Help name my new plane?

[classicdrogn]

With my computer still down for the count, what do I do? Get my P&P on! These are scans of preliminary pencil sketches (hence the poor quality) for mm latest brainstorm, the Motodyne Type 26. However, I'm still lacking a common name for it - current ideas are on the larger image, with tpo contenders starred. Splinter wpould be an engrish pun on its speed, Kaross on deliberate adherence to NeoverseOmega's ode to the VF-4 and its "I have defeated a plane in personal combat and skinned it, now I wear it as a pelt" design aesthetic, and Kestrel just because it's a carnivorous bird that sounds cool. I'm open to other suggestions, but since the Skate I've tried to use S, K, SK, and/or or SH names in honor of The Master (Skate, Skorpion, Kite, Kyrie, some less successful designs.)

Transformation is not really anything like the canon variable devices, though there's a bit of VF-4 and VF-11 in the torso, and the secondary engines/wings fold over like the SW-XA II or VF-2SS. Exact arrangement of the upper arms/legs and hence underside is waiting on making a 3d model, but of the visible panels on the back, starting from the tail, the two on either side of the main engines/lower legs (and yes, all engines have a stealth trench - I've got a way to turn those into robot feet that should be awesome) are lower arm shield parts (and may be narrowed in the final version) while the jagged little panels forward of them are what the secondary engines hinge to and end up mostly vertical inside the back. The wide panel across the front is the main shoulder area and will be tipped forward at a low angle, with the cockpit mostly horizontal under it. The center part is the flat form of a transforming head. The two sort of triangular side pieces connecting to the nose are the VF-11 influenced part, and the nosecone folds down like the VF-4 to keep from being a huge uniboob ala VF-19. As with the Skate (the white/blue/gold 3d model I posted a link to in the gallery not long ago) the entire "snake head" cockpit/nose can detatch as an escape pod with limited thruster ability for orbital transfer or powered flight/independent atmospheric reentry as a lifting body, though it's dependent on attitude thrusters rather than canards for steering because I couldn't fit them into this transformation.

Those butterfly-vectored thrust verniers would probably be the death of any pretence to stealth in reality, but I reject that reality, this is MECHA! Rule of Cool prevails over mere pedestrian physics!

Anyway, pretties.

The three quarter view is nicer, but has some innacuracies in angle and proportion compared to the top-down version, thoguh that also some some bits already planned for change - like I said these are just preliminary sketches. The whole thing, while sleek, will be quite bulky through the body; it's a cross between an lifting body and blended wing design. I'm actually more concerned about what I'm going to do with all the volume than how to fit all the parts inside it for once

I should be able to fit the trademark Barrier Sword at least in for integrated carriage, maybe a gunpod or two as well, and a VF-27 style mega-gun can mount to one or both of the visible forearm panels, swinging around like the VF-171EX's when it transforms. Full Variable Armor is also in the works, of course.



Edit: Fixed halfassed 'shop to be at least 3/4 assed.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Star Ranger4]

I look at that shape and it screams Diamondback to me, CD
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Dartz]

It depends on the company that's making it.

If you want birds. , howabout a Hayabusa (Nakajima Hayabusa). It looks to me like a diving bird, so either Peregrine, or Hayabusa (same thing more or less)

Nakajima aircraft also produce the Tenrei, the Hayate and the Shoki

Or, perhaps the SkyKnight? (Actually Douglas, no really)

Other Cool sounding words. All but one are actual aircraft.

Flanker

Kulbit

Corsair

Crusader

Airacobra

Wyvern

Skylancer

I have a great big book of fighters that lists by name every single fighter aircraft ever flown prior to 1996. Prototypes. Once-offs. So long as it got off the ground it's in the book. I could literally rattle of an entire list of names for you if you'd like.

Also, that is a damned cool looking fighter, looking like a diving bird with its wings extended forward, ready to swoop in for the kill. There's a real sense of speed and momentum to it. Where can I buy one?
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[classicdrogn]

Hm, maybe... Pilots should love how survivable this thing is - you can blow all the arms and legs and head off, and still fly, fight, and even land normally in F, since the main gear are located in the secondary nacelles. If that fails, you can eject the nose pod (including out of the chest of B mode) and fly home in that, or if all else fails you still have the EXGear-style slave-controls powered armor if you eject to old fashioned way. That's three different ways to survive major damage to your airframe, after stealth, dodging and armor already failed.

