ScottishDave

I do sympathise: I also have a Psiaki X-Wing and a bricklinked Falcon. It is an expensive hobby. I used a lot of my own parts to build the Mini SSD. However, I estimate that it would cost about £100 to bricklink. There are some things which you can do to make it cheaper: - the interior frame is not very visible. Choose muted, dark colours and it will look fine. - the exact details of the city are totally optional, apart from the bridge of course . You can also use light grey for the city... I simply preferred the look of the dark grey. - You don't have to use old-style 2/3 finger plate hinges. clip and handle hinges will work just as well in most places. I hope this helps.

I have created PDF instructions for this model. Please note that these two files are both about 50 MB, due to extensive use of large graphics. Book One Book Two I have also updated my LXF model, which is in the same location as before. This version has updated engines (taken from Pellaeon's original design). This model can be used to generate a parts list, using SuperKalle's excellent LDD Manager. I don't think I changed much during the journey from LXF -> LDR -> MPD -> PDF, so any parts list created from the LXF should be pretty accurate. I did this mainly as a Christmas present for my nephews, Jedi J (10) and Darth D (7). As they were intended for KFOLs the instructions are pretty dumbed-down, with just a few pieces per step. The boys tell me that attaching the outer hull to the framework was the only tricky bit - they got the placement of the hinges off by one stud and had to try again. If anyone wishes to beta-test the instructions further, please feel free to let me know about any problems you encounter. I can't promise a quick response but if I ever generate an updated set of instructions I'll take any feedback into consideration. Just to be clear: The LXF and PDF files linked in this post are not intended for commercial use. Please do not sell copies of the PDFs, or models based upon this material. Thanks.

I was thinking about that. In order to fit your city onto my frame, all you need is an extra half-plate's worth of width on either side. How about: Thanks!

Indeedy. A Super Star Destroyer is "meant" to be eleven miles long (controversially ignoring the inconsistent offical figures and going to the straight dope). This model is about 22 inches long. Each "stud" therefore represents 275 metres. An A-wing is 10 metres long. By my calculations, an in-scale A-Wing would be 0.2 mm long. I'd better keep my windows closed in case a midgie decides to make a suicide run on my bridge deflector shield...

Many thanks for the pictures of the frame. It isn't as messy as all that! Agreed: My frame is thicker (especially at the bottom). It is also narrower. This is down to the angle of the internal A-Frame. This also makes my "city" narrower, and with fewer "streets". This is however the trade-off for a better angle at the nose. So that's how you did it! Most excellent work, sir: well worth being pleased with. My next version will include this design. What does the bar at the back connect to? A technic axle holder or pin?

Leoparder, that's a very good question. My LXF was not designed to be built from 10221-1. However, it shares a lot of parts - mainly the light grey plates and wedge plates. You can get a good start using the official set. In fact, going by the numbers of key parts, you can probably build the outer hulls of six or seven midi-scale from one official set. Maybe eight. Hmmm. An entire fleet... However, glancing through the parts list for the official set, I can see some that some important pieces are missing from 10221-1 (shame on you, Lego!): - the hinge plates for the A-frame - the engines - the clip plates and bars along the sides which hold the lower hull on. Also, there are far fewer types of greeblies for the upper city. You may be able to substitute other types of hinges, and I would suggest building the city in light grey. The details of the city are less important: just use any bits you have lying around and try to get the shape about right. That's what I did. I suggest that if you want a precise answer, you take my LXF and run it through LDD Manager to generate a parts list, then compare to the inventory from the offical set. I'm sure that with some clever part substitution and careful refactoring of the midi-scale model, you can get the overlap to a maximum!

So glad you liked it. I wouldn't want to upset Admiral Thrawn's right-hand man. I am thinking of making some instructions. My nephew wants one of these for Christmas. However, this is no small task. I am rapidly coming to appreciate just how well-designed and carefully thought out official lego instructions are. It is rather daunting. Full disclosure: the A-Frame on my MOC was copied from a French-language forum. I figured that it would probably work as the hull-plates on the centreline of both models were the same wege plate. As you have noted, it did make the nose align better. I think, however, that it also made my MOC slightly narrower and pushed the profile up a bit higher that your original. I've been toying with the idea of lowering the profile using a half-stud offset - jumper plates or a pair of 1x2 plates strategically placed - at the back of the A-frame. If I get it precisely correct, the nose will still align but the overall profile will be flatter and the model will be slightly wider (and probably more accurate). It is a lot of work, however. If I build another one for the nephew I will look into it. Seconded!

