[MOC] V-19 Torrent Starfighter - Alternate Build of 75402 ARC-170

[Wurger49]

The V-19 Torrent starfighter was used by the Republic Navy during the early stages of Clone Wars, it was eventually succeeded by the Alpha-3 Nimbus-Class V-Wing.

The V-19 was a sturdy, fast and long-range space superiority fighter. It possessed a flat, broad and roughly square shaped fuselage with a cockpit mounted towards the back of the hull, various curved bricks and slopes are used to build up the hull so it’s tall enough to sit a minifigure inside. The large domed canopy provided pilots with great view of their surroundings.

The starfighter also possessed two powerful ion engines that are mounted in nacelles located port and starboard that also contain the connections and control mechanisms for the fighter's primary S-foils. Furthermore, a third engine is housed in a vertical stabilizer, they made the V-19 very fast and nimble.

The vertical stabilizer can rotate up and down via an axle connection on a technic beam and bricks, as it is quite heavy, I had to design a mechanism to hold it up while the ship is landed. I used one rotatable lime 1x2 technic beam on the back of the cockpit and one on the stabilizer; they interlock to hold it up, and in-flight mode, you can rotate the beams to release the stabilizer. Another lime 1x2 technic beam at the underside of the ship is used to keep the stabilizer at 90 degrees angle when rotated down. After trying a few other methods including illegal connections, I feel this is the best way. I also want to point at this vertical stabilizer is half brick-built, combined with technic beams and plates.

The two foldable S-foils are plate-built, the angle of the fold down is set up 2 technic pins inside the engine nacelles; and the angle of fold up is set by the slope built on the wing roots. A pair of large wingtip-mounted lasers cannons are built using spring-loaded shooters for their bulkiness, plus some other pieces include long bars.

I used the same design features I deployed on my Nu-Class Attack Shuttle, but that rotatable vertical stabilizer with lock mechanism sure took some designing, and it’s structurally sound as it’s half brick-built. The rest of ship is also very solid including the S-foils won’t snap off when the folding down, a problem I encountered and fixed on my Nu-Class already, it passed the swooshability test from my son.

The V-19 is another cool Republic-era starfighter from the Clone Army, especially with its folding and rotating features and two large laser cannons, making it a fine addition to any LEGO Star Wars collection.

Instructions are on Rebrickable: https://reb.li/m/211421