Building Mechs

[bricked one]

I've seen a whole lots of great mechs here on Eruobricks and I've been inspired to build some of my own but I don't know how to start or how I would make them.(joints, heads and Legs) Got any tips or techniques you could give me?

[OrangeKNight]

I've seen a whole lots of great mechs here on Eruobricks and I've been inspired to build some of my own but I don't know how to start or how I would make them.(joints, heads and Legs) Got any tips or techniques you could give me?

What I've done is look at some stuff that you really like and start off by simply reverse Enginnering them, then going and chaning it up a bit. I've done this quite a bit myself;

First Time was with one of PeteCorp's Frames;

PeteCorp Prototype Frame

My Version with some slight modifications

Speed Demon MOC

Sniper MOC

Hammerhand MOC(I'm actually thinking of trying to build something like this again, I love the arms on it!)

More recently I worked off one of tkh's Design's;

tkh's Strike Gundam

My Original 'prototype'

HeavyArms MOC

Wing Gundam MOC

And More to Come...

Also depending on your available parts messing around in the LEGO Digital Designer is a decent way of experimenting, but honestly using real bricks is more intuitive IMO, its also much easier to experiment and joints and pivots.

Also working in different scales with lead to different techniques, especially in areas such as joints, both of my examples I showed are around 6" tall, but larger models(1' or more) will require much stronger joints and more stability ect ect.

IMO just start small and just slowly start expanding and messing with things, join/follow some LEGO groups on Flickr and such to see what and how other people are doing things and just mess around.

Mike

[bricked one]

Thanks "OrangeKNihght" this really helps, it looks like I'm going to be doing a lot of experimenting.

[iamded]

Yes, with mech building it seems to be about finding/creating a good frame, then adding detail/armour/plating/whatever on top of that. Experiment with different joints. You'll find minifig hands can clip into the hip socket on individual minifig leg pieces, which make for a relatively unique joint. Also, those T bar pieces find a lot of use in mech building.

Hope I helped. LsweetL

[OrangeKNight]

No problem, just be sure to share as you work!

Also something I just thought of, but when you ready to kinda 'break out' and do your own MOC, I'd suggest doing somethign that has an established design(Gundam, Mechwarrior, what have you) as this can help push your boundaries in order to make your MOC look just like its "supposed to".

A good example is with my Heavy Arms MOC, at first the legs were kidna skinny and the feet felt very long, but once I used 2x3 plates for teh feet and bulked up the legs it suddenly because just so much more like the original I'm forever glad I kept working at it.

Mike