Eitan Mark II Aerospace-Supremacy Fighter

[Lord Admiral AriklegoLord Admiral (MSI)]

The Eitan (III) "Steadfast" Mark II Aerospace-Supremacy Combat Fighter.



As the Navy's premier combat fighter, the Eitan, or "Steadfast", makes up the bulk of its air power. Nearly all Navy pilots have set foot in this fighter at some point in time, even including a large number of pilots tasked to bombers and other non-fighter craft. Few have had anything negative to say of the superb fighter.

IAI's Eitan is the third fighter, and the fifth aerial craft in all, to bear the famed "Eitan" name, and it certainly lives up to its name. Despite being only a little more than half the length of almost all other fighters, the Eitan matches them all almost flawlessly in terms of performance. It can reach a top speed of roughly 12,000 kilometers per hour, has superb acceleration/deceleration capabilities due to its small size, can turn on a dime, and has the fastest climb rate of any atmosphere-capable craft in Treaty use.

-Specifications-

-Manufacturer: IAI Corporate
-Model: Eitan "Steadfast" Aerospace-Supremacy Combat Fighter (Mk. II)
-Max Speed: 12,000 km/h (atmophere)
-Climb Rate: 1,400 km/s
-Range: 180,000 miles (atmosphere); 3.5 x 10⁹ miles (space); 4x range with internal fuel slug
-Length: 10.1 meters
-Wingspan: 10.3 meters
-Crew: 1 (pilot)
-Armament: G558 25mm Autocannon; 2 Wing hardpoints (heavy); 2 Wing hardpoints (medium); 4 Wing hardpoints (light)
-Armor: 18 cm (average) Rhenium-Magnate armor plating


Though the Mark I variant showed several initial design flaws almost immediately after it went out, IAI had them quickly fixed in the Mark II. And despite the Eitan's bad start, it quickly gained favor as an exceptional fighter for its compact size.



The subject of what would and wouldn't go into the Eitan's design was one of long debate. Originally IAI was considering the risk-filled possibility of finally devising a medium-range dogfighter with Rift drive capabilities, but the idea was quickly deemed too impractical. Instead, the Eitan's design was oriented around a solid carrier- and base-deployed craft with good range and effective take-off and landing abilities. The Eitan has full STO/VTOL capabilities, making it, while not a dedicated seaplane, an effective carrier-based fighter and likewise easy to keep at even the smallest surface-located airbases.
The Eitan also does equally well at both atmospheric and space flight. Featuring the first combination ion/turbine drive to be mounted on a fighter, the Eitan can function effectively in either environment, and due to this consumes very little fuel and still maintains surprisingly high speeds. In complement to full thrust vectoring and smaller guiding jets for space-based flight, the Eitan has a generic rudder system for the smoothest in-atmosphere maneuverability possible, as well as a pair of airfoil tailfins to increase turning capability.
Instead of standard fuel pod-mounting methods, IAI went with an unconventional wingtip-mounted fuel pod design. This was designed to keep the pilot and as much of the vessel safe as possible in the event of a fuel explosion, despite increasing the vulnerability of the fuel pods. To help keep the pods themselves from detonating too easily, they're surrounded entirely in armor, and with self-sealing foam lining the interior of the pods.
However, for when additional range and thus increased fuel supply is needed, a fuel slug with effectively triple the combined fuel of the other two pods is mounted in the Eitan's interior bay. The pod is surrounded almost entirely by the heaviest armor on the fighter to keep it well protected, as the detonation of the fuel would easily destroy the entire fighter in an instant.



However, the Eitan, for all its excellent performance, is not without flaws and drawbacks. Despite its landing and take-off capabilities, IAI's attempts at fitting their new fighter with a functioning Rift drive or with folding wings both failed, and thus, despite being only half the length of standard fighter craft, still failed to meet full expectations in terms of transportation effectiveness and mission range.
Next, its compact size has wreaked havoc on the Eitan's offensive capabilities. The craft is poorly armed, for all its amazing feats of speed and maneuverability. For standard armament, it mounts only a single light 25mm autocannon, which, despite the reasonably-sized caliber, has a slow rate of fire and is relatively ineffective in dogfighting against well-armored combatants. While the Eitan can mount a pair of much more powerful cannons on its two heavy wing hardmounts, this is typically undesirable as it greatly hinders atmospheric aerodynamics and also takes up the sole hardpoint for heavier explosive munitions such as anti-ship torpedoes or high-yield gravity bombs. Thankfully the Eitan can still mount a reasonable armament of anti-fighter missiles.
Lastly, also due to its size, the Eitan has a very compact cockpit. While the Navy and IAI realized it was virtually inevitable, it came as a great disappointment when the Eitan was limited solely to Durin use. Fortunately, this is only a minor drawback, as Durin, with their superior reflexes and reaction times as a species as well as mechanical know-how, generally make far superior pilots. Whatever the case, the use of the Eitan is restricted to use only by Durin Skvadrons, and no human pilot has ever flown one except in IAI's original remote-link testing simulations. IAI is still looking into a possible human-compatible variant for use by Arnhem as well as non-Treaty-aligned worlds.

