Showing your true colours
The Phantom is a single-seat aircraft built by Hammond Aerospace for both atmospheric and exo-atmospheric combat. It is the successor to the Hornet and used solely by the IMC. It can be found on multiple multiplayer maps as well as be seen flying in the background. Even tough the Phantom can not be piloted by the player in the game, its presence helps characterise the IMC as a galaxy-spanning military force. It is therefore an important part in making the Titanfall universe a believable and realistic world.
In the first Titanfall the IMC, one of the two main factions, lacked a clear visual identity. In concordance with realistic combat scenarios, the game is void of bright and flashy colours and instead the design of the vehicles and soldiers remained inconspicuous. Consequently, the IMC identified mainly by shades of grey while the Militia used olive and brown painted vehicles, Titans and armour. The Phantom was no exception and was painted mainly in black with some highlights in dark blue, making it difficult to clearly assign it to one faction or company.
This all changed with Titanfall 2. The introduction of a single-player campaign made it vital that the enemies of the player have a noticeable affiliation, consequently necessitating a visual identity for the IMC. The colour palette chosen was white-orange-grey, which was subsequently used for their vehicles and many of their installations. The in-game models for the vehicles stayed vaguely the same but were extensively re-designed, with the Phantom undergoing the most significant changes.
To accurately recreate the colour scheme seen in-game and in the official concept art, I used custom shades in addition to original LEGO® colours. While the white (Colour-ID 1), light bluish grey (Colour-ID 86), dark bluish grey (Colour-ID 85) and orange (Colour-ID 4) livery is achieved exclusively with official LEGO® parts, some of the highlights are either chromed or spray painted. The bronze parts on the boosters and air-intakes, for example, are chromed as are the titanium highlights on the main cannons. Meanwhile, the flaps behind the engines are painted in gunmetal. The combination of those different techniques makes the model unique in its colour scheme. The printed parts, which are all official LEGO® parts, lend some additional texture. My favourites here are the black dots on the winglets (Part-ID 3024pb010) and the grey bolts on the engines (Part-ID 3024pb011).
Spread your wings to fly
As mentioned above, the Phantom not only received a new colour scheme in Titanfall 2, but an extensive redesign as well. The most notable change was the addition of wings adjacent to the engines, which give the Phantom substantially more visual presence. The winglets at the tail were changed, too. They now mimic the front wings and have a small cut-out in the middle.
When building them in LEGO®, my initial design used solely wedge plates, but those have a studded surface and do not allow for many details. Therefore, I changed the design to be able to use bricks and slopes instead. This made the wings a bit thicker, but allowed for a smooth surface and additional colour details, like the grey stripe on the front wings. The only part for which I kept the wedge plates were the cut-outs of the winglets in the back, which could thereby stay as thin as possible.
Since the main body and tail feature a similar sharp-bend in the middle as the AV-22 Sparrowhawk, I approached them in a similar way. The specific hinge pieces used were albeit different for the Phantom in order to give the built more stability.
Equipment to fight Titans
To properly set the scene for the Phantom, I created some additional elements from the Titanfall universe. The 6x6 vehicle on the left is called Samson and was also redesigned for Titanfall 2. It received a more aggressive front and a more angular cabin. In the centre of the picture, two pilots talk about the coming battle, the left of which is inspired by the Stim Pilot from the game. Some canisters and a staircase for the Phantom round out the scene.
I own the skies!
You can buy the instructions to build your own Phantom here:
Render of the finished model