Epee Bolsters Enigma Fleet (May 23, 2013)

ChrisReid

Super Soaker Collector / Administrator
Klavs is on a WC2 modeling spree! To follow up his Rapier, Ferret, Broadsword and Sabre, the F-54 Epee has now been put together. All of his Vengeance of the Kilrathi designs are quite faithful to their Confed source material, but this one has a nice 'heft' to it that the authentic fighter may have lacked. It may be small, but it's not scrawny! Klavs has also put together a nice comparison that shows what the new ship looks like between his Ferret, Broadsword and a classic WW2 bomber.






Epees tried to kill me every time I got close, man. Every time!

In Epees, I had three engine failures, a sneaky O2 system failure that gave me hypoxia before I figured it out, a reentry burnthrough, a missile propellant detonation, and finally, a total reactor breach that resulted in an ejection and loss of the spacecraft.

Epees hated me. I hated them back. I never wanted to fly one again!

The final straw happened as I was walking across the tarmac after one of the Morningstar test hops.

One of the Epees on the flight line had an 'accidental' weapon discharge. The whole damn world went pink and I was knocked square on my butt. A huge smoldering chunk of the tarmac was missing about a meter from where my left foot had been. I was pissed off, peppered with chunks of concrete, but otherwise okay.

The tech came running over, white as a sheet. She swore and swore and swore all the systems had been on 'safe'. Eventually, I believed her. Telemetry later confirmed that the Epee had shorted its own safety circuits in its bid to kill me.

I gave those suckers a wide berth after that. An Epee could look like it was innocently sitting out on the tarmac. Like it didn't have a care in the world!

But man, I knew better!

-Maniac

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With apologies to Scooby, whose Epee I cribbed shamelessly from. You made me fall in love with this goofy bird! :)

Tried to figure out how the heck this little ship could mount a torpedo and I decided it could carry a light torpedo to handle things like corvettes and light destroyers. Not a giant ship killer like the Broadsword carries.

Speaking of which, I know this is going to be Divisive, but my Broadsword is smaller than the original's whopping 36 meters. Still sufficiently gigantic, I feel. More than enough room for 3-4 guys in there. (2-3 in the crew area, sat like in an EA-6B Prowler controling the weapon systems [left and right turrets are remotely operated from the cockpit and more like the laser emiters on the Boeing YAL-1] and the tail gunner/tractor operator in the rear turret.) My other fighters are smaller as well, because, well, they're mine and I can make them any darn size I want! :)

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Original update published on May 23, 2013
 
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Hmm.

As a space ship, your Epee model is awesome.

As an Epee - it sucks, I'm sorry to say. You (and Scooby, I suppose) have completely lost what made the Epee so characteristic, namely its smooth lines and a hull so delicate that you thought it would snap right behind the cockpit (which, all too often, it did ;) ). It's an awesome model, but there's no Epee in it.
 
That seems harsh. I think the only thing that doesn't convey as closely might be the length of the epee, which gave the long delicate look, however I think it's beautiful interpretation and matches up with the readouts. That torpedo it's carrying looks like it's about half the epees mass.

Good Job though. I like it.
 
Ouch! My feelings! :) But I hear ya, something wasn't right about the old girl. I guess I never paid her enough attention.
 

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The F-54s, much reviled by their human maintainers and pilots, found new life in the feathered hands of the FDF. Re-engineered for avian biometrics through the Firekkan semi-neural interface, The 'Ten-fin' as they became known, were thus transformed from a Confed disappointment into the legendary and iconic mounts of the Firekkan Defense Force.

-Hyperion Middlebrook, 'Wings Over Firekka'
 
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Nice look as your other models. Now Crossbow or capships?
Hmm. FDF has Epee. Nice to know. Have we another infos what kind of fighters / capships the Firekkan Defence Force has?
 
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