[MOD] AT-AT Walker Redux - 75054

[BigEl]

The MOD has been finished, more detailed pictures further in the thread!

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello Folks,

with my return to Lego Star Wars after 13 years there were some sets/models that I just had to get.

One of them was the extremely famous and iconic AT-AT Walker, his menacing design and appearance in Empire Strikes Back can be considered nothing less than legendary.

Since Lego never did an UCS Version of the 4 legged Behemoth and the earlier versions of the Lego AT-AT sell for pretty high prices, the decision what lego model to choose was fairly easy and led to the newest one from 2014.

Now, I have to say that overall I am really impressed with what Lego did with new AT-AT. Despite the typical gaps and the visible technic frames, the main body and legs are great with fairly accurates shapes and angles.

However the greatest weakness for me (and probably a lot of other people) is the head. A shame since its such an important feature in terms of the specific look and feel to the walker. The moment I finished the AT-AT I was instantly disappointed by the look of its head. The proportions were far off, the angles to steep, the gaps between the plates too high. And on top of that the cockpit was a letdown since it couldnt hold 2 AT-AT Pilots as well as General Veers in the background.

So even while I can only consider myself as a completely unexperienced amateur in MOC and MODs, I just knew that I had to modify the walker or I would never enjoy looking at it. Luckily there are already some great MODs and ideas for the very model to learn from. Especially the fully tiled up MOD from Maus proved to be quite inspirational as to what can be done and what is possible.

So, without further due, here are the first steps of my very first modification.

PART 1: The Head

Note that for now I have a very low amount of spare parts, meaning i couldnt finish and close up the head with the changed build and had to use a lot place holder parts in terms of color and form.

The first step was to create space inside the cockpit without completely changing the construction layout and the connection to the main body. Good thing that it was already possible to use the set parts to shorten the technic brick length inside the cockpit from 6 to 4. The final build holds the main cockpit safely with 1 x 2 studs from the top as well the bottom with an inverted 1 x 4 slope piece originally part of the side plates.

This would finally provide barely enough space for the 3 minifigures to be placed correctly as well as mainting space for consoles and control sticks.

Next up was the most tricky step, getting the proportions and the angles right for the 4 plates of the head (Front, Sides, Top).

Even though it is still far off of movie accuracy, I am really satisfied with how the first try turned out to look. The gaps are a lot smaller and the angles are a lot less steep, meaning that the side cannons now barely face in towards each other. The front plate got 2 studs wider and 1 stud higher, and the difference compared to the original is already huge in my opinion. With the whole head bigger now I also had to reinforce the side plates now. The additional layer of plates/wedges unfortunately leads to a bit of a blocky look, but on the other hand there are barely any gaps left. The top plate was barely changed for now since I still lack the necessary parts to close up the head on the back end.

All in all I think that it already looks a lot better than the original and its funny since its not that much more parts that are required to pull it off.

As soon as my bricklink orders will arrive I will be able to go to the next step which is to finish the shape of the head, recolorize it, closing it up from the back and finish the new cockpit interior.

After that I will go towards the next sections of the walker, first the legs and then the main body.

I would be happy for any kind of feedback or suggestions from you guys

Edited October 17, 2017 by BigEl

[LiLmeFromDaFuture]

When I saw this set in a display at my local Target store I was surprise how big it is in life. Anyway, I suggest shortening the length of the view port by one stud. Then I suggest tapering the head a bit more, which will dramatically enhance the overall perspective.

[BigEl]

Reallly? I actually had the feeling that is was smaller than I anticipated when i built it up

Well the vertical position of the view port is something that really grinds my gears. When I look at photos of the real head it looks like that the port would be positioned with 1 stud free space above it and 2 studs below it. Problem is that the scale of the head is a bit too small, position the port one stud down makes it seem too centered and adding another full row of studs down makes the front to big and too close to the cannons.

Maybe I should try to use the 1 x 2 tile with a stud in the middle to get it inbetween the first and second row of studs from top to bottom.

[LiLmeFromDaFuture]

It is still small compared to a minifigure scale one, but it seemed big for a Lego set, and that is coming from someone who never owned any of those sets and only seen images of them outside their box.

Lowering the viewport will help, but what I was recommending is to decrease the length from 6 studs to 5 studs.

