So, for whatever reason, I thought it would be cool to design the royal starfighter for the Indupar system. I made a kit bash, primarily from a 1:144 scale F-104 Starfighter, with elements from a 1:144 scale B-25 Mitchell. I've got lots of other parts lying around to try something else too, but I was pretty happy with this. My biggest disappointment was screwing up the spray primer and basically ruining all the panel lines. I did my best to cover it up, but the paint job is awful. I'm going to have to get a new F-104 and B-25 to try it again I guess. This time, I'll forget about the stupid spray primer for sure.

Also, which direction should it be pointing? Originally, I was going to have it face the way the needle is pointing, but the more I look at it, the more I get this kind of F-86 Sabre vibe that makes me think it should be going the other way (in which case the cannon emitters need turning around). My first thought was to make it look a bit like an IAR 80 from World War 2, and I kind of like that look, but I'm undecided. I'll take any and all input.

Looks good. Definitely getting the vibe that it is on the base backward though so, yeah, I would turn it around.

My only real complaint is that the cockpit doesn't look like it blends into the fuselage well, it kinda looks just stuck on.

I'm loving the design though. Needs some squad marking and the like.

Thanks. Yeah, I get the backwards vibe from the picture. Part of that is probably because of the canopy. It's actually a seamless fit, as this was the canopy for the F-104, and the front fuselage of the F-104 is totally intact. So, the canopy makes me think it's moving towards that engine nozzle. I'm not sure which way I like better. Going that way, it has a first generation jet look. Going the other way it has a kind of pod racer look.

May just be the angle on the canopy making it look off.

Actually, I get a Naboo n-1 vibe off of it.

I think it is for that reason that what you are identifying as the cannon emitters strike me more as the rear of the engine pods. I would just add some vey thin, needle like rods coming out the other end of the pods for the laser cannons.

Btw, how large is this ship supposed to be? The cockpit makes it look very small ( again reinforcing the n-1 feel), but you have it on a large base. Or is it not to scale with the other ships in the game? Any chance of some pics next to other ships, like an x-wing or a tie?

It's about double the size it's supposed to be - 1/144 scale instead of 1/270. So, it's on the large base because it's way too big for the game, but it's supposed to be a single-seat starfighter like the N-1. And yes, I do get an N-1 vibe off of it. If I have it going the direction you suggest, then the ship is essentially a single-engined N-1 type fighter, which makes sense if this other royal house also bought from Nubian, who makes the engines on the N-1. I want to try this kit bash again, similar idea, but with X-wing cannons in place of the pod-things I've got on the wings. I'll see if I can make that work at some point.

I actually prefer it the IAR 80 way! Feels more original and cool. I would add something to better show that its pointing that way. Maybe two extra engines on the wings, like the Z95/Ewing engines.

Or maybe a little fin on top of the cockpit, like the Jedi Delta 7 fighter. Or even some ailerons, even if they dont make much sense.

I enjoy more the retro look.

The cockpit is the real hangup in making it look like it is going the other way. If it is supposed to be flying left to right then the back of the cockpit needs to be elevated a bit. As it currently sits, it looks like a pilot facing the right side of the picture would not be able to see over the fuselage.

I'm working on using the engines from a 1:144 B-1B to give the fighter a new look. I wasn't keen on just adding engines at first (K-Wing principle) but I think it actually is turning out nicely.

My modeling skills leave so very much to be desired, but here is version 2. I stuck some wash on the engines as my phone camera hates stark white.

Now that I look at this again, I see a lot of F4U corsair elements too. I may be better off starting over with F4U and IAR 80 parts.

So, I was fundamentally displeased with my initial outing on this fighter, and I decided that rather than just throwing something together, I needed a design principle to guide me. To that end, I invented a story for the fighter and then designed the fighter to fit the story.

Indupar isn't much talked about in the EU, but we know it's a Mid-Rim Monarchy, a bit like Naboo. I decided to run with that, and figured that the Induparan Royalty would want to compete with Naboo, and so when they went to design a fighter, they'd probably go to Nubian as well, for its luxury parts. To that end, I considered what type of fighter they would want to build, and I decided that they would want the most powerful engine they could get to build their fighter around. Since the Naboo Royal Space Yacht was based on the SR-71 Blackbird, I thought that one of its engines, the Headon-5 Sublight engine, might be the biggest, baddest beast around for generating high levels of thrust in a relatively compact package.

So, the Induparans acquired a bunch of Headon-5 Sublight engines, and decided to build a single-seat fighter around them. The first thing they had to do was eliminate the long spike coming out the back, because it was too much length and mass for a small, maneuverable fighter. This created an instant problem, as in the design manuals, the spike is a form of heat sink to help keep the engine cool. Without it, the engine would presumably be prone to massive overheating. To compensate for this, the Induparans would need fins on their fighter, or wings - basically any kind of flat surface they could manage to dissipate the heat as best they could. Therefore, a relatively flat fuselage plan, with a blended wing would make the most sense. In addition, I thought it would be a fun mechanic if they added a cannon that shoots the built-up heat energy at enemies, but which can only be fired when it's been charged up by enough heat generated from the engine. So, it's a big boom that can only be shot occasionally, and which must be shot periodically, even when not in combat, to keep the ship from overheating.

With all that in mind, I kitbashed the starfighter based on a single engine from an SR-71 Blackbird model. I'm kind of happy with the result.

Just put the first coat of paint on it, keeping with the purple and gold scheme. I decided the leading edges of the wing/fuselage would be gold, as it'll be some heat-resistant alloy or something.

The WiP shots are looking good, but the second post, the pictures aren't displaying.

To be honest though, I preferred the first one.

The WiP shots are looking good, but the second post, the pictures aren't displaying.

To be honest though, I preferred the first one.

Yeah, I've been having net issues all night. I got it fixed. I prefer the second one. It makes logical sense, and it has all the key elements of a fighter. I also think that since I'm designing this for a sort of Clone Wars-ish period, having that kind of retro-future jet look is handy.

Paint job makes it look much better, and yeah, I could definitely see that flying around in the pre clone wars old republic.

In some of the pictures the laser cannons look angled inward. Is that just a trick of the camera angle, or is it really like that?

They are angled slightly inward. All laser cannons which are wing-mounted ought to be, in order to have a convergence range of some kind. They're probably angled too far inward, but I'm not perfect and getting them set on the wings was pretty tough. I have so much glue on my fingers, despite my best attempts to use moderate amounts. I also agree that the paint scheme really makes it look different. Prior to that, I just saw SR-71 mixed with MiG-17/19, but now I can see it as a starfighter. And, with the X-wing and Z-95 next to it, along with the N-1, I feel like you can believe it's from the same universe.

How many pictures of the painted version are there supposed to be? I'm only seeing one.

I've only done one. I couldn't see the picture so like 5 got put in the initial post, all corrupted or something. But there was never more than 1 to show. I'm going to finish painting it before I post more. But not tonight, too late for more painting.