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Old 02-21-2011, 05:08 PM
dlazarus6660's Avatar
dlazarus6660 dlazarus6660 is offline
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Default Buck Rogers Thunderfighter Starfighter build

I came across the Centuri Buck Rogers Starfighter build thread this past W/E and I decided it was U-G-L-Y. So I did a little research for a paper Thunderfighter and found a fantastic model on a German site. I enlarged it a little(150%) and started building it. I plan to borrow as much as I can and use this paper model to make a flying model rocket. Depending on the size and weight, it will be either a LPR or MPR twin motors.

Germanpaper model site.

http://www.paperaviation.de/

Matt Gillard did a great job of cloning the Thunderfighter in EMRR

(http://www.rocketreviews.com/reviews..._fighter.shtml)

Based on his work and the German paper model I found, I intend to build the ultimate Thunderfighter Starfighter.
The Thunderrfighter was suppose to be the original Viper for the
TOS Battlestar Galactica.
See it here in the PaperModelers thread.

http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/...er-fighter.html

I like the MKII version and I'll incorporate the modifications for stability.
Please feel free to give any input toward this build.
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Last edited by dlazarus6660 : 02-21-2011 at 05:46 PM.
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Old 02-21-2011, 06:46 PM
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This fighter was used at least once that I know of in the Buck Rogers TV series-- in the episode "Happy Birthday, Buck" where it appeared as Cornell Traeger's starfighter prototype that he was captured in by an alien race 20 years before... apparently it was a 'prototype' for the Earth Forces Starfighter commonly seen in the show...

Doesn't surprise me that Glen Larson would have recycled some previous filming models that didn't get used on BSG for Buck Rogers... both shows suffered from insufficient effects budgets, so reusing old designs and models just made good sense (and which is why there were SO many "stock shots" used in both series, especially in space battles).

Later! OL JR
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Old 02-21-2011, 08:13 PM
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I happened to get an Estes '93 catalog a couple of weeks back, and saw that it offered what looks like the Centuri BR Starfighter done up in black instead of white, and renamed "Black Hawk" as part of the Explorer series (kit #2053), page 34.

Was that Estes re-issuing the Centuri kit?
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Old 02-21-2011, 09:13 PM
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Default I think so

I think so. I still think it looks ugly. Thats why I'm designing my own version.
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Old 02-21-2011, 10:02 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AcroRay
I happened to get an Estes '93 catalog a couple of weeks back, and saw that it offered what looks like the Centuri BR Starfighter done up in black instead of white, and renamed "Black Hawk" as part of the Explorer series (kit #2053), page 34.

Was that Estes re-issuing the Centuri kit?


While the Black Hawk appears inspired by the Starfighter, it was a different kit and not a re-release. The Starfighter was based on Centuri parts (ST-8 body tubes) while the Black Hawk was based on Estes parts (BT-50 body tubes). Similar, but not the same.

The very same year that the Black Hawk was released (1991), Estes also released the Solar Probe (#2051). Like the Black Hawk, it too drew its inspiration from an older Centuri kit (the Photon Probe, KD-16), and was also kitted with Estes parts.
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Old 02-22-2011, 04:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AcroRay
I happened to get an Estes '93 catalog a couple of weeks back, and saw that it offered what looks like the Centuri BR Starfighter done up in black instead of white, and renamed "Black Hawk" as part of the Explorer series (kit #2053), page 34.

Was that Estes re-issuing the Centuri kit?


Yep... probably the license expired from the studio, so they merely re-decorated the kit and released it under another name...

Later! OL JR

Don't see what's so ugly about it myself... but that's the nature of aesthetics...
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Old 02-22-2011, 05:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Brohm
While the Black Hawk appears inspired by the Starfighter, it was a different kit and not a re-release. The Starfighter was based on Centuri parts (ST-8 body tubes) while the Black Hawk was based on Estes parts (BT-50 body tubes). Similar, but not the same.

The very same year that the Black Hawk was released (1991), Estes also released the Solar Probe (#2051). Like the Black Hawk, it too drew its inspiration from an older Centuri kit (the Photon Probe, KD-16), and was also kitted with Estes parts.


Ok, that would make sense... Estes got the rights to all the Centuri designs I presume when they 'merged' (or Estes bought out Centuri but took their name or whatever back in the day) but Estes stuck with their own tube sizes, (except for the BT-56 I guess, which was originally a Centuri tube size IIRC) and so it'd make sense that they 're-engineer' any of the old Centuri designs they decided to reissue by using their own common Estes sized tubes...

Course licensing issues and all that probably still prevented them from making the kit along the lines of the Buck Rogers Earth Forces Starfighter... ya know, royalties and all that... LOL

Paint it black and call it something else, and come up with new decals and you're in the clear... LOL Later! OL JR
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Old 02-22-2011, 05:05 PM
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Found the 'original' version, or at least the BSG version of this design. It's the Naga class Viper , according to that BSG Starblazers list from the "Different BSG Starhound" thread.

That's an interesting list, dlazarus6660. Doesn't seem to have the Starhound variant mentioned in the eBay link, though.
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Old 02-23-2011, 12:09 AM
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I wonder about the stability of this design in a flying rocket though... with those big forward canards it's gonna take a TON of noseweight!

The original Centuri "Earth Forces Starfighter" model had a pair of fiberboard fins added onto the engine nacelles in the back... these fins were vertically straight up, 90 degrees to the delta 'winglets' on either side of the twin boom/pods of the vehicle, and opposite the ~45 degree lower 'elevons' on the bottom of the ship... I guess they figured the stability would be 'iffy' with the 'elevons' alone, since there were NO fins sticking out of the top of the original film models... and those lower elevons might not be particularly effective in controlling yaw, especially if the rocket pitched "nose down" and reduced the 'clean air' going over those fin surfaces in flight... so they added the extra pair of 'rudders' to the nacelles to improve yaw stability.

Good luck! OL JR
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Old 02-24-2011, 05:25 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by luke strawwalker
I wonder about the stability of this design in a flying rocket though... with those big forward canards it's gonna take a TON of noseweight!


Thats what Matt said to me.
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