StephenC

Yet another TIE MOC

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gallery_101_23_281.gif

I know there are a few pretty impressive TIE's out there, which being new at this I don't want to compete with. None the less I got inspired to attempt my own TIE after seeing the rumoured 2012 set, junking my TIE defender set (I realised I can't afford every LEGO Star Wars set so have decided to limit myself to OT sets, for now) and the fact I haven't yet got a TIE. This is very much a work in progress and may not progress that quickly, pending other commitments. You will have to excuse the 'off' colours as I'm not willing to part out my good Star Wars sets so have used random LEGO to at least test the concept.

Lego-TIE-001.jpg

Ignore the wings, they are more there to give me a bit of context but I know they are the wrong shape and size (and that I ran out of plates!). Constructive criticism welcome. I'm particularly keen on hearing ideas of how to make the wing struts more stable. Currently they are built out of plain 2x2 blocks. I was thinking 2x2 circular blocks that would allow me to pass a Technic axil down the centre of them, for strength. I am also thinking about making the wings out of 1x.. bricks and wedges, rather than plates, any thoughts? The cockpit doesn't open and I'm not sure it is worth the effort to engineer it to do so.

I will probably work on this a bit more, before going on Bricklink to get the right coloured pieces and fill any gaps.

Completed build:

OK. It's done! Here are some pictures of the final version (for now):

IMG9610-M.jpg

The wing:

IMG9611-M.jpg

More detail:

IMG9612-M.jpg

From behind, I did the engines orange to distinguish them from the red lasers at the front:

IMG9613-M.jpg

From above:

IMG9614-M.jpg

and below:

IMG9615-M.jpg

Edited by KielDaMan
Updated first post with completed MOC

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While I can't see what you've done, I can offer some solutions for wing braces that are more stable (and that are more aesthetically pleasing, at least in my opinion) than your current solution of 2x2 bricks.

One solution I would definitely take into consideration is David Low's, which uses both a 2x2 round brick and the hub of a wheel. He claims that all of his MOCs are designed with playability in mind, so I'm guessing it's fairly stable.

Another good solution would be lowlead's. Unfortunately, I don't know what that large round piece on the end is (though someone else might)...

As for a cockpit that can open up, I think that SNOTing the rear viewport like this and attaching it to a hinged plate should do fine. If it fits the size of your cockpit ball you could even just stick a 6-wide inverted dish in the back, mounted on a hinge. (I say this because I happen to recall that a certain AFOL did use 6-wide dishes for a truly "round" cockpit ball on his TIE.)

Edited by fallenangel309

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There we go:

Lego-TIE-001.jpg

Overall, you're off to a good start. The curved bricks around the TIE cockpit piece look all right, and I'm relieved that you're not using those horrid 6-wide inverted slopes. Personally, I think using a 6-wide dish instead of the TIE piece would allow for a little more freedom in how you create the ball cockpit, but that's a matter of preference.

The bracer arms should look like this. :wink:

Edited by fallenangel309

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Hopefully that has fixed the picture link (thank you FallenAngel).

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will have a rethink about my strategy for the wing struts, if only because my three year old wants to help and the current version doesn't survive him. I'm fairly pleased with the cockpit shape (except the back, which I haven't shown in the photo). In silhouette it looks pretty spherical from most angles, which was my aim.

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As already mentioned, the cockpit is nice, using those wedge slopes. :thumbup:

If you have the amount of bricks to make the two wings, I would certainly recommend that. If you do so, you will ind eedhave to use 2x2 circular blocks with a technic pin for strenght, otherwise you will not be able to fly around, the wings would just keep falling off.

Edited by Hollander

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Some progress shots, again excuse the random coloured bits and ignore the wings (for now).

Lego-TIE-001-M.jpg

The left strut is now a long Technic axil and various wheels etc mounted on it (the right strut is just a place holder, to stop it falling sideways!).

Lego-TIE-002-M.jpg

The back is progressing enough to be shown. I think I prefer the left thruster (the trans red) but only have one of those bracket pieces for now.

Next the wings.

Hopefully the pictures are showing properly this time, I've just started using SmugMug so haven't quite got it worked out yet.

Thanks for looking!

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Looking very nice StephenC. I like the use of slope bricks around the cockpit.

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Looking very nice StephenC. I like the use of slope bricks around the cockpit.

Thank you.

I'm having a pause while I sort my LEGO (it was too hard to find pieces randomly thrown into one of four large boxes) and await a couple of Bricklink orders to complete the cockpit and struts. I'll then start on the wings / panels / whatever they are supposed to be called. I'm still thinking 1x... bricks, like the Imperial Shuttle's wings. I just can't decide what black slopes I would need. Presumably the edges are 60 degrees, as the wings are hexagonal? The easiest slope to use would be the 75 degree slope, as it has an inverted counterpart for the bottom half of the wing. There is a 55 degree slope, but at 6x1x5 it is very big so won't give me as much flexibility in wing size and has no inverted version so I would have to reverse the orientation of the entire lower part of each wing somehow. Any thoughts or advice?

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Thank you.

I'm having a pause while I sort my LEGO (it was too hard to find pieces randomly thrown into one of four large boxes) and await a couple of Bricklink orders to complete the cockpit and struts. I'll then start on the wings / panels / whatever they are supposed to be called. I'm still thinking 1x... bricks, like the Imperial Shuttle's wings. I just can't decide what black slopes I would need. Presumably the edges are 60 degrees, as the wings are hexagonal? The easiest slope to use would be the 75 degree slope, as it has an inverted counterpart for the bottom half of the wing. There is a 55 degree slope, but at 6x1x5 it is very big so won't give me as much flexibility in wing size and has no inverted version so I would have to reverse the orientation of the entire lower part of each wing somehow. Any thoughts or advice?

