posted
The expanded field of fire seems to be listed as a primary reason for the S-foil on the X-Wing and B-Wing. However, the Episode III cross-sections book lists heat dissipation as the primary purpose for the ARC-170, V-Wing, and Eta-2 Jedi starfighter S-foils. None of these ships increase their field of fire by opening their S-foils.
-------------------- "Having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."
Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged
posted
X-Wings, B-Wings, Klingon BoPs, it's all just done for style and if the various in-universe explanations seam contrived, it's because they are.
I'm sure if you thought hard enough you could come up with a dozen or so vaguely plausible explanations from increased manoeuvrability by altering the relative position of the RCS quads to increased weapons accuracy by widening the distance between the emitters and/or targeting sensors. Thing is because none of these ships were designed with anything but style in mind, no straight scientific explanation will ever ring totally true.
posted
Well if we're on the subject of spacecraft with wings, anyone remember the Lost in Space 'Bubble' Fighters? Not only was thing one big wing, the cockpit was pretty much a gyroscope. Explain that Einstein.
Registered: Feb 2005
| IP: Logged
posted
Fellow modeler Alfred Wong made a fantastic kit of those bubble fighters.
The movable "wing" might help with targeting but the glass bubble is a terrible design. At least you can see out of it, unlike the TIE fighter.
The LIS movie did indeed have cool production designs- I occasionally watch it just to marvel at how good it looks when compared to the original, god awful, 1960's television show. I still cant wrap my mind around what the earth ship Proteus was supposed to look like before the spider tingies got ahold of it.
Zefram, all the examples listed in the cross-sections book are old designs by Star Wars- maybe they fixed their heat problems- they sure managed to make hyperdrives smaller (judging by the ISD not having that giant hyperdrive sticking out the back like the Republic version and fighters not needing those rings).
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
| IP: Logged
posted
I think they made a pilot a few years back, though it obviously never got picked up. In fact, if I recall the left-over sets from that production were the basis for the Pegasus sets used on Galactica. I wonder if that pilot ever saw the light of day, these things do occasionally leak out on the net.
quote:Originally posted by Jason Abbadon: Zefram, all the examples listed in the cross-sections book are old designs by Star Wars- maybe they fixed their heat problems- they sure managed to make hyperdrives smaller (judging by the ISD not having that giant hyperdrive sticking out the back like the Republic version and fighters not needing those rings).
One of my biggest complaints about Star Wars is the pace of technological development. Each starship or starfighter class is supposedly an improvement on the last design. But how much technological advancement could you expect over a twenty year time span in a culture that has had faster-than-light space travel for thousands of years? You would think that technology would tend to plateau with the occasional quantum leap every few generations.
As in-universe explanations go, the use of S-foils or large BOP-like wings for heat dissipation is actually a pretty good one. The only way to increase radiative heat transfer from an object in a vacuum is to either increase its temperature or to increase its surface area.
-------------------- "Having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."
Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged
posted
Heat dissipation makes sense except in the case of the Klingon BoP. Well, I take that back, the heat dissipation feature still makes sense, it just doesn't make sense why the wings move. What matters if the wings are up or down?
Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
posted
Well, the wings need to go up to land. But on the model there is a lot of hull that moves in order to accomplish this.
It may be that the wings in their up position cover the area of the hull involved in heat disspersal.
The wings are there at all to give the guns a good wide angle. And the wings look cool and scary too(which seems to be an important part of Klingon designs).
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged
posted
Surely the heat dissipation on a KBop happens in that red and yellow glowing thing on the tail, not the wings.
I think we had a thread on this a few years back and IIRC we found that TNG aside, the BoP has consistently been shown to drop the wings to attack, raise to two slightly different mid positions to cruise and of course all the way up to land. So whatever difference the wings make, their positions are most likely determined by a balancing act between tactical and navigational advantage. So targeting accuracy and RCS redistribution seams to be the most logical variables, given the data.
quote:Originally posted by Reverend: Surely the heat dissipation on a KBop happens in that red and yellow glowing thing on the tail, not the wings.
I've always thought that was the case.
the only solidly explained reason is the up for landing position. Perhaps there is no real reason for the other two. Secretly, I think the guys that make BoPs just put a button on the bridge marked "Land/Cruise/Attack" instead of one that says "Wings up/flat/down".
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged
posted
Maybe it's to do with shaping the warp field or in creasing manouverability at certain stages of flight? Maybe it's because it looks cool and they know fanboys will fill in the gaps themselves?
-------------------- www.kennyscrap.com - where I download crap I make.
Registered: Jun 2003
| IP: Logged
posted
It wouldn't be totally out of the realms of possibility if a major part of the design ethos is for it's psychological impact. Perhaps the Klingons just consider the wings down look to be more menacing. Compared to say Federation designs, the Klingons (and the Romulans for that matter) seam just as concerned with their own sense of aesthetics as with purely practical considerations when designing anything from PADDs to uniforms to starships. Of course the Feds to have a sense of aesthetics, but it's usually a secondary consideration.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
