VK-318

Shipping charges from some countries are greater than others. One recent Bricklink order I made cost almost $20 to ship, but most, of equivalent size, have cost essentially the same as domestic shipping.

The game administrators said a few weeks back that they should be able to roll out VI as soon as the scoring for V is done. And yes, freebuilds are a good way to go if you want to tell a story about/with your character. Just got some Bricklink parts to work on a freebuild idea I've had for a while. I could have as many as three coming down the pipe soon, if I can knuckle down and get them done.

That had better not be the reason.

You are absolutely right on both counts. The studdy look works well for the Millennium Falcon, fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, but the Ghost needs to be smoother. And the model is indeed way too small. I would really like to see somebody put together a UCS-style Ghost and Phantom; these are great-looking ships that deserve some effort.

I hope the Rebels have a good explanation for not giving us any competition this time ... And special thanks to BKrosell, MKJoshA, MontyPython, and Manx for actually making entries. Really, I have no idea what could have hit the Rebels (unless they're trying to hand us the win), but thank you, you four, for making the effort and producing some excellent builds for this episode.

Yes, and the new helmet definitely has character. I'd say the walker should be named AT-FD, though - All Terrain Fast Destructor.

My paternal grandmother had a Spyrius Recon Robot in amongst the Legos at her place, and every time we visited I would build it until it vanished a year or two back. I just bought one for myself, and am a diehard Spyrius fan now.

Well done, BEAVeR!

Wow ... lots of plot twists in a short space of time there. I really like how so many builders a creating some strong personal dramas and side-stories here. The door design is really terrific, and I like the layout of the factory. But I do think the white is a poor choice for a planet that is, if I remember your previous remarks correctly, fairly poor and run-down. The wedge plates and round plates help with a battered look; maybe using dark bley instead of white would have been better.

I think it's much better now. The photos have a bit too much glare from one side, but the build is overall a great improvement.

To me the aspect of Classic Space that needs updating the most is the parts inventory. If you take a look at some of the techniques used in these old sets, they are actually fairly sophisticated designs. The problem is the limited selection of parts. For instance, there were only (I think) two kinds of wedge plates back in the day, a limited selection of slope bricks, and almost no arc bricks at all. The issue with rebooting Classic Space would probably be the change in target market. The old Classic Space was targeted at children, while the Classic Space we're talking about here is a more complex, technically demanding theme for more adult builders. Since there are many more young children who are given Legos by their parents than there are AFOL's who will buy these more advanced sets, I suspect the wisest course of action for Lego would be to release some part collections like their Serious Play "sets," containing minifigs/minifig parts and specialized elements for MOC'ing Classic Space stuff.

Come on, Rebels! If you don't come up with some builds, this is going to be one very, very boring scoring session to wait out.

Thanks all, you're definitely right about the foliage. Trees and the like are not exactly my strong suit! That vehicle on the ground is based on the piece of a "shredder" that Goatman461 showed in a picture as part of his episode build a while back. The specific picture that showed it has since vanished, but by then I was too attached to the idea to get rid of it. I found a way to recreate the little bit that he showed and then added Technic parts to it until I had a complete vehicle. The TIE-style cockpit was deliberate - I figured it gave an Imperial touch to something that wasn't otherwise very Imperial-looking. @Wat Tambor - As long as you can explain how your character is in the scene, micro builds are allowed. For an example of what I mean, take a look at BEAVeR's micro forced-perspective build for Episode IV here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=94648. BEAVeR's character is never shown, but it's quite clear where he is and how he is involved in what's going on in the build.

