In the novel Starforgers, there are several starfighter designs. We’ll start by looking at the primary fighter used by the legendary Stellar Rangers. The hero of Starforgers is Ranger Devon Ardel. She resigns her Ranger badge and joins the Starforgers, a new division of the Federation Starforce. As a Starforger pilot, she gets to fly several new and improved fighters.
The Ranger pilots fly the Gull Scrambler starfighter. The Gull Scrambler is a single seat, gull winged fighter with light armor and weapons. Below is a color chart showing various markings that are used on Gull Scramblers. The middle drawing depicts a typical Ranger Scrambler.
Names change as a story evolves. What used to be called a Gull Scrambler is now called a Vickers Victory fighter as first envisioned by myself back in 1989.
Below is a model I built of the Vickers Victory fighter when I was stationed in Korea for my final year of service in the Air Force. It was built as a variation of the above drawing. Some of the elements are retained such as the vented wings and the stubby top fin. But the canopy and gun have changed. This is the fighter that Devon flies as a Starforgers pilot.
Below is the first detailed drawing of the A-22 Trogen Starfighter. This model became the primary weapon of the fledgling Alliance throughout the first few decades of the Great War.
Below is a painting I did of the Trogen in orbit of Selene. It started out in oil but I then finished it in acrylic and colored pencil. The copious wings were needed as many times battles occurred in planetary atmospheres. In deep space, it was not needed, but gave the fighters a very distinct look.
So what kind of starfighters did the enemy fly? Why the dreaded Eight-Wings, of course. Otherwise known as the KIV-3 starfighter. This design is one of the oldest in my collection. We started drawing Eight-wings and Trogens as kids in Junior High School. It’s been updated over the decades and recently built by myself as a cardboard model.
Most KIV-3 starfighters were green as above, but some elite units were all red in color as shown below.
This is the finished KIV-3 model I built a few months ago and blogged about here.
That’s a look at the starfighters in my current work in progress – Starforgers.