NathanR Posted June 13, 2019 (edited) Gerry Anderson's classic Thunderbirds TV series follows the exploits of International Rescue, a secret organisation run by the Tracy family from an island in the Pacific Ocean. Whenever disaster strikes, whenever people are in danger, the family leaps into action to save the day using incredible machines capable of pulling off any rescue - be it in the air, on land, in the sea or deep in space. The show has been a firm favourite of mine ever since I was a child, back in the 1990s. The five main craft have a few play features built into them. Thunderbird 1 has opening wings: Thunderbird 2 can be raised on four detachable legs, then you pull the lever at the back to drop the pod. You can load up Thunderbird 4, or in this case, it's Pod 3 carrying the Mole! And Thunderbird 3 can be docked with Thunderbird 5! I also went to town with a few bonus models. After all, what collection of Thunderbirds vehicles would be complete without Thunderbird 6, the Tiger Moth biplane from the 1968 movie? Or Lady Penelope's beautiful Rolls-Royce, FAB1? And finally, you can't have International Rescue without someone in peril, in need of rescuing. So there is the chance to recreate the first ever episode! The new supersonic airliner, Fireflash, is trapped in the sky. Its landing gear has been sabotaged, and its fuel is running low. Help the International Rescue crew guide the plane to a landing on the roofs of the three included elevator cars. Will they bring the plane to a standstill before running out of runway? These digital MOCs have taken several months to prepare, with most of the time spent in creating the 50+ custom stickers/patterns and learning how to generate the backdrops using Blender. It would not have been possible to create these images without the use of Mecabricks' fantastic Blender template, and the Mecabricks render farm. Additional images are available on my brick safe page: https://bricksafe.com/pages/NathanR/lego-ideas-thunderbirds I've also submitted the models to Lego Ideas, if you like then you can vote for them here: https://ideas.lego.com/projects/6e7946e4-9da4-4195-af68-a93615c398b1 Update: 30/9/19: Happy Thunderbirds Day! It's 54 years since Thunderbirds was first broadcast! To celebrate, I have added the spaceship Zero-X to my collection of Thunderbird vehicles: Edited September 30, 2019 by NathanR Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kevin Flemming Posted June 13, 2019 All of these are truly fantastic. Definitely worthy of becoming an official set, that's for sure. Best of luck with Ideas. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ukbajadave Posted June 13, 2019 All instantly recognisable, clearly you've put a huge amount of work into these! Thunderbird 2 is my favourite, the brick built yellow stripe is very well done. I'd love to see more of the pod vehicles but the links seem to lead back here? Finally do you know if FAB 1 is buildable IRL? It would make a great keyring. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NathanR Posted June 14, 2019 13 hours ago, Kevin Flemming said: All of these are truly fantastic. Definitely worthy of becoming an official set, that's for sure. Best of luck with Ideas. 12 hours ago, ukbajadave said: All instantly recognisable, clearly you've put a huge amount of work into these! Thunderbird 2 is my favourite, the brick built yellow stripe is very well done. Thanks, I'm glad you liked the models! Though I cheated a bit on the TB2 yellow stripe, it relies on a couple of stickers to keep the pattern. 12 hours ago, ukbajadave said: I'd love to see more of the pod vehicles but the links seem to lead back here? Oops, there was a typo in the link, it's fixed now. But I only have extra views of the thunderbird craft, the only pod vehicle I designed was the Mole. I wanted to do some of the other pod vehicles, like Firefly or the Recovery vehicles, but it's surprisingly difficult to make them recognisable and small enough to fit through the 4x4 pod door. 12 hours ago, ukbajadave said: Finally do you know if FAB 1 is buildable IRL? It would make a great keyring. It is indeed! Though I haven't tried it in real life yet. All the parts exist, the bright pink 4x8 plate and headlamp brick (4070) haven't been made for four or five years but are quite plentiful on bricklink. For the rest, a lot of the pink parts were introduced this year in the Overwatch sets. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sander1992 Posted June 17, 2019 Great work on the shapes at that scale! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jus1973 Posted June 17, 2019 These are just fantastic. Will head over to idea to support. Simply brilliant. I think they’ll sell well too, should they be successful. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CF Mitch Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) Holy moly, these are just fantastic! I've actually started watching the show again, this weekend (beginning with that live-action movie ) and your models are so incredibly accurate. I like the playfeatures you've incorporated, especially the docking capability of TB3 with TB5. Just one question: does TB2 come with an extra Pod 4, to carry TB4? Or, more practically perhaps, an extra pod door with the number '4' on it... Good luck with your IDEAS submission! Regards, Mitch Edited June 17, 2019 by CF Mitch Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NathanR Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) Thanks for all the kind words! They really mean a lot to me. I'm really thrilled that one of my MOCs has ended up on the eurobricks front page 56 minutes ago, CF Mitch said: Just one question: does TB2 come with an extra Pod 4, to carry TB4? Or, more practically perhaps, an extra pod door with the number '4' on it... Actually, the one sticker I forgot to design was the 2x4 tile on the pod door carrying the number, that's why you never see the pod door in any of the images To keep down the parts count and price of the finished set, I'd probably just go with one pod and maybe some extra 2x4 tiles and stickers/prints. That way, you can choose whatever pod number you want! 56 minutes ago, CF Mitch said: (beginning with that live-action movie ) Oh you poor thing... Edited June 17, 2019 by NathanR Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
