atlas

Hello ! Here is the second iteration of (kind of) my delta-7 model. You ought to see where this all started on khatmorg's page here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/95628537@N02/8735306298/in/dateposted/ And the eurobricks thread: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/82931-moc-obi-wans-delta-7-aethersprite-class-light-interceptor/ The previous eurobricks thread: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/132852-moc-delta-7-aethersprite-class-light-interceptor/ plo's delta-7 album on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/48109771@N05/sets/72157675717316394 obi-wan's delta-7 and the rest: https://www.flickr.com/photos/48109771@N05/sets/72157675717304614 This time I photographed it mainly because last month I finally finished painting the livery onto the necessary pieces for plo-koon's whip from the order 66 montage in episode III. That was a protracted process because I was working off only 1 piece of reference material (http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/9/94/Plo_Koon's_Jedi_Starfighter.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20061207163510), and it took a long time to begin placing important marks on the model so that the rest of the design would follow the source material as closely as possible. I haven't done much painting at all, so doing this was a learning experience. Some of the edges are cleaner than others, due to some amateur masking, but I'm pleased enough with the final result. I have a series of progress photos documenting the project basically from start to finish. (warning: ~30 images will pop up) Not much has changed from the original version, but most of what has concerns the rear section. I also managed to include retracting landing gear inside the bulbs of the engines, which in hindsight was a no-brainer for how simple it was to incorporate. I was forced to paint some parts dark red, dark blue, and white simply because they aren't currently available, but I tried to restrain doing that too much to keep myself in Lego territory and away from modelmaking. The build itself is pretty solid and "swooshable" I guess. My main issue with the build, which I gave up on correcting when completing the revised versions, is that the cockpit section rises up higher than it should (ie, it's too fat). Using the 12x3 wedge plate made that impossible to fix (for me), but I think it's not too bad. The other thing I'm not sure about is the angle of the wedge from the tip of the nose backward - to my eye, it seems like the ship itself is a little bit too narrow. I haven't been able to find much blueprint or schematic-style reference to look at this so it will have to do for now. A word about scale: the real thing is listed as 8 meters long so I used that as a starting point (well, retroactively). Using a scale of 4 studs = 1 meter, it should be 32 studs long. The build is 36 long. I'm going to pin that down to the angle of the wedge - if the tip of the nose was warped back 3 studs, that might fix the angle. But i have to call it a day on this one I think so I finish other things. I have left notes on some of the photos on my flickr profile, please do take a look. Feedback,criticism, and comments are much appreciated!

Hello, recently I picked this up again and made some further changes to it. I got it to the point where it is as refined as it's been yet, however there are still some things about it that I will revisit in the future. Namely the fuselage construction forward of the cockpit. It's a little too wide. Not by much, but enough that it's noticeable and detracts from the rest of the build due to the proportions being off by a little. Otherwise I am very happy with it. This was one of the first models that I built myself from scratch without using someone else's work as a starting point. There are small details that I borrowed from other builders (all in the reflexes flex tube front engine concept is all I can recall atm), but the rest is mine. The wings open, there is a retractable front leg behind the nosecone and the cockpit opens and shuts. Also can fit a pilot comfortably in the cockpit. It's also one of the stronger builds I've done, it's basically swooshable, which is unusual for something of mine, as I normally sacrifice structure for surface. On this there is at least some strength to the structure. So overall I'm mostly pleased. Most of all, since it's been over 3.5 years since I started, you can actually see how I have evolved over the course of the build. Now I think I have a much broader skillset and more refined approach so achieving various things in lego bricks. And I'm looking forward to sharing with you other projects I have coming that will show that development that this build has given me. My second version of the T-65 is almost done so that will be firsst cab off the rank in that regard! I think i did a better job on that craft than I did here. For example I am really happy with the T-70 wings and rear section but the front is a little lacking. But as I said, there will be a third version of this that will bring that section up to speed, so look out. If you made it through this long blurb, here are some links and photos to enjoy. Thanks Flickr album featuring most of the public WIP: https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/albums/72157670052809384 v2: https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/48053934327/in/album-72157670052809384/ v2 backside: https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/48054761822/in/photostream/ dusty style pre-photoshoot pic, wings open: https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/48047623726/in/photostream/ And 3-page thread on here, cataloguing the WIP since 2015: https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/118370-wipmoc-t-70-x-wing-starfighter/ cheers. Thanks to anyone who provided feedback along the way, consider your words inbetween the bricks on this ship. Also, you're welcome to visit my instagram, I sometimes post there teaser stuff on my story and different looks of the same things I post on here and flickr.

