Samppu

Hello all fellow SW fans! I would like to start a new topic around the missing concepts for different army and other figures in Star Wars universe. I know we have the very inspiring topic for updating existing minifigures that often includes attempts to model e.g. Expanded Universe figures, too, that have not been modeled ever before. However, I have come up with a different kind of a problem now and therefore I feel this does not perfectly fit the updating topic. I love to build and arm big armies in my personal Lego Star Wars universe and I put a lot of effort to make them logical and organized. This has brought me some curious problems as Star Wars universe itself has a number of gaps to fill in, because we have never seen any kind of a picture of a great number of characters, figures, ships etc. There are many and feel welcome to post your own ideas, but I would like to start as an example with the following: We have now examples for Imperial tank crew thanks to Rogue One and Imperial Gunners have been around since A New Hope. I have used especially these tank crew figures to man my other custom made tanks and similar vessels, too, and Imperial Gunners are the crew for different kinds of mortars and cannons in addition to those classic heavy turbolasers as well. However, we have never seen any kind of example for the rebel versions (if there are, please, let us know below). There are a number of rebel ground vehicles and artillery in Star Wars games, but they have - as far as I know - never shown us, which kind of soldiers are manning these vehicles. Imperial tank crew member Imperial gunner Thus I am looking inspiration for how to make these two types of soldier classes as the first example for this topic: - Rebel tank crew - Rebel gunner I am looking for some inspiration from the red army as at least some other rebel units have clearly taken some ideas from there. Soviet tank crew The helmet of these battlepack soldiers would be much more suitable for drivers than soldiers? Any ideas on these spesific figures or for the topic in general? - Samppu

I realized when watching over Ep 1 again that young Obi-Wan might actually look pretty cool with the collectible minifigure series wanderer's tan legs with reddish brown boots..! Does anyone have both of those parts in hand? - Samppu

Haha, thanks for the great topic! I would love to have a light saber duel set in line with Battle on Geonosis with Dooku and Yoda or Death Star with Vader and Luke or Battle on Naboo with Obi-Wan, Quiqon and Maul made from the Ep III first duel scene with Anakin, Obi-Wan and Dooku, but in line with this topic, I guess it is never going to happen ^^' - Samppu

I haven't really noticed a difference over time, but some helmets are loose from the very beginning. On the other hand this is relatively rare in terms of likelyhood as I have more helmets than I dare to admit, but only few dozen exhibit these symptoms. - Samppu

I have tried to do very realistic replicas of Battlefront and other SW game rocket launcher. In addition, with just a few simple pieces, you get a very nice looking and actually functioning mortar! I, however, cannot upload any pics at the moment unfortunately, because my bricks are elsewhere, but I see if I can get any pics at some point.. ^^ Simple description of the mortar: add the following pieces in the following order and you will get it: 1) Dark bluish gray dish 2x2 2) Black round brick 1x1 3) Black 1x1 plate with those doble sided studs attached to it 4) Black round plate (stud) 1x1 5) Studshooter 6) Round plate (stud) for the ammo. The color can be of your liking, but I prefer black. Then add the standard Lego levelers to 1x1 modified plate in the middle and voila! Not as good as a picture would be, but I wont be getting any better one any time sooner.. ^^' - Samppu

Whoah! This is pretty much perfect version of its TV-model! Gotta love those functions, especially the interconnected turning mechanism of the cocpit and the lower cannon is very cool. I like to do complicated mechanisms myself, too, so this really cheered me up to see someone else trying these things, too. =) - Samppu