Or you could even shorten it to 4 studs and put one of these on each side

[BigEl]

I see what you mean. To close up the view port on the sides, right?

I actually wanted to go for the view port assembly that Maus/Sourisnoire did in his Mod:

http://imgur.com/a/wpg1e

Seems to be a good and practical option for the low amount of space.

[Junior Shark]

Looks like your mod is coming along swimmingly! Be sure to keep posting updates for us! I've been modding 75054 myself, but more along the lines of Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston.

[BigEl]

Will do! I still have to wait for my big bricklink order to really get started. I am fully aware that as of right now the "Mod" is not that spectacular

[BigEl]

Part 2: Finishing and Stabilizing the Head

With my BL Order arrived, I was finally able to get to work on the head of AT-AT.

First I recolorized the head appropiately by making the plates, guns etc. completely in light bluish gray while making the interior completely in dark bluish gray without any black, blue or white.

Next up was to make the shapes final, by adding and moving some of the parts in the front and top as well as enhancing the side plates with better guns and more accurate detail.

However, making the head more accurate, bigger and heavier came at a cost that I only realized when I was done.

When you look at the fantastic Mod from Sourisnoire ( http://imgur.com/a/wpg1e ) you will see that the head weighs down quite significantly.

I dont know if he changed anything with the original connection, but lego probably didnt make it with a heavier Head in mind. Its just one Long Blue Pin that holds the Technic Frame, which holds the entire Head.

Even if this isnt that big of a deal I had my worries with the longevity of the construction and feared that I could get worse in time, so the next step was to reinforce the connection and minimize the weight/ hanging down.

One of the compromises I took was to leave the Head open from the back, this could be reduced easily by bricks but just seemed to be not absolute necessary additional weight, since its an angle you dont look at that much.

Now for the actual reinforcement I went for a very improvised brick-built variant. As you can on the pictures I simply built a frame around the neck under the front plates of the body and secured it with a 1 x 2 plate with doorrail directly at the actual neck.

This reduced the hanging greatly and as a nice side effect it closed up the space under the neck a bit. The downside of this construction is that the neck itself cant move anymore and is fixed in position, meaning you can only turn the head the front a bit.

Also I am not sure how much better/stable the construction will prove in the long run, since its just a very thin built with plates & brackets and also seems to rest on the round piece underneath, but for now it will do.

By adding some slopes and replacing tiles with small dishes on the feet I also already started with the next part that is to come: The Legs. Until then, I would really like to hear your feedback and suggestions.

[Junior Shark]

Mmmmm... That brick-built trans-red viewport! Love how you've captured the important details inside the cockpit. This is coming along swimmingly, keep posting updates for us!

[Fuppylodders]

I really like the viewport, I've not seen anyone mod theirs like that, and I think it works exceptionally well! I do now wonder though, if the front of the body is too narrow for the head? Side on view looks just right though!

[Junior Shark]

I do now wonder though, if the front of the body is too narrow for the head?

Uh-oh.... One quick Google search later and it looks like Fuppylodders is right about the body being too narrow. But that's literally the only thing semi-wrong about this.

[BigEl]

I really like the viewport, I've not seen anyone mod theirs like that, and I think it works exceptionally well! I do now wonder though, if the front of the body is too narrow for the head? Side on view looks just right though!

Sadly it absolutely is! And not even the front but the the rest of the body as well as the legs too. The Head is just way out of proportion and scale. This oversized look is strongest when you look down on the model, its not so bad from the side, front and underneath.

I already tried to modify the 6 main body plates to be thicker so that the body would be in a better scale, but thicker plates also means wider gaps and especially for the front plates I havent found a decent solution.

All in all I dont see a reasonable way to get the head in proportion while maintaining its size for proper details inside and outside. At least not without major changes to the construction of the body to enlargen it, which would make this more of a MOC than a MOD.

But hey, at least it fits the Lego design of comical oversized heads (when you look at minifigs)

EDIT: Thanks for those pics Junior Shark, didnt know those ones yet!

For comparisons sake, if you look at the original 75054 AT AT Head, you will notice that that one is already a bit too big as well (http://cache.lego.com/r/www/r/starwars/-/media/franchises/lego%20starwars/products/75054/prod_product_retina_1224x688_75054.jpg?l.r2=264163158). The general scale of this model just doesnt seem to allow proper proportions, at least not for this level of detail.

