Rapier Redux

[Howard Day]

See, I don't think that's at all a bad thing. The Raptor was, and is a heavy fighter. I think it should look like a gunboat. Personally, I really like what you did with the big curved wings. making those intakes, or missile silos makes a lot of sense.
I'd love to see you finish this!
*Edit* And I forgot to mention...It really does scream "Raptor" to me, so well done there.

 

[NinjaLA]

the design is recognizable instantly and it looks like it'd fit nicely with the rest of the quartet.

I think you are on the right track!

 

[Deathsnake]

I agree with Howard and Ninja: The Model looks really fine and fits to the others. It looks now more to a Heavy Fighter/Bomber to the original style

But if you say you make a better one then we looking forward how the Raptor looks when its done Very nice work

@Howard: Whats the status of your Scimitar? Is Pioneer still in the work?

Greetings

Alex

 

[Sylvester]

I concur with everyone else - it is a nice design that does immediately make me think its a Raptor. In your place, the only thing I would change is to make those intake/silo struts connecting the wings a little bit thinner. But it is fine now just the way it is. Good job Klavs!

 

[t.c.cgi]

I'd say thin up the vertical wings to half what they are right now. Rest looks great.

 

[Bob McDob]

It looks more like a Raptor than your Hornet did at the start. (Which it does now).

Not sure how Ninja feels but I'd say thin up those vertical inlet things between the wings.

As long as it looks like a Gunstar I'd say you're doing something right.

 

[NinjaLA]

I like them pretty much as is. looks cool as a missile launcher or some sort of intakes...
Besides this is his project, not mine. I just figured it'd be a shame to not finish the quartet from the original game.


In my mind.. these all remind me of Arena. Fighters that have been refitted for commercial purposes. I could see all of these running around the frontiers of 2684.

 

[Klavs81]

I really appreciate the support guys, this is a tough one!

Okay, I just went whole hog with the Heavy Gunboat/Gunstar thing. My thinking is that the Raptor was conceived as a system patrol craft and was converted and upgraded to a heavy fighter, at least, that's how my design philosophy has evolved.

Somewhere along the line, it mated with a B-1, and I just kind of went with it.

 

[Howard Day]

Well... I do really like it. I'm just not certain I like that the inside of the curved verticals is filled in. But, hell - I do like the way it looks from the rear (nbice arse) and it's just the cockpit and the wing fills that trow me. The nose and cockpit scream Gratha to me.
Keep up the awesome work!

 

[NinjaLA]

from the back now she is gorgeous.. from the front.... a bit too much like a C-130?

 

[gevatter Lars]

I like the cockpit and open wings from the first version a bit more but for anything else it looks very good.

 

[Klavs81]

Hmm. You guys may be right again. Did away with the B-1 Cockpit, and the wing inserts. I think it still looks like an intergalactic biplane, but I am starting to like it a bit more. Had some fun detailing the engines, too.

 

[NinjaLA]

soooo nice.

 

[gevatter Lars]

Now it looks like the big bad fighter-bomber thing I allways thought it would be.
Nicely done.

 

[Klavs81]

Thanks guys, I've been replaying WC1 and the Secret Missions, trying to milk every last detail, added some black stripes to the Hornet that I think link it completely to the original version.

Also added a twinge of Green to the Rapier, and added a bunch more dirt to the Scimitar. The Scims and Raptors are going to be pretty well used combat vets while the Rapiers and Hornets are going to have a newer appearance.

 

[Klavs81]

And one more shot of the Raptor to tide you guys over the weekend.

 

[gevatter Lars]

I realy like what I see.
The Hornet and Rapier look like they are a newer generation of fighters, more sleak and fast while the Scimitar and espacialy the Raptor are the old bulky ones.

 

[Evan]

I love your work. But is there a reason, why you modeled the Rapier more as an Rapier II? You might have said that, but I just can't find the posting.

 

[Death Angel]

I love your work. But is there a reason, why you modeled the Rapier more as an Rapier II? You might have said that, but I just can't find the posting.

That was also my first thought when I saw the big winglets.

IIRC the original Rapiers winglets are only going down.

 

[Sylvester]

Klavs mentioned that the Rapier needed to be suitable for atmospheric flight - the original design with the down winglets would not be very stable aerodynamically. We can also assume that the WC1 Rapier was the prototype and we don't know how long it was before transitioning to how the WC2 spaceframe looked.