I am greatly interested in this era, and I am actually building a whole Star Wars Universe around the Era of Thrawn trilogy. (I am dividing my SW universe into two. The older timeline sets in the ending of Clone Wars and the Birth of Rebellion, and the newer, my absolute favorite, in the Thrawn's time.) I have done some of the characters already. However, I do not have any photographs at the moment, but I will introduce them little by little with my MOCs about the era. Mainly I have created Grand Admiral Thrawn (combination of the official head and BrickKit torso and shoulder pads), Talon Karrde, Mara Jade, Smuggler Captain Mazzic, Commander Wedge Antilles, Joruus C'Baoth and Captain Pellaeon. At the moment I am figuring out how to do good Noghri, Winter, other smuggler characters and Borrsk Fey'Leya (thinking about using Chima wolves on Bothans, should paint them in tan color, though...) Going to do vehicles and locations as well. Imperial Shuttle, TIE-Interceptor, X-Wing, Heavy AT-ST, AT-PT ready. Would love to do AT-AT, Skipray and Chariot Command Speeder at some point. About the locations, I would love to have the Imperial Palace on Coruscant as the New Republic Center with all the secret passages and the gloomy atmosphere of gone glory and power as well as the hint of hiding evil as suggested in the books. - Samppu

Thank you sharing these pictures originally! I didnt have a clue that the characters were actually named, I thought them to be just generic soldiers, but I much more prefer this! It gives them so much more personal touch as it should be in the rebel army. Their equipment and looks are not so standardised as in the Imperial army anyway, so the more there is diversity in the torsos, the better. - Samppu

Never know. I am building at the moment GR-85 Rebel Transport, and I am making it to be power functioned and IR-controlled. But thank you for all your comments. ^^ I'll be uploading more pics a little later. This is one thing I thought, and now that you said it again, I am rethinking if I should use the brick build style. It is not so simple, though. The reason for the plate-style was in the first place to curve the grey triangles on the both sides of the fin right; they are triangles not rectangles like in official brick built versions. This can be overcome I believe, but it might also make the fin to be more fragile. I'll see... - Samppu

I am not a fan of microfighters, but this is a clever one. Good job! - Samppu

Good use of MOCs instead of official sets, it makes the scene a lot more interesting! Props for that! And in general, looking good. The ion cannon is smooth. I would have loved to see this at that con. - Samppu

Hello guys, I have finished now the Imperial Shuttle I started already a while ago: Now all of the functions actually work, and the details of the ship have been finished so that everything should look as smooth as possible. The work was pretty hard balance between accurate looks, working functions and durability, and I am now quite happy with the result. ^^ Here is a video showing the functions that include: - 2 x lasercannons - 2 x missiles - Backcannon All of the cannons are launched by pressing different buttons at the bottom of the ship. The mechanisms behind this are rather complicated and they are based on the use of fishing wire that delivers the force to the right place. - Wings automatically turn the landing gear open and close. Also, the white covering plates of the landing gear open and close automatically. The wingcannons also turn up and down automatically, though on the video they are a little jammed. - Boarding ramp and an opening and accessible hatch. - Removable walls, wall and cockpit canopy. - Cockpit seats 4 minifigures, the interior has 2 seats, but can accomodate a platoon of up to 8+ minifigures or even more, if you don't care about comfort. - Samppu

You have the colour right! And shapes are true to the original, for that matter. Now you only Jabba's sail barge anymore. (; - Samppu

I agree with the white/grey issue. It is a matter of decision really for there is no version of "sand white". The original X-Wing model was, actually, grey: The tan imperial uniforms on the other hand were a blessing for me in a sense that they do exist in EU, thought they are not present in the movies. In Jedi Knight: Jedi Outcast, for example, the ranks are specified also by the color of the uniform where dark grey is lietenaunt or equal (platoon leader), dark tan "officer" aka captain or similar (company officer) and black major or similar aka the base commander (battalion commander). Here is a pic of the dark tan officer: - Samppu

Î guess you are right about the idea to make them look fresh. And about the fact that kids dont care or understand the right colours into very much detail anyway. Now that I have made MOCs in right colours e.g. TIE-Interceptor that is highlighted with grey not blue, the kids have been puzzled in Lego events looking at my MOCs and asking why it is not blue. (this was before the grey line became standard) However, I personally would wish that Lego would use the right colours and make the highlights in other manners. Would it be interesting to see AT-ST or other attack vehicle highlighted with brown parts to represent rust instead of random colour bricks? It shouldnt necessarily be the standard of making things, but e.g. in a Force Unleashed or similari kind of subtheme set, it would look very accurate and make some realistic and gloomy feeling to it, would it not? - Samppu

