[WIP] 42113 Alternative Model

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Update:

The main model is pretty much finished now. Photos are coming later. Since the blades and the dumb battery box will be available soon, I'm gonna start building this in Stud.io as well. Hopefully an instruction will follow.

Meanwhile, I'm gonna start building an auxiliary model to illustrate the transport capability of the Chinook and increase playability. A Google Image search for the Chinook returns quite a number of that helicopter transporting something with a sling load. The transported objects that appear most frequently are jeeps and howitzers. The 42113 set has 8 wheels and 6 tires, and 6 wheels + 6 tires have been used in the main model. So I'm gonna use the remaining two wheels to build a howitzer.

 

Building the howitzer should be straightforward. What I'm concerned with at the moment is the lack of strings. The original 42113 doesn't have a string, and I want my model to be strictly a B model, which means no outside part. I'm thinking of using 15L liftarms as strings.

 

11 hours ago, Gumalca said:

To me the one with orange side panels looks better.

 

10 hours ago, I_Igor said:

Second that

Thanks for the input. I've settled with that face.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

I like this Chinook so much I want to have a separate model after I reassemble the Osprey. So I created a digital build and made some changes so that it can be built with current parts.

 

The biggest change is the switch from Orange to Bright Orange, as the latter has all the required panels. Because of that I did some changes in the front. I also changed the rear wheel's structure to accommodate the 3x7 DBG panels instead of the 3x5 DBG panels in the original build, which is not available outside the Osprey.

I think I'm gonna drop the howitzer part because I feel like I'm done with this model. I will take it out for a photoshoot next week and I'll probably be done.

[Rebel_Lego]

1 hour ago, Ngoc Nguyen said:

I like this Chinook so much I want to have a separate model after I reassemble the Osprey. So I created a digital build and made some changes so that it can be built with current parts.

 

The biggest change is the switch from Orange to Bright Orange, as the latter has all the required panels. Because of that I did some changes in the front. I also changed the rear wheel's structure to accommodate the 3x7 DBG panels instead of the 3x5 DBG panels in the original build, which is not available outside the Osprey.

Wow looks great! Such a shame that TLG canceled the Osprey.

[Bublehead]

You have a novel way of handling dust on your models... lol

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Some unusual linkages to create the slope in the rear rotor housing within the confined space of 1x1x4 studs between the two 5x11 tapered panels.

 

The instruction is complete.

 

[Ngoc Nguyen]

[Ngoc Nguyen]

I took the Chinook out for a photoshoot today. There are gonna be 9 photos.

 

 

And this is the last time the Chinook is seen built with the Osprey parts. It will be disassembled for the assembly of the second alternative model of the 42113 and will be reborn later with parts ordered from Bricklink.

What's the next alternative model? The alternative model of a of a military transport aircraft should be another military transport aircraft, of course! 

In this case, the Sikorsky CH53 King Stallion!

 

 

Given the disparity between original intents and final designs for the Chinook, I'm gonna start off with modest expectations this time.

Functions that are guaranteed to appear:

- Motorized rotors
- Manual rear ramps

Functions that can appear:

- Landing wheel retraction
- Tail fold

 

The tail fold function is probably a distinctive feature of this helicopter line. However, designing this will be a major challenge, because, first it folds diagonally, and second a motorized drivetrain needs to pass through the tail to power the tail rotor. Let's see how it goes.

Scale:

 

That's it for this time. Next update coming soon.

Edited February 2, 2021 by Ngoc Nguyen

[Gumalca]

But this time you will have to build rotor blades from beams?

I would have to gears at the fold and let them disengage when folding. Or maybe two Y-shaped axle extensions that can interlock?

[Ngoc Nguyen]

5 hours ago, Gumalca said:

But this time you will have to build rotor blades from beams?

I use the #21 and #22 panels for the rear rotor blades.

[chlego]

Excited about the new model! Maybe you'll be able to fit a gearbox in that one?

Will you sell the instructions on RB? And can we see a video of that model in action, or is it already disassembled?

[Ngoc Nguyen]

8 hours ago, chlego said:

Will you sell the instructions on RB?

There will be an instruction and it will be free.

8 hours ago, chlego said:

And can we see a video of that model in action, or is it already disassembled?

Too bad it's already disassembled. I don't have any proper filming instruments and a proper white background to produce any video. The only motorized function that the Chinook has is the spinning blades, so I guess it's not a major loss. The Chinook was considered finished for a week, and I really wanted to disassemble and moved on to the Sikorsky. I only kept it in its original state because I had to wait for the photoshoot. Maybe later I'll record a designer video to show the function and talk about the design process.

