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I’ve committed to a build schedule for the entirety of next year. Since I have waaaaay too many projects in my head, it’s time to select them and get to it with a regular schedule of things I really want to build. So here goes:
December 2017 – January 2018
* S.W. Randall’s display. That’s it. It’s going to take up all my time just to keep this event organized and build for the big finish in January.
* Build some cool Nexo Knights type buildings and vehicles for Phase 5 of the SWR display with a callback to previous phases of the build where possible.
* During this time, break out and build the remaining Nexo Knights sets I still have in the box.February 2018
* Build a Sparrow based on @arcadiumsol’s excellent design. Learn the combination of tight Technic-System combination superstructure techniques from this build, including his “kid-proof” connection techniques and exterior and how to build better weight bearing landing gear.March – September 2018
* Redesign and rebuild all five G-Fighter starfighters.
* Make the fuselages more consistent and with consistent ports to be refueled.
* Design an overhead claw type gantry.
* Make these fighters strong enough structurally and light enough within to be held by that claw-type gantry.
* Design a large, brick built Project G display sign for future displays of the G-Fighters.
Knowledge from and suggestions from @arcadiumsol and you other LUGgers will pay off big here all year long. If I complete one per month, I’ll be golden. I expect delays and difficult design executions. And needed brick.
* If I have time, for fun, build the Saturn V which will remain in box until then.October 2018
* Design and build the Monorail Vic Viper with @randomdan.
* Refine the M-Tron Vic (with henries!) with @randomdan.
* Refine the Tigershark Vic and build the single baseplate diorama around it.NNoVVember 2018
* Enter the NNoVVember event on flickr. I believe this is the 10th Anniversary of NNoVVember, so I’ll have at least six Vics to feature.
* Organize a “Design, Build, Fly” type contest for the end of NNoVVember where I will build a short, proof of concept space shooter video game surrounding one LEGO MOC entered into the contest.
* This means I will not be organizing S.W. Randall’s next year.December 2018
* Begin building my dream MOC, featuring the new FS-38/G Paladin, based on this scene, lighting and all:
Gradius III Intro RemakeAnd that’s my ambitious plan for building this and next year!
Shew. I’m basically just hoping to not end up in the insane asylum because of LUGBulk… if I build something in 2018, it’ll be a bonus!
I am now working on the foundation for the band’s stage at the S.W. Randall’s display.
I’m thinking white, black, blue, purple, magenta and trans-clear bits.
January 22: A BrickLink order arrives. Magenta helmets to go with my hoard of magenta hoses. I now know how fuel is pumped around and what color my UEF faction uses to denote the fuel handlers. I got some letter tiles, 1x blue brick, LBG 2×2 corner brick, black minifig hands for my UEF faction guys, and some assorted orphan bricks.
So today I’m sorting that out and then finally uploading @arcadiumsol’s Sparrow into LDD to examine its structure for the first time.
I now know how fuel is pumped around and what color my UEF faction uses to denote tge fuel handlers.
Or we can use this one. (I’m gonna go ahead and point out that this is Greg’s fault for getting me started.)
https://www.navysite.de/cvn/catcolor.htm
The UEF (the United Earth Fleet) is my first major Space faction. All along, I’ve planned to color code enlisted crew by helmet color and officers by epaulet color.
What’s tge – Ha, I actually got that far typing before I realized that tge fuel is just a typo for ‘the fuel’ #imsosmart I was really trying to figure out what it stood for. From now on, my space vehicles will be powered by Trans-atomic Galactic Efficiency Fuel.
January 23: Loaded LDD with the “white” Sparrow file that @arcadiumsol gave me.
Pulled out the real brick core of the “black” Sparrow craft that Sean also gave me.
Rebuilt my Paladin, as that is my first target for teardown and rebuild based on these techniques.
Loaded LDD with Sparrow copies so I can work through the “black” Sparrow’s deconstruction and reconstruction virtually and in real brick at the same time, noting all of its structure, connection types and detailing techniques.January 24: The “black” Sparrow cockpit has been transferred into LDD in a way I can understand. I’ve unbuilt and rebuilt the black Sparrow cockpit in real brick to understand its original construction. Next up: the main fuselage.