Hello, I wonder if anyone else has been wondering why Lego has rather often made some clear colour misconseptions? One example would be the reddish brown Desert Skiff, but that is not a severe mistake. Instead the everlasting idea of white in every vehicle that are supposed to be grey such as X-Wing, Y-Wing, A-Wing etc. has irritated me sometimes. Ok, we can argue whether the X-Wing should be white or grey. At least the A-Wing looks more grey than white. And then we have the ultimate case of white colour x) Thoughts? - Samppu

Haha, I just now realized it may sound very interesting in English.. = D But here is a link, it is located in the city center of Helsinki, worth to visit if you come to Finland: http://www.piipoo.com/helsinki/index_en.php (It is not an official Lego store, but an enterprise of a friend) Thank you for all your feedback. =) faire: there is indeed a few holes left there, and I understand your viewpoint. It is often a matter of compromise what features are the most important and what are not. As you said, I decided to make the best effort on correct shapes and functions, even though with a prize of these holes. - Samppu

Hello everyone, here is my newest MOC, Naboo N1 Royal Starfighter. I did put my best effort to make it as accurate as possible and fully functional as well. The starfighter has the following functions: - The laser cannons can be fired from a button at the bottom of the fighter. - The laser cannons can be fired also by pulling the joystick in the cockpit. - The fighter has a blue proton torpedo that can be launched by pulling a technic axel at the side of the fighter. - The canopy slides open by pressing a hidden button on near the laser cannons. - R2 unit can be removed and there is a secret storage box under the R2 unit containing a blaster and a medpack. Link to Youtube video describing the functions: Many have asked me to do the instructions for the fighter. I may do them before Christmas when I get the fighter back, it is now being displayed in a local Lego Store called PiiPoo in Helsinki. Meanwhile, if you are interested, there are already instructions fo that droideka in the video. They can be found here: http://www.bricklink.com/store/home.page?p=Samppu&itemID=104654445#/shop?o={"invID":"104654445"} - Samppu

I am not surprised. The vehicles of the Rebels (and TCW as well) look good, but the minifigs are horrible, because they are made to represent the animation style in the series which is toy-like and dumb. If they made the Rebels sets with accurate looking minifigures, I bet they would sell much better. (and then the new minifigures from the Rebels sets would fit in with your original collection, too.) The reason e.g. the TIE-Advanced prototype sold well is probably because it did have good-looking minifigures. Both the inquisitor and especially the new dark tan imperial officer were made to be more like standard minifigure line instead of that Rebels toy-like line. I have not spared a single euro on TWC or the Rebels for this reason. - Samppu

The battle pack pics (just been released) look very good to me. I desire to build up entire armies of the Empire and the Rebellion and recently there have been many good battle packs to work on that purpose. - Samppu

Off topic: even if you didn't make the manuals, I would see no problem for you to give them away as prizes. The copyright would in that case be with the creators, of course, but you wouldn't be selling them, right? So there shouldn't be a problem. It is just a thing you have and you are giving it away as a prize just like a Lego set or a medal etc. And about the subject: I encourage you to carry on with this. Enormous animation works rarely succeed, but when they do, they are definetly worth it. Though, to my mind, you should be more creative about the subject. I am not personally interested in seeing yet another copy of the same trailer for that is not creative. Rather you should choose a topic of your own or about something we know about, but that we have not yet seen on the screen. E.g. how about a trailer which shows us Kyle Katarn stealing the Death Star plans as in the original story line? If we have the chance to do it as the latter option, I would be in with that at least 10 000 bricks. - Samppu

Promising beginning and a nice MOC. You shoud make some stop motion animation out of it. (; -Samppu

Thanks! I do make instructions for a little money (for it is a rather big job even with small builds), if you wish. -Samppu

Good work on the elevators! Impressive photographs, gotta love this! -Samppu

Oh, now we are talking. A star destroyer with as accurate as possible interior is something I have been dreaming about, too, and your version seems just perfect: it is tiny enough but has correct elements and shapes that make the right atmosphere. Good job! -Samppu