Trans-Atmospheric Tactical Multi-Role Lander

[AeroplaneDriver]

Boeing-BAE Systems TAL-18A Talon II Multi-Purpose Assault Lander

Propulsion
2 Westinghouse NI-218C-2 Nuclear Ion Drive Units-Space
2  Rolls-Royce MRB-688A Methane Turbines-Atmosperic
3  General Physics Corp GA31-1P2 Gravity Attenuators
   Triple redundant system, one required for lift in Mars gravity, all 3 required in Earth gravity.
2   McDonalds/Thiokol O4A Orbital docking thrust unit with 1 fixed nozzle and four rotating nozzles.

Shielding
2 BAE Systems "Vulcan" aerostatic generators for reentry shielding
2 Lockheed Electric electromagnetic shield generators, providing protection from laser and particle beam weapons up to 15 megawatts.

Weaponry
2 GE M99 50mm electromagnetic railguns mounted midwing, with 3,000 rounds of ammunition per gun.  Rate of fire up to 400 rounds per second

2 GE M114 30mm EM railguns, collocated with M99 guns.  4,000 rounds per gun carried, with 500 round per second maximum rate of fire

1 Teledyne 728 COIL laser cannon (18 megawatt), with reactant for op to 25 firings at full power

Fuselage hardpoints for up to to 8 tactical missiles.  Normal loading includes EADS "Striker III" or Raytheon TAM-9 "Saber" missiles with HE, Fusion, or Antimatter warheads.

Crew-Pilot, Flight Systems Officer, and Mission Officer minimum crew

Onboard accommodation for up to 20 combat troops

External couplings to carry one "Mongoose" class tactical vehicle, Mk 14 Research Module, or MedMod 4 emergency medical module

Performance

Atmospheric-Mars:  1,600 knots max
Atmospheric-Earth:  Maneuvering thrusters + gravity manipulators only-340 knots max

Exo-atmospheric:  .14c

Expendables for 45 days with nominal crew of 6.

[Bryan H.]

Spectacular!   B)   Great model, great back-story and great technical specs!

Bryan

[Sisko]

Totaly blows me away Awesome!!!!!!!!

     

[John Howling Mouse]

Man, would somebody PLEASE e-mail me when something this exciting (and SF yet!!!!) shows up here?

This is beautiful, rugged, original, believable, meaty, absolutely outstanding!

And I haven't even read the backstory yet, I've been rolling through the pics so fast.

Wow.

From one lifelong SF fan to another: this is better than 90% of the studio scale models I've seen in the past couple of years!

And you say this is your first dabbling at real cuttin' an' choppin' ?  You must be BSing us 'cause that's just way too good for anybody's first effort!

God, I sound like a spoiled brat but HURRY UP AND BUILD YOUR NEXT ONE TOO!!!

         

[retro_seventies]

i'm with the mouse....

this is just phenomenal - i'm so wound up about it that i'm about to lay an egg.

           

[lancer]

Again, I've got to  say that this is brilliant! And, with the back story as well one hell of a package. The back story was awsome. Is there going to be more of it???

[AeroplaneDriver]

Thanks for the comments guys!

I was hoping to take pictures throughout the build, but the camera was gone until I got the fuselage/inboard wing assembled.  I'll`post a few anyway to give an idea of how it went together.

The ship is mostly Monogram parts with the fueslage coming from a 1/48 A-10, the fuselage side bulges are a the conformal tanks from a 1/48 Strike Eagle, as is the wing, intake assembly under the aft fuselage, and upper rear fusealge with the airbrake.

The cockpit area is cut from a 1/72 Monogram SR-71, and the main engines are A-10 nacelles with some SR-72 parts.  The railguns are plastic Bic mechanical pencils.  I planned on putting missile launch rails under the fuselage at the join between the conformal tanks and A-10 fuselage.  These were made from the Sidewinder rails from the Strke Eagle with 3 1/144 Rockeye CBUs mounted inline on each.  The rails look cool by themselves, but just not quite right on the aircraft.  I have the D-21 drone trolley from the SR-71 kit and may at some point make a missile trolley to pose the missiles beside he ship prior to mounting.

Anyhoo, last couple of pics showing the early stages...

[AeroplaneDriver]

...

[Gary]

That is so amazing...

Ya know, you need to put this together in a graphic novel style with that sexy bird front and centre.

My hat is seriously off to you. Your imagination is inspireing.

[PolluxDeltaSeven]

Oh man...    

I don't know what to say, it's ... it's fabulous!!


It IS one of the better backstory I EVER read, and it IS the BEST Sci-Fi model I EVER see !!


   


Do you think a possibly model of Chinese Martian aircraft could come soon??