[MOC] - WIP - Kage Goomba's YT-2000 "Otana" - UCS - Ready for Evaluation

[Guyinaplaguemask]

The large dual cannon turrets

[Kage Goomba]

@Guyinaplaguemask

It's modeled after the UCS Falcon's turrets - there will be 2 vertical lift arms and each one will be anchored by a capped axel (taking a page from complaints of AT-AT UCS I made it easy to remove but not loose to fall out)

The turret "Dome" will sit on the main body - just need to think about how ill do the left/right side so its easy to get to the anchor. Taking a bit to chew on.

It's not perfect - but its shaping up pretty good. I also correct the cannons to be dual and not quad to be more accurate to the Otana.

Lift arms are deep so that's why I made the anchors like they are - but also wanted to make it easy to align.

Edited February 2, 2022 by Kage Goomba

[MAVERICK26]

Looks like that will work - I like the way that you sloped the turret off.

[Kage Goomba]

1 minute ago, MAVERICK26 said:

Looks like that will work - I like the way that you sloped the turret off.

I really don't....but I'm trying :)

Appreciate the compliment.

[Guyinaplaguemask]

The rear would look better if it was more gradual, but I don't know what that area looks like. Still a cool turret though

[Kage Goomba]

5 hours ago, Guyinaplaguemask said:

The rear would look better if it was more gradual, but I don't know what that area looks like. Still a cool turret though

Yep....but sadly due to lego's limitations - I'm kind of having to fudge a bit.

[coreyschaaf]

I love the diary you are making of this! It's great to see how something comes from in idea into reality.  I wish I would have done something similar for some of my builds! 

[Kage Goomba]

24 minutes ago, coreyschaaf said:

I love the diary you are making of this! It's great to see how something comes from in idea into reality.  I wish I would have done something similar for some of my builds! 

It allows me to get ideas and solutions as I solve the problems. But sometimes people want to be skiddish to keep their original idea their own long enough to get it done so I can respect that.

 

In any case - greatly appreciate the remarks. :)

[Kage Goomba]

Still working at it - been staring at this thing for hours - couple of challenges:

 

1 The Turret is anchored by a pair of pins - how to insert pin when you can't reach it when turret wall is in

2: How to close it up without compromising structure with pin in place and be able to remove it.

Chicken or the Egg syndrome.

 

Managed to come up with 1 solution - I may try something else with turret - like a removable side wall.

I have a wall built up from the left side on a place - the part I highlighted is just attached by the lower 1x12 some odd plate - the inside is a 2x2 smooth tile so you just slide it in and anchor it with that plate - I presume you'll be building up around to cover/flesh out - not sure yet.

I'm not sure I like it - obviously its not aligned very nicely.

This is proving to be a challenge for sure.

The pin should have enough clearance to slide in - may need some tweezers or you can start pulling the bricks off as needed. Just needed something that would let you cap it off when the turret is dropped in place.

 

Hmmmmmmm.

 

And lets not mention the upside down portion - that's going to be tons of fun...ha...ha...ha.

[Geihlen]

Just out of curiosity, what made you decide to go with brickbuilt for the turret dome rather than a similar plate/panel setup like you did for the larger saucer? Without getting into the actual file, I'm not sure I could offer up a practical suggestion for this solution though (which I guess is common with my suggestions in this thread). I also think that, depending on how you opted to do it, it would give you more flexibility to detail out the dome. I know some choices have been made in part because of what Lego parts are actually round, but I feel like this model is big enough that it could break free of some of those constraints and use more brickbuilt techniques to achieve the look.

As with any and all of my musings, please don't take them negatively or as me saying I think your work isn't excellent. In fact, I'll take this opportunity say how great I think this MOC is and how impressed I am that you're taking on this project.

Edit: I realize your YT-2000 is a much different shape, but something similar (though larger) to what Aido K did with their YT-2400 is what I'm picturing. Also, whatever they did for the bottom may be helpful too, provided you could pick their brain a little on how they accomplished it.

