Vega Battle Fleets Take To The Skies

Here's some fun shots of Mike Peters' WC Vega film project with a photoshopped starry background. The results are surprisingly good considering these were made out of simple household materials in his high school film class. This is the progress he'd made with ship designs through this past summer, but we're hoping the project resumes this fall with his new students. You can find more photos that document the ship construction as well as preliminary story chapters at the project website here.

It is a bright time for the Confederation in the Vega Sector. Since the Terran Navy routed the vicious Kilrathi from these systems, there has been no sign of the Cats – until now.

Lulled into a sense of complacency, the Confed has stationed only one strike carrier to defend the sector – T.C.S. Tiger’s Claw. When the Kilrathi embark on a crusade to secure a religious relic at the heart of the Vega Sector, the pilots and crew of the Claw find themselves outnumbered and outgunned...

And things are going to get worse before they get better.

WC Vega Flight Roster Doubles Almost Over Night

It's been another hyper productive week for Mike Peters and his students working on the WC Vega film project! They finished a whopping three new fighter designs in the last few days, including the Hornet, Raptor and Jalthi. All three benefit from the expertise they've built putting together previous models, and the result is surprisingly accurate given the simple construction materials. They've even recreated the iconic landing sequence lining up with the Tiger's Claw! As great as that scene is, there's also something pretty rewarding about the final picture below where the Raptor zeroes in for the kill. Check out tons more pictures and stories about making putting these together here. It's summer break now, so updates could slow for a bit, but we're anxious for them to get back into it in the fall!

Next up, Jalthi. What? Whaddaya mean, “Out of plaster?” The Jalthi’s not done, but I’m in a hurry to get things cleaned up for summer.

I built a Hornet while I was waiting for the Jalthi paint to dry. It’s an experiment with glitter paint. The glitter paint cost 200X the cost of the fighter. That is to say, the fighter cost 1c to build, and the glitter paint cost $2.00.

The Raptor is my favorite – hands down, no contest. It wasn’t my favorite until I put the wings on. Then, I saw it. It LOOKS Sci-Fi – like the next generation of something Tom Corbett or Buck Rogers would fly. If you’ve ever played SolarQuest, you know. (If you haven’t played SolarQuest, then you don’t know your moons of Saturn.)

Nimble KF-227 Harasses Vega Supply Lines

Salthis! I made them a little small to improve the weight (mass) to thrust ratio, theoretically. Almost ready for a low-res, stop motion scene.

WC Vega Sets Up Classic Dogfight

Two iconic wings of fighters have been added to the WC Vega flight roster. Two foam-and-cardboard Scimitars were completed first, but they've been the most challenging design to build so far. A pair of Dralthis came together a bit more easily, and their presence allows Mike Peters and his students to set up some slick space combat action in their upcoming fan film project. All of the lightweight ships have been suspended on wires to set up a variety of dramatic angles - the test shots below look pretty promising on this front. Check out many more making-of photos and progress on the story at their website here.

Scimitars. Are. Hard. I think I have discovered why we’re outnumbered out there. A Scimitar is a technological marvel, a balancing act.

The idea was to create two chassis, and then make the wing assembly detachable. There are over a dozen different paint schemes on the Scimitars, and having a different wing-set for each pilot would make it easy to pick out your favorite pilot in a picture of many. It didn’t go so well.

The problem boils down to materials. Cardboard is too flimsy to use as wings. Chassis foam is too brittle. Eventually, I broke down and used pastry foam, which worked, but the plaster came off, and the paint ate it, so it looks terrible. I will find something, even if I have to use balsa.

Dralthi are the best. Dralthi I/II’s are the Wing Commander Franchise Player. Easily recognized. Distinctive. Attractive. My Dralthi have cats’ ears because cats’ ears are cute, and cute sells. I might be getting better at this.

New 'Sport Inbound to Vega

We don’t make Drayman because they are easy … yes, we do! What’s fun about the Drayman ‘Sport: In a game where cats are the enemy, isn’t it fun that our transports look like mice! I wonder if that was intentional.

This fellow is the transport Edmund Fitzgerald (it’s Motown week) sent to Venice to rescue some stranded pilots in episodes 2 and 3. The night before the mission, someone-Ratbert-painted a mouse nose and whiskers on the bow. The captain was not amused. I wanted to see what a Drayman Trojan Mouse would look like.

WC Film Project Energizes Next Generation of Gamers

Mike Peters is a high school teacher and a huge Wing Commander fan. For an exciting summer project, he's working with his students to put together a fun film series. They've already started on the story, which will center on Colonel Halcyon and Commodore/Admiral Tolwyn prior to the events of WC1. A model Tiger's Claw has also come together very quickly in the past week or so. Based on how fast it was assembled, they should be able to build the rest of their planned fleet in no time! We're looking forward to seeing what they come up with next. You can follow the development of their project, Wing Commander Vega, at their new blog here.

I need to make another one. She looks pretty beat up. Maybe this will be the Claw from the third season, after it’s been around the Kilrathi block a few times. Just from the things I learned from the problems I had making this one, I can make another that looks 100 times better. For example, spray paint eats through foam like xenomorph blood eats through a starship bulkhead? I nearly lost the entire flight deck. (That’s why there’s paper over it in the above pics.) After a plaster reconstruction, she was ready to receive flights again.

You get the idea, but with a gal this pretty, it’s hard to stop taking pictures. (Said in an Old-Timey Sea Dog accent!)

My film degree is 15 years old, from the days when 3D rendering was a distant dream-right up there with flying cars. When I was little, my wish-job was to work for Hasbro and write for G.I.Joe. That didn’t happen, but building this Tiger’s Claw has made me realize how much fun making my own toys IS! It is fun, but a lot of waiting. Wait for the plaster to dry. Wait for the paint to dry. Anyway, here are some stills of the Tiger’s Claw at the shipyards.