[MOCs] Desert Explorers Fan Concept Sets

[ShadowWolfHount]

Got the idea of doing this from @kungfulegolover idea post on Eurobricks “Ideas for new City Sets”, though there are choices I disagree with, one of them being the mummy in the starter set, I believe that would fit more in the Pyramid.

With choosing the color scheme to go with this subtheme, I went with having dark red for the vehicle for them to stand out with the background desert like with vehicles in Pharaoh’s Quest (that have the same color), I also think having the wheels being in dark gray would be a good choice as well rather than the usual black or light gray. Do to Stud.io not yet having the cobra (yet), a normal snake is being used was a placeholder.

Piece highlights:
Obviously we know the coffin is going to make a return for a desert subtheme as it’s relating to egyptian. But besides that some pieces that I believe would be seen again because of a desert subtheme are the cobra and hat/hair combo pith helmet from series 13. The sword and shield from the Pharaoh's Quest could make a return as well, especially sense the sword made a return in some recent Ninjago sets.
With other headwear both explorers would have fedora and/or bandana, drivers would also use the bandana. The pith helmet along with the series 13 hair combo, would make sense to be used for the paleontologist.

MOCs

Desert ATV

Minifigure: 1 Explorer
Price: $5
Pieces: 62
Sticker: 1 (Desert logo on the front slop printed)

This one was pretty quick as I already had an ATV design (made IRL) that was for a cancelled idea, and so I reused that for this. As you can see this ATV uses the Nexo Mech chest piece which I thought go pretty well with the grilled guard .
A small side build for this is sand for the Explorer to dig up jewels. It also comes with a scorpion for the guy to watch out for.

 

 

Desert Exploration Truck

Minifigure: Driver and Explorer
Price: $20
Pieces: 125
Sticker: 7 (desert logo on hood & both side door, lights on arch and Egyptian symbols on book page and cover)

Do to the type of truck I picked for this with having some big pieces used to make it, the price to part get a pretty bad hit. Which I picked the classic america pickup truck with a hook in the back. With my idea for the vehicle, the Mudguard wouldn’t do, thus the arch pieces come to make the mudguard more thick. And do to this design choice, the lights would be stickers instead of tiles…    1001% didn’t forget them after the render. 
This also come with a pillar with a Scarab Shield (93251), along with a crate filled with dynamite, boomerang and a book.

 

 

Desert Cargo Plane

Minifigure: 2 Explorer, 1 pilot and 1 statue
Price: $50-70
Pieces: 333 (+1 new windscreen piece needed for cockpit)

Originally I was going to go with Kungfulegolover idea of doing a Helicrane, but instead went with a  Cargo plane to use the cockpit piece (29114) that came in the Jungle Exploration site as I thought that would be a most fitting piece for the desert subtheme. Instead of there being 3 blade for the propeller, it’s using the retired (As it been last used in 2009) 2 blade. The plane is based off a german cargo plane Junkers JU-52, which the pic I first saw is why I also added yellow, so it has some color to stand out.

 

 

Desert Exploration Mobile Base

Minifigure: 4 desert explorers and 2 paleontologist
Price: $100
Pieces: 897 (+1 new element needed for excavator)
Note: the treads cannot connect all the way in Stud.io. 
The vehicle are pretty much based on Volcano Exploration Base (set 60124). The first thing I started making is the excavator, wanting to size it down for the truck and temple to look bigger. As this is smaller a new digger bucket piece is needed to fit with the size of it.

The truck and trailer pretty much have the same base as Volcano Base but the trailer have the base of the excavator. To make the truck a bit more different I added horns for decoration and an add-on armor as the fuel tank. 

The playability is of the exploration team digger into the temple and retrieving the coffin, but there are traps within to keep an eye out for.

 

 

Pyramid Exploration

Minifigure: boss, 4 explorers, paleontologist and Mummy
Price: $70-100
Pieces: 560 (plus stringe)

Nowadays only D2C sets would pretty much exclusively use baseplates but I thought it being used in a normal retail set like this would be a bit of a change of things (using a 16 x 32 baseplate).

The first base started was obviously the pyramid, as it’s an easy thing to make and there isn’t really much to do with it besides adding traps… which is exactly what I put in with the coffin on the side, along with a place that holds jewels and gold.

With the vehicle I picked to go along with this are a helicopter and halftrack.
Honestly I saw this as a chance to bring in a mistika wing with the Helicopter. Now it may be a bit bigger but the inside does have Panel for support.
With the halftrack I thought it would be a good idea to use the 2 seat vehicle base (30149) as part of it. Itt have a lot of those curved slopes with stud notch to make some detail. It able to hold up supplice of 2 3x4 crate, contain a laptop, 2 brush, 2 water bottle, a water container, etc.

 

[LegoTrainPlane]

Can you please tell me what the part used under the cockpit of the plane.

Thanks

[Vindicare]

Boy, how did I miss these? I love them. I really love the cargo plane, great color choices. Desert Exploration Mobile Base is awesome as well. As someone who loved PQ, I wouldn’t definitely be down for these. Great job.