Tom_Brick

I've put the Stud.io file on my Dropbox. Whoever is keen on playing around with it is welcome to download it. I will keep it up there for a while, but I won't guarantee that it will be available indefinitely. A couple of comments: There is no support structure to speak of underneath the sand dunes. So if anyone is interested in actually building this, that would be the first thing to tackle. Obviously the rear end of the worm needs a bit of refinement. The rings may be a bit "soft". You'd need to build one in real life to test how well it holds up. I think it should be fine, but I wouldn't vouch for it. Though adding some more supports inside should be possible. But then you also wouldn't want them to become too heavy, so that the mouth of the worm can still be lifted slightly up from the dune. If it turns out to be too heavy, I guess one could also take out a ring or two from the front section of the Worm, though the ball joints I've used typically are quite strong and the scales should also offer some resistance if push comes to shove. Anyway, here's the download-link: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/uopkr5le3vfnt2begl7a6/Worm.io?rlkey=md086gr3lydaupy8jnvqumbal&dl=0

I wanted to continue with my current Dune obsession but there really isn't all that much inside the Dune universe which lends itself to be transformed into Lego. But I figured that a sandworm + rider would be a nice challenge. I have gone into Stud.io and tried to come up with something. While I do like the current look, I'm not sure if I continue down that path. The damn thing is just too big. It sits on three 32x32 base plates. We're already at more than 3600 pieces and the rear end is still missing, plus I only have a rudimentary support structure for the sand dunes. So I expect a final design to end up quite a bit north of 4000 pieces which is just unreasonable. Still, it was fun so far, so I might at least finish the design in Stud.io. But I doubt that I'll take it any further than that.

That was a nice idea, thanks. I've continued with the design and closed it all around. I'm still not happy with the tail of the worm where he comes out of the sand, that section would need some refinement. But I think I'll end it here. I'm never going to build this and I doubt anyone else would want to do so either.

If you have followed my WIP Post, you will already have the gist of it. I have finally managed to iron out any issues with my Stud.io design and create the instructions. Basically, I have tried to do the following things: Design a completely new tail section. Replace any offensive colours. Design new panels with less studs. Make the overall shape more like the movie Thopter. You can judge for yourself if I succeeded. Instructions and Part List are available here: https://reb.li/m/179131 Here are some more renderings: And some pictures of my prototype (there are some minor differences compared to the final design):

While I'm waiting for the parts to do my mod of the official Dune Ornithopter Set, I decided to play around a bit more and try to do the smaller thopter which Paul and Jessica used in the Dune Part 1 to escape the Sardaukar. This is of course still a very early stage. I started with the cockpit and then tried to design a downsized version of the flapping and folding mechanisms which I've basically taken from the official set. I will not include the the cool landing gear though. For one, it would take up too much space and secondly, the landing gear on this thopter works differently than on the one which was the template for the official Lego set. Maybe I can think of something really smart, but in the end, I'll probably just use ball joints, so that the landing gear will have to be put into place manually. Which means that from here on out, the main challenge will be to shape the exterior. One thing I have to admit to is that I have cheated with the colours. Unfortunately, these trans-yellow pieces don't exist. In the end, I'll have the choice between trans-clear and trans-brown. I think trans-brown will look nicer. Here's an interior shot of the cockpit with trans-clear windows.

And some more pictures of it with he landing gear out. Though even if I were to build this one, I will have to work some more on the model. When playing around with the folding mechanism, I found out that I built in some obstacles which I didn't realize before. I will definitely have to work some more on it, but in the end, the details will have to be figured out with a physical model. Moving Technic Parts are notoriously difficult to do in Studio (at least for me). There is one narrow path which in Studio looks like it is just a little bit too narrow to work, but in real life, there is always a little bit of wiggle room, so it may work without a lot of changes after all. Or it might not...either way, I think it's possible to do a redesign without changing too much on the outside...

Some more renderings. This time in the air. I still think it looks a bit stubby, but as of now, I have no idea how to make the tail a bit thinner while keeping a somewhat rounded profile. Maybe I'll just extend the tail for a few studs.

OK, next try. I only changed the tail a bit. It's still short and stubby.

All right, here's the next attempt: Both light and shadow, I think. First of all, I do prefere the general shape. It's now more aggressive and muscular looking. However, it now lacks some of the sleekness it previously had and looks more stubby. The difficulty is in getting the teardrop shape in Lego form. I think I will work on the tail some more. Make it a bit longer and try to make it thinner towards the end. Will be difficult to maintain the overall shape however. I have the beginning of an idea, but I don't know if it'll work out.

