MOC T2-B tank (canon) updated with physical model

[Mandalorianknight]

This MOC actually started as a conversation about legends sets in the "future star wars sets". @ARC2149Nova mentioned how he liked the T2-B tank, I looked it up, remembered it from an old mobile game, and decided to MOC it.

It probably looks drastically different from what you Empire At War players remember it looking like, and that's because it's based on the canonized version from the "star wars commander" game. It also appeared in the comic "vader down" according to wookiepedia, though I don't have the comic myself and can't confirm this.

It's meant to resemble an actual set, with play features and figures, and the design of the base of the turret suffers slightly to allow it to fit a figure. I really like the tank's design in-universe, and must have spent hours on an 8-stud wide version before starting over with a 10-stud wide version. The final specs are: 10 studs wide (not counting the side pods) and ~25 studs long. There are 470 pieces including the figures.

There weren't any good images of the back on google for the canon version, so I made some detailing based on what I could see and a bit from the legends version. 

Front view shows one of the play features I mentioned, hidden spring-loaded shooters. Pushing down on the 1x2 dark red tiles towards the middle of the tank will cause them to fire. I enjoyed making the firing mechanism a lot, and I think the shooters are hidden enough that they're not obstructive to the set.

Removing some parts gets you to the driver's seat. Despite the amount of parts removed, it's mostly one chunk that comes off easily enough. Finding a way to include a driver's seat was by far the biggest challenge of the set, and while this solution isn't perfect, it's not too detrimental to the build and even has some control panels down there.

Any good set has figures, so I added two stormtroopers and two rebels. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. Let me know any suggestions/criticism/comments you have!

Edited June 7, 2020 by Mandalorianknight

[DrMuttonchops]

Hey Mando, nice build! Certainly a blast from the past.  Cool integration of the spring shooters, and great job making the mechanism hidden.  I was originally going to say that the holes make the model look odd, but the canon version has those holes! So well done on that!  However, the angled plates on the bow next to the spring shooters look kind of strange as they leave some gaps, and the cheese slope also looks out of place.  Maybe use part 6091 somewhere in there? The original looks pretty curved at the front as opposed to angular.  

Really though, good job overall. The back, turret, and pods are all great and I LOVE the one plate black viewport strip for the pilot to see through. Do the parts exist to make it transparent? You could add some jumper tiles to make the turret easier to take off (since it's intended as a play set), and you may want to add at least rudimentary controls.  The republic attack tank from a few years ago did a good job with that, adding a bracket with a printed instrument panel slope above the driver's head.

Personal bias here, I normally prefer 1/2 technic pins on the ends of guns, but the cones match the model exactly! Also good job making the the black design on the front raised up as it is on the original model. Are you using a 2x2 turntable to rotate the turret?

[Mandalorianknight]

3 hours ago, DrMuttonchops said:

Hey Mando, nice build! Certainly a blast from the past.  Cool integration of the spring shooters, and great job making the mechanism hidden.  I was originally going to say that the holes make the model look odd, but the canon version has those holes! So well done on that!  However, the angled plates on the bow next to the spring shooters look kind of strange as they leave some gaps, and the cheese slope also looks out of place.  Maybe use part 6091 somewhere in there? The original looks pretty curved at the front as opposed to angular.  

Really though, good job overall. The back, turret, and pods are all great and I LOVE the one plate black viewport strip for the pilot to see through. Do the parts exist to make it transparent? You could add some jumper tiles to make the turret easier to take off (since it's intended as a play set), and you may want to add at least rudimentary controls.  The republic attack tank from a few years ago did a good job with that, adding a bracket with a printed instrument panel slope above the driver's head.

Personal bias here, I normally prefer 1/2 technic pins on the ends of guns, but the cones match the model exactly! Also good job making the the black design on the front raised up as it is on the original model. Are you using a 2x2 turntable to rotate the turret?

Thank you for all the great feedback! I'll definitely be updating this with your suggestions. To answer your questions:

The canon version's front is a bit more angular, but using 6091 would certainly remove those gaps, and since I used some bits of the legends model in other places, I'll try that out. 

If you mean the 4x4 rounded plate with hole, the part does come in trans-clear, and that would look pretty cool to see the driver in there. There are some controls, though I now realize you can't see them in the image, but there are 2 1x2 tiles with control panel patterns a bit below the driver's hands.

I'm using a 4x4 turntable with a rounded 4x4 plate, which is a bit clunkier, but the friction means it's easier to pose.

[DrMuttonchops]

Aaaah I can see the 4x4 turntable now, I was kind of squinting at it on my phone earlier.  The 4x4 turntables are much nicer and you don't get any of that "shimmy" that the 2x2s often have!  And the 4x4 round plate with 2x2 hole in trans-clear may not work but it's worth a shot!  Hope some of the suggestions work, will you build it in physical bricks?