I've decided to try and recreate this wonderful ship in lego. It seems to be the ugly duckling, everyone appears to be all about the Ranger from this movie. But I think the lander is a much more inspired design. However I can now see why evidently only one person has finished a model of it. It's extremely complicated. At least twice as much as you might think at first glance. So I have spent quite a while collecting as much reference as possible to have even a rough idea of how the shapes go together. Fortunately I've been able to slowly crack each piece but it's quite challenging, which is actually a nice experience. I couldn't find any accurate details or images on the dimensions of it but I came around to calling it 20 metres long, 5 metres tall, 15 metres across. It's actually enormous and so is the Ranger. But the practical lifesize models that were built and are what's mostly shown in each craft's screentime aren't actually 1:1. It's hidden well but cracks a bit when you realize 5'4" anne hathaway has to crouch to get through the airlock. Anyway I have really had to eyeball a lot of things but gradually established some anchors of proportion, and so far all the lines and seams lie with in a very small margin of error which is pleasing. A lot of them actually flatten the whole craft very slightly which makes it a bit sleeker, but still positively truck-ulent which I like. Here are some progress photos I've added to my flickr throughout the build so far. I also post on instagram with mostly the same stuff but quite frequently add some extra windows onto the process in my stories. My account there is https://instagram.com/atlas__er Chur https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/albums/72157711121905828 0 1 4 6 9 12 14 19 more to come!

Over halfway done on the exterior now! 50 https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/50029168961/in/album-72157711121905828/ 57 https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/50046462051/in/album-72157711121905828/ 59 https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/50046463558/in/album-72157711121905828/ 61 https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/50052277933/in/album-72157711121905828/

cheers! Some more completed: 41 45

Cheers. Yeah so much bigger than I anticipated! It is definitely tricky to get square pieces sitting at angles not offered by single slope pieces but that's the fun of this. Attaching each individual piece is like a maths problem in itself. It's not all impossible though as I think I'll have generous amounts of room inside to connect them. Made some more progress: 25 35 39

Thanks, orginally I was making both in both colours but quickly dropped that. I think the current build would look better in black because it would be more of a silhouette than a canvas like here, where the main couple of flaws are fully exposed. Mission is to get rid of those flaws and I think I'll do it, pretty soon too

Today I started my next project, a model of the new T-70 x wing from star wars. I think I have the back wings figured out, here is a concept for it. Colours not final obviously. I'll continue to add to this thread as I make more progress. I decided on light gray for this. White just looks out of place to me and it doesn't appear that way even some of the time as the T-65 did depending on lighting. The wings (at least from my limited reference) are also seeming to be slightly thicker on the new ship, so I went with a snot design instead of 2 plates thick. I think that curve arch piece is the only really sufficient way to capture the curve of the wingtip with fidelity so I based the design on mounting each laser on each wing with those piece. Next, I'll tackle the front wings and engine assembly, maybe the rear fuselage.

Hello again, just posted a thread of the basically complete second edition of this model. Here it is :

Spot on. I noticed that with a lot of your builds. You almost always stay in system, keep it simple and as you said, clean. Which i respect. I differ, sometimes I get tunnel vision with regard to focussing on accuracy. Often it can detract from ones work when forgetting about other things. I learnt this the hard way with a few projects and I'm coming back around from that sort of focus

