22 replies to this topic

[brickmack]

Starting in December or January (I don't remember which) I started working on a SHIP, inspired by various ships from Halo, BSG, and a few other series mostly. I've made a few other attempts at making SHIPs before, none of which were successful, but since I've learned a lot about structure and my collection has grown tremendously since those attempts, I decided to try again. This SHIP will, when finished, be a bit less than 7 feet long, about 2.5 feet wide at the widest point, and be a bit less than 3 feet tall including the stand. Currently its exactly 5 feet long, and just over a foot wide, and by my estimate contains more than 20,000 parts. The current working name is Tormentum (catapult) but that may change in the next few months as I continue work. And now some pictures (sorry for the low quality of some of the pictures, I just used a cell phone camera for most of these because its a real pain to position my regular camera because of the tripod)


20120219_145951-1139195407 by brickmack, on Flickr

The bottom spine of the SHIP during early construction. Basically a 4 foot long tower of stacked 2x2 bricks with 2x2 technic bricks placed throughout, then with long technic beams attached to the 2x2 technic bricks. 3 technic structures stick down from the bottom as well, forming the stand.


20120220_153550760795353 by brickmack, on Flickr

At this stage I've finished the spine, and started attaching the angled side panels using #4 angled technic connectors, strengthened by technic parts.


20120228_064830-1366164965 by brickmack, on Flickr

I then placed plates on the frame, and used 1x4 SNOT bricks to make it studs up (the frame was studs down so stuff cn be easily attached on the bottom)


SHIP WIP by brickmack, on Flickr

Adding more detail and structure and such...


SHIP WIP by brickmack, on Flickr

More stuff was added, and here is the whole thing. It's from a few weeks ago so there is a lot more progress now, but I haven't photographed it yet.

[Gory51]

I like the idea of an upside down studs for the bottom frame. :)

That shot of the rear tower up close is looking really neat, some nice details there, and not overdone on greebling.

Cant wait to see this completed, keep us posted ;)

[brickmack]

Gory51, on 29 April 2012 - 04:46 PM, said:

I like the idea of an upside down studs for the bottom frame. :)

That shot of the rear tower up close is looking really neat, some nice details there, and not overdone on greebling.

Cant wait to see this completed, keep us posted ;)

The tower is actually at the front of the ship. I had imagined it as a part of the main weapon on the ship (A large magnetic cannon like the MACs in Halo). The engines will be attached as a separate section on the back (connecting using technic pins and axles so it's strong enough to stay in place, ut still removable) which will be about 1 foot long total. On the front, sightly above the tower, will be 2 prongs about 2 inches wide and 5-7 inches long with the opening for the cannon in between.

[Cooper Works]

Look forward to seeing this one completed!

[Si-MOCs]

I love the name!  

Really great seeing how people build their SHIPs (though I have been secretly stalking this build on flickr) - surprisingly? I have never built one - though I have longed to do it for awhile.
So seeing posts like this is really inspirational for me.

SHIP questions:
How stable it is? it looks like you were able to pick it up entirely and move it on the table?

Does this come part? are you planning on transporting this anywhere / is it possible?

[brickmack]

Si-MOCs, on 29 April 2012 - 11:10 PM, said:

I love the name!  

Really great seeing how people build their SHIPs (though I have been secretly stalking this build on flickr) - surprisingly? I have never built one - though I have longed to do it for awhile.
So seeing posts like this is really inspirational for me.

SHIP questions:
How stable it is? it looks like you were able to pick it up entirely and move it on the table?

Does this come part? are you planning on transporting this anywhere / is it possible?

It seems to be pretty stable, though the legs are a bit wobbly. I'm hoping that will be fixed when I have the parts to build the 3rd leg (its just sitting on the front 2). The SHIP itself is fairly strong.

This so far is one section, and the forward prongs and the engine section will be detachable. I had originally planned on displaying it at at least one show/convention before decommissioning it, but that seems rather unlikely for several reasons: The main section is 5 ft long, will weigh over a hundred pounds (more than I weigh), and I'm not certain it will be strong enough to survive long distance transport. And I'm on the 2nd floor of an apartment also. Once I finish I will try to transport it and display it somewhere, but its extremely unlikely that I would even be able to move it out of my room without it cracking in half.

[Gory51]

brickmack, on 29 April 2012 - 07:10 PM, said:

The tower is actually at the front of the ship. I had imagined it as a part of the main weapon on the ship (A large magnetic cannon like the MACs in Halo). The engines will be attached as a separate section on the back (connecting using technic pins and axles so it's strong enough to stay in place, ut still removable) which will be about 1 foot long total. On the front, sightly above the tower, will be 2 prongs about 2 inches wide and 5-7 inches long with the opening for the cannon in between.

Aha, interesting. I get so used to ship designs with towers at the rear such as Star Destroyers from Star Wars. Its good to see something different. :)
What you describe above sounds very cool. Looking forward to seeing the end result.

[brickmack]

Gory51, on 30 April 2012 - 02:15 PM, said:

Aha, interesting. I get so used to ship designs with towers at the rear such as Star Destroyers from Star Wars. Its good to see something different. :)
What you describe above sounds very cool. Looking forward to seeing the end result.

The bridge will be on a tower also (though only an inch or 2 tall) towards the middle of the ship on the top. At this scale, it will be pretty tiny, probably just 3-4 studs wide and a bit longer than that.

[ZCerberus]

That is pretty badass.

[brickmack]

UPDATE:

A few new pictures of more progress, getting a lot done recently.


