[MOC] Imperial Tartan Dropship

[Forresto]

The Tartan Dropship was commissioned early on in the new galactic order with the purpose of replacing the aging Republic LAAT with a more cost efficient model. The result was a small, heavily armored, no weapon transport capable of ferrying squads of Imperial troops quickly into battle. Although Imperial Officers eventually found them to be inefficient in conducting large scale planetary assaults once larger transports became available, the Tartan Dropship still retained its usefulness as a support vehicle. Most Imperial Bases and outposts in the outer and mid rim worlds, where large military vessels were either scarce or unneeded, would maintain a small fleet of these versatile vehicles to mostly ship supplies.

5 years prior to the Battle of Yavin the Tartan Dropship line had long since stopped being manufactured and while hundreds of thousands existed, most remained in permanent storage in Imperial holdings or stripped down as cargo vessels. After the destruction of the Second Death Star the Tartan Dropship immediately was recalled into service as scattered desperate Imperial forces attempted to consolidate their power against the rising and rallying New Republic threat. Dwindling Stormtrooper numbers would mean smaller squad numbers would be adopted suddenly making a small squad based transport a highly viable and preferable option.

Would the Tartan Dropship help the Imperial forces emerge victorious from a now uncertain situation in this Galactic Civil War? Perhaps in the battles to come every available vehicle could stem another crushing loss to the Empire. With the Imperial fleet gathering over a backwater planet barely listed on star charts, and referred to by locals as Jakku, could even the Tartan Dropship help bring about a victory over the dissident New Republic? Only time will tell...

Production Line: Tartan Dropship

Manufacturer: Damorian Manufacturing Corporation

Class: Dropship

Crew: 1 Pilot

Passengers: 6 (Standard) 8 (Maximum)

Role: Troop & Cargo Transport

Range: Planetary and ExoPlanetary Operations

Imperial Stormtroopers deploy into combat operations with a forward Rebel Alliance outpost on a outer rim planet.

This is an original design based off of the Tartan Patrol Cruiser from my favorite Star Wars game of all time Empire at War! Thank you so much for looking! Please if you want to see the pictures in larger size you can view them here on my Flickr Account

Edited February 12, 2016 by Forresto

[Ellisss_]

Great build! I have never seen this ship before but just at a glance I can see how much it can be improved. This is because there are few details. Also the shape is simplistic it just looks like a box with a lamba class shuttle cock-pit. Maybe add some greebling! Also could you add some pictures if the cockpit works if not challange yourself with that!!! I hope you work on this model the end piece could be fantastic,

Ellis.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Ellisss_

[Forresto]

Great build! I have never seen this ship before but just at a glance I can see how much it can be improved. This is because there are few details. Also the shape is simplistic it just looks like a box with a lamba class shuttle cock-pit. Maybe add some greebling! Also could you add some pictures if the cockpit works if not challange yourself with that!!! I hope you work on this model the end piece could be fantastic,

Ellis.

Haha rats I knew someone would notice the lack of a functioning cockpit :D No that is certainly something I need to work on.

The boxy shape is slightly on purpose but it may seem weird as looking back at it I was channeling the athsetic of the original Star Trek then Star Wars.

Thank you for the suggestions and its something I will work on to improve : )

[Junior Shark]

Awesome! At first, I was like, "I thought the Tartan was a big spaceship?" but then I got to the end of your post. Love the Lambda-esque nose on this puppy. You could totally get a minifig cockpit in there, just use the Tydirium canopy piece (http://shop.lego.com...-Tydirium-75094). Did you model the nose on this after the set? Also, I think the engines could use some beefing up. They look a little bit like Star Trek warp nacelles right now.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Junior Shark

[Smitty500]

reminds me of the imperial dropship from the Force Unleashed.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Dropship_Transport/Legends

[Forresto]

Awesome! At first, I was like, "I thought the Tartan was a big spaceship?" but then I got to the end of your post. Love the Lambda-esque nose on this puppy. You could totally get a minifig cockpit in there, just use the Tydirium canopy piece (http://shop.lego.com...-Tydirium-75094). Did you model the nose on this after the set? Also, I think the engines could use some beefing up. They look a little bit like Star Trek warp nacelles right now.

Thank you so much I might have to try that piece. Yeah the nose ended up being totally based off the Lambada which is one of my favorite ships in terms of uniqueness. The engines total need to be beefed up, they definitely are very Trek There's a lot of changes and improvements to be made so I will have to work on that and post the improved version.

reminds me of the imperial dropship from the Force Unleashed.

http://starwars.wiki...ansport/Legends

Funnily enough I was originally going to try and make that ship but veered away.