With respect, imo that nosecone is less blocky than the one you attached to your t-70. Maybe it's a difference of language - Bigtonka's x-wing nose is sharper, but the individual pieces on yours are put together in a more 'traditional' way, meaning the various wedges stack cleanly with no jagged edges. So it does flow better but it has a blunt edge. My suggestion would be to blend them together (not specifically these two, but the intentions behind the different shapes). T-70 nose is much slimmer than the already slim x wing, so you can change the edge to be 2 wide, replace slope bricks with cutout slopes, then the curved slopes come into the 45 bricks much better. Only real negative would be a couple of exposed studs but that would be worth it to have maximum 1 plate thickness seam anywhere on it, compared to 4 plates. Anio i know you like to do your own thing so i'm not suggesting changes to what you already buildt, just sharing my opinion on this matter as i dealt with the same issues at a smaller scale

Fair enough. I'm glad you considered it. As I said it looks fantastic, it's only that it looks a tiny bit uncanny because of the angle. That might just be me though.

i would definitely do the staggered curved slopes in steps of 2 (like in the outer red ring) instead of 3. For me the cockpit shape is very distinctive and having a steeper angle would make it really shine. The rings would still be the same size but instead of 3 side by side on each level you'd have groups of 2, so it reaches higher points in the middle of the two truncated cones. Just looking at it i'm pretty confident the steeper silhouette would bring attract more attention than a couple extra edges created by the groups of 2 instead of 3. They would still go up one plate per 'step' so it would look very similar, just taller. It would also be possible to bypass this issue and instead make each of the four main surfaces of each cone one row of curved slopes angled down together, instead of placed in steps at right angles. You could fill in the gaps with a similar technique which is used in jerac;s tie bomber cockpit with 1x2 cheese grate slopes between curved slopes. However the 'steps' are a not a problem at all for me aesthetically because they maintain the silhouette well with only minor 'pixelation' effect, and the same technique is used elsewhere is the model to good effect so it flows well too. Basically I would just make the cockpit section taller by doing steps of slopes in twos rather than threes. It could make a noticeable difference for minimal effort, would be cool to see in bricks. Im only harping on this because it's the only part of the model that distracts me because everything else is so well done that it appearing a little off draws the eye away from all that excellent work. I know kit has already released instructions so I get that it's not practical to implement this change, it's just an idea I had looking at it again

Very impressive, the only thing that jumps out at me that could really improve the look without much work is making the slopes on each side of the hammerhead front section a little steeper.

Interesting that you brought up the special edition. I hadn't noticed this specifically until you posted this photo but it's worth pointing out. When I was doing my research I tried to ignore later models made year after the original miniatures, because they're basically secondary sources, so by their nature there are higher chances of mistakes, missing details, etc. My main reference was images of the miniatures from the theatrical release. Looking at that photo, it seems that the guys who translated the models into digital ones for the special edition 'simplified' some of the geometry for some reason. I'm guessing so that it would be easier to render. But you can see that they've basically changed the rear fuselage from being 9 sided to 7 sided. So you're right, you have modelled it very well, the only 'problem' is that it's the wrong reference to use for your purpose. I believe for rogue one and other digital representations made since the disney purchase that they corrected this and built new digital models.Hopefully this ms paint collage can show my point better.

Very nicely done. I like that you are not afraid to present your opinion of your own work and its relation to others. For sure this build is one to add to the mini pantheon of great models built recently, I’d say since around when Maciej introduced panels for the fuselage, there have been several great works. With each one shared, I think it’s fascinating that while various guys have been able to present amazing takes on different sections of the same ship, no one has really been able to nail the entire thing. Of course that’s not taking anything away from anybody, they are all beautifully crafted. But the X-wing is deceivingly complex after the first glance as I’m sure you are all aware, and I’m not sure that with the current part palette that it’s possibly to completely nail it everywhere. And I think that’s a good thing – I can pick out from each one highlights, and also shortcomings, often one necessitated by the other. So for your effort, I’d say that the front fuselage, crucially from the side and above, is the best yet. It’s true that the choice taken to stick to structure and form versus surface details gives you more freedom to achieve this, but that’s how it’s done, and it looks fantastic. Again with (your) nose is where I find the dilemmas the X-wing presents you as you try to re-construct the model come to the surface. You have a beautiful silhouette, possibly the best there is, but it comes at the cost of a blunt leading edge. Do you see where I’m coming from? It’s an absolute puzzle. I also like the window for the cockpit. I am not sure if you have seen mine but we have a similar method but different result. For sure both fit the rest of each ship very well. I’m not sure how much the decision to avoid cutting hoses affecting the way you built yours. Honestly I feel that building yours in white has hidden a bit of its beauty, I found personally looking first at Maciej’s ship that grey really makes the edges pop, I think yours would benefit from it too, but that’s just my view. I’m not a huge fan of your cannons but the wings overall are very slick. The only serious drawback for me with your effort is the rear fuselage section. I’d say about from the cockpit rear all the way to the ‘butt’ is just a little less elegant than all the rest of it. I am not sure how much of that is a result of structural requirements, space, style – I don’t know. That’s my main criticism of an otherwise gorgeous model. It goes both ways too. I obsessed over including every face of the rear nonagon (and heptagon) along the fuselage and as a result, it is a little bit fat, and I’d bet more fragile as well. So there you go. Extremely well done.

