Announcing The Alphabet Fighter Contest

[hansok49]

Front view

F-wing1 by Batman317, on Flickr

Where the F comes from

F-wing4 by Batman317, on Flickr

Droid socket and cockpit

F-Wing3 by Batman317, on Flickr

SWOOSH!

F-wing5 by Batman317, on Flickr

[omar_ovalle]

W-wing Starfighter (Black Phoenix) by kamitera, on Flickr

W-wing Starfighter (Black Phoenix) front view by kamitera, on Flickr

W-wing Starfighter (Black Phoenix) astromech droid by kamitera, on Flickr

W-wing Starfighter (Black Phoenix) Bottom view by kamitera, on Flickr

[1legodude96]

great ship, but you need to enter at least 2 more pics.
[quote=staff]
- Submit up to 4 pictures of your fighter. One of your photos must show your starfighter in the shape of the letter it is representing. One picture must show the droid socket. The other 2 can be of your choosing.

[1legodude96]

1legodude96's T-wing fighter
Here is the side view of my T-Wing


1legodudes96 T-wing fighter
The Pilot


1legodude96's T-wing fighter
the Droid Socket


1legodude96's T-wing fighter
and the T.

[Mr.Voltron]

Here is my entry, and my first contest at that!
Kuat Engineering Systems Hotel-Class Medium Assault Fighter: The H-Wing

Front Angle, Cruising Mode:

Front angle, Cruising Mode by Mr. Voltron, on Flickr

Rear Angle, Attack Mode:

Rear angle, Attack Mode by Mr. Voltron, on Flickr

Top View, the H shape

Top View by Mr. Voltron, on Flickr

Droid Socket

Droid Socket by Mr. Voltron, on Flickr

Thanks for looking!!

[madLEGOman]

I humbly present to you all: The E-wing Starfighter

LegoE-wingSanSeraph01 by madLEGOman, on Flickr

What a little piece of junk!

The E-wing San Seraph or "Without Angels" is my entry for The FBTB Alphabet Fighter Contest.

Classification: Correllian Medium Assault Starfighter

Although the E-wing starfighter program was long ago discontinued due to relatively high production costs, many of these sturdy fighters still linger on the outer rim, and are highly prized amongst smugglers, pirates and especially the Hutts.

This craft is well armed and armored, exceedingly fast. and surprisingly compact when the weapon foils are retracted, and more importantly, when equipped with a modern astromech droid, nearly idiot-proof to pilot and maintain.
LegoE-wingSanSeraph02 by madLEGOman, on Flickr

LegoE-wingSanSeraph03 by madLEGOman, on Flickr

LegoE-wingSanSeraph04 by madLEGOman, on Flickr

[Chief]

madlegoman, I just need to put it out there that your photography is gorgeous.

[madLEGOman]

Thanks Chief, I do a bit of contrast/brightness/level correction though. Nice to see there's a lot of great entries so far, with still a long ways to go before the deadline. Looks to be another great contest!

[dmetcalf]

madLEGOman - that is a beautiful piece of junk! It has the rugged detail and charm of the original trilogy ships.

On a more general note about the contest: many of the entries resemble the original M-Wing, and they absolutely look fantastic. However, and I apologize if this is sacrilegious, I never thought the M-Wing looked like a Lego Star Wars set. It's too smooth, too reliant on large pieces for it's shape, and pardon my language, looks more Star Trek than Star Wars. I think using actual SW ships and actual Lego sets for inspiration and guidance would give a more genuine SW look than modeling after a fan creation. It dilutes the SW design ethos. </2cents>

[Feralcom]

Imperial Q-Wing by FeralBrick, on FlickrImperial Multi-Role Heavy Fighter

Imperial Multi-Role Heavy Fighter
Code Name – Q-Wing

The Q-Wing was developed early after the birth of the Galactic Empire. It was to replace the already aging Y-Wing and ARC-170 to become the heavy accompaniment to the V-Wing.

Fully loaded, it carried over 3 times the amount of munitions than a Y-Wing and had twice the shielding. Its central modular design allowed for a dozen different munition configurations. The most common was a bomb module housing a spindle of enough heavy bombs to level a city. Standard weapons included quad-linked laser cannons and belly-mounted twin ion cannons.

Unfortunately, it was slow and its atmospheric flight was dismal. Imperial pilots have been heard commenting that it would be easier to fly a Ronto. Its production was cut short in preference to the new and more economical Tie-Series fighters.

Cockpit and R2 Socket

Q-Wing cockpit by FeralBrick, on Flickr

Back View

Q-Wing 3 by FeralBrick, on Flickr

Letter View

Q-Wing letter by FeralBrick, on Flickr

Set Link with more photos (including bomb bay and mechanism)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/51872192@N04/sets/72157627101239794/

Thanks for the contest and good luck to all contestants!

[mdilthey]

On a more general note about the contest: many of the entries resemble the original M-Wing, and they absolutely look fantastic. However, and I apologize if this is sacrilegious, I never thought the M-Wing looked like a Lego Star Wars set. It's too smooth, too reliant on large pieces for it's shape, and pardon my language, looks more Star Trek than Star Wars. I think using actual SW ships and actual Lego sets for inspiration and guidance would give a more genuine SW look than modeling after a fan creation. It dilutes the SW design ethos. </2cents>

I respectfully beg to differ, on two specific points:

Jon Palmer practically invented the Alphabet Fighter theme, I believe it was around 2004 when he started the project, and his creations set a benchmark for starfighters that wasn't surpassed for years. The M-wing, while not comparable to an X-wing set in the general sense, is such an icon to the specific genre of the alphabet fighter, to call it ingenuine is practically blasphemy. The M-wing IS the Alphabet Fighter Contest. Emulation, as I see it, is fine.