Edited December 22, 2015 by BigEl

[Junior Shark]

Yeah. So now the question is, are you willing to take the jump from MOD to MOC? Either way, we won't judge, you've still made an awesome-looking AT-AT!

[BigEl]

Probably not Like I wrote in my initial post I am more or less a complete amateur when it comes to own creations.

I really enjoy looking at a basic model and imagining ways to improve its apperance and features without completely butchering the original Lego design. Just to see for myself how much better a released model can be with relatively minor tweeks and enhancements.

Thanks for the compliment, but I am still not done yet (even though the head will surely remain the biggest visual change)

[BigEl]

Part 3: Legs, Body and everything else

Since my last update I mad it and was able to finish the entire MOD of the AT-AT.

What I did compared to the Part 2:

Head: Almost nothing, only added 2 1 x 2 Tiles and tweaked the back end of the side plates a bit.

Legs: Mostly tiliing and thickening with Plates as well as a bit of recolouring. I also tried to simulate the inward facing Leg Connection to the body with Bricks and Slopes on the underside. Makes the AT-AT look bulkier from underneath and the Leg Contstruction more believable and closer to the real thing.

Body: The most work was put into the body section. Main objective was to thicken the 6 individual side plates to compensate a bit for the bigger head. I increased the distance between the plates to the technic hull and thickened them mainly with Tiles. Now, I knew from the start that i didnt want to Tile Up the whole Walker, since that would make the AT-AT pretty blocky, would just not look good with the Head Design and also would require a hug pile of Tiles that would barely improve the look (for example on the top plate).

Instead I tried to create a silhouette or a simulating line of tiled space that goes trough all the side plates. The aim was to smoothen the design as efficently as possible. In addition to that I changed the design of the enhanced side plates in the middle to make them connect better/closer to the main plate. I think the new angle of those enhanced side plates is one of the best modifications, its a lot less steep and much more accurate (also looks great from a front view angle). Furthermore I covered up the more visible technic frame holes and did some more recolorization.

Something that wasnt absolutely necessary for the look of the AT AT was the modification of the very bare troop/ cargo hold inside. I closed up some gaps inside, used black plates to level the center hole and added some detail, for example the weapon holders on one side. Its not perfect or completely closed up, but I think it feels a lot more usable and meaningful now.

And that is more or less pretty much it, there are a lot more very minor changes that i didnt mention, but I think I covered the most important sections/changes. Incoming are a lot of pictures from the exterior and interior. Please feel free to give me your feedback or suggestions for the finished project.

Edited December 25, 2015 by BigEl

[BigEl]

Part 4: After Finish

I very small update to the final build. I removed the second layer of plates on the top plate of the body again and instead used the parts to iron out the thickened front side plates of the body.

Also some better pictures with a more realistic walking pose

Those last two pictures are probably my favourite ones since they show that the walker is now a lot more interesting and camera-friendly from a low angle view, without any major gaps or exposed technic frames (at least on the body). This angle is also important for the AT-AT in particular because it was from this view we saw it the most in Empire Strikes Back. Really makes it look towering and menacing

Edited December 26, 2015 by BigEl

[Junior Shark]

An awesome face of Imperial might! Love the finished product, BigEl!

[BigEl]

Thanks a lot buddy :)

[StormtrooperEll]

The AT AT is my favourite vehicle from Star Wars and this is just fantastic! Well done!

[BigEl]

10 hours ago, StormtrooperEll said:

The AT AT is my favourite vehicle from Star Wars and this is just fantastic! Well done!

 

Thank you! Its been quite a while but the AT-AT still stands strong the way I tweaked it (especially in terms of the head). 

Looking back at it I would definitely change some things, like building the laser cannons on the side of the head actually with round dishes instead of normal bricks/slopes.

 

But hey, I really enjoy the overall look still. Interestingly enough I bought this AT-AT for the normal price shortly before it retired, and now its over 300 Euro in Europe... really tells you how many desire this iconic walker 

[Hell_Hawk_33]

Your AT-AT looks great! Nice job.

[jordanewcastle]

Unsure whether to build this first, or the IDS Aggressor! Currently waiting on CR-90 instructions to buy!