ZCerberus Posted January 9, 2017 The FireMoth proved to have enough firepower to serve its role as a “cruiser killer”, but after making a successful debut, Blacktron altered its tactics to target FireMoths with concentrated attacks. While durable and stable, the FireMoth’s large wingspan hampered its ability to avoid concentrated fire. Frustrated by the mounting losses inflicted on the FireMoths, OrionBlu enlisted Cerberus Systems to create a new cruiser killer to replace the FireMoth. In the dossier submitted by OrionBlu to Cerberus, OrionBlu requested a ship with the weapons capability of a FireMoth combined with the elusiveness of a Blue Jacket. The ultimate solution was a blending of the cockpit and fire power of the FireMoth with an engine and wing design similar to the Blue Jacket. While officially named the LL 302 “Hornet”, the ship quickly earned the nickname “Fire Jacket” due to the blend of the two designs. The Hornet featured a similar two person cockpit to the FireMoth, but changed the seating configuration so both the pilot and gunner faced forward. The cockpit was also set at an incline to allow both crewmen to see forward without obstruction. This configuration also allowed manual aiming of forward blasters and emergency piloting from the gunner’s position. The Hornet was also the first Cerberus Systems craft to feature automated rear-facing defense weaponry, though the undercarriage mount made the weapon only effective from attacks from directly behind or below. The Hornet was not as powerful as a FireMoth nor as maneuverable as a Blue Jacket resulting in mixed reviews from pilots. Due to the mixed reaction, the Hornet was not a full replacement for the existing FireMoths, only replacing destroyed crafts while FireMoths still in service were not phased out nor reassigned to non-combat duties but they were instead retrofitted with additional shielding and external, wing mounted maneuvering thrusters to compensate for their perceive lack of maneuverability. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Delta62 Posted January 9, 2017 Nice! Love the design as well as the color scheme. Great story background too. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bob De Quatre Posted January 10, 2017 Again a nice CS spacecraft ZC! I always found this canopy to be too big for small spacecraft, but it looks nice in this configuration Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ZCerberus Posted January 10, 2017 6 hours ago, Bob De Quatre said: I always found this canopy to be too big for small spacecraft, but it looks nice in this configuration That was my struggle with it as well Bob. Getting into the NCS game late, I don't have a plethora of old trans-yellow canopies, and getting them second hand is both expensive and they are constantly in bad shape. I have several of this bigger one from when ol' Benny's spaceship was on clearance, but the size on a small ship doesn't work as well as I would like. I found after tinkering that the best way to "shorten" the canopy was to place it at an angle like this. It is still a bit on the bigger side, and I wish it wasn't 6 wide, but it's what I had available. I should also mention the smaller "x-wing" canopy on the new Batcave set has me salivating to build some new fighters after I can Bricklink a few of them! I have an additional ship awaiting final photos as well as 3 ground vehicles... one of which is very... "mega"... that needs photos but once I have them, they should be posted over the coming weeks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vonmarshall Posted February 21, 2017 Signed up to Eurobricks just to say how much I like LL302. Can I ask if you have any instructions or timelapse build photos. Would live to see the main skeleton of how you made some of those angles work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sander1992 Posted February 23, 2017 That looks great. The shape of it is really nice. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
