Rufus

MOC: The Bullfrog

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Deep in the interstellar wastes, a shadowy clan known as the Gleaners eke a living by salvaging scraps of wreckage from the Great Galactic Conflict. Their ship - known as The Bullfrog - is a former Galactic Recycling Vessel from the days of prosperity before the Conflict fragmented the various peoples of the galaxy of Androgyna and destroyed all its infrastructure. Once a great fleet of these vessels roamed the vast gulfs of space, keeping the galactic highways free from debris; most were destroyed, but the Gleaners have commandeered this remaining example for their own ends.

Port side low

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This low view highlights the Bullfrog's design purpose. The large forward ingress bay scoops up debris and garbage, which passes through the blue force-shield and into the main processing area. A large articulated claw on the starboard side can be used to grab any tricky pieces of wreckage.

Two military-grade lasers, mounted on the forward aspects of the hyperdrive engines, are intended for cutting up larger chunks of wreckage. Their ability to divide spacecraft hulls does, of course, provide another function in these days of galactic instability.

The port side also features a docking port:

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Once, the Galactic Recycling Company's green livery covered the entire upper surface of the hull. Only a few areas of green paint remain.

Starboard side

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Here you can see that the Bullfrog has not escaped the Galactic Conflict unscathed. A large area of hull has been compromised by laser damage. Fortunately, she's a tough old thing, and no critical equipment was damaged.

The claw folds down along the starboard side when not in use:

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Landing mode

When planetary landing, large struts deploy from the forward aspects of the lower hull panels:

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In landing mode, you can see how the Bullfrog gets her nickname:

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And here she is docked on the watery planet of Skcirborue:

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(Landing pad by Pandora)

Crew

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The cockpit seats four crew. Here we see the Gleaners chief Gothma supervising her minions. More crew (not shown) are required to operate the processing machinery in the main hull.

The garbage entry port, open and closed:

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The blue force-shield keeps the hull airtight, but the port cover prevents unwanted debris (asteroids etc.) entering the processing area.

Rear

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The main sublight thruster glows yellow. The sensitive machinery around the thruster is protected by the four fins which project from the hull sections.

Builder's notes

The Bullfrog is a complex build. The main hull is built around two rings of clicky hinge-bricks in octagon shapes, with eight hull panels attached studs-outwards. The cockpit area sits studs-up on a SNOT base; beneath this is some greebling attached studs-downward. Most of the interior is taken up with the Power Functions battery box; if the lights are removed, it would be possible to add some interior detail. The thruster light is a PF light-brick.

Finally, here's a long-exposure shot of the lights:

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Thanks for reading! More pictures on flickr.

Rufus

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Hello!

What a fantastic starship design! :classic: And it's also an original idea to design a recycling vessel. The concept and realisation is well thought out. :classic: Then there are furthermore all those individual details on the ship. The idea of featuring some combat damage is a good idea as well!

Simply a pleasure to explore this vessel! :sweet:

Cheers,

~ Chris

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AWESOME 'Rufus', and including lighting plus the battle damage makes it AWESOME.

It reminds me of a ship in an 1980's sci-fi comedy series from the US about intergalactic rubbish collectors and how this guy and his crew saves the day every time.....dam it, what was it's name - it's Google time....I'll edit once I find it.

Brick On 'Rufus' ! :grin:

Found it, quick edit time....well I saw it in the 1980's but it was 1977 series QUARK.....and here is the space ship from it.....

300px-QuarkShip.jpgQuark TV Series

Edited by lightningtiger

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Very nice, love the detail and background story. This ship has character. It's rickety but sturdy at the same time.

Also, it reminds me of both Thunderbird 2 and Firefly. Although the latter is quite differently shaped when it boils down to character they're not that far apart, I reckon.

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I love this model, Rufus! :wub: It's definitely got the feel of an older, patched up craft originally used for the dirty jobs. All the functions are nicely integrated, and the lighting is the icing on the cake.

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This is simply a fantastic build Rufus, looks like your expanding your expertise from reviews and now to MOCs. :wink: I love the effective combination of greeble details with the overall patch-work design of this ship. The lighting function certainly adds a whole new dimension of coolness factor, and definitely made this a quality addition to the EB World of Lights Collaborative Display at BW. Excellent work! :thumbup:

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Rufus this is AWESOME! :thumbup: The subtle green markings, and the light BLEY really compliment each other. The lights and the landing gear are great too!

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Don't get me wrong here, I'm not claiming to be an expert MOCer or anything, but this is a ship that I'd be happy to attach my name to... I love the overall concept of this ship, and the story, especially the practicality and history.

You've got my vote for EB Space MOC of the Year... it's a shame there isn't an award. :laugh:

Wonderful work. :wub:

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I really like how you've achieved that old battered look. It really is beautiful in all its hideousness. :grin:

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I love the colour scheme! You've definitely managed to achieve that worn, damaged look, and it looks really good. The lighting and functions are really good, and I love the final shot with all the lights glowing. Well done, and thanks for sharing!

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I'm not usually a visitor to the Sci-Fi forums, even though I am a big fan of Sci-Fi TV & Books it has never crossed into my Lego building, but this ship was worth the visit.

I love the fact that you have a whole back story to it and the design is fantastic.

You've got my vote for EB Space MOC of the Year... it's a shame there isn't an award.

Mine too, maybe there should be an award, someone should suggest it to someone in Admin :wink:

D

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This has a perfect ''space look'' around it. :wub:

The color scheme, the shape, the background story.. perfect! Guess this would also fit the Star Wars theme good too.

