TIE/br Heavy Starfighter

[Oupin88]

Hello there!

I would like to present to you my first serious MOC: the TIE/rb Imperial Starfighter, also known as the TIE Brute. A variant of the good old TIE as seen in Solo: A Star Wars Story – a not-so-great film, but overflowing with marvellous design language. I loved the lumbering, asymmetric design from the first sight.

This heavy starfighter could only be seen in the Kessel Run scene for a few seconds altogether, in rapid motion and bad lighting; conditions that make translating the design into Lego harder, but at the same time more forgiving. Lego never bothered to release an official set (the set wave from Solo included a wonderful version of the base TIE, which took the ‘TIE slot’ in the Lego portfolio for the following few years), and there is a handful of playscale MOCs around, smaller than what I was looking for. The source material was extremely scarce: a few freeze-frames and two-three different toy designs. Being a devoted fan of Jerac’s TIE family, I tried to make the fighter blend in among the rest of the armada, while still maintaining the exaggerated proportions of the original: the enlarged cockpit constructed with the 4x4 quarter-dome bricks and ‘arms’ fitted with additional armour.

However, the most notable section of the Brute is of course the additional gun pod, armed with two large cannons. According to one of the Star Wars Visual Guides, this section had the ability to swivel. It was quite a challenge to incorporate this function while maintaining the stability of the build. After a lot of failed attempts, the final design comes down to a surprisingly modest, but stable connection. Moreover, the swivelling movement of the battery does not happen by hand – instead, it is transmitted from turning of the large, round nozzle at the rear of the main cockpit. The cockpit seats two crew members: a pilot and a gunner. The model is minifigure-scale and comprises of 1780 elements.

As a beginner MOC designer, I’ll be grateful for your comments and advice. Anyone who would like to rebuild this design themselves is invited to brickvault.toys , where the building instructions and the part list can be found.

 

[Stuartn]

That looks great, the swivelling function of the canons is brilliant, and a great way of adding function to a TIE moc, which is hard to do. The cockpit appears well detailed and the insertion method for the pilot is great. I really like the engine design and the circular details behind the cannon is spectacular.

[Tom_Brick]

Agreed...those rotating guns are brilliant. I've done my own Brute and eventually gave up on the rotating pod, I couldn't get it to rotate without compromising the overall stability. How did you manage to rotate the pod around the connection between the cockpit and the solar panel?

 

 

[sandtrooper]

This is very well done!  The texture on the wings is terrific - one of the best looks I've seen for any TIE.  The rotating function for the cannons, the cockpit and building it with actual bricks take it to another level.  Do you plan on making instructions for your MOC?

[caiman0637]

Brilliant! I love the textured look of the wings!

[Oupin88]

@Stuartn thank you!

@Tom_Brick thanks a lot! The whole connection is a 4-plate thick stack of 1-wide plates put on the side, going through some 4x4 round plates with 2x2 round holes. It provides sufficient stability and won't break, thanks to being locked by the round plate.

@sandtrooper @caiman0637 thanks! The texture of the wings was designed to fit within the TIE family created by Jerac (the most recent version). The instructions should be available at Brickvault later today.

Edited April 2, 2021 by Oupin88

[Tom_Brick]

3 hours ago, Oupin88 said:

@Stuartn thank you!

@Tom_Brick thanks a lot! The whole connection is a 4-plate thick stack of 1-wide plates put on the side, going through some 4x4 round plates with 2x2 round holes. It provides sufficient stability and won't break, thanks to being locked by the round plate.

 

Interesting, yeah, sounds solid. 

[Oupin88]

Brickvault has released the video and put the model on their website.

 

 

[Jerac]

I love to see this finally released. I saw this design evolve and I helped a tiny bit so seeing it finalized is a great feeling.

Functions - rotating guns, sliding pilot insert - those are what "makes" the ship for me. Incorporating working functions into a design, which also has to hold together and in this case, be easy enough to be buildable is a huge achievement. Great work!

[Oupin88]

@Jerac Thanks for the kind words and for the guidance during the design process!