beautifully done as always. You definitely did it justice.

hello! At the start of last month I began work on by next project, which is a minifig-scaled model of the "red 5" x-wing that Luke flies in the death star assault. So far I've completed most of the wings and have also done some of the rear fuselage. project album on flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/sets/72157676216434583 stage 1: https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/31819163993/in/dateposted/ stage 2: https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/32763745095/in/photostream/ description from flickr: Problem. I am trying my best to make this as proportionally accurate as is possible with lego. Fortunately, using my scale (4 studs = metre, meaning a projected length of 50 studs), the 4-wide cylinder intake piece and 4-wide half cylinder are basicall the perfect size for the engines. Using a top down image of the ILM red 3 studio model the engine width is about 8% of the total length of the model, from nosetip to exhaust. So that is a good basis for the size of the rest of the wings : 6 studs wide from front to back at the laser cannon mounts, and it's already been established by other builders that the 4x2 wedge plate is also almost perfect for the angle of the back of the wings. My main issue with this currently is that the distance between the interior edges of the engine half cylinders is too great. As shown in the photo it is currently a 9 stud gap between them, and if I built a fuselage to fill this gap, it would be much too wide. Using other reference that I've been gathering, the distance between the interior edges of the engines seems to be close to 2 times the diameter of the engines. Meaning it needs to be 8 studs wide. This is really difficult to achieve because the scissor mechanism I have built (which is derivative of mike psiaki's click-hinge scissor but more compact, and using finger hinges so that each wing shuts flush instead of 0.5 studs apart) is based on a central shaft which is 1 stud wide, with the arms of each scissor measuring 4 studs from that shaft to the edge of the engines. Somehow I am going to have to reduce the gap by 0.5 studs on either side. I don't think using a 1x2 technic brick with a centre hole is an option so I will try shifting each engine assembly 0.5 studs inward with jumpers first. stage 3: https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/32839077375/in/photostream/ description from flickr: two steps forward and two steps backward. I fixed the proportions issue from the last shot, but at the cost of the strong scissor mechanism i had before that forced a 9 or 7 stud gap. The new scissor is made out of technic liftarms, but the impossible problem is that to have a gap of 0 LDU between each wing when closed, i had to use part 32530. I just can't figure out how to make a strong connection between that part (on its sides so that the antistuds point directly toward the cannons) and the wing assemblies. I can't lock it in, at the moment they are just attached with snot bricks. It's strong enough to stay attached with minimal drooping, but nowhere near as tough as the previous one. I'm not sure whether to persevere with the old one and make it 8 wide somehow, or move onto the fuselage and concede some fragility. This is the third major overhaul of the wings (first: made 6 long at the tips instead of 5, second: finger hinge scissor mech, third: this technic iteration. You can see the old mechanism in the background with the orange hose through it. I really liked that, simple, compact and strong but egh, it's too wide. The bottom engines have open landing gear doors. I have one set of parts to have the doors open and gear down, and another set of parts (identical to the coverings on the top two wings) for flight mode. I didn't bother with having them retract, and as dmaclego pointed out having the gear fold into the engines does't really make sense. stage 4: https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/32469801403/in/photostream/ description from flickr: I have started on the fuselage. Before that, I decided that I wanted to include a gearbox and gear mechanism for the wings to open and close. Doing it manually is easier but i thought what the hell. I probably have less technic skills than a 5 year old so I decided to reverse engineer dmaclego's creation (see herehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/dmaclego/27832343200/in/album-72157669369597202/For the fuselage, I'm trying to see if it's possible for me to have all 9 surfaces included on my model, at the rear. Currently I have the top 5 attached, the main headache is figuring out how to get the bottom 2 surfaces attached (see here http://www.modelermagic.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/kg-lucasfilm_archived-red3-reference-029.jpg). for the greebling, it's not reall proportioned properly, but I'm trying to include the main details. The rectangular box thing with the circular greebly thing is there, but is a bit too wide. (i also realised after I had already built that section that the circular greebly thing should have the edge part pointing down - i believe this was a unique feature of the red 5 ilm model, but i can't see a way to fix that. you can also see that I got some new parts in so the overall look has improved. I'm quite pleased with how the small "used-universe" colour details have turned out. I think the sand blue, dark orange and other colours adds a lot of character to what would otherwise be a boring, gray mass. (as an aside, those parts also arrived with the final pieces needed to finish the T-70 x-wing, so hopefully I wll be able to properly photograph that soon). And i'm satisfied with the choice to make it gray now - under strong lighting, the LBG plastic has that off white look that the film models did. Still a little bit too dark, but much better than lego-white in my opinion. another thing - for anyone reading this and looking at my photostream - do you like seeing WIP images like this while I'm building something? if you do, please let me know and I'll be glad to post more frequent updates! as always, comments, critique, etc. are very welcome! -------------- as I said, comments, criticism, suggestions, questions, etc. etc. are always welcome. As a make progress i'll continue posting updates to the project until it's finished!