Edited by Hollander

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Wow. Very cool.

I love the little battle damage on one side. And all the little details.

How did you get the lighting effect? was it a single light source in the ship's cavity? or were there multiple lights?

(I assume the pontoons had their own light source)

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What a fantastic starship design! :classic: And it's also an original idea to design a recycling vessel. The concept and realisation is well thought out. :classic: Then there are furthermore all those individual details on the ship. The idea of featuring some combat damage is a good idea as well!

Thanks Chris! Truth is it didn't start out as a recycling vessel, but as the design progressed it seemed a fitting occupation :classic:

AWESOME 'Rufus', and including lighting plus the battle damage makes it AWESOME.

It reminds me of a ship in an 1980's sci-fi comedy series from the US about intergalactic rubbish collectors and how this guy and his crew saves the day every time.....dam it, what was it's name - it's Google time....I'll edit once I find it.

Found it, quick edit time....well I saw it in the 1980's but it was 1977 series QUARK.....and here is the space ship from it.....

Thanks, 'tiger! I've not seen QUARK, and I'm a little saddened to find out it's not an original idea. Oh well, someone's gotta keep space clean :snicker:

Also, it reminds me of both Thunderbird 2 and Firefly. Although the latter is quite differently shaped when it boils down to character they're not that far apart, I reckon.

Cheers, Eating TV ( :oh: ) I don't know Firefly, but I can see the TB2 similarity. It also bears a passing resemblance to the Futurama spaceship - entirely unintentional :blush:

This is a wonderful ship. I loved thelighting and the overall build.

Wonderful MOC. :classic:

Thank you, Daniel's Dad!

Very cool back story and great design.

Thanks!

I love this model, Rufus! :wub: It's definitely got the feel of an older, patched up craft originally used for the dirty jobs. All the functions are nicely integrated, and the lighting is the icing on the cake.

Thanks, Brickdoctor! I've taken a leaf out of Lucas's book and gone for a 'used' look.

Love the design of the ship! :cry_happy:

Cheers Ralph!

This is simply a fantastic build Rufus, looks like your expanding your expertise from reviews and now to MOCs. :wink: I love the effective combination of greeble details with the overall patch-work design of this ship. The lighting function certainly adds a whole new dimension of coolness factor, and definitely made this a quality addition to the EB World of Lights Collaborative Display at BW. Excellent work! :thumbup:

Thanks, Kiel! I think it got kinda lost at BW with all the other amazing stuff going on. Though I wish I'd registered it.

Rufus this is AWESOME! :thumbup: The subtle green markings, and the light BLEY really compliment each other. The lights and the landing gear are great too!

Thanks, Masked. I was particularly pleased with the landing gear (I love working landing gear :wub: )

Don't get me wrong here, I'm not claiming to be an expert MOCer or anything, but this is a ship that I'd be happy to attach my name to... I love the overall concept of this ship, and the story, especially the practicality and history.

Thank you, Sieggy! I could call it The Walrus if you like! :grin:

And thanks for frontpaging! :cry_happy:

I really like how you've achieved that old battered look. It really is beautiful in all its hideousness. :grin:

Rick you cheeky devil! That was the intention :tongue:

I saw this in the MOC you guys made. I'm glad you decided to show this because it is really amazing!

Thanks Nightshroud! Glad you liked it.

I love the colour scheme! You've definitely managed to achieve that worn, damaged look, and it looks really good. The lighting and functions are really good, and I love the final shot with all the lights glowing. Well done, and thanks for sharing!

Originally it was all bley/dark bley, but I really liked the splash of green. I had to buy an Atlantis set specially to get the green cockpit roof :blush:

I'm not usually a visitor to the Sci-Fi forums, even though I am a big fan of Sci-Fi TV & Books it has never crossed into my Lego building, but this ship was worth the visit.

I love the fact that you have a whole back story to it and the design is fantastic.

Thanks, Dazmundo!

This has a perfect ''space look'' around it. :wub:

The color scheme, the shape, the background story.. perfect! Guess this would also fit the Star Wars theme good too.

Cheers, Hollander! I thought about making it a SW ship, but I figured I then have to engineer it into the story somehow. I kinda like it in its own universe :classic:

How did you get the lighting effect? was it a single light source in the ship's cavity? or were there multiple lights?

(I assume the pontoons had their own light source)

It's mostly done with PF lights:

8870-0000-xx-12-1.jpg

... and a large battery box in the hull. The rear thruster has a light-brick. I'll upload some build pictures soon (be warned, it's not so pretty inside :blush: )

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Here's a look inside:

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The forceshield lights are three PF LEDs wedged into some technic bricks - nothing fancy. The green light in the cockpit is a single LED through two 1x1 trans-green plates.

The engine lights:

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And the thruster:

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Fantastic starship and amzing lights! :laugh:

I like the picture with the water underneath :thumbup:

Thanks! See more here.

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I'll upload some build pictures soon (be warned, it's not so pretty inside :blush: )

Here's a look inside:

What? not pretty?

I think that's one of the sexiest things I've ever seen.

PS - Dark green awesome pallet choice.

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I love it the design is flawless! Great work on the angles too Rufus, I

like the story behind this it really reminds me of a spaceship from the thunderbirds.

6a00d8341d6d8d53ef014e860d4d31970d-250wi.jpg:excited:

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I absolutely love the idea of a space-flying dustcart! Excellent in both concept and execution. :thumbup:

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Excellent MOC, excellent presentation, the color scheme, the back story... Very well done!

Thank you for sharing the "making of" pics as well.

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