GeOrc

Hi Bob, I also have to say that your City built and especially your greeble look very good. It catches much more the layered plate feeling of the original film model compared to the 10221. The only point to improve would be, that in the moment the whole thing looks a bit vertical layered and it would perhaps better look horizontal layered, also turned by 90° somehow. Also I missed some of the links between buildings from the film model. What do you think? One questions: Are some of your blocks are repeating elements or are these all unique? I thought about replace the blocks of my 10221 by blocks inspired by your design. I think this could be a nice modification! Keep up tyour awesome work! I´m looking forward to your next update. Kind Regards, GeOrc

How I have said, I love your creation and think you have showed a very good design which improves the model without building a completly new and different one! Thankk you for your further advice. I hope you will post the above mentioned pictures :) Some notes, I think I started to understand the lowering the city process! In the beginning I thought you did this to change the silouette of the city. But after this comment: I think you did this because lowering the city was necessary to change the angle of the top hull plates and closing the gap between top hull and tail. Correct?? Regarding: I think this part wouldn´t be to diffucuilt to rebuilt. Just lowering the connection plates the engine section hang on? More difficult is still this part: I will go again through your pictures and try to identify were you raised the whole thing by this plate. My column modification and the sourranding is completly identical to your design. So the change you made have to be in the basic structure of the original ship bottom.raising everything visible by the new plate otherwise I would have identified it. Perhaps you can take a closer look at the "tail fin" LDD file and compare it with your ship. The plate have to be missing in the LDD design, because it reflects the whole tail fin including the column link. The last thing I redisgned by your pictures were the middle engines. These are beside the pipe structure element of the engine section my moste favorite design. Especially I love the cooling fin design made of tooth plates you created there. Totally awesome!! Again I rebuild it best by what was visible on your pictures. . Some questions - what bricks are hidden behind the three cooling fins? - is there a 1 x 2 plate behind the angular bricks which hold the taps - do you put the 2 x 2 round plate in the old position or moved it by one stud? For shure I will strenghten the hull plates when working next time on the hangar bay. I don´t know if I will go at once with the closed design and try the hanging position but I think further or later I will try the hanging it from the ceiling ;) But step by step. I have learned a lot following your steps and I think there is more to learn :) Thanks for your support and your advice! Kind Regards, Georg

Hi Morten, here is my progress after a further session of modding the SSD. This time I concentrated on the tail fin and some modifications in the engine section. Because I had to open again the complete hull I also rearranged the snout of the destroyer. Thanks to your advice it was no problem to replace the original part with an enlargement of the A-frame structure! Additionally I added two layers of the bottom plates extracted in the first session for adding some stability. It needed some time for getting the right amount and in enough distance to the hull plates and therefore free of conflicting with them. I plan something similar to the hanger opening for filling the gap. Thispropably will make it necessary to extract the single row of plates I added to your design for gaining more stability in the top area. You can see this row in this picture: I think I had to remove them again to have enough space for a closed hangar bay plate. Therefore my plan for a second layer of hull plates takes more and more shape. Here an LDD File which visualize the combination of hull and hangar bay: SSD - MOD - Bottom Hull_rebuild-GD.lxf The disign is a bit to large in the moment butI think something in this direction could work. How you can see there is enough space in the back area of the hangar bay: The main Problem will be the the top area. Therefore the bottom plate have to be small and "just" fitting would work best. You can see also That I have 3 plates distance between hangar and the column. How much space you have there? Also can you perhaps add a picture how your bay area looks in the moment for comparisson? Here the rear column: . How you can see on the column modification there is still this one plate missing you changed. With help of your pictures I tried to find out there you have added this one additional plate but can´t finde ist. In my opinion I had done similar to you, but I see the difference in the column which will only fit lowering the whole thing by one plate and as well I can see it on the fin tail which reveals a much bigger gap than I can see comparing it with your pics: Perhaps you can take an other look at my tail-fin.lxf file and compare it with your design. The 12 x 3 wedge plates and the fence based all on their original position. Somethere you have lowered the whole construction but I can´t find. Your tail section is also a part full of questions. The gap between top hull plate and engine section / tail is still big and mine looks still bigger than yours even with your added modifications. Here a close up pic: Do you also have a gap left between these parts? Also I had problems with some of your additions. In your pics it looks like the inclined surface hits exactly the engine. Also it looks like you fixed it on the hull otherwise, cause your angle had a sharper decline. How you can see in the pic I wasn´t able to reproduce that. Same same for your added element before the one which holds your inclined surface. I can recognize of which parts it consists but I have no idea how you fixed it on the ship?!? The more I deal with your design and your modifications I recognize how much passion and creativity you put into this. I´m getting more and more respect for your skills. It´s already hard to follow your path, unbelivable how much passion and patience it needed to create it! Many thanks again for sharing your work and your support Kind Regards Georg

