KK3D Posted July 6 Posted July 6 (edited) I took some time to revisit the UCS Tie Interceptor (75382). I'm glad I got the set, but I wasn't in love and felt a bit disappointed, considering the final look when built. The shapes felt off, and specifically the center cockpit sphere. I feel that the promotional images were focused on the wings. But the photo's angles were the only way to make the spherical cockpit look like a sphere. Luckily, I had some breakthroughs tinkering with it, and I think I'm delighted with it. I am a 3D artist by trade, so at some point it hit me that I needed to use the same principles that I would use to make a 3d ball to upgrade the parts that built up the center. I was able to tighten up a lot of the gaps, especially on the top. I am really happy with how much more spherical the cockpit now is. I tried a lot of tile combinations to create more rounded panels that flow into each other. I spent a lot of time working on the edges of the pieces where they meet up with the windshield, and I think I got something that flows better and comes off more circular than what the original set had going. The other big thing to me was rebuilding the engine to get something with a smaller profile, but also that worked better with the rest of the set. I wanted it more embedded within the center body as well. - Changed front cockpit pieces from black to dark gray (stands out much better) - I hid the top cockpit hinges with sloped tiles - Ditched shovels for more accurate gun covers. 3x2 angled plates. - I worked to get the struts on the top and bottom of the arms to insert into the center sphere at a lower angle so it looks more accurate. Also, more space to create the cockpit sphere. - Some cosmetics and "battle damage" to give it some character. (black and grey is so boring) --- Here are some side by sides compared to the product images ---- I would love to know if anyone else had any mods, fixes, or alternate builds for this set. If you all think this is good, I would like to look into creating an instructions PDF, but I've never done that before. So, message me with any pointers or resources. Edited July 6 by KK3D moved images to flickr Quote
Schrat Posted July 6 Posted July 6 Yes, that's some great mods to the UCS TIE Interceptor! Fun thing is, that i was searching the web today to find some mods and now there they are! Keep up the good work and yes instructions will be great ! Greetings Quote
joebiwankenobi Posted July 7 Posted July 7 Bravo! I've been eagerly awaiting someone to mod the ball as it desperately needed some help. Good job removing all the unsightly gaps and staggered plates! Quote
Lordhelmet Posted July 11 Posted July 11 Looks great, I do like the red stripe too (is this baron soontir fels ship and marking?) Quote
KK3D Posted July 11 Author Posted July 11 I know I saw it somewhere (the red stripe), either for a specific pilot or markings for rank. Truthfully, I just found all that grey boring, and I don't own enough red pieces to do more with it. That's also why I added the broken wing tiles to add battle damage. Anything to give it a different color and break up the model. All those tiles are water tiles from the Mini Ninjago sets you could get with points from lego.com Quote
Rilted Posted Saturday at 12:26 PM Posted Saturday at 12:26 PM This looks great and you’ve managed to nail it with the spherical shape of the Tie Interceptor. This should also allow for adding different wing designs such as the Tie Fighter. Really looking forward to do this modification once you have the instructions made. Cheers! Quote
KK3D Posted Monday at 01:56 AM Author Posted Monday at 01:56 AM Part 2. The arms kept bothering me then I had another epiphany. Quote
Robotbikeboy Posted yesterday at 11:27 AM Posted yesterday at 11:27 AM (edited) This is an amazing upgrade to the stock set! Love it! If you "recreate" your set in Studio (Lego Builder app you can download at Bricklink: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/studio/download.page) then you are able to export out .pdf instructions or share the .io file itself. I've used this to create a good number of the older sets I have where the instructions are long since gone or fish-moth eaten beyond recognition. It takes a bit of practice and tinkering to get the part instructions to show the steps in a proper buildable order (often the base auto-generated instructions start with you building impossible configurations, so it's just a case of setting the build order correctly which you can do by either tweaking the auto stuff a bit, or by starting selecting pieces from scratch in the instructions from the model) - but we both have 3D software experience, so I can guarantee you'll be flying through it. Happy to help out with the instructions, if you want a fresh eye to look at it for you. *edit - just seen in the clip that you're already familiar with Studio 2.0, great bit of software. Offer to help with the instructions still stands. :D Edited yesterday at 12:22 PM by Robotbikeboy Quote
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