[TC20] 5982 Smash 'n' Grab

[kubic]

When the contest was announced last week, I immediately knew I was going to build something you don't normally see in Technic - some sort of a spaceship. Recreating yet another car or construction machine would have been way too boring. Who would want to see the same things over and over again when you can literally build anything you want to? I also briefly considered submarines and static builds, but the former are far too similar too each other and the latter rarely look good in a Technic form. City models were out of question, as they lack details and are only interesting in small scale unless you add a lot more functions to them, which is against the spirit of this contest. 

So, a spaceship. There have been a lot of them over the years. The classic space sets had flat uninspiring wings and their alien ships were usually round-shaped - not what you want to recreate in Technic. Star Wars may not be strictly forbidden, but their vehicles are too recognizable and allow for many compromises, because half of this forum could probably recognize a very mediocre build interpretation as an X-Wing. 

Space Police 3 is one of my favorite series, because the vehicles are simple, yet unique and extremely detailed. At first I wanted to build a classic police ship, but later I realized that I could actually go for something, that seemed impossible at first - a purple ship.

 

 

This Smash 'n' Grab set seems absolutely perfect for a Technic recreation (though we'll see how well I can pull it off): generally boxy shape, but many subtle wedges and curves as well as opportunities for introducing even more of them. 

Its rear crane is obviously perfect for Technic and so is the V4 engine, which is probably used for powering the crane. 

I'm not sure about other functions, but it's going to have an opening roof, hood and possibly a cooling system. I'll leave these decisions for later. The most important aspect of the build is recreating the shape. That's where the problems arise...

How many Technic pieces are there in dark purple? Exactly 14 

And that's it. Really. Can you make anything out of it? No connectors, no flat panels, hardly any beams. That's the real challenge in this build. 

What do you do when you have 14 pieces to work with? You try harder.

The result is quite large, but it's literally impossible to make it much smaller than this with only 6 types of panels. The scale is around 3:1.

Here is the full gallery.

I much prefer renders to LDD-generated screenshots, but renders only look good in 4K or 8K and get very pixelated when downscaled as per EB guidelines, so for this main image I'm only using a screenshot.

The photos below are renders. They look much better, but they are very pixelated. I highly recommend visiting my gallery for better quality.

The real build won't be here until I almost finish it in LDD. I build all of my models in LDD first, as I don't always have access to my bricks. I can assess the quality of connections relatively well (and when in doubt, build a mockup in real bricks). I actually have a 7500p crane sitting next to me built almost entirely in LDD but I haven't had time to make a proper presentation for it for a couple of months now...

Of course the connections in this model are not final 

Spoiler

 

As you can see, I've been trying to do my best with this very limited material I have. All the connections are legal. It relies pretty heavily on the new connector/panel-extender-thing, which I've only simulated in LDD. 

It's quite accurate to the real thing, the changes I've done so far include creating a black outline to better distinguish the shapes, making the front less flat and changing the front bar/ram to look more realistic. I would love to make the ram lime, but I'm afraid that would lose me too many accuracy points  I've also added the side exhausts in place of the flame stickers, but I might get rid of them later.

Overall, I'm very excited for this contest. 

[whitepen]

Nice model choice and even better color scheme!

[Jundis]

I remember this thing as I flipped through an Lego magazine in my dark ages. This thing really stood out. I hope you will manage to make use of the few available panels.

Great progress so far, but maybe you could use another blade for the front like this or this:

[kubic]

1 minute ago, Jundis said:

I remember this thing as I flipped through an Lego magazine in my dark ages. This thing really stood out. I hope you will manage to make use of the few available panels.

Great progress so far, but maybe you could use another blade for the front like this or this:

Thank you for the great suggestions! I was planning on using some sort of Bionicle blades (the spikes and flickfires are currently a placeholder as I wasn't sure what to use yet), but I never thought of using helicopter blades. I will try them out for sure.

[Erik Leppen]

Now this is something I didn't see coming. Interesting choice. Will be exciting to see where this goes.

As for functions. As far as I know, the vast majority of Technic sets of flying/hovering/floating stuff (boats, aircraft and such) always have some hidden wheels at the bottom, one pair connected to the engines and another pair for steering, so you can move the model over the floor. I think this is something you should add too. That would make the model more fun to play with, make it more "like a set", and more interesting in technical aspect because there'll be more functions. You have plenty of room, after all ;)

[HorcikDesigns]

Space! Good luck with the purple. I really like the idea, almost makes me reconsider my choice of entry model. :D 
The front bumper looks really good built from connectors.

[2GodBDGlory]

Interesting!

[agrof]

One of my favorite set ever! I suggest to add Bionicle shooters in this scale, also the crane can be technified a lot. Great! 

[MangaNOID]

I like where this is going so far and love the scale! A perfect set for this contest.

Get this build right and it will get some good votes I say.

[kubic]

Progress update June 5

Thank you everyone for the kind words! I hope the model won't disappoint you when it's complete.

I've been hard at work with this build in my free time over the last week. Here's the current state of the model:

I've been working on two things: creating the purple pillars at the rear of the cabin and starting to add functionality to the build.

The pillars came out well. It took me some time to come up with a decent looking design using only a couple of part types, but I'm satisfied with it. Everything should be strong enough to stay in position and not fall off or rotate. Some of the connections are quite crazy:

The black stacked beams on the side don't look good. I'm going to try to break up the texture, but I need to remember that this part is fully black on the actual set.

I also have some doubts regarding the purple panels above those pieces. Here are two different designs. The first (slanted) one seems better and definitely more accurate, but it doesn't create a nice flow with the rest of the build. I don't like the second one as much, but it seems to fit in better. I'm not sure.

As for the functions; I first built a driveline connecting the small wheels to the fake V4, but then I realized that the V4 surely wouldn't power the rocket engines and is probably only used for the crane. It took me 5 days to come up with a drivetrain connecting both crane drivetrains to the fake engine via a differential. I've tried all gear combinations, but I was unable to brace anything properly because of the very limited space behind the seat. 

I was actually completely out of ideas on how to do it and thought of abandoning the idea, but then I had a lecture on belt transmissions (just in time) and it made realize that I can simply just use rubber bands in the design. The result is small enough (although I had to move it forward a stud to accomodate for the outside gear handles) and relatively strong once I finish bracing it.

One of the problems is that I don't know what to use the actual drive for. Perhaps rotating the engines or powering a different fake engine.

Other functions will include technic competition cannons in front, steering (perhaps with some active aero) and opening up the cabin to see some interior. 

My next goal is to work on the design of the rear of the ship. I'm basically done with the purple parts, the only things left are flat tiles next to the engines.

It's been a good week.

[2GodBDGlory]

This is a very interesting entry!

Another potentially more robust way to connect the winches would be to use chain pieces, I think.