21 replies to this topic

[Tuskano]

Hey there,

Well, with the talk of Lego ships for EVE online and a Rifter frigate passing CUUSOO, I decided to continue with an older project and put the big Y8 project on hold before I go into the dark ages because from it.

My project is a UCS Reaper.  The Reaper is the rookie ship for the Minmatar race, but with it being smaller then most other frigates I can actually try at building it minifigure sized.  Hence it being a UCS.  I have more about it here on my MOC page, but I'll go ahead and keep the talking short and just post some pictures of my progress.  Enjoy.

[DLuders]

Nice size and detail!

[Tuskano]

Thank you!  And good shot of one too, I plan to maybe stick with the old style turrets like those as I always perfered them near the wings on this ship.

The progress I made today when I get into a building mood. ;)

Edited by Tuskano, 07 May 2012 - 07:37 AM.

[Superkalle]

Hi there

It's really nice that you share your build here on Eurobricks and I just say the look really good. However, we prefer that people LDD MOCs in the respective theme. If you post here in the LDD section, you must share your LXF-file, and the work has to be of such kind that it can be of interest to other LDD builders to study techniques or similar.

Anyway, keep up the good work  

I'm moving this to the Sci-Fi section.

[Gory51]

This looks very nice, but could I give my opinion?


I think making EVE ships is an awesome idea and I want to try this as well, but everyone seems to be starting with the smallest ships in EVE and making them quite large to accommodate minifigures.

I would suggest scaling down the ships with a lot less parts. This way we can build the bigger cruisers, battlecruisers and industrial ships all approximately to scale later with the frigates that are appearing now

If I get around to making some EVE ships, I would probably not go for an interior at first at all. It would be easier to scale down this way.

I like what you have achieved with the shape and the detail so far, and how you have constructed the "wingy bits". Lets see who gets that EVE joke, lol

Just some thoughts, and I hope I have been helpful.
;)

EDIT: Adjusted some statements after looking at the MOC link  ;)

Edited by Gory51, 07 May 2012 - 05:30 PM.

[Tuskano]

Superkalle, on 07 May 2012 - 02:55 PM, said:

Hi there

It's really nice that you share your build here on Eurobricks and I just say the look really good. However, we prefer that people LDD MOCs in the respective theme. If you post here in the LDD section, you must share your LXF-file, and the work has to be of such kind that it can be of interest to other LDD builders to study techniques or similar.

Anyway, keep up the good work  

I'm moving this to the Sci-Fi section.

Ahh, alright then, no prolbem.

Gory51, on 07 May 2012 - 05:22 PM, said:

I think making EVE ships is an awesome idea and I want to try this as well, but everyone seems to be starting with the smallest ships in EVE and making them quite large to accommodate minifigures.

I would suggest scaling down the ships with a lot less parts. This way we can build the bigger cruisers, battlecruisers and industrial ships all approximately to scale later with the frigates that are appearing now

Ahh... well I had started this awhile ago so the scale for it was already set.  Basically I wanted myself another UCS Millenium Falcon-like ship, but this one with more detail.  I might make a scaled down version later, but I want to try minifig as I actually am able to accomplish that with LDD lol.  If I only had regular Legos I would have made it a smaller scale.  

So far, the other Reapers I have seen built only have a one man cockpit, even though it says it is one step above that.  I wanted to make a Reaper that fit the detail.  Looking at the size charts, it is slightly smaller then a Slasher which is 47 meters.

I think everyone is making the smaller ships because they can make it big enough and still pack it with alot of detail.  Plus they are easy to hold and to display heh.  Which mine... if it were ever made, might not be fitable on a shelf lol.

Gory51, on 07 May 2012 - 05:22 PM, said:

I like what you have achieved with the shape and the detail so far, and how you have constructed the "wingy bits". Lets see who gets that EVE joke, lol

...its got a proper name you know! :p

And thank you!

Edited by Tuskano, 07 May 2012 - 08:55 PM.

[Tuskano]

Decided to try out an idea for some retractible landing gear.  Even with the suspension pressed all the way down, the engine doesn't look like it's going to hit the ground.  Might be thinking of eventually having all the landing gear connected by gears so if one was moved then the others would.

[Gory51]

Tuskano, on 07 May 2012 - 08:14 PM, said:

  I wanted to make a Reaper that fit the detail.  Looking at the size charts, it is slightly smaller then a Slasher which is 47 meters.

I think everyone is making the smaller ships because they can make it big enough and still pack it with alot of detail.  Plus they are easy to hold and to display heh.  Which mine... if it were ever made, might not be fitable on a shelf lol.


...its got a proper name you know! :p

And thank you!

Ah Ok, no worries

Could you maybe post a screenshot of your minifigure area?  Would like to see how you are planning the layout there.

;)

[Tuskano]

Gory51, on 08 May 2012 - 10:04 PM, said:

Ah Ok, no worries

Could you maybe post a screenshot of your minifigure area?  Would like to see how you are planning the layout there.

;)

Sure, later tonight I'll get some screenshots and post them :)

Edit:  Put all the pictures up on my flickr page.  I have a feeling that will be where I pour all my little detail pictures at.

The cockpit (It's won't be using a pod yet... but I might make another version that can hold the pod afterwards)


The main room



The cargohold... Legomen have to duck in it as it is only 4 pieces tall, but the Reaper was a skinny ship to begin with.  I would think the cargohold even this big might have been an afterthought. (yep, that is a custom Rock Raider scout speeder there... always loved the design of it)



No real good pictures yet of the pilot's cabin but it has yet to be finished.  Right now it is more of a back room with a foldup bed, a closet, and a computer.  Think of something along the lines of Mal's cabin from Firefly with foldout toilets and stuff.