Hi Morten, many many thanks for your help and advice!! And many thanks for your kind words. At first I want take care for the fin tail because it is the part missing and that annoyed me the most in the moment. I carefully studied your pictures and it took me a while understanding what you have done there. But now I thnink I got it. One problem of my design was removing the 3 x 12 wing plates from the old hull which (if I understand right) you used as a frame for your construction. I´m also not so shure where you extended the space between column and hull by one plate. That´s why I have rebuilded the whole part in LDD: tail fin.lxf Parts in which I´m not shure I have marked in red. It would be very nice if you could take a look at it and if you would give me some feedback and correction tips. Many thanks in advance! Kind Regards Georg

Hi Morten, thanks for your nice words. Meanwhile I have built my SSD and also already added your bottom. How already mentioned in my own topic: http://www.eurobrick...showtopic=76132 I hade some problems, especially with stability. By these problems the idea was born of a second hull layer which could improve the whole structure. Additionally I had my problems with the column hull connection. In the moment the column is an artefact based on a flat hull design. I asked myself if a column modification is possible which can carry the SSD freely, but that´s a problem to be solved after a hull is designed which will make this necessary. Therefore I go back into the LDD and based on your original design I added a second layer of plates, added plates in the column position, connected the hull with the fin tail and tried to design everything with nearly correct angles compared to your hull study. Here is my first DRAFT: SSD - MOD - Bottom Hull_rebuild-GD.lxf you can see that there are som ugly gaps at the fin tail and at the engine cut-out. There could be also a problem withe these, cause I don´t know if the cut-out is big enough that these will still fit in. I tried to use the original construction as a reference but it opens up due to the added angle of the hull. However it´s a first design which could be improved by some iterations. Also it´s only a virtual design... I don´t know if it would work in practice. A further problem coud be that the hull has now to much weight and that the hinges are perhaps no longer able to hold it in place. Perhaps here a new linking method would be needed for example something similiar to the engine section - frame connection. Additionally there would be need for some armature inside the SSD forcing the weight through the hull plate towards a newly designed column. Ok, so far my first ideas while walking on your path. Let me know what you think and I´m really looking forward to the discussion with you and all the SSD fans here. Kind Regards Georg