Eitan Skvadron combat exercise (Warning: Big!):

Creator's Notes: This is the new Eitan, if you didn't catch that. Ironically, after I had gone through a dozen or so different possible ideas on appearance and such, this actually came together pretty easily. Anyway, this is Arnhem's new jet/starfighter/whatever. It's hard to say exactly which it is, since it's... both, essentially. It has a basic jet intake/turbine for basic use in atmosphere, and then a fancy real world-style ion drive system which is designed to propel both atmospheric intake and, when in space, the usual ion fuel.
Ironically, most of the fighter's "in-character" specs are, in fact, in place because of my LDD progressions. The fighter is, by the "1 foot = 1 stud" measurement system, almost exactly half the length of the average real-world jet fighter, hitting a bare few inches above 10 meters long.
Unfortunately, the gun problem is a very real one. Eight feet of length to cram in a decent weapon isn't much space, and suffice to say it's not a very powerful one. I went for round size instead of fire rate so it'd at least have the stopping power to puncture its target if it actually hit (as opposed to making a bunch of small scratches), but 25 mm Ferrum-Wolfram rounds are still only barely enough to punch through the powerful space-age armor and shields I'll have to deal with. Thankfully it makes up for its relative inability to do damage with the speed, maneuverability, and small target profile necessary to not take any hits of its own.
Cockpit size did in fact turn out to be a genuine problem. Not at all surprising for a Lego model, but a problem nonetheless, especially compared to my past builds. Given, I intended to make the Eitan exclusive to Durin usage since the very beginning, but I also intended it to be big enough to be a two-seater craft, which would easily have been convert-able to a human-piloted fighter. Regardless, I suspect this is going to make some people (coughcoughARCandMADcough) somewhat disappointed when the huge bulk of their pilots won't fit in the MSI's first PCG forum fighter.
I DID fit a minifig pilot in, but he's been shoved in so tight his forehead's squashed up against the viewport, and he doesn't even have a helmet on. That, and all the cockpit details are out of proportion. This doesn't mean I won't likely attempt to make a human-compatible mark of the Eitan in the future, but for the present... Yeah, not gonna work.


Well, here's a link to the LXF file.

:

It's probably saying something when it takes the SW gallery Mods only a tiny fraction of the time to moderate and accept my model than it does for me to post this here on the PCG forum. Namely, that I'm slow with descriptions.
(...The image you see on the SW gallery model wasn't even made yet by the time I had finished typing out half my post here)

Anyway, enjoy! Play Well!

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

Cool. I'm so speechless, I can only say "cool."

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

First of all, wow! Let me say that this is is a GORGEOUS fighter! The detailing is fantastic! Your piece usage is SO creative... the Mindstorm engines are SERIOUSLY COOL!!!!

The whole engine structure is simply AMAZING! From intake to super-cruise aft... I'm VERY impressed... not that it's like I ever see an original Ariklego that doesn't impress... a lot.. but this is quite pleasing! I LOVE those engines!

My ONE gripe is the fore of the craft. Small cockpit though it has, I am more concerned with the thickness of the front from top to bottom, maybe a longer "nose/tip" would help, maybe thinning the entire bottom of the craft, I do not know.

Other than that, the entire thing looks stunning! The wing shape and detailing, the top fins, the main body... and ESPECIALLY those engines!!! If I could fit in it (and the scary thing is I actually might were it too scale ) then this thing looks like it would be a BLAST to fly!!!! Although it's light armament is concerning... it's incredible speed and maneuverability make it a fighter that makes every shot count.