After our defeat over Sullust, the Avenger was transferred away from the front lines, to a remote forest moon named Endor. Once there, we were to assist in the construction of a secret shield-generator facility and support structures. The commander of the fleet conducting the project ordered the Avenger to provide reinforcements for the ground crews. This proved to be more complicated than the commander had likely anticipated. As much of our vehicular equipment had been rendered inoperable for some time in the fighting on Nar Eurbricka, Captain Erdbeereis sent only infantry reinforcements. But the forest floor of Endor is a maze of steep ravines choked with tangled undergrowth, and a patrol of infantrymen out in it would be nothing more than a pop-up target for all the Ewoks, Sanyassans, and other unholy creatures in that wilderness to practice on. The ground supervisor made the obvious decision: he transferred walker crews from construction to patrol duties. In order to keep the pace of construction up, replacement crews for the construction work were taken from among the Avenger's men. And, once again out of the command of General Brickdoctor, I found myself slotted into another pathetic position based on the presence of "Enlisted Specialist" on my record. I was selected to pilot one of the AT-CT walkers being used for the project. It wasn't that the job I was supposed to do was terribly complex - I was mostly there to supervise a couple of construction drones while they installed pre-fabricated segments of a landing pad. But did they really have to put me on top of the landing pad? When officers were going around finding men to work the walkers, we had been asked if we had previously piloted heavy equipment, and I had answered, honestly, yes. But piloting an AT-ST is usually a highly skilled task, even more so since this one was a one-man walker. The All-Terrain Construction Transport's tractor beam claws, which replaced the AT-ST's side-mounted weapons, were usually worked by a gunner, but this walker had been modified for a single-man crew. This meant that I had to operate both the claws and the legs at the same time. I'm not sure I actually accomplished anything of value up there, so busy was I trying not to trip over my walker's toes and fall fifty meters to the ground, where I could either be crushed in my walker or sucked up by a shredder. These were finally running again thanks to a little trouble-shooting from the boys at Hanger 29, and sure enough there was one prowling around the bottom of my landing pad, cleaning up the undergrowth and construction debris. Thankfully, I was withdrawn shipside before any any serious accidents occurred. Someone in Personnel had a job for me, it seemed. OoC: My first really original build in LDD - primarily I use the software for storing virtual copies of MOC's for later reference or prototyping a design before I break out the bricks. Big thank you to BEAVeR, who did the rendering on these shots - without his help I probably would have been stuck with using LDD screenshots since I'm both a somewhat slow learner where computers are concerned and a notable procrastinator. Edit: I thought I linked to the .lxf here back when I posted. Evidently not. Here it is: http://www.brickshel...ng_platform.lxf. And while I'm at it, here's the completed platform, without any vehicles, incorporating some suggestions from BEAVeR in his comment below and an idea for the sloped connection between platform and towers that I thought of a bit too late to incorporate into the final build: http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/Vargonius/SoNE/BigRig/completed_platform.lxf.

They weren't aware because that Lieutenant whom Birdman and his friends got in trouble sent them out without that intel in the hopes of making the commandos bungle their ambush, as revenge for the trouble they got him into.

That looks great! Reminds me of the Zerg from Starcraft.

Yes, he really is the first player to reach 100 XP! Congratulations! I like the uniform quite a lot, the cloak looks just fine to me. And that greebling on the pad support is really inspired. Is this a smaller kind of landing pad? The only one I remember seeing in Episode VI had some gantries halfway between the ground and pad for boarding AT-AT's and the like, and were also much, much taller. Glad to see that someone has been reading my reports on declining morale! Is that Black Widow up there with you?

Wow. I think you may skip a rank after this, Goatm An 461. With your brilliant episode build and all these (4? 5?) other freebuilds, you'll be racking up the points quickly - and hopefully giving us Imps the boost we need to finally win an episode!

I may yet take you up on that one. I will contact you via PM within the next twenty-four hours if that is the case.

I hope to see it there soon, too! My entry should be done in a day or two - need to figure out the renders since LDD screenshots aren't my preference. For the Empire!

Exhilarating. Not accelerating. Oh, definitely. I didn't realize quite the volume of parts something like this used, though I suppose I should have given how difficult it is for me to build realistic vegetation. And, I didn't assume that you were a redhead. Guess I was just making conversation about finally seeing your face.