Hello, I did get it to a complete stage, but wasn't satisfied enough to call it 'finished'. But yesterday I decided to share a photo I took last year at that time. Next time I get back to work I will be working on producing a refined version that will be better presented. Here you go https://www.flickr.com/photos/atlaser/33745697098/in/dateposted-public/

Stunning, there isn't really much to say. The back is very well executed and the stickers are very well applied too. That's just a very pretty car well done.

thanks, I don't know why it keeps going down so quickly. http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=57010532332910773004 I've been asked for the digital files a few times now, curious what people want it for? Is it to build their own or just look at the insides? I haven't seen any pictures of other builds of it yet, so if they are out there then they are welcome to be shared in this thread

I didn't even notice. That makes sense.

Nailed that cockpit like I said. Have you considered putting the 3x3 quarter domes on the back in place of the opaque white canopies? Seems like it wouldn't be too complicated of a change.

Here is the link, everything in the file should be quite straightforward. I am not completely done with the model, but I haven't made any changes to the latest version yet. http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=04382273156106479539

This is my version of khatmorg's incredible delta-7 model (which you should view here www.flickr.com/photos/95628537@N02/8735306298/in/dateposted/ and here http://www.eurobrick...2931&hl=delta-7) . I originally built their model as per the original build over a year ago but a few months ago I started fiddling with it and have now arrived at a point where I'm satisfied with it. It was difficult to find other ways to achieve some angles (the source is so good already!) especially in the back and as a result that area is quite fragile and use some illegal connections. Most of the changes are concerned with the bottom, spine and rear sections. I haven't been able to find a way to find a way to hide some little landing gears in the back of the wedge where it fattens out a bit yet so the ones you can see in the other photos are just attached externally. Also it is about 8 to 10 studs too long as a result of the angle of the 1x3 wedge plate, according to the rough scale I used. That isn't ideal for me as I like to scale it right to a degree, but the additional detail you can add on a bigger model is good as well. I also wanted to try an alternative solution to miniaturise the dual laser cannons, and add the other half on the bottom but haven't solved that issue either. I might pick this up again later and play with it some more but for now I'm content to reveal it. I hope all of you enjoy. Thanks to khatmorg for being so great about sharing their creation. The stand is based on sydag's method which you can see here (www.flickr.com/photos/sydag/16129935387/in/dateposted/). It's simple and ingenious. You can view the rest of photos in the album (www.flickr.com/photos/48109771@N05/albums/72157668258477972).