I'm sure the word 'freebie' brought you in here just as much as your interest towards sci-fi :) I always thought that ships have no real reason to have windows, other than gazing at the emptyness of space. It's not like you'll see anything in a deep-space dogfight. So why have windows at all? Because it's the norm and so on. But what happens when an enemy starts targetting those windows? I figured a nice little system where the window would be covered during the battles. Think it's pretty cool as an idea, don't know if it's ever been done. Just the same, looking forward to more comments from you guys :) drac

Yep, been done........StarWars epi3 (last one) when the Jedi take control of general Grevious's (sp??) ship, the window got shot and metal blinds came up to stop all the air escaping into space, then Jedi, using the digital controls, crash land the ship.......not that I watch this rubbish!! LOL Marc Nice ship Drac, just as I thought it would be. well done :)

really? i don't remember that part. must re-watch it. drac

The ships have windows so that if the auto-navigation equipment and radar goes out, you can switch to manual and pilot the ship by sight. (I thought everybody knew that) :^) I like the sliding window covers. Sweet overall design, too, Drac!

actually there's a pyche reason for the window. it's to stop the pilot freaking out. try being closed into a confined space for any length of time if you can't see out ;)

Very cool design Drac! Like the cockpit detailing too.

Cool little fighter very classic sci fi.

This has historical president! The 1st American Astronauts on seeing the 1st space capsule for the 1st time rebelled against NASA when they realised that the capsule had no windows. They accused NASA of treating them no better than dogs or monkeys and refused to go up unless windows were installed. Nice ship, Drac, windows and all!

Babylon 5 has blast shields that they close over their windows when under attack. Definately I dinky little ship.

Battlestar Galacica(TOS) and Star-Trek Enterprise(Hull Plating) used the same idea on their moterships, but as far as I know not on their shuttles/fighters. BTW: Is it just me or is Modzilla-Firefox quicker that IE Explorer?

need you ask? of course :) drac

Great model and cool idea about the window shields. Windows in space only address a basic human need to see where you are going or whats there.

Further to what Bryster was saying. The first underground trains in London didn't have windows since there's nothing to look at apart from the inside of the tunnel walls. But people hated it and so the engineers designed trains with windows. People are weird. It is psychological. I'm sure airliners don't need windows. At least not for the pilot. In the new BSG the ships computers are taken over by the Cylons and the fighters have to rely on human instinct to fight the bad guys. Good job vipers have windows otherise they would be up "some" creek without a paddle. Further to this, the old arguement of fins on a space ship and being aerodynamic comes into play. But my rules state - "Do what you want, even if it doesn't make sense" great model by the way.

I always wondered why in most Sci Fi large ships have their bridge located in an obvious place like sticking out the top. If I were attacking that ship, I'd concentrate all my firepower on that spot. In battle, modern Naval craft move all tactical personnel to the very centre of the ship and the bridge is only used to steer the boat. I think B5 was the first Sci Fi to break away from the traditional Jet Fighter analogy. Their fighter craft were really different. They still had windows though.

<strong>bandolin</strong><br />
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Further to what Drawbridge was saying...they are only now talking about fitting planes with cameras on the tail-fin to allow pilots to see the condition of engines and wing surfaces while in flight....

Attached Link: http://www.uss-bennington.org/phz-nowing-f15.html

which would have helped this guy....

Cool story Khai.