Thanks. The part you mentioned wouldn't work for me. It has too much depth and is too angular for my taste. From the beginning, I did however think about 98102. It was also too bulky for me, which is why I went with a round dish. But since I basically started from scratch again, I did play around with it a little bit and it kinda works if you use it at an angle and build the cockpit around it. The good thing is that these parts are now also available in trans-yellow. It's not perfect, because it leads to a lot of large gaps, but that's something that potentially could work out better in real life than in Studio. Working with these ball-joint-rings which I used to shape the cockpit is a nightmare in Studio. In real life, that would be much easier and I could see how the segments could potentially be realigned in order to minimize the gaps. Also, it means that you can't open the cockpit to the sides anymore. But I think I will, continue along those lines for now, with a few tweaks of course.

Hmmm...actually, I have looked at the movie thopter from a few different angles again, and I think I still need to rework the design. The original thopter looks a lot more muscular. I've gone a bit overboard with the slimming down, particulalry the concave shaping of the underside isn't right. Also, it needs to be shorter (roughly 9 studs). I will keep the innards as they are. They're nice and small, allowing me to try all kinds of shapes (except, I'll try to move the lever for the folding mechanism further downwards). But I might completely rethink everything else. It would also be nice to have a more aggressive looking cockpit, but that will be difficult. Let's see which ideas come to mind...

More pictures incoming. I have now added the landing gear. As I previously stated, there is no fancy mechanism. The landing gears are attached via ball joints and need to be put into place manually. The angle of the legs are probably not ideal in terms of the forces working upon them, but ball joints typically do have a lot of friction and there are four of them holding the ship, so I assume that it wouldn't be a problem and that the legs wouldn't give way under the weight of the thopter. Next step would be to try and build the damned thing and see how well it holds up. Only problem is that I have absolutely no space left and my wife would kill me. So I will first have to get rid of some of my other Lego MOCs.

Thank you. In the meantime, I have removed the flapping mechanism which did indeed save me a lot of interior space. This is how it looks like now: If you compare it to the movie thopter, the cockpit is still too bulgy, but there is no other way if you want to fit two minifigs side by side into it. But in general, the torso does get slimmer a lot more and a lot earlier than before. Shaping the whole body was not particularly easy, I had to do this "stepped" approach. Next, I will try to improve the stability by optimizing the inside construction. As of now, it probably wouldn't be very solid. But even with improved stability, it will likely never be a particularly sturdy model. Especially the tail will alway be precarious.

I have been doing some more work on this one, and here is where 'm currently at. I have left one side open: Unfortunately, I have to say that I'm not happy at all with the overall shape. It's way too bulky. Also, the tail is probably not particularly sturdy and would come off when holding it there. I think I'll give it one more try. I will remove the flapping mechanism. That should make it possible to make the innards much narrower. I could probably save two studs in width and I could start the upwards slope much earlier. I probably won't be able to shrink the folding mechanism length-wise, but maybe I can make it narrower by one stud, allowing me to integrate it into the tail construction. Let's see. But I might just abandon the whole thing if it turns out to be unsatisfactory.

I have to say, the Dune Ornithopter is probably my favourite new set in many years. But of course it is a bit rough and the bright colours are as always annoying. So I sat down in Studio and tried to make the Thopter look a bit smoother. Regarding the following picture, my modded version does not have the spring installed, that's why you can see the large gap next to the top right wing. In the finished product, it'll be there, of course. Side by side, you can also see that my mod is about 6 studs longer. Might look a bit funky with the wings folded in, but the overall proportions do look more like the movie thopter. If anything, it probably should be even longer, but then the wingspan would be more out of whack, so I figured that this was a good compromise. I'll have to see how it works in real life though. All in all still not perfect of course. It's just very hard to get a smooth surface. Plus, I wanted to keep all the functions and there was only so much one can do regarding the large gaps in the central section due to the folding mechanism. The tail construction is a bit wild, but it should be almost as sturdy as the original tail. Next step is to get the parts and try to build the thing. There might be some fine tuning needed which will only become obvious when dealing with real life bricks.

I'm finally done with my upgrade. Unfortunately, there are still some blue and red bits that are sticking out. I messed up the part where the tail starts. I would have had the black pieces, but for some unknown reason didn't use them. Now I would have to completely take the whole thing apart again which I just don't feel like doing. Similarly, on the insede, there are still a few tan-coloured bits shining through from certain angles, but that's not as bad. You can barely see it and again, it would require me to basically take it completely apart and start from scratch. Anyway, in general, it looks so much better without all those red and blue and yellow bits sticking out. The ornithopter is now a couple of studs longer, which is closer to the proportions of the movie thopter, but now the wings look a bit short. You win some, you lose some, I guess. When you hold by the front section of the tail, it's perfectly swooshable. The further back you go with your hand, the more precarious it gets though. But in order to push the flapping-button, you'll have to have your hand up there anyway, because there isn't the long bar to press anymore.