Here's a profile view of the TIE/ln from which we can see the shape of the wing panels:

md_TIEside.jpg

Looks like the 75 degree slopes would be the closest to the original.

EDIT: However, if you choose to go with a different slope, you may want to use the SNOT method illustrated in this gallery.

Edited by fallenangel309

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Here's a profile view of the TIE/ln from which we can see the shape of the wing panels:

Looks like the 75 degree slopes would be the closest to the original.

Thanks for the picture, that lets me be lazy and not waste time looking for a profile shot. You are right, it isn't a true hexagon, so the 75 degree slopes would probably work well. Only a few more boxes of LEGO to sort and I can start designing again!

Edited by StephenC

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I like the pod shape but your MOC is a bit inaccurate. It does resemble the vehicle we all know and love and is recognizable but some stuff in it like the connection between the wings and the hull is way too thin (Im sorry probably about 400 people already said this but of course I didnt exactly study every single detail on every single ship in Star Wars so I can only point out the most obvious of all mistakes :grin: ). Also there is no lining around the wings but you know I personally love this MOC even if its not finished(Sorry if the story is not that Im just way too lazy to read the text, I always just skip directly to the MOC :grin: ). I think you should trash the wings and turn it into maybe another ship or convert it into a pod ship with thrusters on the back(I dunno what I find so nice about those things but dang I love cute little sphere models :sweet: ).

I think that I might accually steal your technuiqe and take that design for myself :devil: (Just kiddin').

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I like the pod shape but your MOC is a bit inaccurate. It does resemble the vehicle we all know and love and is recognizable but some stuff in it like the connection between the wings and the hull is way too thin (Im sorry probably about 400 people already said this but of course I didnt exactly study every single detail on every single ship in Star Wars so I can only point out the most obvious of all mistakes :grin: ). Also there is no lining around the wings but you know I personally love this MOC even if its not finished(Sorry if the story is not that Im just way too lazy to read the text, I always just skip directly to the MOC :grin: ). I think you should trash the wings and turn it into maybe another ship or convert it into a pod ship with thrusters on the back(I dunno what I find so nice about those things but dang I love cute little sphere models :sweet: ).

I think that I might accually steal your technuiqe and take that design for myself :devil: (Just kiddin').

Just wait, I'm quietly hopeful things will turn out well (for a first try at MOCing).

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OK, final BrickLink order placed (I think). Wing design finalised (are MOCs ever finalised?). You may have to wait a while though, as I've had to order from the States. My experience is that can mean a wait of up to two weeks.

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OK. It's done! Here are some pictures of the final version (for now):

IMG9610-M.jpg

The wing:

IMG9611-M.jpg

More detail:

IMG9612-M.jpg

From behind, I did the engines orange to distinguish them from the red lasers at the front:

IMG9613-M.jpg

From above:

IMG9614-M.jpg

and below:

IMG9615-M.jpg

I hope you like it. It didn't work out quite as robust as I had hoped. It stands up well enough but is not really 'swooshable'. My other disappoint,end are the grey bars on the wings. I could only find a few points to put headlight pieces to attach the 1xX plates that aligned, so each plate is on a single anchor and can swivel. Still, I am fairly happy with my first MOC.

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That looks really good man, I like it a lot. Do you have instructions for her?

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Nice to see this finally finished. Looks better than what I was expecting so im a little suprised :oh: . The wings look smooth and glossy but the grey bars need work. The wing arms look much better rounded and have more detail.

Im not exacly sure how you put the wings and arms on but could you put a Technic bar into them to hold on better? Its hard to tell from the pics but it looks like you have already done this. You would have to mod the wing to have a hole in it. What will be hard is get the bar to join into the arm thorugh a cone element at the end. I cant remember if the element comes with a Technic hole in them?

Great job with limited parts :thumbup: .

Edited by wokajablocka

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Very nice and finished StephenC. There's some really nice shapes on it, especialy the wings :thumbup:. Erm the top hatch looks a bit small you should use a satellite dish piece for it I think.

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Thanks for the comments.

No instructions, I'm afraid. I'm too lazy to do anything like that, it sounds like hard work.

Yes there is a long Technic pin all the way through the wing struts. I put a 1x2 Technic block in the centre of the wings, one of the ones with a cross shaped hole. The cones have a cross shaped hole in them, as do the wheel hubs. They then attach through circular 2x2 plates and blocks to the side panels. It is not rigid but stronger than my original stack of blocks technique.

I struggled to find a way of attaching the diagonal grey bars to the wings. There seemed to be only a few spots where the studs on headlight bricks lined up on roughly the right angle and were an appropriate distance apart. There is one in each corner and another about four bricks up from the horizontal grey line. Otherwise no point along that line matches a brick space along the rows of SNOT bricks. Alternate suggestions are welcome.

I'm sure I read somewhere (possibly this forum) that the entry hatch for TIEs was on the back, not the top. I did try a dish on top at first but thought this gave a better contour to the sphere. Also the dish fell off really easily and annoyed me!

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This is looking very clean with how the wings are built and the curved pieces for the cockpit.

I might suggest to try and put a few greebles on the circular piece on the outside of the wings.

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Very nice, I love the ball design for the main section, but it seems like the wings(?) may be a little far out. I'm not using any reference (cuz I'm too tired to look it up right now) but maybe reduce the length of the beams a tad.

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