Sci-Fi Airshow: T.I.E. Fighter Cockpit

[Maurice]

Bill George strikes again. View it here! (link)


I had some trouble getting it to open in Chrome, so if you can't see the T.I.E. page, try the link in a different browser.

 

[Kaiser]

ok im so confused and still amazed.....

Is this is a real 1:1 scale model of one or some very intense realistic CGI? 0_o

 

[sojourner]

Great stuff as usual, but damn, he needs to fix the header on that website. It takes up the top half of the screen and does nothing.

 

[Richard Baker]

ok im so confused and still amazed.....

Is this is a real 1:1 scale model of one or some very intense realistic CGI? 0_o

All are extremely well done CGI -

Love the views through the hatches on the cockpit- wish we could see things like that in the movies...

 

[B.J.]

^ You sure about it being CGI in this case? On the About page, it says "The images you see here on the site are photographs of practical miniature spaceships digitally blended with actual air show backgrounds."

 

[Phantom]

He's wrong about the hatches. The top hatch is the entrance hatch. There is no aft hatch.

 

[Maurice]

NOT CGI. No, most of what you see on the Sci-Fi Airshow page are physical models. The Jupiter 2, for instance, is 4' in diameter, and the Eagle in 6' long. I've seen them in person.

And thanks for reminding us of all the scenes in the Star Wars trilogy where there was no back hatch, Oh, wait. There weren't any.

 

[137th Gebirg]

It actually makes sense that there are two hatches in that design. The top hatch would be used for top-down gantry-way access on Star Destroyers which we have seen in the films, and the rear hatch would be used for planetfall access. There's probably a collapsible ladder on the low-side of the hull. I couldn't imagine trying to get in and out of that thing while landed using its top hatch. Which actually makes me wonder how they get in and out of AT-AT's and AT-ST's without additional external superstructure assistance.

Always loved this site, although I do agree with Sojourner that the top header should be shrunk. Takes up way too much static vertical space.

 

[Maurice]

Why not suggest that to the site?

 

[137th Gebirg]

Good idea - just did.

 

[JES]

Pretty impressive, though I'm not impressed with the seat. I was at least expected an ejection-style seat, complete with a harness (recycled from some old Soviet fighter you can find on the net nowadays), since I remember reading something along the lines of pilots being "strapped into G-couches".

I also wasn't under the impression that the laser cannons actually had transparent barrels.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Hey, look at that! They fixed the header so that it doesn't take up half the screen. Still a little on the tall side due to that logo, but it's a great improvement in either case.

 

[martok2112]

It actually makes sense that there are two hatches in that design. The top hatch would be used for top-down gantry-way access on Star Destroyers which we have seen in the films, and the rear hatch would be used for planetfall access. There's probably a collapsible ladder on the low-side of the hull. I couldn't imagine trying to get in and out of that thing while landed using its top hatch. Which actually makes me wonder how they get in and out of AT-AT's and AT-ST's without additional external superstructure assistance.

Always loved this site, although I do agree with Sojourner that the top header should be shrunk. Takes up way too much static vertical space.

As I've always understood it, if troops and personnel had to debark an AT-AT with no support stations nearby, they could make the AT-AT kneel, and it's side panels can open up to form ramps down either side.

 

[publiusr]

I'd settle to look out the ISS cupola--close enough. ISS even looks like a TIE fighter on steroids

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Bill George strikes again. View it here! (link)


I had some trouble getting it to open in Chrome, so if you can't see the T.I.E. page, try the link in a different browser.

Outstanding work--typical of the people behind the Sci-Fi Airshow. Their mix of real world and fictional purpose descriptions is a joy to explore.

 

[Maurice]

Article about the building of the model and lots o' photos.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

On this week's episode of "Rebels Recon #2.04: Inside "Always Two There Are" | Star Wars Rebels", there is a Q&A about the TIE Fighter cockpit beginning around 4:35 into the video, including shots of a scale model of that part of a TIE that is used as a reference for producing Rebels, and an on-set photo of the TIE cockpit from Original Trilogy production. The scale model could the same one described in Maurice's post, and assuming there aren't two men with the same name, it is said to have been built by the same man, Bill George.

Note that that video contains SPOILERs for this week's episode of Rebels, "Always Two There Are," so click forewarned!

 

[Maurice]

Yeah, it's the same ol' Bill.

 

[publiusr]

He needs to show that to the folks at Hammacher Schlemmer