Beluga Assault Troop Carrier

[Optimus]

This is a Troop / Cargo / Ground/Space Attack vessel I made a couple months ago. I named it the Beluga because it is similar in shape and is almost completely white.

It has two powerful front facing cannons for attacking ground targets. It descends from planetary orbit using it's bottom thrusters to slow it's descent. Once on the battlefield, it deploys boarding ramps and gunners inside the ship use the side turrets to lay down covering fire as the troops disembark. The troop carrier brings 14 elite assault troops into battle, but has the capacity to carry more troops, or additional cargo if necessary. It also has the capacity to board and attack enemy capital ships.

I was planning on putting more detail onto the side of the engines, but never found time to do it.

Overall view.

Troops inside the ship.

The pilots.

The Gunners

Close up of the side turret.

Hatch open.

Right side.

Front view.

Bottom view and landing gear.

The three main thrusters.

Bottom view with thrusters.

Landing gear down.

Comments and criticism welcome.

Brickshelf (When Public): http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=440318

Flickr:

[Flare]

WOW! This is extremely cool looking! The two things that really pop out to me are its extremely clean shape and its perfect amount of small greebling. I like this a lot! Great carrier

[lightningtiger]

Just AWESOME 'Optimus' - man this is sheer beauty !

The detail inside and out, plus those nice guns - I like the smell of plasma in the morning !

The hold where the troops reminds me of Starship Troopers.

Excellent designing 'Optimus' and I'm a conformist! !

[Smack]

Great MOC! I like the smoothness of the carrier, with just the right amount of greebling in the right places. I also like the offset cockpit with the guns next to it. The seats in the cockpit are nice as is the rest of the interior. I'm not sure what universe this is a part of but I wouldn't mind having a few on my side if I was there! Really nice work!

[OneSnowTrooper]

Oh my what a nice design! The details are incredible. I have said this about some MOC's the last few weeks and this 1 is no exception, it looks like something Lego could have released.

[Fires-storm]

Well done indeed, a perfect amount of greebling, and also one of my favorite window screens used as a cockpit, as well as the great details such as opening hatches and a removable roof that make it playable

[Dr_Legoman]

WOW! Impressive! Smooth and rich in details inside and out, a real sci-fi masterpiece! I have especially noticed the level of details inside,just great!

[Blackicep8ntball]

Something about offset spaceships just really intrigues me - I think it's because they're much more difficult to design. You've got an excellent build on your hands here, Optimus. The ladder is very cleverly designed; I love the way you've built the intake vents on the engines, excellent greebles, and that screen in the rear is absolutely killer! Love it. I see you resisted putting the decals on that new Slave I cockpit... I tried, but I ultimately gave in to the temptation, and so I no longer have clean, clear windscreen like that. You've put it to good use. I wish TLG would bring us a set of this calliber.

Since you asked for criticism, here it is: If I had to add one thing, I'd install some sort of drop doors for the troops inside so they could do a rapid exit (paratroop style). Just a thought from a guy who has no hopes of building something this cool.

PS. Do you know how many pieces you've used? Just curious.

Edited August 3, 2010 by Blackicep8ntball

[Hoboman]

Well Done. I love the whole look. This is a MOC to be proud of.

I am curious, how long were you working on this?

[Optimus]

Something about offset spaceships just really intrigues me - I think it's because they're much more difficult to design. You've got an excellent build on your hands here, Optimus. The ladder is very cleverly designed; I love the way you've built the intake vents on the engines, excellent greebles, and that screen in the rear is absolutely killer! Love it. I see you resisted putting the decals on that new Slave I cockpit... I tried, but I ultimately gave in to the temptation, and so I no longer have clean, clear windscreen like that. You've put it to good use. I wish TLG would bring us a set of this calliber.

Since you asked for criticism, here it is: If I had to add one thing, I'd install some sort of drop doors for the troops inside so they could do a rapid exit (paratroop style). Just a thought from a guy who has no hopes of building something this cool.

PS. Do you know how many pieces you've used? Just curious.

Actually I originally had a blue windscreen from the Galactic Enforcer beforehand, but decided to switch it to the clear one from Slave 1 as soon as I got it.

I think it's around 2,000, though I can't be certain.

I agree with the drop doors thing, I didn't originally intend the ship to be a troop transport, I just kinda modified it as I was building. It was difficult to make a good boarding ramp at the back of the ship, so I just decided to use doors on the sides.

Thank you for the kind comments everyone, I really appreciate it

[puriri]

This is a great creation! I have to say that the amount of white used is quiet impressive; I almost never can find enough white (especially slopes) to build stuff like this.

[Ro13ey]

I like it. A pinch of star wars and a dash of the future.

[WhiteFang]

This is such a nice piece of space carrier, filled with many details. I really love the way you laid out your troops inside the carrier, along having the navigational control room to do the coordination and the cockpit. I really enjoyed viewing this very much.

[XimenaPaulina]

Wow, this is a truly incredible creation, I'm running out of superlatives to describe it. I like everything about it - the non-symmetrical design, the smooth and sleek finish, the white-with-dark red trims color scheme, the detailed interiors, everything! I also love how you used the new Slave I windscreen, just the right match to the white body paint. Super duper great job Optimus!

[Josh]

A very cool design indeed

I would love to see you do the same sort of thing again but maybe justa little bigger so you can add in the ramp and any other features you might of had to miss out on in favour of another.

I really like the ladder setup also

[jerba]

Great build. The hatch and ladder really catches my eye!