[MOC] Kage Goomba's TIE Defender (TIE/d) - Ready for QA/Testers (fully built in real life)

[Kage Goomba]

Mocopolis responded to me finally  - posted their reply in the first post.

 

Nothing new or anything surprising other than its a bit obvious they don't vet their designs.

 

Still tinkering with the body - nothing new to report there.

[Kage Goomba]

@Monkeyulize took a 3rd crack at the body in terms of designs and came up with some interesting ideas.

 

Any comments on weight/stability? Think it has a good chance? or is the 2nd iteration better?

Thanks in advance.

The idea is to be "truer" to the TIE Defender in shape/design lore wise.

My concern of course is - smaller struts == less stability?

Edited May 5, 2022 by Kage Goomba

[Kage Goomba]

@Monkeyulize is going ballistic with his build - looking good.

Any opinions?

I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts @Kdapt-Preacher

Assembly may be a tricky prospect but it seems to look pretty solid to me. Many times stronger than the original attempt.

 

Thoughts anyone?

[Kdapt-Preacher]

I don't have strong feelings about it. It looks plenty sturdy, but it's hard to say much from the screenshots. I don't think it's necessarily the case that this is any more or less accurate shape-wise than the other design, so much as just that this one looks to be based more on the Rebels version of the TIE/d while the previous one was based on the FractalSponge/Essential Guide to Warfare version.

[Kage Goomba]

38 minutes ago, Kdapt-Preacher said:

I don't have strong feelings about it. It looks plenty sturdy, but it's hard to say much from the screenshots. I don't think it's necessarily the case that this is any more or less accurate shape-wise than the other design, so much as just that this one looks to be based more on the Rebels version of the TIE/d while the previous one was based on the FractalSponge/Essential Guide to Warfare version.

As "pretty" as the original look was - this version feels more true to me. Honestly.

My first introduction to the TIE Defender was TIE Fighter Game - not the series - and honestly the Rebels series was more like that version anyway - even with some slight changes.

 

Which makes it an engineering challenge in terms of weight/stability.

Bottom line - will it hold? That's what I'm looking for :D

[ForgedInLego]

The attachment of the wings to the pylons looks overengineered if anything, but I'm a bit worried about the center connection. I generally don't like using jumpers for structural connections, and setting the technic liftarms one stud out from their connection points can be a bit iffy. Id recommend using the brackets to lock the outsides of the hex parts together as well as attach details as long as it stays flush with the strut technic bricks.  This is a thousand times better than the original though, and has a pretty good chance of working out fine

[Kage Goomba]

9 minutes ago, ForgedInLego said:

The attachment of the wings to the pylons looks overengineered if anything, but I'm a bit worried about the center connection. I generally don't like using jumpers for structural connections, and setting the technic liftarms one stud out from their connection points can be a bit iffy. Id recommend using the brackets to lock the outsides of the hex parts together as well as attach details as long as it stays flush with the strut technic bricks.  This is a thousand times better than the original though, and has a pretty good chance of working out fine

@Monkeyulize

 

I'll let him know and see if I can work something out before he gets to it. Good points.

I was thinking along the same lines.

Honestly - better overengienered than not at all. ;)

[Kage Goomba]

@Monkeyulize went full tilt and pretty much finished the overall design with brillant techniques - however I'm being picky about certain aspects so I'm putting my refinements/adjustments on it.

 

Bottom line - he's a genius regardless. :)

So riddle me this - this is my refinement iteration on his design - is this legal? Will it work?

 

So here's the main core - Obviously its a tight fit - but will it fit? Namely the technic liftarm/crossbeams.

Also there's the 3 Axel peices that will hold the spine"shaft" in place.

Added extra hinge plates where Monkey only had just one layer each side.

Monkey originally uses 1x2 Technic Bricks with 2 Holes for the cross braces on the body - but I wantted to add an additional attachment point via linkers to the pylons for more brace/strength. Which meant going to traditional 1x2 Technic Brick and nuding everything in place.

Which yielded this

The 2 Red Circles are where the pylons attach to the main body - the Left one was the one Monkey designed - the Right one was my addition.

 

Comments?

@Kdapt-Preacher would like your input on this for sure.