Hi all, I´m new to this board and beside some questions in the LDD area and here in some SSD topics this is is my first own topic. I will present here my UCS 10221 Super Star Destroyer. I purchased this massive vessel some weeks ago and the last weekend I took a whole saturday for its construction. After quitting with LEGO Space 20 years ago this is ship brought me back into the hobby. The construction was a lot of fun and I felt again like a child building space crafts on the floor. The only difference was that me knees hurt like hell after 8 hours of building but some beer and pizzas helped me through the day. I think this day I will always remember, so I have to say thank you LEGO for this amazing memory. Here some pictures of my new living room decoration: Allready before building the destroyer I read here through the topics and I found some awesome conversions of this ship for example from Mortsev and scratch build vessels for example from Skyen. Even if it is an awesome model it has its weaknesses. I really love the super star destroyer and it´s my favorite piece of the star wars universe. I can´t say how often I watched The empire strikes back because of this awesome model. Being very succesful in the model hobby (Fantasy miniatures) since 12 years now I often thought about building my own SSD using one of the existing resin kits or building one from scratch. That´s why I already collected a lot of references and read through a lot of model sites. While a real model can be very close to original model miniature the LEGO one is limited by the shape of the existing pieces, being conctructable and a lot of other compromisses made for offering a sellable product. A lot of compromisses on the model I don´t like. I won´t go into detail because these have been discussed here in the board several times. Also some very talented members here have modified their SSDs or build theirs from scratch. I have to mention here the on from Mortesv which I like the most. It still based on much of the original miniature while a lot of the "bad" parts have been replaced and with each iteration the miniature has come closer to the original fil model. This MOD is so inspiring that I decieded to try to modify my own SSD. Becuase beeing new in the hobby and having less experience my second decission is to follow the modifications Mortesv has made. He already supported me by answering a lot of questions and I hope with his help I will get an awesome MOD and that be both can develop the SSD further and together take it on the next level. Here a link to Mortesv topics which are truely inspirational: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=64362&st=0&p=1161969&hl=UCS%2010221&fromsearch=1entry1161969 http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=66846 I decieded starting with adding a new bottom. Therefore I constructed the Mortesv conversion in LDD for getting an idea what parts are needed: SSD - MOD - Bottom Hull.lxf I followed his description in his topic. removed the hull plates, constructed the new bottom and added it to the frame: It looked much better than the original flat bottom. Nethertheless I feel a lot of stability has gone. Also the conversion makes a lot of other conversions necessary. Also my design has some weaknesses. I don´t know how mortensv has solved these problems but I hope he will find this topic and will help me again with his advice. Some general Problems with the new hull plate: First I have to say that Mortensv construction is very brilliant. I didn´t though that it would be taht easy reconstruct it and put it on the frame. Unfortunatly the plate is very thin and consists only of one plate fixed by one row additional plates. Especially beside of the hangar the connections are very weak. Therfore I decided to strongen the construction by adding one additional row of 1 x ? bricks to get the hole thing more stability. I ask myself if it wouldn´t be possible to add a complete second layer of plates for adding the whole thing more stability. Additionally this would give the bottom plate more the look similar to the top plate. a problem could be that the connections hinges could have problems with the additional weight. But I think it is worth a try. Now some more specific problems with my design. In these cases I don´t know how mortensv solved these problems because detail pictures are missing. I hope the discussion here will help to refine these areas. 1.) The snout: I was able to put back the top of the trench which I think Mortensv has replaced or leaved. Unfortunatly the snoutof my SSD brace in all directions. The last hinges of the bottom hull are in a very large distance to the snout so that the hole top has much instability. I´m looking forward for your ideas how this problem could be solved. 2.) The tail fin towards the engine section: In the moment it is missing. Unfortunatly mortensv didn´t include it in his pictures there he showed the assembled bottom hull. I also don´t know how and where he fixed it. This part I have to add next. Also very confusing is the connection of the column with the ship. I tryed to convert it similar to Mortensv modifications but when doing so the hull is pushed nearly flat towards the ship.I didn´t changed it´s position, perhaps there is need for this and also enlarge the distance between columns and the hull. Also I don´t like the cut out necessary for the column. By adding more space between column and ship it is perhaps possible to go with the original design of the columns or at least identical modified columns. I think this part is an area for further development of the MOD 3.) The Hangar Bay: In the moment it´s an ugly whole in the bottom. On this pic you can see the additional row of bricks I added on the inside of the hull plate for adding more stability. I think the Hangar Bay offers also a lot of possibilities for further development of the MOD. In the moment it is closed very badly. I didn´t know hoe Mortensv solved this problem. Also his whole modifications concerning lowering the city are some mystery for me. On his pictures I wasn´t able to reproduce which plates he has leaved or replaced and how he closed the hangar bay with dark grey plates. I hope he can send some better pictures. Nethertheless the ne hull plate offers the possibility adding a nice hangar bay and I´m thinking about how best to install this. Snot down like on the engine section fitting now to the hull or going with snot up fitting towards the actual direction of the hull plates. Some ideas? At end a further close up of the new hull: I think it looks so much better compared to the original one. I´m looking forward solving the remaining problems to get a nice overall look. A big thank you to Mortensv for the research and his inspirationl work and you for reading and hopefully for your feedback. Let me know what you think, Kind Regards Georg

