Unofficial B-model of 8996 Skopio XV-1

[Front]

B-models is a mandatory part of Technic models, and have always been as far as I know. Now some Bionicle sets are more or less purely Technic designs, (as a mather of fact Bionicle is considered part of Technic building system), but the vehicles of Bionicle 2008 and 2009, didn't have any B-models.

As my application to join the Hero Factory Design team (just imagine if this was true), I've made this B-model of set #8996, Skopio XV-1. Creating alternative models is a tough job. You only have the parts from the original set. Put something meaningful together that differs from the original, using as many parts as possible. Well I had an idea and went for it.

A tank with arms made for grabbing evil villains. Armed with the same three shooters as Skopio. Driver highly integrated into a protective cabin.

Click on the pictures to view them in up to 1000 pixels width on flickr.

Here a view from the front, showing the weapons, arms etc.

Here the cabin (actually the entire upper part) has been tilted foreward, and the cabin lid opened, to allow the driver to exit.

The driver has a tight fit inside the cabin, but can move in and out. I managed to get a fairly solid build, and nothing really falls apart even during intense playing. The upper part of the structure does flex some, if you just pull the outer end of the arms, making the double-click-joints rotate.

Maybe I'm not stuck as a Part Designer

Front

Edited April 4, 2011 by Front

[ZORK64]

Looks pretty cool! Though I don't own the original Skopio, it would be neat if the set had that B-model.

[Toa_Of_Justice]

I'd be shocked if LEGO didn't accept your application--that is an amazing model!

Now if only there were more vehicles in Hero Factory...with you on the team, there probably would be, and they'd fly (and drive and walk ) off the toy store shelves.

-Toa Of Justice

[Aanchir]

Very nice! The asymmetry of the two claw-arms is unusual, but appealing. The best part, naturally, is that the overall model is very different in structure and appearance than the "A" model-- a testament to your creative part use.

I built an alternate model from Skopio's pieces once-- it was a wheelbike with the treads arranged inside-out in a circle. Took forever to get it to work, and in the end it didn't work all that well (it was very gappy in many places), but I was awful proud of coming up with something. It really showed me how brilliant the designers for BIONICLE alternate models were to see first-hand how difficult it is to use parts together that were originally intended for an entirely different application!