About the Avenger
The Avenger class serves as the main gunship for the C Quadrant Defenders, as well as its primary method of deploying Z series combat robots into the field.
The unique geometry of the Avenger is designed around a pair of folding winglets that pivot between a stable landing configuration, and a flight configuration.
While folded back, they provide extra shock absorbtion for the main assault gun, which can be pivoted to use as a ground emplaced weapon.
These winglets fold forward for flight, bringing a pair of wide set missile pods to bear.
The Avenger cannot land safely with the winglets in the attack configuration, as they would damage the missile pods if a pilot were to try landing in that configuration.
The main assault cannon folds forward in flight for targets directly ahead of the ship.
In doing so, the main sensor array is tucked into the dorsal hull, protecting the sensitive equipment from the main cannon's shockwaves when it fires during atmospheric combat.
Apart from the assault cannon, the missile pods bring a considerable variety of firepower to the Avenger, featuring three kinds of missiles:
- Neutron Wave rockets
- Anti-fighter rockets
- Armor spasher warheads
Underneath the bridge are a pair of chin-mounted medium point-defence turrets, individually targettable.
They can be fire linked, and directed forward for strafing runs.
The interior of the ship is separated into 3 sections: bridge, hanger, engine room.
The bridge has a pilot and navigator in the typical forward positions, with a central captain's chair.
The back of the bridge has a pair of stations for weapons system operators, able to independently target the chin turrets.
These crew members also serve as robot controllers, responsible for guiding the Z series combat robots on board to their targets.
CQD combat robots lack complex enough automation to follow complex orders, and need the help of a human operator backing them up.
The middle of the ship contains the hanger, able to carry up to four Z series combat robots, with space for two more in emergencies.
The hanger needs enough free space to store, repair, and launch the robots freely.
Robot mechanics have control over the giant hanger doors, and a radar screen to see robots coming in to land.
The robots' armory is also stored here.
Taking up the largest space in the aft of the Avenger is the ship's engine room.
The armory is located here, along with the ship's fire fighting equipment, and tools.
Should any robot parts require repairs, there is a workbench dedicated to the job at the center of the room.
Power distribution controls are located adjacent to the pair of dedicated power generators.
Smaller ships use dual-purpose atomic reactors for both propulsion and general power, but the Avenger class requires significantly more redundancy for combat.
The rear of the engine room has a pair of large atomic reactors dedicated to providing propulsion.
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The Avenger class gunship parked, with winglets folded back.
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The rear of the gunship, with the main assault cannon stowed, and winglets rotated backward for landing.
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The side profile of a landed Avenger is rather ungainly looking, but it provides extra stability for operating the main cannon on the ground.
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With the gun tilted back, the main sensor dish is exposed.
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However, with the gun tilted forward in the primary firing postion, it fields the largest field weapon in the CQD arsenal.
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The bridge of the Avenger is not much bigger than that of an Odyssey class.
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Now for the real party trick of this gunship: the winglet mechanisms. After takeoff, the winglets move into a flight position...
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Like so. This brings the missile pods into firing position, and raises the landing gear.
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Missile pods contain Neutron Wave rockets, anti-fighter rockets, and armor smasher warheads.
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Here we see the main sensor dish and antena array.
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Which stows into the body when the main gun is lowered into position.
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The chin of the ship contains two medium point defense turrets.
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Above the hanger in the center of the ship sits many of the ship's secondary systems.
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The back of the Avenger contains a tight cluster of four engines, and the breech of the main gun precariously nestled between them.
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Massive side doors on the hanger protect the contents within.
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These hanger doors slide open to allow Z series combat robots to exit, even in flight using their thruster backpacks. Here we see a Z4 preparing to launch.
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The crew of this avenger: captain, pilot, navigator, two weapon systems operators/robot controllers, robot mechanics, and the engineer.
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Inside the ship, we see the engine room. Two large atomic reactors on the right feed the engines, while two power generators on the left supply all the other systems on the ship.
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This room also contains damage control equipment, engine status panels, and the armory.
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There is also a selection of tools available to service the complement of Z series combat robots, and some workbench space for working on pieces of those robots.
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Behind the central engineering console is the door to the hanger space.
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The hanger is a bustling hub of activity on an Avenger class gunship. Mechanics work tirelessly to repair and rearm their robots, in this case, quite literally for a Z2.
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When stowed for flight, 4 robots can comfortably fit within the space, along with their weapons.
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Here we see the door to the hanger, and stored robot-sized weapons.
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The doors usually stay closed in combat. On the left are the door controls, on the right is the radar screen to watch for returning robots and other threats worthy of closing the doors.
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The white doors at the front of the hanger lead to the bridge.
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The bridge is quite small by comparison.
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At the front of the ship sit the pilot and navigator respectively. The captain has a central seat to view all of the action.
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Behind the captain sit both of the weapon system operators, in charge of the individual chin turrets when precise aiming is required. They also serve as robot controllers, guiding the automatons to their targets.
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The pilot and navigator need to see everything, but have no lateral windows. Armor plating took priority over visibility.
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I orginally posted this to MOCpages on September 16, 2006.
I think I got the name from a Dan Jassim ship known as the Nasal Avenger.
I took alot of design inspiration from his work -- if you're reading this Dan? Thank you!
So no, it's not in reference to the movie series that you're thinking of.
I remember being inspired to take a crack at larger space ship designs, and so I figured I should start with a small design that I liked and scale up from there.
I had been tinkering with a pair of 2004 Creator Pod sets on road trips ( 4346
and 4335 in particular).
I had fashioned this little gunship with swing-wings, a pivoting oversized cannon, missile pods on the sides, and small guns on the nose.
The sheer size of the set was beyond anything I had built prior, and would require somewhere along the lines of 8X the parts of the Odyssey.
So I assembled this massive ship, draining large swaths of my parts resources, and trying my best to stay faithful to the original miniature version.
The core of the ship was small enough, but the gun and the winglets proved to be a major structural challenge for me.
The pivot points were by no means strong enough for the job, and the landing legs frequently fell off.
The engines felt undersized, the big hinge on the cannon didn't make any logical sense, and overall it felt underappreciated when it was posted online.
I remember that this was the first time I added greebles to something with the hope of placating critics of my work.
However, there is so much that I still love about this design, and it has good bones to turn it into a more realistic vessel.
The concept of how to integrate my Z series combat robots into the space fleet is the core of the design.
Why? The height of the robots determines the size of the hanger.
The future of this ship is bright, it just may take some time to get there.
As of the time of reposting, this is still the largest LEGO creation I have built.
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| General Characteristics |
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| Name | Avenger |
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| Type | Gunship and Robot Carrier |
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| Affliation | C Quadrant Defenders, Earth |
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| Armament | 1 x Superheavy assault gun
2 x Medium point-defense turrets
4 x Neutron Wave rockets
16 x Anti-fighter rockets
4 x Armor smasher warheads |
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| Propulsion | 2 x Extended atomic reactors |
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| Decks | 1 |
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| Crew Compliment | 8 + 4 x Z series robots |
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