Ah, and here is a early design when I was thinking how to have the inside.  The 5 rectagles made from 4 boxs around the ship are where I was thinking of where the landing gear was.  You could kind of see where i was thinking where everything was at.

Edited by Tuskano, 09 May 2012 - 01:32 PM.

[Si-MOCs]

Very cool ship.
I'm really liking the interiors!

The three seats / table area that also opens up is pretty neat

Are you planning on building this in real life?

[Tuskano]

Si-MOCs, on 12 May 2012 - 04:59 AM, said:

Very cool ship.
I'm really liking the interiors!

The three seats / table area that also opens up is pretty neat

Are you planning on building this in real life?

Thank you!  Yea, I like how the table turned out... I plan on maybe making more of the interior foldable/hidable.  I need to give the ship a kitchen somewhere heh.  Right now I am focusing on the bottom and toughening that up.  Along with making a extending boarding ramp.  Plan on maybe posting pictures when that all gets organized.

Hmm... I might in the future, but in my current state of where I am living would not work out.  Currently live in Navy barracks... so my physical Lego collection is 2 ships and some minifigs lol.  So that is why I have been heavy on building using LDD.  But when I get out of it, I plan on using bricklink to make myself a real version.  That will also be the day when I pull my UCS Millenium Falcon and my Surosuub yacht MOC out of storage.  It will be awesome seeing the ships together!

Edited by Tuskano, 12 May 2012 - 08:30 AM.

[Tuskano]

Worked more on the pilot's cabin in the back along with adding other details.



And eveything opened!  It's got a smuggling hold!  :D


And more of the exterior done.  Gonna have to think how to make the top sail secure and still have access to the main room under it.


Edit: So far so good...

Edited by Tuskano, 14 May 2012 - 02:28 AM.

[dandexter]

That's an awesome MOC, keep up the good work.

Edited by dandexter, 14 May 2012 - 11:42 AM.

[Tuskano]

dandexter, on 14 May 2012 - 11:42 AM, said:

That's an awesome MOC, keep up the good work.

Thank you!

[Tuskano]

An update.  A hard spot I found that left me musing over was the middle section, where the two halfs come together by using what looks to be just framework.  I finally found a good enough way to do the trick that at first seemed backwards.  But in the end it came together smoothly.  If you were to open it up, it would be hard to tell and look as if I were in a trance and just doing my own thing lol.  Hopefully it will hold the weight if it were made in real life.  

The ship looks alot nicer and now with that out of the way, I can focus more on getting the angles more right, attaching (and finishing) the last two engines, and adding the two more sets of landing gear.  Then later I'll worry about the panels/wings.  Enjoy :)







Edit: Oh, and it has also hit its 5000 piece mark too >.<

Edited by Tuskano, 18 May 2012 - 01:19 PM.

[Tuskano]

Well, it has been acouple of days since I last updated here.  Since last post, I had installed the last two engines as well as added more detail to them.  This night I just finished adding more plates, along with the starboard side wing.  It is slowly filling out.  Soon I will be filling out the inside of the starboard half of the hull to give it more ballance and make it less fragile.  Then adding the other landing gear :D




I also was curious on how big it was compared to the UCS Millenium Falcon.  So I decided to try to look for it in the LDD thread of official Lego sets and found the one made by Yellost.  Side by side their size shows well.  The Reaper I am building will be about half of another YT-1300 longer as it has the antennas and the other wing/panel that needs done still.

[Garyn Dakari]

Whoa. Very impressive work. Love the interiors!

[Tuskano]

Garyn Dakari, on 21 May 2012 - 07:19 AM, said:

Whoa. Very impressive work. Love the interiors!

Thank you!  She will be a beast... I still need add a kitchen though lol.  So far the pilot's cabin has a small bathroom with a mirror and a computer.  Will have to take pictures of every corner once it is all done.  But yea... I have been talking back and forth with my little brother about it and then sent him the pictures above with it next to the YT-1300.  He loved it.

[Tuskano]

A new update with more work done to the underside.  I had flipped the ship to make my work easier.  So far it looks like it will only have room for 3 of my landing gears unless I add another under where the pilot's cabin is.  Now that I have been thinking about it (and as I was typing this), I might end up adding it there.  It looks like it would make things about even on both sides.




Underside of the engines.  I put some pieces between the hull of the ship and the engines so if they do droop down, they would rest on the pieces and not just fall off... that would be embarrassing. >.<

[Ssorg]

Would love to see this made in real bricks...  

[Tuskano]

Ssorg, on 25 May 2012 - 11:21 AM, said:

Would love to see this made in real bricks...  

Lol, I am with you there.  It is at 6103 bricks so far, so it would be a nice subtraction from my wallet.  The funny thing is the trend I have noticed is that every creation I had built on LDD has appeared either in the past or I had ended up buying >.<.  I don't think this won't be any different.  Just for this one I will have to wait till I have more room to build it.  Otherwise I won't have any floor to walk around on.

[Tuskano]

Well, the Reaper is now just about finished.  The only thing it lacks is a kitchen.  I also want to make a second cockpit design to house a capsule like within the game, but I want to finish tweaking the ship here and there first until I am completly satisfied.  Here is a final shot of it.  I have more pictures on my flickr account as well.

Enjoy!