Phillip Thorne
10 May 2002

The _NMS Morning Sun_ is a creation of the "Undocumented Features" crossover fanfic
series (found at www.eyrie.net or www.eyrie-productions.com).  It's a version of a
small executive starship manufactured in that universe (based on the Imperial
_Lambda_-class shuttle from "Return of the Jedi"), modified to support a five-member
travelling news crew (two humans, three droids, and an AI) from "Network 23" (based
on "Max Headroom").  Its most distinctive feature is its color: bright blue.

The official 7166-"Imperial Shuttle" can't be recreated in blue -- not all the
necessary elements exist in that color.  However, I've seen fan renderings of the
_Lambda_-class that use other structural motifs.  Also, the 7166 is built at too
small a scale: e.g., you can't fit two pilots in the cockpit.

For my design, I started with the triangular wing-segments found in the MegaBloks
set 9743-"Blue Lightning".  The dorsal fin's stud-axis is hence orthogonal to that
of the fuselage, unlike the 7166; but it gains strength, plus the possibility to
affix signage in the form of tiles and plates.  The fin-fuselage attachment has
Technic pins on the former side, and Technic hole-plates on the latter.

morning-sun_ref.jpg -- Reference image, from the _Morning Sun's_ EPU writeup at 
[ http://www.eyrie.net/UF/FI/SOS/morning-sun.html ].

morning_sun_01a.jpg -- My first set of prototype segments: partial cockpit, dorsal
fin, port wing.  The cockpit is 12 studs wide; approximating the graceful tapers of
the original will be a challenge.  In front is the crew -- or approximations
thereof.  Pilot Jung Freud has gone brunette, AI director Al Calavicci has suffered
a horrible graphics failure, reporter John "Truss" Trussell has lost his blue hair
dye and enrolled at Hogwarts, and the two camera droids (G-3N3 and R-06R) are
struggling with their gear.