[MOC] Can-Cell Heavy Fluttercraft - 75261 Alternative Build

[Per_SW]

Hello everyone!

In the last few months I've seen quite a share of comments regarding the size of the 75261 20th Anniversary Clone Scout Walker, and about it being almost a direct recolor of the 75002 AT-RT.
I too was not that enthused about its over-sizedness, already having a viable -if still not perfect- AT-RT from the latest Juggernaut, but when I found the set at a nice discount last month I caved in and bought it regardless.
Then started the search for a nice alternative that didn't break up the trench or spider droid, but I came out empty handed, and so started the tinkering: I wanted to use only the pieces from the walker to make something that retained a "Kashyyyk" feeling, at first going for a Swamp-speeder/Catamaran hybrid, but never getting to a satisfying result. Or a complete build, to be honest. After that I found a video turning it into a quite finicky Wookiee flyer, and that's where the inspiration came, so I started again from scratch, and I am happy to present the Can-Cell Heavy Communication Fluttercraft.

IMG_20190827_033754

Getting it's name from a native species of Kashyyyk flyers, the Can-Cell Heavy Fluttercraft is a Republic produced flyer inspired by the civilian Wookiee Ruddaugh Gnasp, meant to be used by the clones stationed there to better navigate the immense forests of Kashyyyk and provide mobile comm support where needed. Lightly armed, the flyer seats a crew of two: a pilot -usually a wookiee during the Clone Wars, but mainly to teach the personnel how to fly through the dense vegetation of the planet- and a gunner/comm operator.

Also, none of this backstory is in any way canon, if you were wondering, but it felt a nice touch to add. Here are more pictures.

Opposite side with studshooter
IMG_20190827_033935

Rear view of closed rear hatch with main comm system and rear cannon

IMG_20190827_033955

Side view with hatches open

IMG_20190827_034031

View of the "interior" with hatch/wings structure removed

IMG_20190827_034107

 

The result may not be the prettiest, but nevertheless I'm happy with it. It uses most of the pieces from the walker and a couple of the extra pieces included in the set (most notably the tan droid arm), the only addition made from my spare parts bin are two DBG clips with handle (one to hold the rear gun and one on the right side, for the smaller comm dish) and a LBG 1x1 round stud with hole (also on the rear gun). Anyway it was a fun build and it was nice creating a backstory for the vehicle.
As always feedback is the most welcome, let me know what you think. :)

[Ellisss_2]

Great alternative, reminds me of the Wookiee ship from the Wookiee attack set 7258 with the antennas on top.

[Per_SW]

1 hour ago, Ellisss_2 said:

Great alternative, reminds me of the Wookiee ship from the Wookiee attack set 7258 with the antennas on top.

That was in fact what inspired the build :) Thanks for the feedback

[BEAVeR]

Another Lego Star Wars alternate build, yippy! And a very interesting one too which makes the most out of the limited part selection of a small set

The connection to the Kashyyyk fluttercraft is immediately obvious without any need for context from the title or your text, so you've definitely managed to distill the essence out of Wookiee engineering. It's more than just those antennas/wings at the top. It's also the spindly structure of the canopy (also echoed in the use of the droid arms) that looks both strong and light, and the mix of curved and spikey elements all over the ship that make it feel so organic. Really good job observing the references and paying hommage to them with your limited part selection! At the same time, your design has a different flavour from for example the fluttercraft that appears in the movie. That one seems to be more inspired by a dragonfly while yours reminds me more of a bumblebee with its more rounded shape and less protrusions, all the way up to those 1x2 grated cheese slopes that kind of mimick those typical insect eyes. This alternate build challenge definitely brought out your creativity, and I would love to see how you would elaborate on this with a more extensive selection of parts!