 

I may change the "Center" Axel point for the spine as it may be a bit too nasty for assembly purposes - can just imagine the frustration that could cause. Wish there was a part that would let me reach all 3 areas of the body - but its just 1 to 2 too many MM's out of reach.

Edited May 8, 2022 by Kage Goomba

[Kdapt-Preacher]

It looks strong, but it's hard to get a sense from the screenshots. If you send me the Stud.io file I'll poke around with it.

[Kage Goomba]

Just now, Kdapt-Preacher said:

It looks strong, but it's hard to get a sense from the screenshots. If you send me the Stud.io file I'll poke around with it.

Throwing you a copy momentarily.

[Kage Goomba]

@Kdapt-Preacher just gave his thumbs up - others feel free to throw in your 2 cents. ;)

[Kage Goomba]

Monkey wasn't convinced when I showed him my suggested changes.

I had just enough parts to do a rough build test.

 

Gotta say - its nice and tight that it self reinforces based on spacing. I'm feeling confident with this approach. :)

Assembly will be rather challenging - ill need to take pics/document as I go when I do build this thing.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Kage Goomba

[icm]

Looks good! I look forward to seeing the progress on this ship.

[Kage Goomba]

1 hour ago, icm said:

Looks good! I look forward to seeing the progress on this ship.

Appreciate the affirmation - I feel like I'm seeing the light at the end of this nightmare. Just need to do a bit more poking around and some careful consideration.

May attempt to rebuild the cockpit ball to something more rational since a total rebuild is needed anyway.

Monkey proposed one but I'd like to keep the smooth look if possible.

[Kage Goomba]

Tell me what you guys think:

Wanted to show Monkey's iteration first:

Cockpit and Tail removed as I'm going to be working on those next.

Again - he's genius - I'd love to know how he thought to do this.

And my refinements/adjustments-

Added more tiling to close gaps and make it look like a real pylon/smooth from spine to panel.

Also you can see the undersides of the TIE Panel base has some smoothing as well.

And to reveal whats hiding under all that

From TIE Panel to the Main Core - with only may be a Brick in spacing give or take - is all of this.

4 Struts with numerous linkers and those handy "I" (As in incredible) Shaped Liftarms that are 3 across and 5 tall in technic hole terms.

With my reinforcement I added earlier today - should be very strong and nicely attached to the body.

 

Now for the TIE Panels themselves - the outter panels have not changed as much as I'd love to redo - very cringe worthy - but those are not an easy thing to perfect - maybe later.

The main TIE Panel "body" however is thicker - heavier than the previous iteration due to the internal framework - slightly concerned about that. But with the main body beefed up - could be jitters on my part?

The TIE Panel "Cap" or "Hub" is on the pylon itself submodel wise - which means the pylon pokes straight through to the very top of the TIE Panel if you laid the panel flat on the table.

Becomes more apparent here.

The TIE Panel cap is seen on the pylon - the angled lift-arm struts latch on to the main 4 strut frame in the pylon. The 4 strut frame also latches on to the panel below the cap. So lots of "grip" here.

I suspect assembly will be very challenging here - so yeah - bring on the feedback.

Here's a cross section of the internal Panel Frame.

Personally I'd put in double the linkers for angled liftarms like I did on my Otana - but there's not much space - and the TIE Panel main bodies are too fat as it is.

An unavoidable issue due to the stability/weight concerns.

So tell me what you guys think.

Anyone here a pro with weird technic bodies? Let me know and ill toss you the file.

Going to be hard pressed to come up with something better than this. But that's what I said when this disaster started when I created my thread - and look at the geniuses that are among us. :)

[Kage Goomba]

Monkey pointed out the angling on the panels may not work so cleanly.

These are 9 teeth hinge plates - The angles compared to the original model and the current iteration appear to be the same - sooo not sure if this is a big concern or not.

bottom line - it may not look perfect.

[Kage Goomba]

@ForgedInLego Saves the day!

Thanks to his inspiration - I managed to find a way to brace the cockpit to keep it from sagging - its not pretty - but its much better than it was before.

Adding some slightly longer liftarms on the top section of the main core - I shoved a lift arm into the upper portion of the cockpit - had to punch a hole in the bricks - took a lot of rearrangement - managed to pull it off - only just barely.