January 26: As much of the Black Sparrow is inside LDD as I need to begin building my own. Sorry, @arcadiumsol, I’m going to cannibalize this one to craft the new one for a few parts here and there. I’m too excited to build a new version of the Sparrow, and I’ve already got a few ideas.
January 26: As much of the Black Sparrow is inside LDD as I need to begin building my own. Sorry, @arcadiumsol, I’m going to cannibalize this one to craft the new one for a few parts here and there. I’m too excited to build a new version of the Sparrow, and I’ve already got a few ideas.
Sounds like you are already ahead of schedule!
January 28: Lunch with @randomdan. Usually fruitful for thought. With the Sparrow stripped down to the landing gear, I realize now that this is not only one of the biggest upgrade challenges I have, but it will take me into Technic territory, where I am not talented.
Also, if I shift from @arcadiumsol’s long snowshoe style struts to wheels, any standard I create there may affect where I place chocks around those wheels. And I’ll need to use the smallest wheels possible while still allowing for weight bearing loads. A nose wheel landing gear run on the same gearing as the fuselage gear would be a bonus.
Finally, any landing gear system I design I’m going to have to build five times within five different models of fuselage. I may have to unify fuselage shapes anyway to allow for gantry claws anyway, so I might kill two design birds with one stone.
Have fun with those wheels, the sparrow uses the “snow shoes” cause nothing else i could find would work in that amount of space.
January 30: Stuck on a solution to use wheels instead of struts for landing gear, I started sorting out of creative frustration. Lo and behold, I found a yellow Technic half bush wedged inside this tire: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3139#T=C
It fits perfectly. This is the smallest weight bearing tire that I think I can use; skateboard wheels are far too small for what I’m doing and require a 2 stud by 2 stud profile. The tire/half bush solution is much tighter and has a primarily vertical profile that I can better work with. Now I can head to the lab now that I’ve ordered 26 of them off BrickLick.
If any other LUGger has these tires, I now want them.
I also see now that the 3139 tire is *very* useful for a lot of things because of its small size, and I may start using it as a rubber dampener or a bumper.
February 1: Black Sparrow fuselage rebuilt. I’ve learned that @arcadiumsol likes to “crosshatch” layers of plate, making one layer run in horizontal lines and the next one run in vertical lines when viewed from above. This makes the build more solid as it balances torsion between layers. This is especially true if the plates have vertical protrusions along the Z axis of the build. This is another example of bracing with elements that work around others.
Next up is tearing down the SWR display and sorting that brick back into the bins. After that, I’ll run through my white and yellow “finishing brick” parts to see if these colors are an option for the new model.
February 4: built and tested the 3139 tires on a new fuselage landing gear. Not too difficult; it takes two 3139s on each “leg”, but I like the double tired airliner look of it. Next up is to replace one side with the old landing gear and take pictures.
February 12: The nose landing gear is going to be very problematic, as it takes up a lot of space on the ventral area of the cockpit box, which is typically a very tight build to begin with and the landing gear has to stow away within its sleek shape.
Technic beams are one stud wide when laid on their sides, and that’s three plates. The Technic half bush is one plate tall when laid on its side. 3+1+1 (one half bush with tire on each side) = 5 plates sideways = 2 studs horizontally. Therefore, tire-Technic beam-tire will fold up perfectly into a 2 stud wide space. That part works.
However, now I need to radically redesign the Sparrow’s cockpit box to allow for:
* the landing gear as close to the nose as possible (I may need to make the ventral surface very “snubnosed” to get the nose landing gear far forward)
* the pilot seat
* connections for instrumentation
* maintaining a sleek look where possible around the sides and under the cockpit box if possible
* smooth transition from canopy to cockpit boxThis is one of the tough parts, balancing all four elements. The Paladin is unsuitable for this new cockpit box, and so I will have to use a different G-Fighter as a base, as each one has a different SNOT arrangement. However, even then, I’m confident that most of the play features of the existing Sparrow cockpit box can be retained. If anything, the ventral surface may need to be sacrificed to get this done on time.
May 10: Escaped a mini-Dark Age and just had to build *something* to feel like this was fun. Rebuilt the QS-1 Alpha drone… almost. Wound up 6 pieces short. Ordered $63 worth of parts on BrickLink. The parts that will finish the QS-1 should arrive today or tomorrow.
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