 

Edited February 9, 2022 by Geihlen

[Kage Goomba]

15 minutes ago, Geihlen said:

Just out of curiosity, what made you decide to go with brickbuilt for the turret dome rather than a similar plate/panel setup like you did for the larger saucer? Without getting into the actual file, I'm not sure I could offer up a practical suggestion for this solution though (which I guess is common with my suggestions in this thread). I also think that, depending on how you opted to do it, it would give you more flexibility to detail out the dome. I know some choices have been made in part because of what Lego parts are actually round, but I feel like this model is big enough that it could break free of some of those constraints and use more brickbuilt techniques to achieve the look.

As with any and all of my musings, please don't take them negatively or as me saying I think your work isn't excellent. In fact, I'll take this opportunity say how great I think this MOC is and how impressed I am that you're taking on this project.

Edit: I realize your YT-2000 is a much different shape, but something similar (though larger) to what Aido K did with their YT-2400 is what I'm picturing. Also, whatever they did for the bottom may be helpful too, provided you could pick their brain a little on how they accomplished it.

 

In a word? Structure.

plates look good but won't hold due to stress.

Keep in mind whatever I build up top is going down below and that thing has to sit on it.

However I'm open to suggested in terms of ideas - but building domes with plates is a real P I T A honestly.

Something of this size and scale also tends to complicate things a bit.

Again - open to suggestions. Also brickbuilt suggestions are welcome too.

[Geihlen]

If it were me, I would anchor the turret and the flat portion/top of the dome to the technic frame, likely with liftarms, and then the panels making up the dome proper would only have to support themselves. If one were able to use those ratcheted hinges, I imagine they'd easily bear the weight, upside down or not. Now if you want the dome to actually support the turret itself, that's an entirely different can of worms.

Edited February 9, 2022 by Geihlen

[Kage Goomba]

19 minutes ago, Geihlen said:

If it were me, I would anchor the turret and the flat portion/top of the dome to the technic frame, likely with liftarms, and then the panels making up the dome proper would only have to support themselves. If one were able to use those ratcheted hinges, I imagine they'd easily bare the weight, upside down or not. Now if you want the dome to actually support the turret itself, that's an entirely different can of worms.

That.......may actually work.

I'll have to think about that.

[Kage Goomba]

Taking @Geihlen 's suggestion to heart.

Here's my attempt.

Part count went way up - but I can remove the plates and insert the locking pin - seems to look ok - its a bit weird.

Got very lucky - the large 1/4 parts on top have a Axel hole's that let me install lift-arms underneath to form a square frame and extend outwards.

Not sure if its structurally sound per-se - but I think it will work out ok.

Anyway...any thoughts? ^_^

[Kage Goomba]

[Mandalorianknight]

Kage, this is simply insane. Just thinking of a computer able to function while having a build of this size alone is impressive, setting aside the sheer amount of time you've clearly put into making this gargantuan model detailed and accurate. I cannot wait to see the finished model.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Mandalorianknight

[Kage Goomba]

1 hour ago, Mandalorianknight said:

Kage, this is simply insane. Just thinking of a computer able to function while having a build of this size alone is impressive, setting aside the sheer amount of time you've clearly put into making this gargantuan model detailed and accurate. I cannot wait to see the finished model.

I am humbled by your kind words sir. I see you frequenting many threads and offering quality feedback as such - I greatly appreciated your presence here.
As to the computer - nothing really that fancy.

PC Specs:
Case: Lian Li DK-04FX Desk
CPU: Intel i7 3.7GHz Coffee Lake
Motherboard: EVGA 123-CS-E397 Z930 FTW
RAM: 64GB DDR4
Storage:
RAID 1 Mirrored (OS)
2x SSD Samsung 860 EVO 1TB
RAID 1 Mirrored (Storage/Games)
2x Seagate Exos Enterprise (Datacenter) 2TB HDD 7200 RPM with 128MB Cache 6GB/s SATA (24/7 Uptime 10 Year Warranty)
GPU: Nvidia Geforce RTX 2070 XC ULTRA (aka "The Brick") 8GB DDR6
Cooling:
Active Air - 7 Noctua 2000-2200 RPM 120M Fans
CPU - Noctua Cooling Fan
Power Supply - 1000W EVGA Modular 10 Year Warranty
Corporate Grade WiFi Card (Diagnostic Purposes)
USB3 Expansion Card

The only hang up I've had with Stud.io is its rendering engine or dealing with a stability test - but it figures it out eventually.