Using an Axel Shaft that's capped - just perfect in size to be flush.

And resulted in 1 more plates worth of axel grip for the spine.

Need to do some cleaning - but it works.

The portion joining the cockpit joining up is ugly - but it could be so much worse.

 

Big thanks to ForgedinLego for the save!

[Kage Goomba]

Put together an rear end for it - not sure if I like it or not - also those inferred Ion Engine ports.

Always thought it was "Triple Ion Engine" and not "Twin" with a Defender.

Would be slimmer if Lego actually bothered to make a 14L Long Axel - but nope - not even a 15.

Jumps between 16 and 12. Ugh lol.

Things left to do - polish the gap between cockpit and main body.

Audit Parts/Colors

Rebuild Stand (Keeping the chin as the center of balance likely shifted on this design) - going to put a pair of "U" clamps/cradles to hold it by the pylons and not the center part as I don't think it would be safe to hold it there. Should be interesting.

Any volunteers willing to shred this design and check for anything obvious? Let me know and ill make sure you get my "2.0" candidate file.

Heck - let me know if you want to build this damn thing - no instructions - but should be able to sort it out - DO LET ME KNOW if your going to do this. Cause I have a few favors to ask.

[Kage Goomba]

She's pretty much ready to build. Just need to check parts and figure out what I need to build her. Put all the pics and info in the first post.

Can't thank you guys enough for your help.

 

Anyone want to build this thing or help test structure? Hit me up - ill provide the file(s)

 

Only annoyance left aside from the obvious is the laser cannons - still not happy with those so I may change those.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Kage Goomba

[Kage Goomba]

Began tearing down all components for recycling to the new build - sorting into baggies.

Leaving Stand intact as its minor modifcations - the outter panels are the same - rest need to be torn down entirely as everything will be rebuilt.

The joys of sorting parts.

Painful to knoow a good chunk of these are a waste of money - guess I needed to build a stockpile anyway.

Thankfully most of these are potential Otana parts - not a total bummer there.

Still plenty more to sort - cockpit ball is next - but ill get to it an another time - been at it for a while now.

Good thing I held on to all those baggies when I ordered parts hehe.

 

Speaking of - anyone here got a recommendation for a good standard sorting bin type thing for lego's?

Been experimenting.

[Kdapt-Preacher]

For minute-to-minute sorting while building something, I have a bunch of those storage trays that old Mindstorms kits came packed in. I have no idea whether those specific trays are even still available anywhere, but I'm sure something like them is.

[Kage Goomba]

1 minute ago, Kdapt-Preacher said:

For minute-to-minute sorting while building something, I have a bunch of those storage trays that old Mindstorms kits came packed in. I have no idea whether those specific trays are even still available anywhere, but I'm sure something like them is.

I remember seeing those - hmm

[icm]

Fun with sorting!  Hope you can make good use of all the excess parts for the Otana, like you said.

[Kage Goomba]

15 minutes ago, icm said:

Fun with sorting!  Hope you can make good use of all the excess parts for the Otana, like you said.

Yeah - its my only saving grace with the Otana needing 7-8k pieces thereabouts - bulk of which are grey parts.

Kind of why I chose the TIE/d as my first project to test/mess/learn.

 

Boy did I learn a lot.

I'm confident this will work out - ill be posting pics as I assemble as the "Assembly" part is going to be very tricky.

First need to do a part count and figure out what I'm missing and what I need.

[Kage Goomba]

Just finished auditing and counting bricks.

Looks like I have just shy of 60% (Ignoring the Outer TIE Panels as they are already built/finished) of the parts needed to build this "2.0" version of this TIE/d model.

Going to see about rebuilding the laser cannons thanks to @StephenBoe 's brilliant A-Wings - would like to have a better looking cannon that isn't "spinning" and ugly thanks to the botched 1.0 version design.

Once I get settled on that I'll do one last look at the parts list and then order up parts to build this thing.

If anyone is interested in building this thing - be sure to hit me up and ill send you the files/parts lists I've got.

Last chance to offer suggestions before I pull the trigger on parts.

Can't thank you guys enough for the input/feedback. :)