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0|0|0|||1||Speaking of light freighters|Gryphon||15:23:26|02/08/2014|So I may have mentioned at some previous point that I%27m quite fond of the Haynes company%27s line of novelty workshop manuals.%0D%0A%0D%0AFor those of you who may not be familiar with the concept%2C Haynes is an English publishing company that specializes in maintenance and repair manuals for cars%2C motorcycles%2C and the like.  If you%27ve ever bought a fix-it-yourself manual for your car that didn%27t come from the car%27s manufacturer%2C odds are it was either a Haynes or a Chilton.  Recently they%27ve started branching out into tongue-in-cheek novelty editions%2C some of them offering serious advice about non-automotive topics presented in a cheerfully self-parody of their car-manuals style %28there%27s one about taking care of babies%2C for instance%29%2C and others based on historical items a person couldn%27t reasonably be expected to own %28such as the WWII-vintage B-17 bomber or the %5Bi%5DTitanic%5B%2Fi%5D%29%2C or licensed fictional vehicles of one kind or another written in an in-universe style.%0D%0A%0D%0AI have a number of both subtypes of the latter kind.  I used %5Bi%5DKlingon Bird of Prey%5B%2Fi%5D as research material for the %5Bi%5DSurprise%5B%2Fi%5D%27s appearance in %5Bi%5DShepard%27s 11%5B%2Fi%5D%2C for instance %28particularly the deck plans%2C though this is not immediately evident within the story%29%2C and the one about the International Rescue mecha from %5Bi%5DThunderbirds%5B%2Fi%5D is quite lovely.%0D%0A%0D%0AAnyway%2C I was thumbing through the %5Bi%5DMillennium Falcon%5B%2Fi%5D one yesterday and noticed a couple of amusing things.  One is that there%27s a page detailing other modular configurations of YT-1300 freighter that were ostensibly available from Corellian Engineering Corporation%2C one of which is %5Bi%5DDaggerdisc%5B%2Fi%5D from UF - essentially the %5Bi%5DFalcon%5B%2Fi%5D with the cockpit on the other side.%0D%0A%0D%0AThe other is that there%27s a section in the book detailing the history of the particular spaceframe %5Bi%5DStar Wars%5B%2Fi%5D fans know as the %5Bi%5DMillennium Falcon%5B%2Fi%5D herself.  At one point%2C this document makes the claim that - in the hands of an owner long before Lando Calrissian - the ship was called the %5Bi%5DWayward Son%5B%2Fi%5D.%0D%0A%0D%0ASadly%2C the book does not contain parallel confirmation of one of my favorite UF-universe conceits about the YT-1300.  I had always assumed that%2C like the Y-wing fighter%2C YT-1300s were originally sold with proper hull plating%2C and the %5Bi%5DMillennium Falcon%5B%2Fi%5D is all knobbly and Pompidou Centre pipes-on-the-outside like that because a%29 she%27s old and busted and b%29 Han Solo is shit at maintenance.  %28It%27s been mentioned a couple of times that %5Bi%5DDaggerdisc%5B%2Fi%5D has all her plating%2C and that in the 25th century this is considered startling and unlikely%2C like finding a 1964 Impala that hasn%27t been converted into a lowrider.%29  But no%2C according to the Haynes manual%2C they were like that from the factory.  For UF purposes%2C as is so often the case%2C I reject their reality and substitute my own%2C but there it is.%0D%0A%0D%0A--G.%0D%0A-%3E%3C-%0D%0ABenjamin D. Hutchins%2C Co-Founder%2C Editor-in-Chief%2C %26 Forum Mod%0D%0AEyrie Productions%2C Unlimited  http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eyrie-productions.com%2F%0D%0Azgryphon at that email service Google has%0D%0A%5Bi%5DCeterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.%5B%2Fi%5D
1|1|0|||1||RE%3A Speaking of light freighters|Mercutio||18:37:02|02/08/2014|%3EI had always assumed %0D%0A%3Ethat%2C like the Y-wing fighter%2C YT-1300s were originally sold with %0D%0A%3Eproper hull plating%2C and the %5Bi%5DMillennium Falcon%5B%2Fi%5D is all knobbly %0D%0A%3Eand Pompidou Centre pipes-on-the-outside like that because a%29 she%27s %0D%0A%3Eold and busted and b%29 Han Solo is shit at maintenance.  %0D%0A%0D%0AGenuinely curious%3A does this apply to all the Star Wars imports into UF%2C or just the YT-1300 and the Y-Wing%3F%0D%0A%0D%0AThe knobbly look was sort of de rigeur among pretty much every ship in Star Wars. Even the X-Wing and A-Wing have a lot of weird protuberances and antennas and stuff%2C and its common right on down from the Death Star all the way to TIE Fighters. The only thing I can think of that has that smooth %27well-clad%27 look is the %5Bi%5DLambda%5B%2Fi%5D-class shuttle.%0D%0A%0D%0A-Merc%0D%0AKeep Rat
2|2|1|||1||RE%3A Speaking of light freighters|Gryphon||19:03:57|02/08/2014|%3EThe knobbly look was sort of de rigeur among pretty much every ship in %0D%0A%3EStar Wars. Even the X-Wing and A-Wing have a lot of weird %0D%0A%3Eprotuberances and antennas and stuff%2C and its common right on down %0D%0A%3Efrom the Death Star all the way to TIE Fighters.%0D%0A%0D%0AWell%2C it%27s a question of degrees%2C really.  I mean%2C consider the difference between %5Blink%3Aen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3A1931_Ford_Model_A_Deluxe_Tudor.jpg%3Fx%7Cthis 1931 Ford Model A%5D and %5Blink%3Aen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FFile%3A%252731_Ford_Model_A_%2528Auto_classique%2529.JPG%3Fx%7Cthis one%5D.  The stock one isn%27t %5Bi%5Dperfectly%5B%2Fi%5D smooth%2C it still has bits and bobs inherent with being a car of its vintage.  Much the same difference%2C I submit%2C can be perceived between %28e.g.%29 the %5Blink%3Astatic1.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20060514160804%2Fstarwars%2Fimages%2Fc%2Fce%2FOriginal_Y-wing.jpg%3Fx%7Chull-plating-with-occasional-greeblies Y-wing%5D and the %5Blink%3Astatic1.wikia.nocookie.net%2F__cb20130311053327%2Fstarwars%2Fimages%2F4%2F48%2FYwing-SWE.jpg%3Fx%7Cflying-junk-shop Y-wing%5D.  Neither is exactly featureless%2C like those weird hot rods where the owners shave off all the door handles and trim and stuff.  I prefer the former look%2C and as a general rule%2C I would say that most ships known canonically to sport the latter were originally sold as something much more like the former in UF.%0D%0A%0D%0AYou%27ll see a good example of the kind of thing I mean in a little while.%0D%0A%0D%0A--G.%0D%0A-%3E%3C-%0D%0ABenjamin D. Hutchins%2C Co-Founder%2C Editor-in-Chief%2C %26 Forum Mod%0D%0AEyrie Productions%2C Unlimited  http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eyrie-productions.com%2F%0D%0Azgryphon at that email service Google has%0D%0A%5Bi%5DCeterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.%5B%2Fi%5D