coinoperator Posted June 17, 2019 25 minutes ago, NathanR said: To keep down the parts count and price Oh no I'd definitly go for the complete UCS set of all TB's and a total parts count over 20.000 I'd buy it the first day. I'm 61 so you understand that TB is my youth favorite since I was caught by SF at very young age. Together with the dutch series of Floris but thats quite a local story Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jimmynick Posted June 17, 2019 My goodness, this is a blast from the past. The Thunderbird 2 model reminds me of that toy from back in the 90s. The others are all so wonderful (except for the wings on Thunderbird 1 - a little chunky). FAB 1 is great - the bubble canopy and grille are instantly recognizable (not to mention the pink!). If this were an official set I'd buy it in a heartbeat - doubly so if it sweetened the deal with minifigures of the Tracy clan. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
icm Posted June 17, 2019 Really fantastic little set of models here. I'm especially impressed by the Thunderbird 3/5 docking feature. Good luck getting to 10K! Like jimmynick, I'd buy this in a heartbeat! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gunman Posted June 17, 2019 Sweet project... Good luck on Ideas! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NathanR Posted June 17, 2019 4 hours ago, coinoperator said: I'd definitly go for the complete UCS set of all TB's and a total parts count over 20.000 I'd buy it the first day. With that many pieces I could do the whole island - all the launch bays, a retractable swimming pool, the falling palm trees... Now that really would be one hell of a playset! 4 hours ago, coinoperator said: I'm 61 so you understand that TB is my youth favorite since I was caught by SF at very young age. I'm 29, and Thunderbirds was a childhood favourite of mine too! It really is an amazing show. 2 hours ago, jimmynick said: The Thunderbird 2 model reminds me of that toy from back in the 90s. The others are all so wonderful (except for the wings on Thunderbird 1 - a little chunky). FAB 1 is great - the bubble canopy and grille are instantly recognizable (not to mention the pink!). Do you mean the matchbox die-cast metal toys? I still have mine from when I was a kid, though they were heavily played with and are a bit battered now. I really had those in mind when designing the group, that's why FAB 1 is so oversized compared to the other vehicles. In the show it could be carried inside TB2's pod! And yes, TB1's wings are way too chunky, I'd welcome any suggestions for making them a bit thinner! 2 hours ago, jimmynick said: doubly so if it sweetened the deal with minifigures of the Tracy clan. Minifigures would be awesome! But there are two reasons why I didn't create any. One, Lego Ideas sets have a limited number of "slots" for new part colours and new printed designs, and the minfigures would tie up slots for some pretty critical part recolours (each Thunderbird craft needs at least two pieces in a new colour). And two, my graphics design skills are pretty bad, I don't think I could do the characters justice! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stephan Posted June 17, 2019 (edited) Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Thunderbirds are GO! These set(s) would be an instant buy for me! Edited June 17, 2019 by Stephan Lay-out Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CF Mitch Posted June 18, 2019 22 hours ago, NathanR said: Actually, the one sticker I forgot to design was the 2x4 tile on the pod door carrying the number, that's why you never see the pod door in any of the images To keep down the parts count and price of the finished set, I'd probably just go with one pod and maybe some extra 2x4 tiles and stickers/prints. That way, you can choose whatever pod number you want! Oh you poor thing... It actually wasn't that bad Anyhoo, regarding the pod doors, your suggestion to include several tiles with stickers/prints sounds excellent Regards, Mitch Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NathanR Posted June 19, 2019 On 6/18/2019 at 2:09 PM, CF Mitch said: It actually wasn't that bad Huh. I think I should give it another try then. It has been 15 years since I last watched it... 6 hours ago, MECHALEX said: Oh these are FAB! Thanks, glad you like them! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tracytron54321 Posted July 29, 2019 Ahhhhh this is amazing! My childhood! The nostalgia! This is such a great MOC! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Littleworlds Posted July 29, 2019 These are awesome! You caught their look and feel perfectly Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MassEditor Posted August 2, 2019 Fantastic, well built and instantly recognizable! Incredible work adding so much detail on such a small scale. Good luck with the Ideas submission! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NathanR Posted September 30, 2019 Today is a very special day - it is 54 years since Thunderbirds was first broadcast on TV. So to celebrate, I expand my collection with a new model: the spaceship Zero-X from the 1966 movie "Thunderbirds Are Go". The ship carried a group of astronauts on mankind's first mission to Mars, but disaster struck on its return to Earth and the astronauts only survived thanks to the efforts of International Rescue. The model features detachable wings, a removable nose cone, a detachable Mars Excursion Vehicle, and even a small escape unit. However, I still need to prepare some custom decals for the final few details. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NathanR Posted August 20, 2020 (edited) I've been rebuilding the models in stud.io, tweaking the designs a little bit as I go, and also recreating all the custom decals from scratch. Thunderbird 5 is the first one to be completed, and as it's my favourite I couldn't wait to show it off. 3D model: https://www.mecabricks.com/en/models/LyjWeJo5aJr Most of the changes have been structural, but the main pylon on the bottom has been redesigned to use more common pieces and have a little more clutch power. I also managed to identify the correct fonts to use for all the labels, so it is now screen-accurate. You have no idea how annoyed I was when I realised I'd used the wrong font for the "5" in the "Thunderbird 5" nameplate! If there is sufficient interest, I'll release instructions after the Lego Ideas project expires - time is running out, but you can still vote! Edited August 20, 2020 by NathanR Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jp-30 Posted August 23, 2020 These are, dare I say it. FAB! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
