[MOC] Time & Space Vessel

[KDog]

I have a book and other stories I'm writing or have written about a group of motley time and space travelers who get around in a vessel that has mysterious origins. It was only natural that I would try to create the ship and main characters in Lego. I had an earlier version of them all that I sadly neglected to photograph before taking apart. It's no big deal, though, because I made a second version of the ship, based closely on the original design but improved. It's slightly bigger and has a color scheme I really like, thanks to being able to order most of the parts through LDD. The ship in the stories is more purplish in color, but I'm happy with the way this came out. First, here's the ship from a few different angles:

Both the original ship and this version had a cockpit area that was too delicate and would sometimes break off. I managed to fix that; it's secure now, but is delicate during assembly until you get all the pieces in place. There's still one slight problem, though. As you can see in the pic below, the cockpit opens in a way that I thought worked nicely, since you get to see most of the inside. However, the black canopy piece will snap off if you apply too much pressure when pulling it up. I secured it the best I knew how, but I still want to improve this.

Here's the back of the ship. The rear hatch opens to release a dune buggy that is stored inside. Useful in exploring new environments... or going out for a beer!

Finally, here's the minifig crew, along with a shot of the whole set. One drawback I'll admit to is that all the minifigs can't really fit inside the ship. The cockpit is tight, but you can seat a pilot. (There are two levers and a control panel in the cockpit, btw.) The rest of the space in the ship is taken up by the dune buggy, which unfortunately can not seat a minifig while inside the ship because there's not enough height clearance inside the ship. The buggy does fit snugly inside, though. If you leave the buggy outside, you can seat most of the figures on the floor inside. It would be cool to one day make a larger version of the ship.

Hope you enjoyed my first real MOC posting! I would appreciate all your comments, good and bad!

K.

P.S. On a related note, I've been doing this experimental blog where I post the draft chapters of a novel as I write them, read the constructive criticism, and then will use in that in writing the next draft. It's scary for me, since some of the material needs a lot of reworking. However, the book is about how the ship and characters shown above in Lego start their adventure: http://bovinemoon.blogspot.com/

Edited April 10, 2008 by KDog

[Pencoin]

nice moc shame you couldnt fit those guys in.

be sure to tell us when the story is finished

[KDog]

If you mean the novel? Gonna be awhile, lol. Work in progress.

As for the the ship, aside from making the black canopy more secure, I'm pretty satisfied.

[Asuka]

An interesting story and a cool ship in a neat color scheme and in a distinct shape with fine 'engines'. The buggy looks good too and

your MF characters´re also pretty nice. *thumbup*

[Batbrick]

A great moc here KDog, I love the idea of a more chunky and bulky ship. At first i wasn't sure, but after looking at the other pics I really came to like it. It's a great design, the black at the neck really helps it and I love the thinck "wings" at the back. The cargo door with the "beer" buggy is just too cool, and I like your minifigs as well. A couple of things I could see battered are mainly at the nose. While I'm no "sleek freak", I thing the sides could have a couple of curves or slopes to make it less plain and flat, and a few slopes or curves at the gap between the top of the craft and the window to keep the chunky look buut remove a bit of the boxy. Apart from that i love it, thanks a heap for sharing, i had never thought of making a ship like this, I might try and make my own one (different of course, but same chunky style) if that is okay with you.

I'll have a look at that blog sometime too, your story sounds very interesting and I'd like to check it out.

Batbrick Away!

[KDog]

Thank you for the excellent critique, Batbrick. A couple people have suggested I break up some of the blockiness, especially near the front of the ship, and I am going to try that. I think a few red triangluar sloped bricks might do the trick. I think I have some of those around to spare. And I'd love to see your version of a ship in this style, if you're so inspired. My feeling in creating this ship was a cross between the space shuttle and the old Battlestar Galactica ships. What I like about how this design came out is the thick, long front section of the ship and the stubbier wings in the back.

Edited April 13, 2008 by KDog

[Stauder]

Aww... I was expecting a T.A.R.D.I.S.

Still cool little (Ok it's quite big) ship you have there! Reminds me of the shuttles from StarTrek...

Ye Olde Staudieth.

[KDog]

Yeah, LOL, I guess the TARDIS is usually the only game in town on that front. I have seen at least one TARDIS MOC around these parts.

And you're right, although it hadn't hit me before; the vessel does resemble the shuttles from DS9, like the Rio Grande.