by Jan Pieter Vrolijk

The Kadeshi Swarmer, as it is called by Kushan Fleet Intelligence, is the mainstay fighter of the religiously xenophobic inhabitants of the Garden of Kadesh nebula. A fast, light strikecraft typically deployed in strike groups of 12, using the fighter's impressive speed and agility to swarm enemy ships and overwhelm them with a hail of fire from it's powerfull twin mass drivers. When the Kushan fleet first entered the nebula the speed and firepower of the Swarmers they faced far exceeded anything they had previously encountered. However, the light weight and powerful engine that make it so successfull leave it with little armor, high fuel consumption and small fuel reserves. This means that during longer sorties Swarmers frequently have to refuel at fuel pods that are hyperspaced in just outside the combat zone, and the destruction of these refueling ships quickly leaves the swarmers dead in the water, flying on maneuvering thrusters only.

After the battle for the nebula, many of these drifting Swarmers were captured by the Kushan, although some of the religious fanatical Kadeshi pilots preferred to self-destruct rather then be captured by the enemy. Captured Swarmers stayed in service in the Kushan fleet until the end of the Homeworld War and the lessons learned by studying them were applied in later Hiigaran fighter design, most noticeably the Kiith Somtaaw's unmanned Drone Swarmer.

I sculpted the master in several parts out of car body filler. I got a silicone cartridge from the supermarket and applied several layers with a brush to make the molds. I made seperate molds for the hull, the gun pod the engine grating and the thruster nozzles. I rotocast the whole thing with polyurethane resin. The resulting cast took a bit of sanding and filling in places but didn't look half bad, all things considered. I had to re-cut the panel lines where I sanded though.

I then took apart one of those fake LED candles and used it as a stand. The model's held up by wires going up into the gun pod where the orange LED sits in the gunpod and shines up into the engine compartment. The battery and switch from the candle are still in the base.

I used an airbrush for the white and gray panels, did the rest by hand and finished by inking the black bits. Finally, I glued the hull and gun pod together and painted the base black.

Image: Front view

Image: Engines (lights on)...

Image: ... and off

Image: Right side

Image: Left/front view

Image:Right/front

Image: Right/rear

Image: Top/right/rear

Image: Right/front

Image: Top

Image: Size comparison