Some thoughts on this stuff:
1. It's still totally possible to have fighters-that-are-actually-Frigates, using mechanics that definitely limit their availability, however, that's totally not the way the current systems for Wings, etc. are set up.
I realize that cause some absurdity, visually, but I agree with the others on this; Alex's clear intent here was that fighters just aren't Frigates, shouldn't have Frigate-sized graphics, etc.
So, to get from A-->B on the launchable, special Frigates... I did that in Vacuum, years ago, where a special "missile launcher" launched Frigate-sized fighters that were actually Frigates, but couldn't be captured and a few other things.
Totally doable; the problem with incorporating that concept directly into Vanilla mainly has to do with the Missiles having tiers and where it'd go, in terms of relative power level; basically, a Fighter created that way would have to be balanced, OP-wise, vs. having one of the powerful Missile launchers (or, heck, you could go the other way, and have super-weak, tiny drone-like Fighters that launched from ordinary missile hardpoints). That's probably doable, without breaking Vanilla's system or looking visually bad, but it'd also mean that the ships could be missile-heavy, or that missile-ships could suddenly be carriers, etc.