Hey Morten, many thanks for the link and the additional pics. And many thanks for the inspiration... and no fear I won´t be discouraged, more motivated. I hae some ideas by myself to improve the model and I see a lot of room for a future discussion about parts and modifications :) I´m happiely looking forward to tomarrow building my model. The first deliveries with parts for the modifications have already arrived and I can´t wait to start my own SSD MOD. The last days I have studeied your model and also translated your bottom modification in LDD SSD - MOD - Bottom Hull.lxf I don´t know if you use LDD by yourself, if so I would be thankful if you could take a look if the size and parts are correct. I understand that you connected the areas with the hinges. would this be enough because as I understand and see correctly you only fixed them on the outside frame. Do you have some link in the middle of areas? How these stay in place? Also a view which is missing is how you created the space around the rear collumn and the end of the bottom wings. I can see on the pics that you modified the collumns and the middle hull end was modified and placed with angles as well. It would be nice to have a closer look at this part. The modification most difficult to understand in the moment is how you replaced the minifig bridge. If you find the time it would be nice to learn more how you start, what ideas you have and how you receiced your result. The more I studied your model the more I have to say that this is truely inspirational. I think more questions will appear as soon as the active part has started. Many thanks for your support and for sharing your creativity. Kind Regards Georg

@ all, many thanks for your quick reply and all your help in this issue. @ Gnac, that´s a very elegant solution of the problem! Many thanks for sharing! This was my first LDD construction and I learned a lot of the basics. Time for the next step, and try to create some more complex LEGO kits! I never thought this virtual constructing would be so much fun :) Kind Regards Georg

Hi all, I have the following problem. I constructed an old spacecraft consisting of different components which can be seperated or combined for playing. The components were builded seperatly in the instructions and then have to be linked. I found no possibility to connect these parts because the software always tries to link bricks to each other but not single components. These looks difficult for me, because different parts grab into each other to hold the component in place. Is there a possibilty to move complex parts freely? The lxf file is attached, I hope you can see my problem. Thanks for helping in advance. Kind Regards Georg Raumschiff.lxf

Hi skayen, thanks a lot for your inspirational built and the detailed search and comparisson work. Looks like your pretty beast will be one of the most authentic SSD constructions in the end. I´m a big fan of the ship and deal with the theme since many years. I followed a lot of discussions in the star ship modeller scene even if never starting constructing my own. However there a different Resin Kits out there, namely: Scale Solutions Korbant Knightwire The Scale Solutions Kit is very small and I don´t know if this one is the best reference. Many modellers say that the Knightwire SSD model is more authentic compared to the movie one. For example, see discussion here: http://www.therpf.com/f11/knightwire-super-star-destroyer-5-761-fibers-72919/ Also I would direct you to a 72 inch modell made by matt meyers: http://mtmeyerstudio.com/?p=141 Matt builds a lot of stuff from scratch and very close to the movie references. I think this could help you perhaps in you scale and referece search. Please continue sharing your awesome work! Kind Regards Georg

Hi Morten, I just have bought my own SSd 10221 Model Kit and patiently it will wait until next weekend for its construction. However I already have started looking for modifying the vessel because I´m not so happy with some parts of the original. During my search for references I found your impressive variant. I have to say I really liek what you have done on the SSD and it looks absolutly authentic! That´s why I like yours most so far because it based on the original kit and everything closer to the original movie version have to be constructed from scratch in my opinion. Perhaps this will be a future option for me but because I just have started again with constucting LEGO (I collected LEGO Space in the 80´s as a child and quit in the early 90´s) I will start with the original kit and like to follow your modfications. I already started to reconstruct some of your conversions in LEGO Digital Designer to get a detailed idea what bricks are needed. Partly this worked very well but in some cases some more detailed pistures for reference would be very good. That´s why I would ask you if you could PM me some more detailed pics of your SSD, so that I´m able to continue my virtual construction and enlarging my shopping list :) Many thanks for sharing your excellent SDD model. Kind Regards from Germany Georg