SFXB Forum

In the episode where X-Bomber rescues the 'defecting' Termoid 1701 the astrofighter that X-Bomber protects is significantly different to the ones chasing it. The latter ships are standard fare. However 1701's fighter is black rather than green, has larger engines, a gun that is mounted from a central pylon under the fuselage pod rather than connected to the engines. The ship also has two very noticeable intakes either side of it's fuselage infront of the wings.It's still not as developed as Carter's Astrofighter, which appears later in the episode, and which I think changes from one shot to the next as it is more than one model, as parts of it come and go as the battle progresses. Upon close inspection; Carter's fighter literally has twice as much everything as the standard ship.It has 2 little boosters on each wing rather than 1, a cockpit mounted in an extended nose cone, a sort of intake (starboard) and a second cockpit (port) where the cockpit 'should' be, much larger engines and wings, a sort of buoy towed behind the ship and lots of extra wiring on the hull.

Interesting! I love finding little details like this. (yes, I suppose I'm a bit late to this party...)I never noticed the changes in 0171's fighter until I started re-watching the show recently to grab some detailed screenshots.I think 0171's fighter is still green, but there are some definite hull modifications. Everything else you described sounds right.Here are some pictures of a normal Imperial fighter:And here are some of the modified fighter for 0171:These little additions are great to see; they really show how much forethought the creators of the show had when designing everything. 0171's ship should be a bit more powerful since he has to be able to outrun other Imperial fighters who probably have not been informed of Carter's plan.Of course, you're right about Carter's modified fighter too. You have a very sharp eye! I wasn't able to make out as much detail as you described, but again it sounds about right. Here are some pictures of Carter's modified fighter:

Those screencaps are fantastic, I think my DVDs show the first ship to be a little darker. But mine are nowhere near that quality. I'm pleased I got the sprites for my game pretty accurate according to those screenshots, thanks! Still it's really annoying that the episode only shows it at awkward angles and distances... difficult to figure out its shape overall. ... However when the ship is shown from behind during the dogfight it seems to have a kind of object sticking out behind it that doesn't appear from other angles.I noticed the defector ship appears in the final episode as well. The alien fortress launches two contingents of fighters and I think this is amongst the second. You see it briefly but very clearly before the Dai-X chews it up. I can't remember quite 'cos I don't have my discs with me so I dunno whether it was just stock footage or not.