[Angelus]

Does anyone has screenshots of the V-World Vipers? The one Zoe piloted...
There's only one pic on the BSWiki, and i could need them from different angles.
Any help would be much appreciated.

[David cgc]

As luck would have it, just this morning Modelers, Miniatures, and Magic posted several HD screencaps of the atmospheric Viper, with a note that they were going to have clean production renders of the original model available eventually.

[Thaeris]

Wow...

Those are distinctively ugly in a cool way, much in a similar fashion to the Vought A-7 (which I find more attractive, actually). Well, maybe I like them merely because they're BSG...

...But those are definately atmospheric fighters, so "Caprica Viper" is a reasonable term. But man... What the Hell is the nose intake for? 

[Wolfy]

It's not a nose intake. It's just smileing

[FreespacePilot2010]

Cool. That sight did mislabeled them as MK1 Vipers though. Like Thaeris said they only appear to be atmospheric. The real MK1 is just the TOS BSG design. Caprican Viper is indeed a better term.

As for the nose intake, well real planes on Earth used to have them. Specifically the Vietnam era ones like the F4 Phantom and MIG 21s.

I looked more on that site and also found this. Its not cannon but it is an RDM series style viper like fighter design.

http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=15230

[Angelus]

As luck would have it, just this morning Modelers, Miniatures, and Magic posted several HD screencaps of the atmospheric Viper, with a note that they were going to have clean production renders of the original model available eventually.

Thx for the pics! I'm visiting that site often, but it seems not often enough.
Hope they can get the production renders soon, until then, the Screencaps will do fine.

[Thaeris]

Cool. That sight did mislabeled them as MK1 Vipers though. Like Thaeris said they only appear to be atmospheric. The real MK1 is just the TOS BSG design. Caprican Viper is indeed a better term.

As for the nose intake, well real planes on Earth used to have them. Specifically the Vietnam era ones like the F4 Phantom and MIG 21s.

I looked more on that site and also found this. Its not cannon but it is an RDM series style viper like fighter design.

http://www.modelermagic.com/?p=15230

Looks quite a bit like the Scorpion, actually, which was canon for TOS. And no, that model is really just a mod of the TOS Viper with a color scheme akin to that of the new series. In all, I do kind of like it.  

Personally, I always liked DeSanto's Viper Mk.IV. This isn't actually too far off from the new BSG in some regards as the Mk.VII was a DeSanto design, if my memory serves me correctly. With a bit of a re-design, It could be a pretty neat addition for Diaspora... Though I think it would look good as-is.

Now, the problem with the nose intake on the Caprican Viper is this - it doesn't DO anything. The explanation to the intake on all the space-fairing Vipers was that it was a sensor emplacement, that intake on the Viper is neither a retro engine exhaust or a sensor opening... it's just silly sci-fi engineering.  

-----

*EDIT:

OH WHAT?

I thought that nose looked familiar! They stole that nose design from my favorite fighter plane of WWII! That nose is from one of these!



Definately a modified P-40 nose! Seriously!

[newman]

As for the nose intake, well real planes on Earth used to have them. Specifically the Vietnam era ones like the F4 Phantom and MIG 21s.

Um.. no. MiGs, yes - MiGs 15, 17, 19 and 21 all had nose intakes. The F-4 however? Where on earth do you see a nose intake here?

[Thaeris]

Besides, those intakes actually fed an engine... 

[FreespacePilot2010]

Oops. I meant Sabre not F4 phantom. I got them mixed up. What I should have said was that the design of the viper reminds me of a phantom with the wings facing front.As well as those two back tail fins instead of the one that the phantom has.

http://www.aviastar.org/gallery/sabre.html Some pics.

[StarSlayer]

Oops. I meant Sabre not F4 phantom. I got them mixed up. What I should have said was that the design of the viper reminds me of a phantom with the wings facing front.As well as those two back tail fins instead of the one that the phantom has.

http://www.aviastar.org/gallery/sabre.html Some pics.

F-4s do not have forward swept wings either.

[Dilmah G]

OH WHAT?

I thought that nose looked familiar! They stole that nose design from my favorite fighter plane of WWII! That nose is from one of these!

*snip*

Definately a modified P-40 nose! Seriously!

Actually, I believe the nose design is from Claire Chenault's 'Flying Tigers' (China-1942), rather than from a particular aircraft. Although, the Flying Tigers did fly the P-40.

The stock P-40 doesn't have, and has little reason, to possess the face of a tiger.

[karajorma]

F-4s do not have forward swept wings either.

But the Caprican Viper does. Which is presumably what he meant. It looks like an F4 with the wings the other way round.

