by Duane King

Developed for use by Clone Pilots, this version was developed late in the what would be known as the Clone Wars conflict. The three seat crew cabin was modified so that the astromech droid was now entirely contained within the cabin. This fighter was developed to attack capital ships by a group of independent thinking Clones that were sick of having their collective butts kicked by flying clankers. It was also a favored ship when the those Clones that were still independent, flew them to aid what eventually become the Rebels.

It is a flying weapons platform, plain and simple. (Think A-10.) The Laser Cannon was modified for more power, hence the external jacket at the end of the Cannon. The wings had mounting stanchions added and this version shows a pair of Sidewinders and a GPU-5 on each wing. The Laser Cannon mounts were modified to add a 'wing' that had various weapons capabilities. This version depicts a Rocket Tube with a set of Rockets out board of the Rocker Tube. The Laser Cannon Arms have Multiple Ejector Racks (MER) and show Cluster Bombs and Rockeye Bombs. Mounted on the engine housings and rear pointing is a pair of AARAAM Missiles and a SUU-12 Rocket Tube/Bomb Unit. The Lower Rear Laser is still used, but the Upper Rear Laser has been replaced by a 3D-BB Mech unit. The 3D-BB is mounted on a telescoping mount, and fires two Lasers, and helps with other on board systems. There is an additional mech. droid brain in the front of the ship.

The 'Sharks Teeth' Nose Art is a nice touch by the crew. (Nose art is shown in some of the episodes of the Animated SW Clone Wars Series).

The base model is the pre-painted snap tight ARC-170 kit, which has very little detail, so I raided the spare bits box/model collection for this project. I glued it together, and repainted the kit as I went.

Using the included 'cockpit tub as a base, I made a cockpit using the cockpit from a 1/48 scale AH-1F Cobra Attach Helicopter for the two forward facing crew members (Pilot and Co-Pilot/RIO/back up Weapons). The rear facing crew member cockpit (Weapons Officer) is from a 1/48 scale F-18 Hornet. The Astromech Droid is scratch built.

The 'wings' with rocket pod and tubes are also from the AH-1F kit. The Laser Cannon jacket is a piece of styrene shaped around the tip. The 3D-BB is a ball turret gun from a 1/72 scale B-17 ( with replacement scratch built metal gun barrels) and its mounting is a scratch built assembly of styrene and metal. The gun pods and air to air missile racks from are on scratch built (styrene) mounting stanchions. The MER and associated bombs are also from a 1/72 scale Hasegawa Weapons detailing set.

The model was hand painted using acrylics of various shades. I used Blue as the primary coloration to differentiate the vehicle from the standard clone issue Red vehicle. Prismacolor coloring pencils were used to detail various instruments in the cockpit, as well as weathering details.The Sharks Teeth nose art (and eyes and nose slits) are hand painted using acrylics also (reference info in The Sharks Teeth Nose Art book by Jeffery L. Ethell 1992) and looks like it belongs on the kit in some fashion. The outline of eyes and upper lip black line were created using chartpack detailing tape.

The front light is created by using a piece of fiber optic line, with the other end being in the top surface in front of the cockpit, in the anti-glare strip. I glued a crystal on the cockpit front to depict the additional mech. droid brain.

Image: Bottom

Image: Closer

Image: Little people

Image: Front

Image: Front cockpit

Image: Right/front view

Image: Droid, sir

Image: More people

Image: Lighted grin

Image: Rear view

Image: Rear cockpit

Image: Left/rear view

Image: Left side

Image: Top view

Image: Armament

Image: Left side