Topic: Fed Planetary Defense Craft Concept

[Vipre]

Anyone out there interested in a Fed PDC concept ship based on the F-19? Came up with two variations on the original plane, free for the taking and making.

I envision it as a three seater, pilot, co-pilot, and a flight-engineer or weapons officer or one person combo of both.

First is basically the plane with a new cabin/cockpit section. Obviously while it retains the overall lines and shape of the original the scale of the aft section is larger. the main hull is also thickened.



Second is the ship with aft portion inverted. The exhaust ports for the "impulse engines" are now on the bottom. (Essentially the plane with the wings inverted.) Same info as above on body thickening and scale apply.



Third and fourth the image these were made from and a pic of the plane to show coloring and give a sense of the overall style (Neck removed as it is replaced by crew compartment.)

Top, Side, Top, Bottom view



I;m partial to the second version as, by default, it allows the crew cabin to sit above the wing line.

[Starfox1701]

do the wings fold up when landing?

[Vipre]

By default it would appear they'd have to here and in fact I think that design in the line drawing halfway between the tail fin and wingtip actually is in reality a large hinge.

However the curve of the wings could be straightened enough to allow them to sit a foot or two off the ground or some other solution. In sfc it doesn't make a huge difference anyway as they never land, but good eye.

[Starfox1701]

Yea I was thinking that these kinda fighters quite often find there way onto aux carriers and such so this would be need to fit them into the shuttle bay

[Kreeargh]

No offence at all but it looks like a craft for stargate or front view looks like a cylon idea not really trek. Way to sleek and not boxy enough for feds ,my worthless comment

[Vipre]

No offence at all but it looks like a craft for stargate or front view looks like a cylon idea not really trek. Way to sleek and not boxy enough for feds ,my worthless comment

Don't disagree to a point. I wasn't thinking Starfleet standard issue but private supplier for local planetary defense forces. But it looks in my mind like a predecessor to Data's scout-ship in Insurrection. The top and bottom drawings get the shape right but the back view (not front) doesn't get the bulkiness of the hull right it's too much thin wing, not enough hull. I'd beef it up if I could.

Where I disagree is that it doesn't look trek, the crew cabin is intended to be vary close in shape to these with a bit more curve though and in truth you could weld the front half of either to the back half of the PDC and get the basic intended shape...



Or something akin to the bajoran raider



Here's a rough front view

[Vipre]

This is much closer to what I was trying to get at. I'm unable to show the way the wings taper down on the front view though as I'm still no artist.



A sleek, aerodynamic, runabout-esque type vessel without the amenities but with beefy impulse engines and enough torpedo storage space to ruin someone's day.

[TAnimaL]

I like it a lot, from the runabout description to the sleekness of it, and I see a Fed lineage at work.

My two cents tho? I get the F19 concept, but I was always so unimpressed by the SFB penchant for "all Fed fighters are the same as USAF fighters," and that space fighters are so areodynamic (Galileo shuttles sure ain't). What about flipping the wings, like a lifting body similar to the M2, HL10 or X24?

Or like the DreamChaser currently under construction?

[TAnimaL]

something like this. Just throwing it out there, I like your design as is too.

[Vipre]

Not a bad idea. This isn't supposed to be a Trek "F-19" fighter but a "PT boat" based on the general shape. Much larger than a fighter, you could call it a gunboat. I've been thinking of up-sizing it to a crew of 5 also...Helmsman/Pilot, Navigator/Co-pilot, Tactical/Weapons officer, Flight-engineer & CO.

The reason this is aerodynamic is that it's intended to function inside atmosphere as well as space where I would imagine the sleek winged shape would have it flying rings around any boxy runabout or shuttle relying solely on thrusters for maneuverability.

I'm not familiar with the mentioned designs but if their wings would work just as well for an atmospheric fighter as they would a space one then have at it as it fits right into the concept.

Here's an updated pic with both front view versions. The rear view hasn't much changed from pic 2 on the page which is why I stopped updating it.

[TAnimaL]

I like the up-swept wings version, but it begs the question, which wing configuration is more aerodynamic?

-Upswept wings better for renetry and heat-dispersion?
-Downswept better for maneuverability?

Just wonderin'.

[Vipre]

Wondering the same myself.

Have some rough dimensions while you ponder...

Length" 74.5 ft./ 22.7m
Height" 11.7 ft./ 3.6m
Width 18.5 ft. / 5.63m at "neck" 
Wingspan" 68.5 ft./ 20.8m
Cockpit/"Bridge" interior space: 18 x 14 x 7 ft./ 5.48 x 4.26 x 2.13m

[Tus-XC]

I would go with upswept. better stability and reentry profile in atmosphere.  in space, since there is minimal drag, you won't need to worry about aerodynamic forces at play - as such configurtion only matters in keeping the cog as close to the center of the ship as possible.