[MOC] Alien VViper for Novvember

[Laura Beinbrech]

Well, I'm not entirely sure if this belongs here or in Community, due to about 50% of this MOC being Clone (Kre-O) parts, so if necessary, please move it.

Anyways, I actually liked the Kre-O Battleship aliens as well as some of the parts in the sets and I just got the one alien attack craft set and decided to make it into a Vic Viper, so without further ado, I present the Alien Viper:

Excerpt from "A Guide to Non-Human Sentients of Post-Final War Earth" by Erin A. Tarn:

"In the Wastes, on the site of what used to be Billings Montana, is a colony of friendly alien refugees. Hailing from the planet Kreon in the Sigma Draclonus system, they were seeking a place to settle when their colony ship was shot down by the ultra-paranoid Eurospace anti-orbital defense network.

The Kreons had only just finished rebuilding and re-purposing the ruins of Billings and got their unplanned colony up and running when they were attacked by a particularly nasty band of raiders. Thankfully, the ADU Mobile Command Center was on patrol nearby, and the ADU commandos sent the surviving raiders packing.

Grateful for the rescue, the Kreons entered into an alliance with the ADU, and using a combination of ADU and salvaged Kreon technology and materials, they came up with their own Viper variant.

Their Vipers now help the ADU, Federal Dragoons, Lakota Trackers and Lone Star Rangers patrol the barren wastes."

Alien VV Pose by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

The Kreon Aliens' Vic Viper is a unique blend of human and their own native technology, and the weapon systems reflect that: The primary armament is 5 laser cannons, derived from the ADU's Vic Viper, with 4 heavy plasma cannons, based on their own technology as well as dual Zenon missile launchers.

Alien VV Claw Extended by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

The craft is also equipped with a retractable grabber claw that is most often used for quick insertion or extraction of ADU, Lakotah, Lone Star and Federal special agents into or out of particularly difficult areas.

The primary propulsion system is a fusion-ion engine, with auxiliary ion engines mounted under the wings.

Alien VV Side by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

The landing gear system is ultimately derived from the setup used on Federal Republic of America Fighters (such as the F/A-210 Thunderbird), and trails down slightly even when retracted, allowing emergency "belly landings".

Alien VV Underside by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

(Undercarriage shot showing landing gear and claw in the retracted position)

Alien VV Interior by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

The cockpit is much larger than the standard dimensions of most Human fighters, to take into account the Kreons' large stature (it would probably work for Wookies too), meaning that if a Human were to fly this ship, they would need a special booster seat and control extensions. In this photo, the hybrid human/alien avionics and targeting system is also visible.

Alien VV Pilot Pose by Hikaro Takayama, on Flickr

Finally, here is a pic of the proud pilot and her viper, freshly returned from a routine patrol of the area surrounding the Kreon Settlements surrounding New Billings.

Now some 4th wall stuff: As I said before, I used a combination of LEGO and Kre-O parts in this build, and really enjoyed the challenge of getting everything to work together and look good, and I think it turned out fairly well. I'm particularly happy about finding a good use for those weird "Brick, Modified 2x3x2/3 w/2 studs, Wing end" (to use Brick Link's description) and how the under-wing engine pods turned out. I ended up spending about 9 hours working on this thing, with about a dozen false starts before I hit upon this exact color scheme and design. I may see about getting parts (including buying another Alien Attack Kre-O set) to build another one of these (I'd need to make another Brick Link order, though).

I hope you like it, and don't judge it too harshly for using clone brand parts....

[DraikNova]

Wow. Awesome colorscheme. Seeing as you used those Kreo parts to give it that, I think it's perfectly fine. And overall, quite a great MOC!

[Wedge09]

Nice viper, very nice color scheme

[Laura Beinbrech]

Thanks guys! Fun fact: This was more or less the color scheme I originally was going for with the bad guy Viper I posted last week, but I didn't have the parts I needed in dark bley, so I opted for the Blacktron II colors instead.

Another interesting fact is that the Ocford/Kre-O rough equivalent of this piece: (but 2x2 instead of 1x2) actually didn't work when I used it to attach the windscreen. Apparently the clone version of the horizontal clips is offset from the LEGO ones by about 1/2 a plate's height, so I tried using two of these parts instead: , and it fixed the problem.