SHIP WIP by brickmack, on Flickr

I've added more technic structures to the inside, added more details, and did some more work towards the back of the ship (I'm building this roughly in layers going front to back, moving aft as part supply allows).


SHIP WIP-Docking Bay by brickmack, on Flickr

I also started on these docking bays, wich allow a smaller ship to enter and dock internally with the ship. Probably going to be lots of detailing in this area. A ship I made a few weeks ago is in the docking bay to show size.

[Captain Smiley]

WOW!thats impressive!
its been so long sense ive had any legos in my hand and ive been thinkin of building 1 beast like yours!
some how it never accurred to me to use any color peices i want on inside! its taking me forever to get astock pile of the required pieces for my idea! YOU SEEM TO HAVE A VERY NICE STASH OF BRICKS! thanks for posting WIP! its very informative and looks great!

[brickmack]

Captain Smiley, on 03 May 2012 - 12:34 PM, said:

WOW!thats impressive!
its been so long sense ive had any legos in my hand and ive been thinkin of building 1 beast like yours!
some how it never accurred to me to use any color peices i want on inside! its taking me forever to get astock pile of the required pieces for my idea! YOU SEEM TO HAVE A VERY NICE STASH OF BRICKS! thanks for posting WIP! its very informative and looks great!

Thanks. It sounds like you're just getting into LEGO, so if you want to make a SHIP, you will need a lot of parts first. This ship isn't even half done and already has more than 20,000 parts by my estimate. Parts that seem to be particularly helpful are technic parts (mainly the beams and brick parts) and basic bricks and plates (which can be found fairly cheaply in the tubs sold at many stores). I also recommend starting smaller, to learn about newer techniques and such, before building a full SHIP. I wish you luck in all that.

[Rook]

Mmm. Rainbow guts. Looking good. Yeah making moveable SHIPS is all about designing in sections.

Edited by Rook, 04 May 2012 - 04:15 PM.

[gotoAndLego]

Looks great so far; the real challenge is to keep the hull from looking like just a bunch of plates. I always admire people who make SHIPs and I always have a Space Battleship Yamato in the back of my head.

[brickmack]

gotoAndLego, on 04 May 2012 - 06:09 PM, said:

Looks great so far; the real challenge is to keep the hull from looking like just a bunch of plates. I always admire people who make SHIPs and I always have a Space Battleship Yamato in the back of my head.

Yea that is a bit of a challenge. I'm trying to give it an armored look, with a lot of large areas without greebling and stuff, broken up by big sections of greebles. An older picture of the bottom section:


SHIP WIP by brickmack, on Flickr

The part I'm talking about is the angled section towards the bottom, unfortunately I dont have a good image of just that area. Anyway, most of the exposed studs will be covered in 2x2 tiles (what was I thinking...), broken up mainly by the large sections packed full of greebling, and the pipe looking things between those. There will be other small vents and such, but mainly outside of those 2 things, it will all be plain tiles.I think this design works well for the "armored but detailed" look I'm going for.

[brickmack]

So its been several weeks now since I've posted anything here, so here is a bit of an update on progress.


SHIP WIP by brickmack, on Flickr

This greebly section is (probably) the shield generators, one of the bits of this ship that I particularly like. I added this on shortly after my last update here.


SHIP WIP by brickmack, on Flickr

That whole area of the ship right now.


SHIP WIP by brickmack, on Flickr

And the entire ship thus far. Some may notice the lack of a Tower Bridge behind it. I moved it somewhere else and moved the table out from the wall, so I can work on the other side of the ship. That side I had never been able to see very well before, so most work was done by feeling. Surprisingly I got everything in its proper place...


SHIP WIP-Command bridge and surrounding stuff by brickmack, on Flickr

And this is a little section for the top of the ship (which I will start on in about 4 months if all goes well) that I did when I was running low onparts for the part of the ship I'm working on now. This will be the command section, with communications directly behind, and most of the escape pods behind that (Because there just isnt enough life pods for all of the thousands of people aboard, and the people in charge think they deserve life pods. Also, because I really don't feel like adding 750 life pods on this thing...) When finished this will be about 2 feet long.

And thats it for this post. Hopefully my next update won't take as long as this one did...

[Alexandr]

Well thats impressive How did you make that thing what is on last image?

[brickmack]

Alexandr, on 30 May 2012 - 08:19 PM, said:

Well thats impressive How did you make that thing what is on last image?

The curves are done using these, layered for strength, with these and these used to attach plates at an angle. Technic supports then hold the back (non curved) section in place, to minimize wiggling. Then plates and wedges cover up the middle of it, and the top is built on that.

[soccerkid6]

That command bridge looks great  
Your SHIP seems to be coming along nicely! I'm sure the finished project will be stunning  

[Si-MOCs]

Looking great.

I agree with the others, that bridge is awesome!
Thanks for sharing how you did it.

It's a shame you won't be bringing this to BW :(

[brickmack]

Si-MOCs, on 31 May 2012 - 12:41 AM, said:

Looking great.

I agree with the others, that bridge is awesome!
Thanks for sharing how you did it.

It's a shame you won't be bringing this to BW :(

I was hoping to bring this to brickworld or somewhere else, but that unfortunately won't be happening. Even if I could get it out of my house intact, and into the car, I won't be able to go to BW Chicago this year... Really the only show I COULD display it at without too much risk of it breaking in 30 different pieces (again, assuming I can get it out of the house) would be BW Fort Wayne, since that's where I live. If I ever try this again, I'm definitely going to put more thought into movability...

[cornbread]

Very cool!

[DraikNova]

It´s looking really good now. The bridge and the generators look really detailed. That´s exactly what´s necessary to make a SHIP looks great.