Ambaryerno
Jr Member
Hey all. Still working on the X-Wing for Star Citizen, but I've been taking a break lately to work on my all-time favorite Star Wars ship; the E-Wing:
This model was designed mixing a number of sources. My three primary ones were the original Dark Empire artwork, the ortho sketch from the original Essential Guides, and there's a few touches inspired by the Fate of the Galaxy model. The approach I'm taking is to bring the E-wing into the "new" canon established with the relegation of the original EU to "Legends." One thing it lets me do is fix some of the problems with the old official specs (there is NOWHERE to fit an astromech droid in there). In my new lore, the T-90 E-wing is a new design intended to provide a less complex and easier to manufacture alternative to the T-70 X-wing, by eliminating the S-foil mechanism and complex split engine arrangement. It's also designed to cram as much firepower as possible into the smallest, lightest hull that can contain it. This results in the unusual arrangement of a third cannon located dorsally over the cockpit (necessitating an unconventional mounting for the cannon body). The ordinance magazine loads a total of sixteen proton torpedoes (and they actually fit). Because of the elimination of the heavy S-foil mechanism, the E-wing is lighter than the T-70, resulting in increased speed and maneuverability.
The cannon are modeled off the T-70's guns, while a number of cues are borrowed from the T-65; IE the cooling system amidships, the design of the deflector shield projectors on the wings, and some of the engine cowling details.
Looking at her from slightly below. The edges of the landing gear doors, torpedo bay access hatch, boarding handhold, and boarding ladder hatch are all beveled to make them stand out more, though they're not particularly visible here. The engine cowling detail is based on the Red Five upper engine cans. And I don't know why, but I've always loved how the E-wing looks from this angle.
And a look from behind. The landing gear and torpedo doors are a bit more visible from this angle. There's almost no official references I've ever been able to find of what the E-wing's aft bulkhead is supposed to look like, so I used a modification of the T-65 X-wing's. One thing of note, and one of my "fixes," is the addition of a third engine in the fuselage. This addresses a MAJOR problem with the design, in that the E-wing's engines are BELOW the center of mass, which would cause severe stability problems. I gave her a mid-wing design to help alleviate that, but I couldn't raise the engines enough to eliminate it entirely. So instead, I added a third engine in the fuselage that was angled down. This will counteract the torque of the wing engines trying to push the nose up. There's SOME evidence in comic art (both in Dark Empire and Crimson Empire) that the E-wing was supposed to have a third engine. Since it addresses the problem I ran with it.
The landing gear and landing gear bays have also been modeled. The torpedo racks have as well, although I'm not finished with the detailing in there yet.
The main area I've been working on is the cockpit, however I'm kind of stumped. As this is designed to be a contemporary of the T-70 I'd love to use its cockpit as a basis, the idea being to make it easier to transition pilots from one ship to the other. However so far I haven't had much luck Googling good references of the T-70s cockpit interior and instrument cluster.
Has anyone been able to dig up any information on this yet? Any pics or screens anyone can provide would be awesome.
This model was designed mixing a number of sources. My three primary ones were the original Dark Empire artwork, the ortho sketch from the original Essential Guides, and there's a few touches inspired by the Fate of the Galaxy model. The approach I'm taking is to bring the E-wing into the "new" canon established with the relegation of the original EU to "Legends." One thing it lets me do is fix some of the problems with the old official specs (there is NOWHERE to fit an astromech droid in there). In my new lore, the T-90 E-wing is a new design intended to provide a less complex and easier to manufacture alternative to the T-70 X-wing, by eliminating the S-foil mechanism and complex split engine arrangement. It's also designed to cram as much firepower as possible into the smallest, lightest hull that can contain it. This results in the unusual arrangement of a third cannon located dorsally over the cockpit (necessitating an unconventional mounting for the cannon body). The ordinance magazine loads a total of sixteen proton torpedoes (and they actually fit). Because of the elimination of the heavy S-foil mechanism, the E-wing is lighter than the T-70, resulting in increased speed and maneuverability.
The cannon are modeled off the T-70's guns, while a number of cues are borrowed from the T-65; IE the cooling system amidships, the design of the deflector shield projectors on the wings, and some of the engine cowling details.
Looking at her from slightly below. The edges of the landing gear doors, torpedo bay access hatch, boarding handhold, and boarding ladder hatch are all beveled to make them stand out more, though they're not particularly visible here. The engine cowling detail is based on the Red Five upper engine cans. And I don't know why, but I've always loved how the E-wing looks from this angle.
And a look from behind. The landing gear and torpedo doors are a bit more visible from this angle. There's almost no official references I've ever been able to find of what the E-wing's aft bulkhead is supposed to look like, so I used a modification of the T-65 X-wing's. One thing of note, and one of my "fixes," is the addition of a third engine in the fuselage. This addresses a MAJOR problem with the design, in that the E-wing's engines are BELOW the center of mass, which would cause severe stability problems. I gave her a mid-wing design to help alleviate that, but I couldn't raise the engines enough to eliminate it entirely. So instead, I added a third engine in the fuselage that was angled down. This will counteract the torque of the wing engines trying to push the nose up. There's SOME evidence in comic art (both in Dark Empire and Crimson Empire) that the E-wing was supposed to have a third engine. Since it addresses the problem I ran with it.
The landing gear and landing gear bays have also been modeled. The torpedo racks have as well, although I'm not finished with the detailing in there yet.
The main area I've been working on is the cockpit, however I'm kind of stumped. As this is designed to be a contemporary of the T-70 I'd love to use its cockpit as a basis, the idea being to make it easier to transition pilots from one ship to the other. However so far I haven't had much luck Googling good references of the T-70s cockpit interior and instrument cluster.
Has anyone been able to dig up any information on this yet? Any pics or screens anyone can provide would be awesome.