[Mandalorianknight]

51 minutes ago, DrMuttonchops said:

Aaaah I can see the 4x4 turntable now, I was kind of squinting at it on my phone earlier.  The 4x4 turntables are much nicer and you don't get any of that "shimmy" that the 2x2s often have!  And the 4x4 round plate with 2x2 hole in trans-clear may not work but it's worth a shot!  Hope some of the suggestions work, will you build it in physical bricks?

Yeah, I looked through my parts today and I've got about 75%, so I'll need to make a bricklink order, but once I do I'll upload some images.

[ARC2149Nova]

"T2-B Over" - Rebel Tank Commander

Even though it's not the version I'm most fond of (#notmyt2b ), this is really well done. The best thing is that only the turret is really different, so if someone was to do a legends version, they could rework the cannon (if this was a set, of course). But this is beautiful. The rounded sides, the engines, and even the top gun are all remarkably detailed. You would make a fine designer, my friend.

Also, I'm happy my various T2-B rants produced this beautiful MOC, it's not a vehicle you see often in LEGO. 

Edited May 22, 2020 by ARC2149Nova

[Mandalorianknight]

10 hours ago, ARC2149Nova said:

"T2-B Over" - Rebel Tank Commander

Even though it's not the version I'm most fond of (#notmyt2b ), this is really well done. The best thing is that only the turret is really different, so if someone was to do a legends version, they could rework the cannon (if this was a set, of course). But this is beautiful. The rounded sides, the engines, and even the top gun are all remarkably detailed. You would make a fine designer, my friend.

Also, I'm happy my various T2-B rants produced this beautiful MOC, it's not a vehicle you see often in LEGO. 

Thank you for the kind words! I might try to do an empire at war edition when my bricklink orders come in, along with drmuttonchop's suggestions

[Mandalorianknight]

UPDATE: physical model.

The parts finally arrived for the physical model of the tank!

There are a few differences, mostly minor fixes and improvements. I did make one comprimise in terms of part rarity, swapping out the dark red 2x3 angled plates for LBG ones. The dark red ones aren't expensive, I think they're like 6 cents each in america, but they're rare enough that it I'd have to buy from 3 stores instead of two and I didn't feel like paying $3-5 in shipping for 12 cents worth of parts. I slightly changed a bit of the interior workings to get that front panel with the black stripes at that angle, as well as using two of the 1x2 with rail pieces to fill in the resulting gap.

Back image. I had some worries about the structural stability of the thing, but I accidently dropped it from about 4 ft up onto the carpeted floor and all that came off was the turret and a side pod. For the most part, I think it turned out pretty well and looks better in real bricks than the Stud.io renders. All in all it was about $17 total, including shipping from 2 sellers for the 25% or so of parts I didn't have on hand. Although those were the more rare elements or new molds, and subsequently more expensive pices. Doing a bricklink wanted list search of the full part list, it'd about $40 in parts, plus shipping from 3 different stores, which isn't that bad for 450 parts.

I'll be editing the render to make the legends version from empire at war soon, so I'll post that when it's finished.

[ARC2149Nova]

Lovely work once more. Seeing it "in the flesh" makes it even better. It does look a bit small, would be nice to see the gunner's seat though. 

[Mandalorianknight]

1 hour ago, ARC2149Nova said:

Lovely work once more. Seeing it "in the flesh" makes it even better. It does look a bit small, would be nice to see the gunner's seat though. 

I haven't been able to find images of the interior, does the gunner sit in the turret? If so, does the pilot sit where he does in my MOC or somewhere else? I'll try to fit a gunner into the empire at war version I'm working on.

As for the size, it's almost exactly the same size as the tx-225 set, which is probably a bit small for it's legends appearance.

[ARC2149Nova]

11 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

I haven't been able to find images of the interior, does the gunner sit in the turret? If so, does the pilot sit where he does in my MOC or somewhere else? I'll try to fit a gunner into the empire at war version I'm working on.

As for the size, it's almost exactly the same size as the tx-225 set, which is probably a bit small for it's legends appearance.

I think it's up to interpretation, but I'm guessing how you have it in your MOC is the way it is. With the Legends version, the design of the turret (a bubble) makes me think it's like a Y-Wing gunner seat, where the driver/gunner does sit "in the turret".

That's actually pretty big, since I have the TX-225. Do you have instructions/parts list that'll be public? I'd love to build this baby. 

[Mandalorianknight]

45 minutes ago, ARC2149Nova said:

I think it's up to interpretation, but I'm guessing how you have it in your MOC is the way it is. With the Legends version, the design of the turret (a bubble) makes me think it's like a Y-Wing gunner seat, where the driver/gunner does sit "in the turret".

That's actually pretty big, since I have the TX-225. Do you have instructions/parts list that'll be public? I'd love to build this baby. 

Good to know, I'll include a gunner seat in the update I'm making.

I've got a bricklink wanted list, looks like I can convert it into an XML and email it to you if you want to PM me your email.