I restarted my old, old Rapier from Wing Commander, with an eye toward updating the old girl, while keeping some familiar elements from the games, incorporating elements from WC3/WC4, and some elements of modern aircraft design (Internal weapon bays, mostly)
DISCLAIMER: This is not trying to rewrite WC cannon, add to it, or start arguments! It's a personal project inspired by a beloved classic. Like doing King Lear set in Brooklyn
Yes, I just compared Wing Commander to Shakespeare. Somewhere, Chris Roberts' eye just twitched a little.
Trying to model most of the greebles, though a lot more detail will be added when I do the bump maps.
This one's going pretty fast.
Hope you enjoy!
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As an aside, I always thought the weapons in WC were in internal bays- I don't recall seeing any fighters with obvious external ordinance except for one Kilrathi fighter in WC2?
-Will
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You'll note that he's red (but not subtly so), like the movie. It's got buckles (and the belt buckle), like the live action games, and the helmet is a tribute to the WC1/WC2 "Motorcycle helmet"
The sidearm is just a placeholder.
Also note the human to scale, and I've added a few more greebles to the ship itself, including some handy doors that snap shut over the guns. (Because moving doors are neat)
Also added things like handholds and a boarding ladder. Mussn't forget the human element. No stock roll 'em up ladder for this bird, no sir!
Reworking the Marine Landing Craft, with influences from the CH-53.
Wing Commander II: The Movie here we come
In terms of the aft view of the fighter--the nozzles remind me of the raised eyestalks of the ghost crab.
Dont remember whether or not the later models had internal bays, but the early WC fighters used external hardpoints as far as I know. I have to dig out the old plans I have for them.
The Original WC2 Variant did carry missiles externally. Mine will be internal. The thickness of the wing is meant to convey a sense of mass and bulk, lots of fuel is needed (propellant) even with mass and acceleration compensators (handwavium). Once it hits the atmosphere, it has to fly at least partially on aerodynamics.
Plus, it's not a very "super hard" scifi ship, so I feel justified in making it sleek, pointy and mean looking, plus it's still an homage to the original.
The bird will remain mostly gray (that hi-temp spacecraft paint only comes in so many colors!) but I may do a few 'CAG Birds' in the future, once I get all the stenciling and the cockpit done. The overall green color is gone for good.
For now...
...Maybe not quite dirty enough, but I figure this ship is on it's first cruise. I may do one later that's been through the wringer a bit more.
When I do the cockpit, I'll rebuild the forward fuselage with more detail so the textures don't show any jaggies for closeups of the pilot during animations.
Okay, so I'm not quite done, but it's to a level I'd feel comfortable putting it into an animation.
In terms of realism, the colour scheme looks great, but it is a little...drab. The F-22 is grey so that it blends in with its surroundings - obviously, when in space, anything short of black isn't going to cut it from the camouflage point of view. Would you consider doing a green and gold WC1 version of the paint scheme? I'd love to see what she looks like in the traditional colours...Or, speaking of camouflage, in the WC3 Excalibur black/red colours. :cool:
Oh, and are you going to put a low poly pilot in the cockpit?