SA-04 Orca

This aircraft is based on the original Orca design from Command and Conquer and the FPS title C&C: Renegade.

I started to build that very gunship. But as I worked through it, I felt that the design itself needed a lot of changes that I kept reworking elements of the aircraft.

The original design's engines are mounted so far back that it looked (and practically was) forward heavy. That led me to lengthen the tail and make the rear section larger. Then I had to move the engines forward on my own version. Plus the original had tiny little struts to hold the power plants onto the side of the body. Naturally, I redesigned that with something more feasible.

The wings in one of the illustrations were way too small to support the weapon pods. Not to mention that it lacked the mount support structure. So I enlarged the wings. For a fast attack craft, I also swept the wings back.

Lastly, none of the original Orca designs (from the first C&C game and C&C Renegade) had any landing gear. Even the toy suggested it was a belly lander. So I had to figure out a fuselage shape to incorporate landing gear.

The rest of the design I adapted from real-world aircraft. The Apache Longbow and the Comanche stealth helicopter among others.

Oddly enough, I started by building the M230 chain gun you see mounted in the front.






Model and image © Liz Gibbs
All things C&C © Electronic Arts