Secondly, these contests are an opportunity for creativity, and creativity is rewarded. I embrace the fact that some ships are smooth, rounded, dark grey, black, tan, boxy, and whatever else- it makes these contests interesting. Different rules apply with "You Design The Set" contests, but this is pure MOC.

And if you look back on Jon Palmer's alphabet fighters, they're as diverse as they come. Miss that guy...

[dmetcalf]

Excellent points, though I don't completely agree.

Referring to criticism of Palmer's M-Wing as "blasphemy" (though I take your comment with a grain of salt) is exactly what I was afraid of. My intention is to take nothing away from Palmer's ship, but to highlight the difference between using the actual SW design style as inspiration and using someone else's interpretation of that design style. Again, emulating someone else's interpretation of SW design dilutes the faithfulness to the actual design style. No level of popularity makes Palmer's M-Wing canonical.

As for this contest, I would argue that it's not pure MOC, as it's governed by rules, but, more importantly, it's theme in general is Star Wars, specifically a letter-wing-style fighter.

[Ironlaugh]

There should be a topic called : What is the "Star Wars" feel?

I'm currently building something for this contest but each time I see the submissions, it's like "this is a great build but definitely not Star Wars" and the fighter I'm building is unfortunately in this case. I have to think again and, as usual, do the maximum with my poor selection of blocks.

For me the "Star Wars" feel or design is something angular, with edges and neat shapes, especially for Imperial and Rebel ships. What the ships did look like when the movies went out, back in the mid-70's? I think Star Wars ships looked more "industrial" than the ships of Star Trek.

I didn't know the M-Wing from M. Palmer, it's a great fighter but for me, it doesn't belong to the Star Wars design.

Now I'm back on the drawing board!

(fuzzy ideas for this post, it's late here, and I'm not a english speaking person

[mdilthey]

George Lucas coined a design style for the sci fi industry- the "Used Space" feel. It was vastly different from the conceptual art-like ships from "2001- A Space Oddysey" and the silver speeders from the 40's and 50's comic-book era space science fiction.

The Used Space look is like a new standard- Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, and Titan A.E. have ships and scenes that are very heavily influenced by this.

So, I guess, if you're looking for a Star Wars feel, keep in mind the function over form feel of the movies. I would sharply reccomend NOT making Lego's™ interpretation of the ships a standard, as there are build styles and part uses that are more effective or more interesting.


Now, this is KEY:

For the purposes of FBTB Contests, a quick jaunt around the winner's circles of past installments shows, very solidly, that predictability or faithfulness to an interpreted "style" is hardly what voters look at. Number 1 is CREATIVITY! I say, go nuts- abandon all the chains of specifics and build something that is truly your own. Originality really is the best thing you can shoot for- nobody votes for an emulation of the X-wing color theme that is true-as-gold Star Wars, necessarily; they vote for their favorite. That's what's important.

[mdilthey]

Nobody knows whether this is a lowercase "L" wing or an uppercase "I" wing. The only references to the name were in technical blueprints, and the fonts between the two letters were identical...

Introducing: The I-wing!!


l-Wing by MDilthey, on Flickr
Front View, with the rotating blaster on the starboard side.


l-Wing by MDilthey, on Flickr
Rear View, showing engine, droid socket, and gangplank in the sealed position.


l-Wing by MDilthey, on Flickr
The fearless test pilot, R7-A7, and the empty droid socket.


l-Wing by MDilthey, on Flickr
Man, is that Phallic! The manliest letter in the roman alphabet, obviously.

Check out the Flickr set to see the opening gangplank!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mdilthey/s ... 992793549/

[Chief]

Nobody knows whether this is a lowercase "L" wing or an uppercase "I" wing. The only references to the name were in technical blueprints, and the fonts between the two letters were identical...

That's hilarious

[mdilthey]

Haha, Thanks Chief!

I knew as soon as I saw this contest that I wanted to do something funny. I thought originally about oddball letters like Z, Q, and lowercase F, but I couldn't think of anything I liked the look of in those letters.

For a long time, I was going to do a lowercase U, really boxy font-like, but I didn't want to struggle with the curve. "I" turned out to be a real winner.

I feel it's very personal and fun! Hope you guys dig it ;D Prizes aside, building this refrigerator was it's own reward.

[Feralcom]

I hear the Space Odyssey music when I look at the I fighter. You should make one in Black

I agree that the is some real fun to be had here. I originally wanted to make a F-Bomber, but rules didnt allow for what I had in mind. I still might make a DD fighter for the MOC section

[itchybreath]

v ETA iMiWkE FwTHEQl,

17 alphabet fighers and so many great models. With still so much month left, it seems we'll have another near 50 entries. Great job to all builders. =)

[cas]

Inspired by a few posts on page 2 of this thread, I decided to take up the challenge and throw something together. So, legoMADman, thanks.

Introducing the X-wing-X prototype:



How many Xs is the X-wing-X?

One?


Two?


Droid?


More pics at Flickr, including of the Most Interesting Pilot in the Galaxy, who might say, "Stay creative, my friends."

And remember, please build responsibly. Don't build and drive.