9 hours ago, chlego said:

Maybe you'll be able to fit a gearbox in that one?

There will most likely be no gearbox. The Chinook fuselage has a 7L width and 7L height and already has no space for a gearbox. The Sikorsky fuselage is even smaller: 7L width and 6L height.

[Ngoc Nguyen]

The design for the Sikorsky has been finalized!

[Ngoc Nguyen]

.

Edited May 15, 2021 by Ngoc Nguyen

[MinusAndy]

What a monster! Love it!

[Gumalca]

So did you manage to make the tail foldable?

[Ngoc Nguyen]

6 hours ago, Gumalca said:

So did you manage to make the tail foldable?

Unfortunately, no. I faced a tradeoff between making the tail foldable and making it lean in two dimensions. In the real aircraft, the tail not only leans backwards, like it does in normal helicopter, but also leans sideway (rightward when viewed from the front). Since the model will be a static display one most of the time, I chose to replicate the two-dimension lean.

The upside is that the leaning part of tail can be disengaged and removed from the main body, so I think it kinda serves the same purpose as being foldable in a sense.

[chlego]

Looking good!

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Since this Sikorsky is a 42113 B model, and I want to revert the build into 42113, there needs to be a MOC version. Because panel #1, panel #2, and the curved panel 3x13 in DBG are exclusive to the Osprey, they need to be replaced with panels in colors that are currently available. 

The problem is that I can't seem to find a suitable replacement color. These are some options.

[deleted]

I think I'm going for the black option. The dark blue looks fitting as well. What do you think?

Edited March 18, 2021 by Ngoc Nguyen

[MinusAndy]

I’ve had this exact issue and went for a three tone camo scheme of lbg dbg and black to get around it. Maybe you could go camo?

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Took this thing out for a photoshoot session.

 

And now it will be disassembled.

[PangolinBricks]

Nice work! I think black looks best 

[Ngoc Nguyen]

I wasn't quite satisfied with the face of the Chinook, so yesterday I gave it a facelift. 

Old face:

New face

Real thing:
 

 

 

 

Does the new face look better?

Edited May 15, 2021 by Ngoc Nguyen

[Akassin]

It's better! Now more like the original

[Ngoc Nguyen]

One of the official photo for the new Chinook:

 

I also decided to give the Sikorsky a facelift as well. A month and an exhausting number of iterations later, I think I'm finally satisfied with the thing.

 

 

I managed to get the major aerodynamic lines of the cabin and the sideway slanted engine front. I'll take it out for a photoshoot some time next week.

Edited July 1, 2021 by Ngoc Nguyen

[Ngoc Nguyen]

Major updates:

I took this thing for a photoshoot in March and published it on Rebrickable in May, but I wasn't really satisfied with it. The real thing is a massive aircraft that dwarfs bystanders, and it emits a sense of massiveness. My design, on the other hand, look like a malnourished bony little kid.

 

 

It took me a while to realize that the problem is not in the proportions of the details, but in the scales. Because the aircraft is very big, the wheels are very tiny compared to it. But in my model, the wheels look very off, and I can't shrink the wheels. At that point I understood why the Technic designers said they scale the models around the wheel.

 

 

 

So I went back to the drawing board and started designing for a larger scale. The scale of the bony version is based around a 7L width. Because the width can only be an odd number, I experimented with a 9L-width scale and a 11L-width. The 11L-wdith became really bigger than the model merits, and would probably require more parts than there are in the 42113 set. So I settled with the 9L-width scale. 

And after 3 months, I finally got the design I want. This time I also designed the manual version concurrently. The manual version gets a cute little mole on the side cheek as the control knob.

 

 

 

 

I think it looks more behemoth-ish and exudes the massiveness feeling well. There is still one part that is slightly out of proportion, and that is the blades. In the real aircraft the blades are 1.4 times longer, but I don't want to elongate the blade holder because it looks off. So I'm contented with the blades the way it is now.

There are strict lockdowns in my area at the moment because of the steep surge of new Covid cases, and the situation doesn't seem like it will improve any time soon. That means I won't be able to take this thing out for a photoshoot and do a proper debut thread like I did for the Chinook until probably several months later. So I'm making this post here to wrap up this whole C model journey.

I'll take a short break from this whole 42113 Alternative Model endeavor, then return later for the next alternative model design. I have about 10+ ideas in my heads, and I wanna do the thing Master Grohl does: spinning 10+ alternative models out of a set 

The next alternative model from 42113 will be another well-known US heavy-lift helicopter: Erickson Skycrane / Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 18, 2021 by Ngoc Nguyen