I'm afraid that I do not have a nice instruction PDF to sell you. However, I have obtained permission from Pellaeon to share with you my Executor LXF file, which I based on his model. Click on the image to download the LXF file: As you can see, my model is very similar (although not identical). I made some changes to the upper city, and the internal frame is quite different. I have built this model in physical bricks, but I am embarrased to admit that due to an accident involving a camera, a stream and a daughter, there are no decent pictures. I do have some rather badly lit and blurry iPhone 3GS photos on dropbox. Unavoidably, there are issues caused by the translation to LDD. I have managed to keep these to a minimum, but there are a couple of things to watch out for: * The two halves of the lower hull refused to close all the way up on LDD. In real life they are flush with the tile plates on the centre-line. There is also a 1x2 plate missing on LDD from just aft of the lower city/docking bay. * I used "1 x 1 cone bricks" (4589) pushed into "Technic mid-driving rings" (32187 ) for the larger size of engine on the physical model, to emulate the look of Pelleaon's original. However, the technic part won't join to anything except a technic axle in LDD. Hence I had to switch to using the smaller wheels ( 42610 ) for all the engines on the LDD model. * On the physical model, the bridge is held on by a "1x1 tile with clip" ( 2555 ) again as on Pellaeon's original. This refused to work in LDD, so I had to improvise. There is no such part as a 1x1 round plate with open stud in dark blueish gray (or light blueish gray for that matter, as used on the mini Star Destroyer) * The upper hull is held on with a pair of "1x1 plates with clips" (6019) on the physical model. These join onto the 1x2 plates with handles at the back. These parts could not be placed on the LXF file.

My point exactly... the bottom of Larry Lars' model was, IMHO, the weakest part: but nonetheless it is one of the best snowspeeder undersides out there: beaten only by Marshal Banana's design. I do keep hoping that someone has come up with a better basic design for this part of the snowspeeder, and as I said I'd love to see what siseon has done with the underside of his model. It's all total self-interest, of course: I'm hoping for some ideas to "research" to help improve my own snowspeeder design .

These are two great-looking snow-speeders. I especially like the rear cooling fins - that's a really clever design. I also like the parts you used for the tips of the main cannons on the speeder with the dark grey markings: they capture the "roundness" of the ends of the main guns quite well. Do you happen to have any pictures of the underside of your snow-speeder? I'd be very interested to see how you got on with that area - I think it's probably the most difficult bit to get right in lego snowspeeders and I haven't seen a good one yet!

Hmmm, good point. I think I see what you mean... but to clarify: How is this different from putting a cone on the end of 30359 (which does work in LDD)? Is there a subtle difference in diameters and/or hole shapes between system and technic? I notice (in my limited playing around) that 4589 won't go into ANY technic hole. -- Dave.

Where should I report these bugs? I see there is a "bug report" thread in this forum... should I mention these problems there? -- Dave

I felt quite vindicated when I saw your gun design - very few other folks have used pins for the barrels, and no-one else I've come across has used micro-motor pulleys for the base. However, I hadn't thought of using antenna bases on the ends. I may have to try that. Yet another thing I can't represent in LDD... 64230 Spiral tube w. tube stud - the fourth element in the "steering wheel" section. -- Dave

Ah, thanks: that was the clue that I was missing. I just had a good look and no: the string isn't "flex"-ible. Figures. -- Dave.

Brickdoctor, Many thanks for the quick reply. 3) - I thought not (no sign of any news of such a thing on these forums) but you don't find out if you don't ask. 4) - There is definitely a string available, but although I spent some time messing with the string and with the reel, I couldn't get the two of them to join together. I'll have another look at the flex tool tonight. At the risk of hijacking my own thread... I just noticed the snowspeeder you posted in the Star Wars Lego thread. Totally awesome! I love the SNOT wings and the cooling fins. -- Dave.

Can anyone spare a moment to help out a newbie? I've just started using Lego Digital Designer (v4.0), and I'm running into a few wee problems. I'm translating a model I built recently into LDD so that I can print off a parts list and a set of instructions for a friend. It's my first ever time using LDD, or indeed any Lego CAD package. I've got 99% of the way there, but LDD won't let me do the final assembly. The model itself definitely works in real life - It's a model of a T-47 "Snowspeeder" from Star Wars which I built a few weeks ago. I put a few quick photos on flickr today - http://www.flickr.com/photos/11988796@N02/with/5227686692/ However, in my current (WIP) .lxf file - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5251792/Snowspeeder.lxf - it's in about a dozen pieces. I'm not too upset by this - I can generate everything except the last few pages of my instructions from the .lxf file, and I've been able to use "LDD Manager" (what a great program!) to generate my want parts list for Bricklink. I also do realise that I'm "forcing" parts slightly, which would explain why a lot of my design refuses to work in LDD. However, that doesn't explain all the problems, in particular: 1) I'm trying to insert a cone (part number 4589) into the smooth technic joiner (part number 75535) on the end of the gun barrels. It won't go in LDD, no way, no how. Yet... a cylinder brick 1x1 will work just fine. Is this a bug in LDD? 2) I have a block of greeblies on the wing, btween the engines and the guns. In real life, they work fine. In LDD, they're too long. I think it may be the technic driver ring extension (32187) that's to blame...? Like the first problem, this looks like a bug in LDD. 3) I can't find the 9v motor pulley (part number 2983) that I'm using at the base of the guns. Nor lego hands (983). Is there a way to add these parts in LDD 4.0 - for example using LDraw .dat files? 4) Finally, how do you wind a string around a reel...? Many thanks in advance for any light that you guys can shed on these issues! -- DF.