[HELP] Strong inner structure for Star Wars SSD

[deanorth]

Greetings everyone.

I'm jumping here because, my main project for this year, a project I'm trying to build for some months now, a quite big super star destroyer.

The technic parts do come handy in this build because all the inner structure need to be really strong, and rigid, to limit the bending.

I've been away for so long from the lego world, that I fail to see so far how to do it.

My goal is around 1.50/1.80m long, with two feet...

So, like when building a bridge, I'm sure there are some technic that allow to have a quite thin inner structure, but yet really strong, so I'm asking for help, without shame:)

Deanorth

[Milan]

How much inner space you have available?

How much you are familiar with Technic building?

[deanorth]

Well, iner space wise, it's that way:

Let's say the structre lenght is two meters long

On the front 50cm, no more than 2 studs large, and 2 stud deep in the middle 70cm, 4 stud larges to 3/4 stud deep max, and for the rear section, 4 stud large, 4 stud deep.

The first standing feet beeing in the front section, the second standing feet beeing just before the rear section.

Not so familiar, since when I was young, I was building mostly castle and large structure with bricks, and not really into technic.

But 25 years have passed, i'm near 40, and I want to learn.

[Zerobricks]

I would suggest you to use studded construction at least some 7 layers high with both vertical and diagonal bracing in all directions.

Edited January 6, 2014 by Zblj

[deanorth]

I'll try this, thanks Zblj I won't be able to have such height due to the very thin nature of the SSD starship, but worth trying at any rate.

[D3K]

Definitely use studded!

If you base your design around longitudinal "beams" made from two long studded Technic bricks/beams stacked with a double layer of plates between them, you should have a strong member that can be reinforced vertically with other Technic parts

[Jeroen Ottens]

I built a SSD myself some time ago, albeit on a bit smaller scale (1.30 m I think). The key is to use all the height available for your inner structure. Bending stiffness is proportional to the third power of height, so the thicker your central beam is, the less bending it will show.

Making a studded technic beam frame is the way to go. Stacking a beam, two tiles and another beam on top will give you a spacing between the holes of the two beams that is exactly 2 holes (measured center to center). You can then use a 90 degree rotated technic beam as a side bracing to connect the two main beams. Using that trick you can build beams that are as thick as you want (in multiples of 5 tiles), but can't fall apart because the side-bracing holds the top and bottom beam connected.

If you download the instructions for the official LEGO SSD model you can see the central structure they use. Just scale it up two times .

I'm interested in how you want to achieve the slopes though. That requires some nice constructions as well...

[Bob De Quatre]

You can't use the whole height since the upper and under cities need to be "inside" the hull... The feet's placement is important to support the structure and limit the bending, but the rear feet will always be far away from the rear end.

Here is the structure of my SSD

Executor frame by BobDeQuatre, on Flickr

In the front part there is only 1 layer of technics bricks between layers of 1 or 2 plates, but I designed the under city's structure to reinforce the frame. When atttached, the undercity corrects the front bending.

[dr_spock]

Sounds like you are trying to build a "SHiP". http://www.brickfrenzy.com/shiparticle/howtobuildaship.html

[dikkie klijn]

Try to us as many vertical plates as possible, that is by far way more stronger than technic beams.