Omni Scale Gorn G-8 Lizard Local Defense Fighters

The Gorns are six-to-seven-foot-tall, 350-pound, cold-blooded, egg-laying, reptilian humanoids bearing a superficial resemblance to a T-Rex or Raptor. Despite the fearsome visage, they are actually quite civilized people who run one of the few democracies in the galaxy. The Federation and Gorns met in a border incident in which two hot-headed captains shot first and faced embarrassing questions later. (A Federation corporation built an unauthorized colony outside of Federation territory. The Gorns saw a few Vulcans and thought the colonists were Romulans (with which they had fought wars for over a century.) Diplomats smoothed everything over and the Gorns became the most stable ally of the Federation. (The Gorn legislature’s reluctance to spend money or join the Federation's war limited this alliance during some periods.)

The Gorns needed fighters and quickly, when these small attrition craft came to dominate galactic warfare. They bought various types from the Federation, although they were unhappy with the available designs (which were older models the Federation had discarded). The biggest problem the Gorns faced was themselves. The average Gorn was simply too big to fit inside a fighter designed for the average humanoids of the Federation. The handful of genetic dwarves among the Gorn population could not provide anything like the number of pilots needed, and the percentage of dwarfs who could do the job was no higher than for any other population. The simple solution was for the Gorns to hire Skoleans (a reptilian species that was a member of the Federation and admired the Gorns) as “contract pilots” (i.e., mercenaries). The Gorns purchased large numbers of (and eventually the entire production facilities for) the obsolete Federation F-8 fighters and modified them to replace the drone rails with plasma-D torpedo rails. These were used by Gorn colony planets for local defense. They were replaced by G-20s during the General War.

This comb of fighters is available in a variety of materials. Ships are unpainted, use standard flight stands available from many sources, and, while designed for gaming, make fine display pieces.