Jerac

SFS TIE/x1 Advanced

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Hi everybody!

Finally done! The hardest of the Big Four!

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The TIE Advanced was meant to be released along with the classic TIE Fighter instead of the Interceptor, but it has proven to be much harder build than I anticipated.

I thought, having more space for the pylons since they are bigger would make them easier; well not so - they are supposed to be little tapering hexagons with holes, ugh! :D
I thought, I have a great idea for angled panels which is scalable and will work for everything; well not so - the T/A is too small to use the same solution.
I thought, scaling would be easy because this is perhaps the most covered ship on google photos; well not so - most of these photos are useless for scaling.

This all made it a nice set of LEGO challenges which I love to solve so much. 



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To be very honest, this is not a very nice design!

Its front-end is blunt, its rear is oddly curved which does not match angled panels at all, and it absolutely does not feel "evil" like the dagger-edged Interceptor. Despite this, it still has this iconic-kind of design which makes it so unique. No franchise makes ugly ships anymore, everything has to be cool. Boring!

 

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So the ship has four engines. Who knew? 

The model technically is the smallest TIE craft out of all original trilogy ones. It requires about 860 pieces and is actually lighter than the basic TIE Fighter. Fun thing, for the boss to have the smallest ride, even though it has double the 'cylinders' under the bonnet.

 

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This is a commisioned build and instructions are available at http://brickvault.toys

 

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I hope you like it - I sure enjoyed the building and design experience!

Edited by Jerac

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Spot on! Earlier versions definitely undersized the central bubble relative to the rest of the body but you got it just right. I think I'll be replacing my TLG build with yours. :) Very impressive Jerac! With all four classic TIEs finished, will you be taking a (well deserved!) break, or have you already sunk your teeth into a new project?

Oh and out of curiosity, do you have a specific preference for this "windshield" print (from the A-Wing vs TIE Advanced set) over its update in the TIE Striker and new TIE Fighter?

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Thanks!

Classic TIEs are not the end of the project. I have at least three more things to build for sure and plenty of ideas later on. And breaks are for the weak!
But the next thing I am attempting is super hard... there will definitely be some time before I release it, or even another ship might get finished before.

As for the windshield piece - it matters not for me. Both are good.

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Aaaahh it’s beautiful ;^) If it’s got four engines, then technically it’s a QIE Advanced hehe

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This is amazing I love the proportions.  I’ll have  add this to the list of parts I’m slowly adding up to build all the others. All these amazing TIEs are got really hurt the wallet. 

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Funny that you talk about the odd design. I used to dislike this one the most, with the interceptor being my favourite. such a cool look with the long evil pronged panels. Meanwhile the TA looked like something someones grandma would drive... Though as I aged (yes, I am reeeeeallly old now) I actually came to like the advanced more and more... and more, so now I actually like it the best. (Jeez, that grandma joke may have some truth in it :D ) I like its chubbiness, it actually makes me feel this would be the most practical design for fast and agile ship, wich relatively low tensor of inertia for the most agility. I like that the cockpit is at the front rather than offset to the back so the majority of the peripheral view is obstructed by long pronged panels, as it is in other, unnnamed fighters. All in all, it's just cool.

Oh and you have a nice model by the way!

Edited by krisandkris12

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Man, i just love Tie Fighters, and your designs are spot on. In fact, you make some great Imperial stuff! Uncle Palpy would be proud.

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16 hours ago, krisandkris12 said:

Funny that you talk about the odd design. I used to dislike this one the most, with the interceptor being my favourite. such a cool look with the long evil pronged panels. Meanwhile the TA looked like something someones grandma would drive... Though as I aged (yes, I am reeeeeallly old now) I actually came to like the advanced more and more... and more, so now I actually like it the best. (Jeez, that grandma joke may have some truth in it :D ) I like its chubbiness, it actually makes me feel this would be the most practical design for fast and agile ship, wich relatively low tensor of inertia for the most agility. I like that the cockpit is at the front rather than offset to the back so the majority of the peripheral view is obstructed by long pronged panels, as it is in other, unnnamed fighters. All in all, it's just cool.

Oh and you have a nice model by the way!

Thanks!
I still wouldn't like to fly the Advanced if I had to choose between this and any other shielded TIE, but well, I guess I am not a Sith Lord anyways!
All in all though, I have went through similar process as you. Except for me it was x-wings vs TIE fighters, first being classic nice spacecraft and second - odd ugly monstrosities. Now the TIEs are the single most awesome spacecrafts I know and x-wings are... just another winged fighters.


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I've been playing with some photoediting recently and finally got Vader figure... worth it? 

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Over the next year or two I have a plan to vastly increase my TIE count with primarily a lot of regular TIEs coming from the new Solo TIE set. I feel that more or less the studded plates looks good for the solar panels. I also think your cleaned up smooth panels look really good.

How much of an undertaking do you think it would be for me to use that new set as a base parts box to get the pilots and hatches and such but convert over to your designs? I would be looking at 12-18 TIW/LNs, 4-8 TIE Interceptors, 2+ TIE Bombers, and 2-10 other assorted TIEs. I am considering this would also leave me with a lot of spare black plates which is very helpful for the hangars I'm working on and that most of the additional parts I would need would be basic type parts I can source easily and cheaply but am I wrong?

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2 hours ago, TigerSixZero said:

Over the next year or two I have a plan to vastly increase my TIE count with primarily a lot of regular TIEs coming from the new Solo TIE set. I feel that more or less the studded plates looks good for the solar panels. I also think your cleaned up smooth panels look really good.

How much of an undertaking do you think it would be for me to use that new set as a base parts box to get the pilots and hatches and such but convert over to your designs? I would be looking at 12-18 TIW/LNs, 4-8 TIE Interceptors, 2+ TIE Bombers, and 2-10 other assorted TIEs. I am considering this would also leave me with a lot of spare black plates which is very helpful for the hangars I'm working on and that most of the additional parts I would need would be basic type parts I can source easily and cheaply but am I wrong?

The Solo movie TIE Fighter shares very little parts base with my designs. This is because I use bricks for panels instead of plates, and the core sphere in my design uses mostly plates, few slopes and eight obvious dome parts, while solo set is built with large amount of tiny slopes. Hatches and windshield themselves are cheap and are not any significant position on the parts list pricing.

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It looks amazing Jerac...like the rest of your Tie collection. The attention to detail is second to none, particularly the sides of the cockpit and the sloped rear. I can’t wait to start building it. 

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2 hours ago, Markalus said:

It looks amazing Jerac...like the rest of your Tie collection. The attention to detail is second to none, particularly the sides of the cockpit and the sloped rear. I can’t wait to start building it. 

Thanks!

Please tell me if you have any feedback about the intructions! Designing the MOC itself is super fun, but I am growing fond of designing build order as well. If there is anything which is hard to attach, hard to spot or just plain awkward please tell me so I can improve further instructions.

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For feedback, what I would say about the TIE Bomber (not sure if it's similar here, haven't built it yet) is that attaching the top and bottom parts of the panels via hinge brick is difficult as described as there's not a whole lot of ways to get enough leverage to pop that many sets of hinges together at once. I found it easier (though still somewhat challenging) to put the hinge bricks together first, and then put the top and bottom panels on the hinge bricks, and just make sure they all line up.

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I'm about to place an order for the TIE Collection as I have been looking for something to build and am not the best at designing things. Thanks for sharing!

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16 hours ago, TemjinStrife said:

For feedback, what I would say about the TIE Bomber (not sure if it's similar here, haven't built it yet) is that attaching the top and bottom parts of the panels via hinge brick is difficult as described as there's not a whole lot of ways to get enough leverage to pop that many sets of hinges together at once. I found it easier (though still somewhat challenging) to put the hinge bricks together first, and then put the top and bottom panels on the hinge bricks, and just make sure they all line up.

Shiiiiit. And I did the same thing in the T/A... My experience was different, I couldn't align all the hinged slopes and it was easier to me to connect them while separated. I'll try to collect more feedback, if people are upset about this I'll update instructions. This is not a major change.

LEGO designers have hell of a job to solve such issues, I wonder how many great designs were rejected only because it was impossible to make them easy enough in instructions.

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Thanks for appreciation, guys! Always welcome!

Edited by Jerac

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7 hours ago, Jerac said:

Shiiiiit. And I did the same thing in the T/A... My experience was different, I couldn't align all the hinged slopes and it was easier to me to connect them while separated. I'll try to collect more feedback, if people are upset about this I'll update instructions. This is not a major change.

LEGO designers have hell of a job to solve such issues, I wonder how many great designs were rejected only because it was impossible to make them easy enough in instructions.

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Thanks for appreciation, guys! Always welcome!

My guess is it will be easier in the Advance, since there are no cheese slopes in between the hinges that force you to try to push it together at an angle. The T/A looks like you can do it straight in; the Bomber forces you to try to apply enough pressure to put the hinges together at an angle.

Edited by TemjinStrife

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@Jerac Can't wait to build this and add it to the rest of the TIE collection. I've got the few parts I needed ordered on BL except for a few pieces. The minifig screwdriver tool (pg.40,45 in the manual) is a bit difficult to acquire (re: expensive) here in Canada, as none of the vendors here have more than 1 in stock. Wondering if there is another piece that can be used in place - or at least temporarily - of this? 

Thanks in advance, and great work as always. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into building these awesome MOC's.

Edited by Riotvale

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10 hours ago, Riotvale said:

@Jerac Can't wait to build this and add it to the rest of the TIE collection. I've got the few parts I needed ordered on BL except for a few pieces. The minifig screwdriver tool (pg.40,45 in the manual) is a bit difficult to acquire (re: expensive) here in Canada, as none of the vendors here have more than 1 in stock. Wondering if there is another piece that can be used in place - or at least temporarily - of this? 

Thanks in advance, and great work as always. I really appreciate the time and effort you put into building these awesome MOC's.

I used small minifig axes in the prototype (old firemen figs used those). Screwdrivers are more clean/elegant solution but what you need is actually a tiny piece of bar sticking out of headlight brick. If you have a piece of flex hose to cut, it would be perfect; you can get away with little 1-stud-long pieces if you wish.

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I don't see why you couldn't just chop off a short piece of 3mm rigid hose and use it in that spot. It's not seen and so as long as it holds the robot arms (which it will just fine) it will not matter. Just depends on how much of a purist you are. (Oops, as the master says!)

 

 

Edited by ecmo47

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