by Andrew Gorman

When I was in high school I thought this was the coolest ship ever- except for maybe the DY-100. Even though it was only on screen for a few seconds it left a lasting impression. When I had some time, ambition, and three Airfix 1/72 F-15s all at the same time, I started cutting and pasting. The ventral intakes are two sectioned F-15 intakes and adjacent bodywork spliced together with putty and scrap plastic. The fuselage is mainly the third F-15, upside down, with the neck lengthened with an old rocket half that matched the F-15 taper and part of a cheap plastic corkscrew. I was fresh out of Saturn V engines, so cobbled some together from beads, 1/200 SSMEs, the nosecone of one of the F-15s and other spare parts. The wings are built from plastic sheet and based on a 3-view of the Buck Rogers Starfighter I found on the web. The command pod/lifeboat/whatever it is was a real stumbling block for me. It looked so darn familiar, but after several attemps it still did not look right. Then I looked at the the Roomba's remote control. I chopped off the end, added a few bombs and drop tanks and there you are.

Stumbling block number two was how to mount the ventral intakes, which was finally solved by gluing them to the roof of an HO station platform. After all this cutting and fitting there was a lot of daylight showing through the model so I added a lot of sheet plastic and plausible details to cover that up. After a protracted period in the yard, Destroyer Nine is on patrol, at star speed and battle ready!

Image: Top/rear

Image: Command pod

Image: Another look

Image: Engines

Image: Front view

Image: Rear