This is a labor of love - been a dream of mine to build one out - its not prefect - but I have to admit - the rear engine section turned out rather nice.

Wait till you hear of my review of a TIE Defender I bought as an experiment in dealing with bulk part purchasing.

Opened my eyes on how I should approach THIS model when it comes to instructions and parts.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Kage Goomba

[Kage Goomba]

Scary when you start to find solutions....very scary.

[MAVERICK26]

Beautiful. Nice computer too.

[Geihlen]

I hesitated to respond since I feel like I've mostly been nitpicking or offering up unhelpful solutions.

That said, this wound up being much different than I pictured and I'm not sure if the increase in part count is worth the results. I pictured a kind of upscaled version of something like the Tallstrider's head in the new Horizon set as the flat part/top of the dome, with that anchored to the technic frame, and then panels making up the entire side of the dome. This is sort of more what I mean.  In the line art, the dome slopes at one angle until it hits the flat part that the turret is mounted to. I think the current the current mix of plates and bricks makes it too curved at profile, and too boxy from the top. Also, at the risk of sounding like a jerk, I think the use of the large curved pieces is working to your detriment here. They add to the odd curvature of the dome at profile, and (from what I can tell from the pictures) I think they make that top area have too large of a diameter, which is also appears to be forcing the dome off center from the escape pods.

But of course, my ideas are largely in a vacuum. I don't get a have enough sense of how your saucer area is built or how stable it all is to be able to do a mock up in Studio of what I'm imagining.

 

[Kage Goomba]

20 minutes ago, Geihlen said:

I hesitated to respond since I feel like I've mostly been nitpicking or offering up unhelpful solutions.

That said, this wound up being much different than I pictured and I'm not sure if the increase in part count is worth the results. I pictured a kind of upscaled version of something like the Tallstrider's head in the new Horizon set as the flat part/top of the dome, with that anchored to the technic frame, and then panels making up the entire side of the dome. This is sort of more what I mean.  In the line art, the dome slopes at one angle until it hits the flat part that the turret is mounted to. I think the current the current mix of plates and bricks makes it too curved at profile, and too boxy from the top. Also, at the risk of sounding like a jerk, I think the use of the large curved pieces is working to your detriment here. They add to the odd curvature of the dome at profile, and (from what I can tell from the pictures) I think they make that top area have too large of a diameter, which is also appears to be forcing the dome off center from the escape pods.

But of course, my ideas are largely in a vacuum. I don't get a have enough sense of how your saucer area is built or how stable it all is to be able to do a mock up in Studio of what I'm imagining.

 

Yeah those techniques won't work - at least not without having to redo entire sections all over.

If anything I give you credit for making me think differently about it.

Piece count in the end didn't really change all that much - but its coming together and I'm willing to work with the outcome in terms of being able to reach the locking pins more easily than before.

I'll send you a private message showing why its not as simple as it looks in terms of what your suggesting.

 

As for the off centeredness nature of the turret - yep - saw that coming miles and miles away. Lego's limitations and other issues are the cause.
Let no one say your not a jerk :P - wait till you see my review of the MOC TIE Defender I got coming - I picked it cause it looked good (boy that was a mistake - hopefully one I can recuperate.) - Also those aren't escape pods - I tend to think those are cargo hatches/docking ports.

Call it a difference of opinion - but yes...its not great but its not terrible.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Kage Goomba

[Guyinaplaguemask]

I really hate to say this, but it looks like the upper dome is too steep. I don't know what you could do about it at this point, but compared to the image I looked at, it is a bit off.

[Kage Goomba]

20 minutes ago, Guyinaplaguemask said:

I really hate to say this, but it looks like the upper dome is too steep. I don't know what you could do about it at this point, but compared to the image I looked at, it is a bit off.

Yeah been thinking about that too. Not sure if there's much I can do.

[Mandalorianknight]

Eh, it's not that much steeper than the images I've seen. if you continue the plate paneling around it a bit more, it shouldn't be an issue.

[Kage Goomba]

49 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

Eh, it's not that much steeper than the images I've seen. if you continue the plate paneling around it a bit more, it shouldn't be an issue.

The height won't change much....kind of wish I could taper it a bit more (if that's the term) - ill have to think about it.