Hurray! Now that's what I want to see! Keep up the good work, soldiers! The lighting could maybe use a little work, but the ships themselves are really terrific, as everyone keeps saying.

Um ... that didn't actually work so well on Sullust, soldier.

The invention of force-shield technology signaled the end of the starfighter, as nuclear warheads were disarmed and conventional ones deflected by the fluctuating magnetic fields and radiation the shields produced. This technological revolution paved the way for the return of the giant battleships of the early years of interstellar travel. Initially, the Torrian Starfleet made use of unique ships for niche functions, but the logistical burden quickly became insurmountable. Delivering a division of combat troops to a hostile planet and providing them with armor, artillery, and ortillery (orbital artillery) support took at least thirty various ships, not counting surveillance craft and the gravtanks, which, being designed to make planetfall as their own landing craft, are technically ships. The solution came in the form of the Torrian "Cruiser doctrine," which is focused on the concept of a "cruiser," an indefinitely self-sufficient capital ship capable of filling one of three key functions: transport, ortillery, or line combat. The Havigari-Class Star Cruiser represents the pinnacle of this design philosophy. A hulking titan measuring around 5,500 feet from stem to stern, the Havigari, or Insurmountable, carries a full division of combat troops plus support vehicles and equipment in its belly, in addition to a full crew and a large contingent of scout craft. In addition, this behemoth is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with all but the strongest of battleships the enemies of the Torrian Federation can field against it: its armament includes eight massive plasma turrents and a spinal plasma cannon capable of stripping away the shields and melting the hull of most smaller ships. But while most navies have only a handful of battleships, the Torrian Federation, with its unorthodox politically-independent military, can field thousands of these spread throughout the vast extents of the Torrian Federation. Like nearly all Torrian designs, the Havigari has three distinct sections: a rear segment that houses the reactors and the tachyon thrusters that give it warp capability; a center segment that contains the hangars and cargo bays for its equipment and vehicles, the bunks of the soldiers and crewmen, the vast farms that feed this roving military base, and the other support services that keep the ship intact and funtioning properly; and a forward segment that houses the bridge and scanning equipment, as well as the several crew and troop lounges and the cabins of the captain and senior naval and ground officers. Here too is the large and sumptuous cabin present on each of these ships, reserved specially for the Lord High Admiral in case he should grace the ship with a visit. Like all ships belonging to the Torrian Starfleet, and indeed like many other Torrian vessels, it is kept painted in a standard livery of black, dark bluish gray, and dark red that give it an imposing appearance. When one of these appears in the skies of a rebellious colony, it's underbody turrets raining fiery doom from the heavens and tanks, artillery, and APC's swarming from its belly, resistance is feeble and short-lived. Notes on the build: I have images showing all details of the construction of this ship on my Brickshelf gallery:http://www.brickshel...ry.cgi?f=544656. I'm not entirely happy with the way that the triangular assembly in the rear tends to twist out of true, but I have no good solution at this point and will probably just put up with it and give the thrusters a twist every now and then to straighten them out. The black 1x1 cone represents the spinal cannon, and the 8 1x1 round plates on the surface of the ship represent the plasma turrets. The black 1x2 tile underneath represents the ship's hanger bay doors, which lead to the network of cargo bays and other facilities used to store support vehicles and equipment. This particular model is to scale with the Lego 4492 Mini Star Destroyer. I intend to design other vessels in the Torrian Starfleet as a sort of theme, and may eventually provide models of infantry support vehicles like tanks and APC's, but with a SoNE episode closing in the next couple of weeks and a Star Wars UCS modding project underway, it may take a while. I am also pondering some ideas for photography sets of important locations on this ship, like the bridge, main engine spaces, sickbay, and so forth. If they work out, they will also be showing up in this forum. Now, some pictures of the ship itself. Again, more at my Brickshelf gallery, link above. Comments, questions, and constructive criticism welcome.

Wow! Great cockpit idea, and a really neat use of the new-style brick separator.