Mysterious Gnat

[Old Murgh]

This is Griff's ArcElite Ships oxp Gnat, seemingly faithfully remodeled from its BBCElite2 likeness.



Below, Ian Bell working it all out.



But with what little evidence there is, I can't tell for certain which direction it moved. Griff chose to have the antennae trailing making the fat end the rear which makes sense in one way –but the drawing suggest Bell intended the opposite, the more Krait-like direction, if that is the Gnat shooting something and not flying very fast from something..

I am wondering if anyone ever seen this ship in motion on its platform, back in the day?
(Apologies if there is already a well-established thread that goes into this, but I didn't find it.)

[Cody]

Griff does mention the Gnat flying backwards...

don't listen to dizzy, the gnat looks better flying backwards

Having seen both versions, Dizzy is now inclined to agree with you.. but without having seen it both ways, it was hard to be certain.. and I truly felt that the original B&B design deserved a chance to be seen the way it was intended! :wink:

... yeah you're right, if i'd been able to undestand those design plans properly i wouldn't have it flying backwards either! and to be honest, it looks really cool flying properly in dertien's and Storm's remakes

[Old Murgh]

Griff does mention the Gnat flying backwards...

Aha, great, thanks.
I should look at "dertien's and Storm's remakes" then.
I'd like to say it looking cool flying properly.

[Cody]

Out of Griff's extra ships (Elite A, ArcElite, etc) the best looking are the Wolf and the Ophidian.
Those two are must-haves, along with the Hognose, which I love for the Holy Joes and lobsters.

[Old Murgh]

Out of Griff's extra ships (Elite A, ArcElite, etc) the best looking are the Wolf and the Ophidian.
Those two are must-haves, along with the Hognose, which I love for the Holy Joes and lobsters.

Yes those first two are gorgeous. I have to look closer at the hognose.

I couldn't find the Storm remake. Gone in the wind?

Nevertheless, I made my own IronAss version. It flies the right way.

[Griff]

i totally mis-understood Ian Bell's drawings and throught the gnat was flying away from the viewer with the prongs trailing behind, then of course someone more alert spotted the diagram of it shooting and we realised i had it flying the wrong way around - i think that might be fixed for the arc-elite expansion oxp's, i think that one might fly the right way round

I'll try and find the link where i found out about the ship but i don't think the gnat made it into a released version of Elite, i think it was something Braben & Bell were designing for "Elite 2" which got cancelled when (i think) Ian Bell got more interested in raving it up on the dancefloor than spending his time coding

Edit: here's the Elite 2 ships page (via the wayback machine):

http://web.archive.org/web/200805152342 ... ships.html

Awesome work on your gnat remake Old Murgh, it looks really mean and deadly

[Old Murgh]

i totally mis-understood Ian Bell's drawings and throught the gnat was flying away from the viewer with the prongs trailing behind, then of course someone more alert spotted the diagram of it shooting and we realised i had it flying the wrong way around - i think that might be fixed for the arc-elite expansion oxp's, i think that one might fly the right way round

When I first saw it I was hoping you had been right. It would have been cool if at least one ship had "opposite poles" and the rear was fat, it really makes most sense..

I'll try and find the link where i found out about the ship but i don't think the gnat made it into a released version of Elite, i think it was something Braben & Bell were designing for "Elite 2" which got cancelled when (i think) Ian Bell got more interested in raving it up on the dancefloor than spending his time coding

Ah that's the reason! So there was never an expanded version that's been nicknamed Elite2
It's nice that the MackayDoosh site is still possible to access even if I can't figure out viewing wrl on my mac.

Awesome work on your gnat remake Old Murgh, it looks really mean and deadly

Thank you very much. I've been playing with the new (for me) tools and how it could lift the simplest retro shape ships in a colourless "soviet" style. They do get an air of hostility.