[MOC] CIS Vulture Droid

[TeddytheSpoon]

Now I know it's not barely been a month since the last Vulture Droid MOC was posted here - but this isn't so much a MOC as a tale of inspiration from some fellow LEGO builders!

The idea for this started a few months ago when my new favourite builder Tino Poutiainen posted a red interpretation of the Vulture Droid, which as well as being cool, used 3x11 Technic panels for wings. I thought this was a great idea, so I set about building one in Separatist colours. I'd got a concept nailed down for the wings but I couldn't figure out a good mechanism for the transformation to walking mode, and progress stalled for a couple of months...

... Until @Mandalorianknight posted his own aforementioned (and most excellent) Vulture Droid MOC! His elegant solution for the legs(/wings?) was adapted to work here, with a bit of fiddling. Thanks for the inspiration! (and if you were worried about stability - it's rock-solid, very much swooshable. I've spent a lot of time doing just that...)

Personally I think the panels do give a better impression of how sleek the Vulture Droid should be, at least more so than a combination of curved slopes and plates. The downside is that it's pretty difficult to add detail on the inner wings and at the tips without ruining that sleekness. It also means that a Trade Federation colour scheme has to be mostly tan instead of dark tan, as that's the closest colour that the Technic panels come in (it is possible though). I guess it comes down to personal preference in the end.

Edited July 14, 2023 by TeddytheSpoon

[Big_Daddy]

Looks good! Still I think the head could use improvement, but I wouldn't be able to tell you how 

[Mandalorianknight]

Very nice, I'm glad my leg attachment solution was adapted here, and you've managed to pull off an incredibly sleek and thin design.

[TeddytheSpoon]

Thank you both!

21 hours ago, Big_Daddy said:

Still I think the head could use improvement, but I wouldn't be able to tell you how 

I do agree - the head probably saw the most iterations of anything on this, and it's certainly far from perfect. I settled on this design partly because I wanted to be able to incorporate LEDs into the eyes, which required trans-red pieces and somewhere for the wires to go; and partly because I wanted to try something a bit different. The best solution I've seen that doesn't use stickers is to use red wedge plates, but even then it looks a bit too angular relative to the egg-shaped head on the 'real' thing, IMO.