The SDF-17 differed from its source ship, the SDF-1/Macross, in a number of ways. Obviously it still had its fold drive and never needed to be reconfigured into "standing mode" to employ its main gun, but there were other differences that we established early on in the development process of the original UF Core, but never got a chance to show "on screen".

Probably the biggest one is that it had landing gear. Like, actual wheeled landing gear. Three humongous twin-wheeled bogeys that deployed from hatches in the underside of the ship. As you might imagine, this was very, very rarely used; on the rare occasions when the ship made planetfall at all, she almost always operated as a floating naval vessel (possibly with the aid of her antigravity systems, since it's not at all clear that she would have been passively buoyant). It would have been almost impossible to find a planetary surface that could withstand the colossal ground pressures applied by those wheels.

So why did it have them?

Because the Takatoku/Bandai/Matchbox 1:3000-scale SDF-1 toy has them, and I have one. It's what CLULESS based the ship on. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

There's got to be some serious overtechnology in those tires, I'm betting.
Although the SDF-17 was sadly never around to try it, I can think of one place she likely could have landed - the Zeta Cygni Sphere.

Does SDF-23 have the same functionality and has anyone tried that? I'm guessing "no" and "N/A" respectively.

>Does SDF-23 have the same functionality and has anyone tried that?
>I'm guessing "no" and "N/A" respectively.

No, the gear was omitted from the SDF-23's design. An engineering lesson learned--the SDF-17's was almost never used and took up an inordinate amount of space and mass that could've been spent on something useful.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

There's -one- instance where I can recall them being mentioned - it's in one of the Cleansed By Fire mini story, with the briefest mention

> the looming bulk of the SDF-17, parked on her titanic
> landing gear near the edge of the lake.

Tho obviously no detail as to the gear in this instance :-)

Anyway, that's really cool background and it's neat to hear about that detail of the ship design!

>There's -one- instance where I can recall them being mentioned - it's
>in one of the
>Cleansed By Fire mini story, with the briefest mention
>
>> the looming bulk of the SDF-17, parked on her titanic
>> landing gear near the edge of the lake.

Oh hey, I forgot about that! Well, a form of the point remains, in that we thought of that during the original bull sessions waaay back during the writing of the Core, even if it didn't show up until years later.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I was thinking hang on I remember a scene in UF where the gear is deployed and it hit me, there's a scene in Core 3 where the gear is deployed.

>"Shit--looks like we've got some work to do if we're
>ever going to take off again. Yuri...engage landing cycle.
>Put us down on the outside of the crater."
> "Landing cycle engaged," Yuri replied. From the
>underbelly of the huge fortress, three great hatches opened,
>and from within, huge double-tired landing gear extended.
>The wheels were the size of largish houses, arranged in a
>tricycle pattern; as the battered vessel eased itself down
>onto the fused stone and glass that had once been
>Neo-Worcester, they impressed twelve-foot marks into it.
>Within a minute the SDF-17 was down.

I always remember thinking jeez I hope they don't get a flat. Followed by the mental image of a bunch of orange overall suited Spartan Destroids changing a giant tire.