One thing you maybe could improve then would be the legibility of your design. Admittedly, you already have a pretty strong silhouette and I can clearly identify the most  critical parts of the ship and see that it has Kashyyyk DNA, so that's already a great job, but the bottom half of the ship lags behind a bit I think. It has no real flow to it, no clear singular shape but instead a variety of angles, textures and colors not really moving in one direction. Maybe you could try clustering the shapes a bit more. For example, I would try to more clearly separate the part responsible for communication and the part responsible for defense of the ship. The communication part is themed around round parts, the dishes, while the defensive/aggressive part is all about being sharp, just like the stinger of a wasp. So try to use your spikey elements to converge more towards the weapons side. Those slopes and wedge plates would play off a gun barrel which is angled down perfectly to direct the flow of the ship towards the business end, so try to orient more slopes to point towards the weapons and maybe also use the more angular droid arms with the same purpose, so all hard elements guide your eye towards a single location, with the antennas/wings as one of main guides. Also keep up the great use of color you have now, of creating the highest contrast in color (i.e. light green vs dark grey) towards the sharp parts as sharpness in geometry and color go hand in hand, but maybe try to cluster it a bit more again, really trying to create meaningful shapes with your contrast. You can use more of the rounded bows towards the communications end, where they will match more with all of the dishes. It makes sense to orient the communication dishes in multiple directions, also up and down, but try to cluster them around the same location (e.g. more toward the bottom of the ship, where they don't interfere with the line of sight of the crew.

It are some rough ideas and with these alternate models there's always a lot more balancing you have to do, but maybe it's useful to you. In any case, know that your build has inspired me a lot and keep up the awesome work!

[Cylo]

Wow BEAVeR you really do like alternate builds 

Nice build, great usage of the pieces to recreate the shape of the fluttercraft!

Edited August 28, 2019 by Reaper

[Per_SW]

On 8/27/2019 at 10:12 PM, BEAVeR said:

Another Lego Star Wars alternate build, yippy! And a very interesting one too which makes the most out of the limited part selection of a small set

The connection to the Kashyyyk fluttercraft is immediately obvious without any need for context from the title or your text, so you've definitely managed to distill the essence out of Wookiee engineering. It's more than just those antennas/wings at the top. It's also the spindly structure of the canopy (also echoed in the use of the droid arms) that looks both strong and light, and the mix of curved and spikey elements all over the ship that make it feel so organic. Really good job observing the references and paying hommage to them with your limited part selection! At the same time, your design has a different flavour from for example the fluttercraft that appears in the movie. That one seems to be more inspired by a dragonfly while yours reminds me more of a bumblebee with its more rounded shape and less protrusions, all the way up to those 1x2 grated cheese slopes that kind of mimick those typical insect eyes. This alternate build challenge definitely brought out your creativity, and I would love to see how you would elaborate on this with a more extensive selection of parts! 

One thing you maybe could improve then would be the legibility of your design. Admittedly, you already have a pretty strong silhouette and I can clearly identify the most  critical parts of the ship and see that it has Kashyyyk DNA, so that's already a great job, but the bottom half of the ship lags behind a bit I think. It has no real flow to it, no clear singular shape but instead a variety of angles, textures and colors not really moving in one direction. Maybe you could try clustering the shapes a bit more. For example, I would try to more clearly separate the part responsible for communication and the part responsible for defense of the ship. The communication part is themed around round parts, the dishes, while the defensive/aggressive part is all about being sharp, just like the stinger of a wasp. So try to use your spikey elements to converge more towards the weapons side. Those slopes and wedge plates would play off a gun barrel which is angled down perfectly to direct the flow of the ship towards the business end, so try to orient more slopes to point towards the weapons and maybe also use the more angular droid arms with the same purpose, so all hard elements guide your eye towards a single location, with the antennas/wings as one of main guides. Also keep up the great use of color you have now, of creating the highest contrast in color (i.e. light green vs dark grey) towards the sharp parts as sharpness in geometry and color go hand in hand, but maybe try to cluster it a bit more again, really trying to create meaningful shapes with your contrast. You can use more of the rounded bows towards the communications end, where they will match more with all of the dishes. It makes sense to orient the communication dishes in multiple directions, also up and down, but try to cluster them around the same location (e.g. more toward the bottom of the ship, where they don't interfere with the line of sight of the crew.

It are some rough ideas and with these alternate models there's always a lot more balancing you have to do, but maybe it's useful to you. In any case, know that your build has inspired me a lot and keep up the awesome work!

I was not expecting such detailed feedback =D

Thank you very much, both for the compliments and the suggestions. I've been looking at the finished MOC thinking on how to follow some of your suggestions, but I fear to implement any changes on the base of the ship I'd have to start the whole base from scratch. If LDD wouldn't crash every couple minutes maybe I could have worked on the digital model in the meantime. And surely a couple more wedge plates would have been so much welcome but, as you noted, with alternate builds we always need to compromise with the given pieces.

@Reaper Also thanks very much for the feedback, it is always appreciated