[TalmidCommander (PCG)]

Since when did you join the MSI, Admiral Ariklego? :PI really am out of the loop these days.

Ditto to ARC2197, I am speechless too, especially at the combat picture.  Awe and then some more awe.  Truly awesome!  The cockpit looks a bit bulky, but that's Lego for ya.  AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

I would be interesting to the Eitan go up in a joint exercise against the Federation Star Phoenix, if the Imperium is willing to grant it.

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

While we're doing fighters... I have an unreleased oldie that I'm gonna dust off and upload...  

[Lord Admiral AriklegoLord Admiral (MSI)]

Thanks everyone!

Dino: Yeah, the cockpit's a bit taller than it ought to be. I'll see what I can do to streamline it in the next mark.

Talmid: Well, I decided to scrap my old "NAF" group, tried to start a new one, but sorta got overruled. Then MAD came along and I changed my mind and joined up with him, instead forming sort of a "sub-group" since it fits so well with the MSI's nature.
And I'd have to talk to MAD, but a combat exercise doesn't sound half bad.

[TalmidCommander (PCG)]

Last I checked, the Federation and the MSI were still on rather rocky terrain when it came to each other, but if it helps at all, oh yeah!

[KojanHigh Admiral (CIR)]

I think I've absolutely fallen in love with this fighter. The complex stats and the designer notes really show that you've put a lot of thought into this, and that amount of thought has certainly paid off. Very, very well done!

[ForgeRecruit (No Affiliation)]

As for it's nose, I rather like it, it kind of reminds me of a F-86 Sabre, if you will. On first glance it reminded me of the Daybreak fighter...made by.....scare I think. But yes, other than it's armnament, this is an excellent fighter! Stats, design details, weaknesses, it all is beautiful.

AND I LOATH YOU, I WISH I COULD PHOTOSHOP LIKE THAT!!!

[Lord Admiral AriklegoLord Admiral (MSI)]

Ant: Most of my aesthetics inspiration came from the much more modern F-22, F-35, and the potentially up-and-coming "F/A-XX", and I also drew a lot from a pair of fighter designs built by another Lego builder I know of. Though actually a lot of the concept of it I took from the Supermarine Spitfire.

About the screenshots, they're actually not too complicated. The thruster exhaust was done with the brush tool (I used to use gradients, but the brush tool seems to work better), with hardness at 0%. First you brush the "outer" color on, in this case a light blue, then do the same thing with white. Then, if you want it to be sort of "dragged out" (like in the second picture), just use the smudge tool a bit.
For the wind trails in the second and third pics, just make a thick white line (I tried a whole bunch with ordinary white lines in these pictures for the first time) and blur it appropriately (up in the "filter" menu). Box blur seems to work best.
In the fourth picture, for the glowy green HUD-ish stuff as well as for the bullet shot effects, all I did was make white shapes and lines and add "outer glow" effects to the layers in the appropriate colors.
There's more stuff I did in these pictures (Ironically, most of it's in the third pic, despite it probably being the pic that needs some cleaning up), but I'm wondering myself if it's even worthwhile, so I won't mention it.

[ForgeRecruit (No Affiliation)]

I more of meant your talent at making them just look several cuts above the rest, and yeah, I also thought your engine glow was amazing! I usualy use the "supernova" effect on GIMP and give it a gaussian blur, and someitmes I give it a motion blur after that to make it look stretched.

[JohnnyredCaptain (PCG)]

So, my jaw is on the floor in a puddle of saliva. These are so stinking awesome! Probably the best fighter that has been uploaded to anything PCG related! Excellent work!

[Lord Commandant JaceLord Commandant (MSI)]

So, my jaw is on the floor in a puddle of saliva.  These are so stinking awesome!  Probably the best fighter that has been uploaded to anything PCG related!  Excellent work!

Not only that, but he's even got landing gear!

[TalmidCommander (PCG)]

So, my jaw is on the floor in a puddle of saliva.  These are so stinking awesome!  Probably the best fighter that has been uploaded to anything PCG related!  Excellent work!

Not only that, but he's even got landing gear!

Hideaway landing gear!   I WANT!

[Dino27Captain (PCG)]

Mine has landing gear... sort of... okay... his blows mine away..

[Andre TholvelCEO]

A VERY nice fighter, most impressive. My only was the same as Dino's, which he already pointed out.

Fantastic GIMP work there, too!

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