganda value of holding her up as a symbol of Aryan might (despite being HALF ALIEN, since no full blood human has strong enough psi to be a combat effective mecha pilot though her father had enough latent ability to get one moving - this is the driving force behind gender equality amoung pilots, there aren't enough halfs or fullblood Bluo around for anyone to stand on their conservative principles, particularly when female pilots can usually withstand an extra half to three quarters of a G, let you load a few more pounds of ammo, and fit easier in tight cockpits) despite taking after her parents rather than her uncle in the air. Her signature leather greatcoat and peaked cap are red too. She's the primary enemy ace when you're in the European theater, at least until the main alien fleet arrives.

As you can see, I'm rapidly moving away from anything that really follows Macross in terms of story, aside from general alien invasion and mecha genre standards, but it's transforming aircraft with a hybrid plane/humanoid mode, so I figure it's close enough for a fan forum.

Edited April 2, 2013 by dialNforNinja

[dialNforNinja]

Carmen Richthofen's Me-262 HG.II as equipped for an orbital raid on the alien fleet.

Integral armament: 4x rapid pulse energy guns (nose/head)

Option parts:
4x Heavy Anti-Ship missile
2x Leg Mounted Micro-Missile Hive (Micromissile x156 total)
2x Lorin-Sanger-Ravvika fusion scramjet boost equipment

Polycount:
mecha: 2770
option parts: 1268
crappy placeholder insignia: 708

As you can see, I went with a variation on "both of them!" as far as the transformation style goes - the no-boost-equipment version is still a more compact form than the original V-style, but retains the visual distinctiveness. March's suggestion with the tailplanes has also been implemented, as you can see. This clip is designed to be looped, and I reccomend downloading it to do so since YouTube doesn't seem to have it as an option - and this time, it's in HD! Still only 720p, but it makes seeing the details easier with the parts all the same color or nearly so, and it takes about 3hrs to render just this much so I'm not going to recolor with the patchwork and do a second version just for that.

[Mr March]

Wow, that's one crazy transformation

[dialNforNinja]

Yeah, just try to get something that's shaped like a shark to turn into something that's shaped like a human in a straightforward way It ends up with about 75% of the fusilage turning into the arms and shoulders, the rest being cockpit, head, tail, and struts to connect them. The standard A.1/A.2 versions' upper legs are even skimpier than the HG.I/HG.II, because where the later models have that leading edge extension on the torso that leads to the lightning bolt jag on the leg, the earlier models have half the sweep and the leg is tapered into a leading edge from the knee almost all the way up to the hip. There is a rotation joint not shown in the video in the upper leg, BTW - it cuts across at the notch where the nose/torso LEX meets the part on the leg/wing.

And the rotating micromissile packs? Totally intentional all along. I didn't get around to transforming it and say "oh crap, the outside of the pods in plane mode is the inner calf on robot and hybrid," no way no how.

I may have to re-render it after all, though - I came up with a Mad SCIENCE! gunpod that I simply must use. MUST. Still images at least. It'll mount centerline under the wongs and rotate to sit sideways under the wings in G, must be handheld in B since that location blocks/is blocked by the wings folding.

Edited April 3, 2013 by dialNforNinja

[paramat]

I actually stumbled across your latest video last night while searching for 'transforming mecha'.

Have you seen this site? http://www.luft46.com/luftart.html Lots of interesting concept aircraft as designed by Germany during WWII, they were so ahead of their time.

Edited April 4, 2013 by paramat

[SeminNV]

that was nice!

[dialNforNinja]

Thanks, Semin! How's your game project coming? My own planning has been for all-original content (with addon support for fan-units of various anime mecha, such as Macross) in order to avoid licensing issues, which are particularly vicious since I live on Harmony Gold turf. All the same, I wouldn't mind taking the time now and then to work on the VF-4, VF-9, and or VF-14 (M7 Plus/M+ Movie vers) for yours, since the 9 especially is not generally popular enough to be a likely contribution - I love that shrimpy little thing. It's just so awkward and cute, like a scrappy puppy. Or Cirno from Touhou Project... A Cirno Custom VF-9 like the Sheryl and Ranka special VF-25s & 27s would be icy cool and obviously The Strongest!

@ Paramat - I've heard of it and keep meaning to take a look, but never actually get around to it. Just making the list of models I already have for the project will take weeks, without even accounting for animations and textures! I haven't even decided on exactly what animations I'm going to need, let alone making them! The flyaround transformations are really just for visualization.

Edited April 4, 2013 by dialNforNinja

[dialNforNinja]

Re-rendered video clip:

Note the no longer see-through-hollow G-mode nose section, increased cockpit armor coverage, and yes, a big frikken' hammer, plus vintage Mad SCIENCE! MASER cannon. I recolored the chest a bit too.

And just let me say that figuring out the right compositing node setup to get the glow effect without messing up the rest of the image was a right pain in the arse.

[raptormesh]

Awesome work, the chest area in battroid seems pretty flat but otherwise quite imaginative. Also, original sturmvogel!

[dialNforNinja]

Well, not quite. The Sturmvogel was the night-fighter version, with an enlarged, two-place cockpit and various other structural mods that wouldn't work out on the transforming version. It's probably close enough to count, though. As for the chest, it is made from flat segments, but the way they're arranged the whole thing is actually about as deep as a VF-1's, maybe more since it's wrapped around a horizontal cockpit like the VF-4 and Nightmare Minus are. I've been making a serious effort in all my recent designs to keep the cockpit at the same orientation or at most only tip down partway to reduce the complexity of the pilot's seating arrangements, and that "blossoming" chest is actually nearly as much a standard of my designs (most never getting beyond napkin sketch stage admittedly) as transforming heads seem to be becoming, the 262 being on the simplistic side where it only rolls the "jaw" section up into the "cranium."