As for where you buy one... well, first you travel to the Macross cluster of universes, then find the parallel where Macross Five colonists had to face animal-experiment style prototypes of the Evil series even after the Protodeviln were gone, so they kept some of those spiritia-combat-outfitted Varauta mecha and formed Varauta Hostile Animal Control with Motodyne as the aircraft company to support it, then you wait until late 2059 or 2060, and then you can liscence it to build with your fleet or colony's Three Stars, though if you want the integrated 2nd or 3rd generation fold drive you have to license them seperately from General Galaxy or L.A.I. ...
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Dartz]

Sounds more like a cockroach then.

Hard to find. Hard to kill. Hard to be sure you're rid of it.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Valles]

My suggestions would be Shrike - obvious - or Corby, which is archaic scots for a crow.
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"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[classicdrogn]

I think I'll retcon Corby in for the variable bomber, since I've been calling it the Raven in lack of an S/K sound name. Shrike was supposed to be on the list instead of Kite, since that was already used.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Rev Dark]

The Good Suggestion.
You could go with the ancient Latin Corvinus - which has a nice duality as it translates both as Raven or Military engine.
The Bad Suggestion
The Syph.  Hard to kill, fun initially, but can be a real pain later on. 

[classicdrogn]

I'm guessing Syph is some game reference I'm missing, but why would it become a pain eventually?

(Aside from the way I never shut up ever about transforming mecha, especially my own designs, but that's kind of meta for naming one)

Another vague jokey idea would be the Trout or Tuna/Two-na for the two seater as shown, as it's used for training the fresh fish...
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[robkelk]

Knowing how Shayne thinks, I'm pretty sure it's not a game reference. It's likely a particular medical reference...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[ECSNorway]

Hm.

Style reminds me of the VF-14 Vampire from Macross 7. (The one that got turned into the villain trooper mech.)

VF-23 Stormcrow?
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[classicdrogn]

Visually, it's got about as much reference to that as the VF-27 Lucifer, and by way of them both the SR-71. Could work.

Also, as well as fixing the 3/4 view above, I've done a Q&D scribble of some super parts, and a blockout of the underside after concluding that I'd need a fairing panel like the YF-21 to keep the arms from gribbling up the airflow and radar profile. These ones fold flat onto the sides of the les, though, rather than hanging off like hip wings.


--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Bluemage]

When I saw the top-down, the first thing to come to mind was a spearhead.
Did some searching, and it looks reasonably like the head of a partisan.

I think the resemblance (especially to the last one) speaks for itself.

---

My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.

I've been writing a bit.

[Black Aeronaut]

How about Hell Raven? Some folks might take that as a shout out to everyone's favorite yatagarasu, Utsuho 'Okuu' Reiuji.

[classicdrogn]

Suggested by 'mechaninac' on the Macrossworld forum, I think I'll go with Xiphos, a spartan shortsword, as long as Google doesn't turn up any too-prominent existing work or unfortunate slang using the word.

eta - Nevermind - it's already the name of a recent, poorly transformin Gundam. Disqualified!

This leaves Diamondback in the lead with a couple MW'ers seconding it. Got a paint scheme you'd like to see SR? No promises, but I'll make an attempt at cleaning up the 3/4 veiw and dreesing it up to suit...
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[classicdrogn]

A couple hours' investigation of pokeystick types lists Naue II, Katar, and Assegai, as well as Bluemage's Partizan and the gunderpium contaminated but still very cool sounding Xyphos (and I do already have a Discus and Plumbata among my favorite original nonMacrossy designs...) Birds, I still like Kingfisher or Kestrel, having strong K&S(h) sounds in honor of Kawamori Shoji as The Master.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[classicdrogn]

I've got a list of ten possibilities. For "round two," if people could pick favorites or even arrange the list by order of preference, that would be a big help to my indeciscive space hamster brain.

Weapons -

Khatar, Naue II, Partizan, Xyphos

Birds -

Kingfisher, Kestrel, Shrike

Misc -

Splinter, Diamondback, Mongoose
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows