Kommander

UCS Mon Calamari Star Cruiser "CONFIDENCE" (MOC)

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Edited Nov´21

Hello folks,

Rogue One, a absolute stunning movie (in my opinion), gave us this great designed, whale-shaped Flagship. It is like a combination between classic McQuarrie concepts as well as modern military submarines.

The instructions are now avaiable at Brickvault:  https://www.brickvault.toys/products/mc-75-star-cruiser-confidence

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LEGO UCS MC75 Star Cruiser CONFIDENCE by Kommandant Keller, auf Flickr

About this MOC:

  • Dimensions - 89 cm x 20 cm x 46 cm
  • The model contains 5728 pieces
  • 700-pages Instructions  
  • The ship features a compact, but playable interior including maintenance hangar, command areas and detachable quarters
  • A Nanoscale Tantive IV can also be fitted right into the hangar bay in front of the ship

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UCS MC75 Star Cruiser CONFIDENCE by Kommandant Keller, auf Flickr

 

Shame on me I didn´t post an update earlier but some other priorities kept occupied me the last months on further progress.

 

Not to mentioned I took quite long to finish the model digitally. I went through different versions, each iteration with better techniques and quite better shaping... it was always some kind of finding the right balance considering techniques and esthetics.

Like for the digital model and instructions: The rear-shape changed another time because the used building methods just were to challenging for implementation. But irl quite easy to archive.

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LEGO UCS MC75 Star Cruiser CONFIDENCE by Kommandant Keller, auf Flickr

 

In Lego-Universe it always felt like something is missing for the Rebel Alliance Fleets out there. Dozen of ISD, various shapes, types and sizes – but less big Rebel ships.

I am very proud of the outcome, especially since there are not many UCS-like Mon Calamari ships out there.

And let´s be honest - the color scheme was the most fun part of designing. Doing some happy little drops here, markings there. The ship differs to the well-known PROFUNDITY Star Cruiser but I couldn´t resist to paint it acccording to my wishes and put a name on it. CONFIDENCE!

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UCS MC75 Star Cruiser CONFIDENCE by Kommandant Keller, auf Flickr

 

Maybe this model can inspire some of you for Mon Calamari Star Cruisers :laugh:

Kind regards

Kommander/Keller

 

Original post February 2019

 

Hallo!

Various fantastic Star Destroyer MOCs have been posted but Mon Calamari ships are very rare to find. I guess the organic shape is one of the reasons. Creating curved designs like this in Lego is on another level. Currently raskolnikov building a huge MC cruiser which finally pushed me forward to put on my own hands on a MC cruiser.

A UCS „Profundity“ - Admiral Raddus´ MC75 cruiser will be my next project. As reference for the scale I picked the 10030 ISD. The result should be a counterpart with 72 cm in lenght.

Despite the small dimensions I chose it really is a challenging ship due to its sleek, curved design. Fortunately it has a big armorbelt which is a bit easier area to realise and in my opinion looks a bit cooler with the “military” elements :sweet:

 

 

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Link to album

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Here is my first attempt with curved slopes. Simple, with a nice result. And the docking bay will be easy to include. The surface is sleek but unfortunately the nose is to chubby.

The front isn’t convincing me anymore. Its closer to an BATTLESTAR (Galactica e.g.) than a MC cruiser. I will change this for sure. Another big thing will be including "pods" on the the hull.

47144878362_d102ffa459_b.jpg

 

Well, thats all so far folks.

 

Greetings Kommander

Edited by Kommander

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Foreshadowing... of pretty awesome build! Frankly I don’t care so much about in universe designs of MC ships, especially the larger vessels where the overal blobby shape dominates over the interesting details. But as a lego builds they are extremely ineresting given how unconventioal models they are. I’m very interested in ongoing Matt’s build and I’m glad to see another solid take on similar subject!

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Great start! please keep posting your WIPs, they seem very interesting! I don't know if you're planning to get rid of the gaps, you don't have to necesarily, it already looks incredible on the front!

I do agree a bit with what you said on the nose though. I didn't notice it at all at first, but now you've said it it does spring out a bit haha

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Hi,

first of all thank you for your replies, folks!

On 2/24/2019 at 11:14 PM, Kristof said:

But as a lego builds they are extremely ineresting given how unconventioal models they are.

Yeah, due to their uniqueness it is quite exiting to figure out the most suitable LEGO-solution (at least for me :laugh:).

 

On 2/25/2019 at 1:09 AM, TWP said:

Great start! please keep posting your WIPs, they seem very interesting! I don't know if you're planning to get rid of the gaps, you don't have to necesarily, it already looks incredible on the front!

I do agree a bit with what you said on the nose though. I didn't notice it at all at first, but now you've said it it does spring out a bit haha

Generally as long as the overall look doesnt get impaired by gaps that much it is also fine for me. Those big gaps along the middle will of course be fixed.

 

On 2/25/2019 at 10:53 AM, Reaper said:

Looking great! But picking up 10030? I think you could make your own!

I need a break from building Star Destroyer :tongue:

 

The Battlestar-Nose has been fixed or more precisely I redesigned the whole front of the profundity by arranging those big slopes in weird angles. Colors are not final. Just missing those slopes in LBG.

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Maybe the pictures doesnt catch the new sleekness of the built but its promising. As well as the sturdyness which is nice cause I dont like MOCs falling apart by just looking at them.

Also the docking bay has been increased... I covered it rudimentary but still a huge opening for many details and a microscale Tantive IV.

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40256348333_3c54a183a7_b.jpg

 

Greetings Kommander

 

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20 hours ago, Kommander said:

Colors are not final. Just missing those slopes in LBG.

 

ooh, I actually quite like those slopes in DBG there as well!

Like I said on Flickr, great fix of the nose!

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Heh, looks great so far! Glad someone else will experience the joys of Mon Cal curves...and the more difficult task, as you seem to have discovered, of closing up those curves where the meet on the top and bottom of the ship. Anyway, will be interested to see how you continue to tackle it, especially with the realistic approach you're going for. I may end up with some cartoony proportions in some places to incorporate some things I want in the interior.

Also, parts availability is another big challenge... oh how I wish they made certain sloped cockpit and windshield pieces in solid colors. Gray mixing would also work great for a Mon Cal, but the modern curved slope pieces aren't really available in the old grays.

 

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The Profundity is slowly getting in shape. With the long tail now the streamlined form of a whale is recognizable.

 

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UCS MC75 010 by Kommander, on Flickr

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UCS MC75  008 by Kommander, on Flickr

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UCS MC75 009 by Kommander, on Flickr

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UCS MC75 011 by Kommander, on Flickr

 

I removed the details on the armor belt due to the updated front. It was necessary to change the old armor belt because it was also connected to the old front area. Unfortunately.

However, the new belt even with a more angular shape, comes together with a nice military appearance. Also, a quite tricky part of the belt so far was the falling angled line which also overlaps the main streamlined body. It was missing in the first version. Now I used wedge plates only and it worked fine.

The nose was a walkover in contrast to the tail. The decreasing angle of the ventral part and the black coloration required a lot of consideration. Construction wise it ended up similar to the front. Probably an area for a revisit in a later update.

Anyway, to mention the curved technic panels fit just right. I am gonna add some more with the next update for sure.

After watching the photos I noticed the ship was a bit to short with the 72cm I calculated for the project. I guess about 5cm should rebalance the whole overall look.

 

Greetings Kommander

Edited by Kommander

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The shape is looking really good, I wouldn’t know where to start with these rounder Mon Cal cruisers unlike wedge shaped destroyers.

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Hello!

Unftuneatly only a small update on this topic.

I revisited the inner structure including the attachment of the armorbelt. Out of that I created some more space for an interior.

But most of the time I tried to find some better methods to form the shape. Especially with the rear I entered a quite nice-looking form closer to the original thanks to the use of some technic panels. It is now a bit wider and has been extended. This will be the new limit of the ship´s size. Smaller variants of the tail I experiment with (including the last posted pictures) were not satisfying enough in terms of turning bricks into an smooth organic look.

Due to the new rear, the armorbelt will be enlarged as well in the next update but because of the new inside not that challenging any more.

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by Kommander, auf Flickr

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by Kommander, auf Flickr

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by Kommander, auf Flickr

 

Greetings Kommander

Edited by Kommander

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Nice progress, I like the use of the black Technic panels to achieve the roundness of the hull!

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Hello,

Last couple of days I was pretty busy working on my ship, also in order to provide you with a new update. Depending on building progress I plan to share more pictures this week.

Once again the first steps on this update were much more time consuming as expected.

I would have started some new areas of the ship but expanding the front was sooo difficult… At least I approached a quick build of the “command-fin”. Just a bit too large isn´t it?!

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UCS MC75 017 by Kommander, auf Flickr

Let´s take a look on this update:

With the previous front being a relic for a smaller scale now has been completely redesigned.

Some might say with the third attempt it would be easier with each step forward but it was still very challenging. The problems have been the same.

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UCS MC75 028 by Kommander, auf Flickr

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UCS MC75 027 by Kommander, auf Flickr

The front runs together under a complex shape. With again much try n error and the usage of some unusual bricks I archived a nice result. Key was to align the bricks just in the right position. With little help of ball-joints it wasn´t that hard to accomplish… but finding the right bricks and position!

Long slopes have disappeared and so are the unnecessary edges. Which make a quite unique look but aren´t useful in this state of my MOC anymore.

Unfortunately due to the gap-filling wedges a few studes have been added. No big deal since its Lego but maybe need to reconsider this.

The smaller slopes stayed with a design being similar to the rear. Overall the shape under the armor belt now looks more like it is made out of one piece.

The gaps at the nose aren´t the best solution and I will definitely change them later. But for now I am ok with those. Also underneath the hangar comes with a significant increase at the first sign. Let's see how I can take advantage of this now.

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UCS MC75 026 by Kommander, auf Flickr

Last but not least the rear underside has also got a little improvement – it is almost finished at this point. I couldn´t resist to add a few splashes of color.

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UCS MC75 022 by Kommander, auf Flickr

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UCS MC75 023 by Kommander, auf Flickr

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UCS MC75 025 by Kommander, auf Flickr

 

Kind regards Kommander

Edited by Kommander

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This is really coming together - I like the inclusion of Technic panels in the black portion. I like the flex tubes and the purple engines, too. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing!

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I'm most impressed. The recently presented Home One from Matt felt like one of a kind marvel in terms of achieving these organic curves but man dare I say you match or even exceed his mastery at some places! And... is that a cloth piece on that rear section? Regardless of whether you decide to keep it on there, it's an ingenious thing to try out. Again... super impressed!

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I am always amazed by people's ability to build such complex compound curves. I already struggle to build the relatively simple shapes of the Millennium Falcon and my latest attempts at a Naboo Royal starship are absolutely horrible. I'm really looking forward to seeing this thing finished and thank you for showing us that little glimpse of the interior structure. To me that combination of angles, curves, hinges and plates is just absolutely insane. I really wish I was able to build like that! :D

Edited by Kit Bricksto

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Thank you very much folks!

On 11/22/2019 at 11:35 PM, Kristof said:

I'm most impressed. The recently presented Home One from Matt felt like one of a kind marvel in terms of achieving these organic curves but man dare I say you match or even exceed his mastery at some places! And... is that a cloth piece on that rear section? Regardless of whether you decide to keep it on there, it's an ingenious thing to try out. Again... super impressed!

Thank you. I will try my best to bring the design closer to that organic look with every single update. You are also right on the cloth... Those fit quite well with the ship´s shape. I wanted to give it a try and who knows, maybe some areas will benefit from this type of coloring.

On 11/24/2019 at 3:19 PM, Kit Bricksto said:

I am always amazed by people's ability to build such complex compound curves. I already struggle to build the relatively simple shapes of the Millennium Falcon and my latest attempts at a Naboo Royal starship are absolutely horrible. I'm really looking forward to seeing this thing finished and thank you for showing us that little glimpse of the interior structure. To me that combination of angles, curves, hinges and plates is just absolutely insane. I really wish I was able to build like that! :D

Thanks - It was a pain to aglin all those joints and hinges in the front :laugh:

 

Here is the update from last weekend.

All necessary parts have been built and finally, the ship coming together. Only a small area at the bottom of the second belt is still missing.

Again, I adjusted the inner frame which now can hold the ship on those smaller stands. For the lower fin I tried some techniques and find the following the most suitable for the details I want to add but the command bridge needs some fixing with this bulkiness.

Now that the ship is robust enough to hold on its own and the proportions are matching, I can continue with details. From now on the focus will be on enhancing the overall look.

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UCS MC75 029 by Kommander, auf Flickr

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UCS MC75 030 by Kommander, auf Flickr

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UCS MC75 031 by Kommander, auf Flickr

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UCS MC75 032 by Kommander, auf Flickr

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UCS MC75 033 by Kommander, auf Flickr

Kind regards,

Kommander

Edited by Kommander

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I absolutely love the hull shape. Especially the bottom curves, I imagine start trek enterprise-like passing shots will look marvelous.

That said, I also liked offcolored details and hatches from this very first photo:

47144880842_fb1c4ef9d3_b.jpg

If the hatches are too bright, maybe do them in DBG too? Anyway, if you could incorporate some of these details, it would be even better.

Congrats on the build!

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Thank you Jerac,

definitetly reconsider the details I built back with the first version and also a coloration near the original. There are many kosmetic things on my list. For example the ship needs way more pods at the surface. And some areas - especially the belt-hatches (or ribs?!) - I do not see any options to include highlights without stickers.

Also by removing the front stand there should be more focus on the ventral fin as well as the hangar with a Tantive IV.

 

Kind regards Kommander

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