14 replies to this topic

[SpaceMonkey]

Here's a military MOC I put together in LDraw/MLCAD a few days ago. It's only a virtual model so far, but I've BrickLinked for the pieces and will post photos once my parts arrive. As the parts are already ordered it's a bit too late for me to incorporate any suggested improvements, but I'd still be interested in hearing them.

The vehicle is based on the real world DPV used by US Navy SEAL teams and other US special forces. I opted to make it a two-man vehicle instead of 3-man, I didn't find a good way to mount a spare wheel, and I took certain liberties in representing the rear rollcage (note the added armor at the rear). But other than that, I think it represents the real world vehicle pretty well.

Let me know what you think. The LDraw instruction file will be was available in my Brickshelf folder for anyone interested in taking a closer look.






[Flickr Gallery]

Edited by Rufus, 17 July 2011 - 07:28 PM.
Dead images removed and current images inserted. Indexed

[Milan]

Looks very good to me.
I would just use thiner tires and make bigger ground clearance.

Good job, hope it will look god in bricks, too.
What color did you choose?

Black or dark gray looks like the best choice!

[SpaceMonkey]

Milan, on Oct 11 2009, 01:08 AM, said:

Looks very good to me.
I would just use thiner tires and make bigger ground clearance.

I think it has plenty of ground clearance. Perhaps more than it appears from my pics (about 3 plates worth).

You have a point with the wide tyres though. I tried out various different wheel and tyre combinations, but found that the model as a whole looked too narrow with thinner tyres. So to use them I would really need to find a way of attaching them further out from the chassis.

Milan, on Oct 11 2009, 01:08 AM, said:

Good job, hope it will look god in bricks, too.
What color did you choose?

Black or dark gray looks like the best choice!

I agree! I've tried to match the colors in the pics I posted as much as possible. The only problem parts have been the 1x4 curved slopes at the front of the 'sidepods'. Lego have not produced that piece in dark gray yet, so I've had to settle for that piece in black metallic silver.

Thanks for your comments.

Edited by SpaceMonkey, 22 October 2009 - 03:47 PM.

[Alldarker]

I'm a big fan of military MOC's and this one looks excellent, SpaceMonkey! Like you said, some concessions in the Lego version had to be made, especially in the back part, but the front especially is nice.
Looking at your Brickshelf folder, I must say your LDraw M1A2 also looks very cool! Have you been able to build it in real Lego yet?

[SpaceMonkey]

Alldarker, on Oct 22 2009, 08:52 PM, said:

I'm a big fan of military MOC's and this one looks excellent, SpaceMonkey! Like you said, some concessions in the Lego version had to be made, especially in the back part, but the front especially is nice.

Thanks. I have two of these 95% built in bricks now. I'm still waiting on a couple more BrickLink orders to provide the few remaining parts. I should have everything by sometime early next week.

Alldarker, on Oct 22 2009, 08:52 PM, said:

Looking at your Brickshelf folder, I must say your LDraw M1A2 also looks very cool! Have you been able to build it in real Lego yet?

I haven't tried. I don't have any of the tan bricks or track pieces I would need. Most of my military MOCs were never intended to be more than LDraw models, and this DPV model is the first time I've ordered parts to build an LDraw design for real. That Abrams tank lacks an interior, and other builders have come up with much better ways of doing the angled armor on the front of the turret. But I'm glad you like it!

Thanks for your feedback.

[prateek]

Awesome! It's surprisingly simple but it looks so good

[Ralph_S]

You've really managed to capture the look of these but you've still kept it relatively compact. Nicely done.

Cheers,
Ralph

[L-space]

Very nice.
It may even look great in Dark Green or Tan for desert warfare.
About the tires, you might just switch the front tires for narrower ones. That should give a great look. Many vehicles like this use this. Bigger in the back for the increase in weight and smaller in front because they have less to carry.

[SpaceMonkey]

prateek, on Oct 23 2009, 08:56 AM, said:

Awesome! It's surprisingly simple but it looks so good

Thanks. You're right that it's a very simple and conventional build. That's one drawback of starting in LDraw, as any ingenious parts usage might not work as well in the brick as it appears to in pixels.

Ralph_S, on Oct 23 2009, 06:27 PM, said:

You've really managed to capture the look of these but you've still kept it relatively compact. Nicely done.

Cheers,
Ralph

Great, that was definitely the goal. You're Mad Physicist on Flickr? Awesome. I love your military models (especially your aircraft!) so your feedback means a great deal to me.

L-space, on Oct 23 2009, 07:14 PM, said:

Very nice.
It may even look great in Dark Green or Tan for desert warfare.
About the tires, you might just switch the front tires for narrower ones. That should give a great look. Many vehicles like this use this. Bigger in the back for the increase in weight and smaller in front because they have less to carry.

Yes, I think it looks good in both dark green and tan as well (that's the beauty of an LDraw MOC - it's very easy to switch the colors around!). But I'm not sure that you'd be able to get all the parts in those colors.

On the wheels/tires, I agree that the thinner type tires would look good, especially at the front. But as I mentioned above, they would need to be attached half a stud further out from the chassis to look right, and that would require a major rebuild. Also, I'm not keen on different wheels for the front and back for operational reasons. A vehicle like this needs to be able to change tires in case of puncture or battle damage, and for that it helps if the same spare tire can be used for both front and rear.

I mentioned in the first post that I failed to find a way of attaching a spare tire, but after building it in bricks I've found that a spare tire can hang nicely over the gunner's backpack stored on the left side above the rear wheel. Another pleasant surprise was that I found that the gunner can be inserted and removed from his rear seat without having to disconnect any of the rear rollcage assembly. I was expecting to have to pull one of those 1x4x2 bars off to get him in and out of there.

I'm still waiting on wheels, heads, backpacks, and some 1x2x1 panels, but I'll post more pics once they arrive.

[SpaceMonkey]

I'm still waiting on those last few parts, but in the meantime here's a WIP shot of an MH/AH-6 Little Bird helicopter I'm working on.

[pic removed]

See this thread for the completed design.

Edited by SpaceMonkey, 06 November 2009 - 04:49 PM.

[Legostein]

Hello!

Now that is a nice helicopter! I like the use of the old windscreen, reminding me of all those great helicopters from the 90s. As a minor comment, I would suggest that the support which connects the tail and back rotor with the main body should be two plates high as it looks a bit thin.

Cheers,

~ Christopher

[SpaceMonkey]

Legostein, on Oct 27 2009, 01:19 AM, said:

Now that is a nice helicopter! I like the use of the old windscreen, reminding me of all those great helicopters from the 90s. As a minor comment, I would suggest that the support which connects the tail and back rotor with the main body should be two plates high as it looks a bit thin.

Thanks. I agree on the tail boom, and have made it two plates thick.

I finally got hold of my last Bricklink orders, so here are some pics of the DPVs:

Edited by SpaceMonkey, 28 November 2009 - 11:32 AM.

[Zepher]

That looks stunning.  Good work, andvery good representation of what you were trying to build.

[Milan]

Hey, you have build it!
When something look so good in CAD, it has to look good in reality, but this looks even better. I really like your vehicles. Color is very appropriate for this type of vehicle. Chopper is beautiful, too!
Keep up, man!

[Ezechielle]

It is always better when there are true pictures

Very nice job!