[Tom_Brick]

Here's what I came up with. I'm actually quite proud of my cockpit design, but your swiveling pod is of course next level. 

[whoops]

Hey hello my best friend.

I like u new style of the cockpit.

I M verry interested in how u build this beauty.

I Hope for u answer.

This can i used for my future plan.

Ahm the time  when i m home,thanks to the coronia shit period.

Can i go with my plan. 

So i wait for u respond.

Greets Ronald S.

ig88285@gmail.com

 

[MAVERICK26]

Hello! Great job!

On 4/2/2021 at 10:33 AM, Oupin88 said:

The whole connection is a 4-plate thick stack of 1-wide plates put on the side, going through some 4x4 round plates with 2x2 round holes. It provides sufficient stability and won't break, thanks to being locked by the round plate.

Can you provide a picture or diagram?

[20feet]

Impressive model.  I don't particularly like the ship it's based on, but this is a really good representation.  The rotating gun mechanism is excellent.

I also like the smooth spokes on the wings.  Most TIE MOCs go with the stepped plate approach, but the smoothness of these spokes is worth a bit of extra thickness IMO.

And I've seen the grille brick style of TIE wings before, but I like it more here.  Maybe it's the lighting?  I still prefer the tall brick style in my TIE, but MOC design is all about priorities and tradeoffs.

I'm looking forward to seeing more!

[Oupin88]

17 hours ago, MAVERICK26 said:

Hello! Great job!

Can you provide a picture or diagram?

Thanks! Here's the core of the mechanism:

8 hours ago, 20feet said:

Impressive model.  I don't particularly like the ship it's based on, but this is a really good representation.  The rotating gun mechanism is excellent.

I also like the smooth spokes on the wings.  Most TIE MOCs go with the stepped plate approach, but the smoothness of these spokes is worth a bit of extra thickness IMO.

And I've seen the grille brick style of TIE wings before, but I like it more here.  Maybe it's the lighting?  I still prefer the tall brick style in my TIE, but MOC design is all about priorities and tradeoffs.

I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Thanks a lot! I like your version of Jerac's TIE - the tall brick technique looks very interesting.

17 hours ago, whoops said:

Hey hello my best friend.

...

Greets Ronald S.

ig88285@gmail.com

 

Hello! If you're interested in the build, the instructions are available here:

https://www.brickvault.toys/products/tie-brute-minifig-scale

I hope you like it!

[Oupin88]

21 hours ago, Tom_Brick said:

Here's what I came up with. I'm actually quite proud of my cockpit design, but your swiveling pod is of course next level. 

I've seen your Brute, it's great! I particularly like the armour around the 'arms' and the windscreen.

Edited April 4, 2021 by Oupin88

[MAVERICK26]

1 hour ago, Oupin88 said:

Thanks! Here's the core of the mechanism:

Thanks a lot! I like your version of Jerac's TIE - the tall brick technique looks very interesting.

Hello! If you're interested in the build, the instructions are available here:

https://www.brickvault.toys/products/tie-brute-minifig-scale

I hope you like it!

Woah - Thanks!

[Mandalorianknight]

I saw this and first just thought it was some nice TIE moc, but that function brings it to the next level! You integrated the function so well I never would have guessed it'd be there.

[Oupin88]

8 hours ago, Mandalorianknight said:

I saw this and first just thought it was some nice TIE moc, but that function brings it to the next level! You integrated the function so well I never would have guessed it'd be there.

Thanks! It was very important for me to make the model interactive. I share my collection with my son - eye candy for me and cool, swooshable spaceships for him at the same time. This meant the MOC needed to be good looking while remaining as sturdy as possible and  playable.

[AIex]

7 hours ago, Oupin88 said:

Thanks! It was very important for me to make the model interactive. I share my collection with my son - eye candy for me and cool, swooshable spaceships for him at the same time. This meant the MOC needed to be good looking while remaining as sturdy as possible and  playable.

I love this mindset! I too try to integrate certain play features and functions into my builds wherever I can, and it is so neat to see one executed as wonderfully and seamlessly as your TIE here.