Papercraft Wing Commander spaceships

Avi sez, "Paper Commander offers free downloadable pdfs of plans for paper models of cool spaceships from the Wing Commander universe. My favorite is the F-109 Vampire."

Paper Commander (Thanks, Avi!)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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JOE

If you’re in Minneapolis and having trouble with the definition of papercraft, you should come by our Paper Toy and Pop Out Show this Saturday night at Pink Hobo! http://pinkhobo.com/?p=16
Anonymous

These things are fun, but it’s sometimes too much of a hassle to glue/tape them together.

It’s not planes but check out this paper craft robot. no tape or glue an less than 30min to build…

http://www.piperoids.com
IWood

You know…I’ve always been bugged by designs like this (although papercraft anything is usually tres cool). The F-109 Vampire is a “Space Superiority Fighter.”

So why the wings? The canards? The vertical bits at the ends of the wings which I can’t name?

I’d love to see a space combat game that divested itself of aerodynamics.

Because, you know…THERE’S NO AIR IN SPACE.

BSG (the recent incarnation) came close. But Vipers still have pointy-bits-go-towards-bad-guys design.
Anonymous

What I don’t understand is why the word “craft” is appended to the material a thing is made out of on this site. The word has absolutely no meaning.

When did a paper airplane become a “papercraft” airplane? And why? It just seems to be a slightly more pretentious term for making something.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  ‘Papercraft’ describes the process of creation rather than the material. You’d say ‘knitted sweater’ rather than ‘yarn sweater’. Plus, ‘paper airplane’ already has a definition which these don’t fit except in the most denotative sense.
strider_mt2k

In Larry Niven’s “Known Space” universe, the Kizini are often pictured using ships of a spherical design.

Least amount surface area to hit in battle.

#4
A) Not enough atomic hydrogen too much other stuff.

B) Relativistic (or nearso) speeds are called for to use a Bussard ramscoop.

C) At the speeds you’d be operating, that hydrogen would be hitting you as gamma rays, which would up your shielding requirements greatly if you expect the ship to be operated by anything with a notochord.
Takuan

I’m glad you asked that Iwood, you see, these craft use magnetic ramscoop fields to harvest whatever stray atoms they encounter and then use simple transmutation to turn them into air which is ejected outwards from the wing leading edge to provide lift. This invisible tunnel of air of course also serves to conduct sound, hence the “neeerrrrrowwww!”
Hexatron

OMG OMG. i want the dralthi. cuz it’s the only one i remember.
Michael Leung

Nerdtastic! I’ve always wanted to make this stuff, but I’m too lazy to make my own.
cinemajay

Well since they never made any kick-ass toys out of these, I guess it’s better than nothing.

/clicks PRINT
Anonymous

Vipers and Raptors were designed for atmospheric flight as well as vacuum, hence aerodynamically shaped. The most “realistic” space combat craft I think were the starfuries from Babylon 5.

PS I realise it’s not real!
Jack Daniel

Gotdamn this was the greatest game series ever…and I’m still saving up lunch money to buy me one of those fancy 100 dollar joysticks.
Guysmiley

Isn’t it about time for one of the remaining mega-producers to completely pillage the Wing Commander franchise with some half-assed abomination of a game?

Fondly remember the STACK of 3.5″ floppies WCII came on. And holy crap, WC3 with Mark Hamill? Good times.
Anonymous

Iwood, take a look a the the Homeworld series.
dhalgren

Mark Hamill in WC III, IV – which is still my favorite PC game of all time, and WC Prophecy – where at the very end after the epic battle over the stargate portal thing Mark Hamill is captured by the aliens – making me hope beyond hope and wait for the next game in the series…

what did we get? We got an absolute craptastic movie instead. The cinematics in the series were better than the movie. The only thing to note about the movie was that the first trailer for Star Wars Episode 1 played – hence people went to see the trailer and left before the movie.

I would sell a body part, or at least a toe, to see a good, not even a great sequel after all these years.

Seriously Wing Commander III, IV, and Prophecy were awesome games, and IV might just be one of the great games ever.