All right, the ordered parts have arrived and now I'm in the middle of upgrading my thopter. Unfortunately, Just when I was really close to completion, I realized that I kinda messed up the landing gear when removing the bright colours, so now I will have to completely open it up again, which will be a pain in the butt. I think I forgot to put in a single axle. On the plus side, that will give me the opportunity to remove some more of the coloured pieces which I thought wouldn't be visible in the end, but which still stick out. Regarding the general design, there were a few minor issues. I made some mistakes with the panels on the outside, but nothing which couldn't be fixed. Also, the connection to the flapping mechanism didn't work, but I realized, that it can be done even in a much simpler way. The big question mark was of course the tail: will it hold up? And yes, it does. However, I was also a bit dumb. You can see the large brick on the open tail section. If you grab the tail behind that large brick, the long lever creates a lot of stress on the construction and it flexes quite a bit. I will replace that Brick with overlapping plates. That should help. Still, you probably wouldn't want to hold the tail towards its end, because that would increase the forces working upon the front of the tail quite a bit, particularly upon the six studs which connect the two rows of technic bricks. I did do an initial test holding the whole thopter relatively far back and shake it a bit and the six studs became lose. Now, that was without replacing that large brick and also before adding the outside panels which should also add some stability. I'll also add a stepped bracket which should increase stability. But I guess that even with all that, if you want to swoosh around with the thopter, you'll still have to hold it towards the beginning of the tail section. I will probably do instructions. I'm not sure yet if I'll do just the tail plus the minor changes to the plating of the main section or if I should include a full colour conversion (at least with the pieces that are visible). I'm leaning towards the latter though.

Thank you. The thing is driving me crazy though. I want to make it as sleek as possible. I've managed to shrink the mechanism a bit more, but getting it all secured while maintaining a somewhat rounded appearance is really tough. I had a really nice cascading series of rings which mimicked the overall shape nicely, but there was just no way of making it stable. So I had to scrap it again. I'm slowly getting somewhere, though I don't know yet if it'll all work out. Unfortunately, I don't think there's any way to make it as sleek as I want it to be while simultaneously keeping all the functionality of the wings. Also, securing the tail will be another major challenge, let alone getting the shape right. There will definitely have to be compromises along the way.

That's pretty awesome. Horizon is a great franchise to do Lego designs. The creatures really lend themselves to being interpreted in Lego form. But you've really nailed it. So many clever ideas.

I doubt that there will be more sets. The scale of Dune is simply too big. Other than the various Ornithopters, there isn't much that lends itself to being reproduced in Lego. I guess you could do a spice harvester using a smaller scale, but I doubt there would be a market for it. Stuff like the Sardaukar landing crafts could potentially work, but then they look too generic for a licensed Lego set. Battle packs would of course be really cool. Atreides vs Harkonnen soldiers, or Fremen vs. Sardaukar. But I also don't see it happening, simply because it's extremely difficult to reproduce a proper setting. The movie settings are just way too large.

I'll probably create instructions. Though I don't know yet for sure. Either way, it'll be a while. I've just ordered the parts. Hopefully everything works out without any major hitches. But particularly the technic stuff is always difficult to design in Studio. You have to do it in real life to be sure. Have fun with the movie. I've watched a double feature last weekend (the wife wasn't happy that she had to sit in the movie theatre for six hours...). I'm of course the perfect target demographic for this Ornithopter as I have loved the Dune novels since I was a kid. I actually built my own M-Tron Ornithopter back in the 1990s. It was significantly smaller than this beast of course and without any technic functions, but you could flap the wings manually. The new movies are also right up my alley. Villeneuve has done a great job in my opinion, even though, as a fan of the books, of course I do have many issues with it, but that comes with the territory.

Sure. The big challenge is of course to get the tail angled downwards. In the original set, they've done it by simply using long wedge plates. I tried a different approach.

UPDATE: I'm finally done with the design, here is the end product: Instruction and partlist available on Rebrickable: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-100158/thomin/din-djarins-n-1-starfighter/ Original post below. ____________________________________________________________________________ So, after watching the latest Book of Boba Fett episode, I had to give Mando's new ship a shot. The big challenge was of course the lack of metallic silver parts (let's not even waste our thoughts on chrome silver). I had to be somewhat creative in order to get the shape done using only existing metallic silver parts, but in the end, I managed to come up with something. I'm not sure if I should keep it that way or if I should ditch the metallic silver and go for a more conventional design.

I've recently gotten into designing some castles, but so far, none of them have been in minifig scale. Still, they turned out quite big. So I wanted to do a minifig scale castle at a reasonable size. I guess I achieved the former goal. Anyway, I picked Castle Lichtenstein, a beautiful little castle in the south of Germany. And I scaled it down a little bit more to make it more feasible. Unfortunately, things escalated again and the result is again too big to build it at a reasonable price. I am happy with the result though. I'm thinking about entering into Lego Ideas, even though it's way too big to ever make it into a set. But one could drastically reduce the part count by removing large parts of the cliff, get rid of the plants and a lot of the tiles, don't have double walls, etc. Anyway, what do you guys think? And BTW, here's a picture of the real Castle Lichtenstein

Love it. Weird and different and cool.