[Thaeris]

The wings are much more akin to something off of a Macross fighter, really.

This thing would have a horribly high wing loading, and would probably be much too stable for its own good - the center-of-mass would be way too far forward of the center-of-pressure/center-of-lift from the wings...

[StarSlayer]

F-4s do not have forward swept wings either.

But the Caprican Viper does. Which is presumably what he meant. It looks like an F4 with the wings the other way round.

I suppose, little thin for F-4 wings and they are canted down rather then up, canards would not have been remiss and the thrust to weight must be pretty bad with those tiny burner cans.  They should have opted for a razorback style canopy then a bubble, its a bit silly to have such an advanced canopy design compared to real Vipers.

[IceFire]

OH WHAT?

I thought that nose looked familiar! They stole that nose design from my favorite fighter plane of WWII! That nose is from one of these!

*snip*

Definately a modified P-40 nose! Seriously!

Actually, I believe the nose design is from Claire Chenault's 'Flying Tigers' (China-1942), rather than from a particular aircraft. Although, the Flying Tigers did fly the P-40.

The stock P-40 doesn't have, and has little reason, to possess the face of a tiger.

The nose design does have some qualities of the P-40 but the design of the nose can't be from the Flying Tigers... they didn't design the aircraft.  Chenault just made sure that the aircraft were provided. The Vipers don't have a tiger emblem on them. Actually the Flying Tigers didn't have the tiger nose markings first either.

F-4s do not have forward swept wings either.

But the Caprican Viper does. Which is presumably what he meant. It looks like an F4 with the wings the other way round.

I suppose, little thin for F-4 wings and they are canted down rather then up, canards would not have been remiss and the thrust to weight must be pretty bad with those tiny burner cans.  They should have opted for a razorback style canopy then a bubble, its a bit silly to have such an advanced canopy design compared to real Vipers.

Real life example could be used to prove otherwise.  The early Mustang and Thunderbolt for example both had razorback designs.  Then the bubble canopy versions appeared and the bubble canopy stayed for quite a while through the F-80, F-86, F-100, etc.  And then you have planes like the F-4 and F-105 that pretty much did away with the bubble design.

[Dilmah G]

Ah, I thought he was referring to the "Tiger" nose/mouth/eyes on the plane. I haven't seen any pictures of the Viper in question, so I had no idea.

can't be from the Flying Tigers... they didn't design the aircraft.  Chenault just made sure that the aircraft were provided.

I know, that's why I said:

Although, the Flying Tigers did fly the P-40.

[NGTM-1R]

Real life example could be used to prove otherwise.  The early Mustang and Thunderbolt for example both had razorback designs.  Then the bubble canopy versions appeared and the bubble canopy stayed for quite a while through the F-80, F-86, F-100, etc.  And then you have planes like the F-4 and F-105 that pretty much did away with the bubble design.

The bubble design is preferred for increased visiblity in a dogfight, but aerodynamically it actually penalizes streamlining slightly. They disappeared on the F-4 because they thought BVR missile engagement was going to be the order of the day, but came back after the F-4 when this proved not to be the case.

Since all Vipers are dogfighters, the point is valid that it's odd these have bubble canopies but the IIs and VIIs don't.

[Thaeris]

Once again, this is why I've been using the term "Caprican Viper."

It clearly isn't a starfighter - heck, you can even see compressor blades when viewing the intakes head-on. A starfighter (you know, like the Mk.I or II, etc.) would have a retro engine there, NOT an intake.

Also, what the Hell have you been smoking, Dilmah? You certainly are aware of what Chennault (and later the 14th Air Force) was using in quantity during the early part of the war in China, the P-40 (in various variants), but what is this nonsense you're spewing out?:

OH WHAT?

I thought that nose looked familiar! They stole that nose design from my favorite fighter plane of WWII! That nose is from one of these!

*snip*

Definately a modified P-40 nose! Seriously!

Actually, I believe the nose design is from Claire Chenault's 'Flying Tigers' (China-1942), rather than from a particular aircraft. Although, the Flying Tigers did fly the P-40.

The stock P-40 doesn't have, and has little reason, to possess the face of a tiger.

I posted that because of the desing (AKA geometry) of the nose, NOT BECAUSE OF THE FRIGGIN' TEETH, YOU FOOL! Go to the second post of this thread and find the link - it will show you pictures of the Caprican Viper.

Sheesh!

[Dilmah G]

Well, I awoke from my early afternoon stupor, took one look at the thread, completely missed the part about the post being about the nose, and ranted about the Flying Tigers.