Guybrush

If we were just trying to build the prettiest sports car, I'd agree, but this is a beatup old spaceship. Maybe it's just my hangup thinking of the newer colors as being fancier. All things weren't equal though. Using dark red would have required some sacrifices of shape and detail that I didn't want to make. Plus I already owned most of the red. Thanks for reading the whole ramble, I appreciate it! Are you referring to how the angled portion snugs up against those 2x2x2 slopes that are essentially masquerading as "wedge tiles"? That was a last minute addition I'll be honest. I built most of the thing not quite knowing how I was going to marry those sections up! Good to see you're still around too, but this isn't the first thing I posted recently. I did an updated cloud car... *checks* A YEAR AND A HALF AGO!?!? I'd give you the BL folder but they're seemingly still moderating submissions from JUNE, so here's the EB post about it. I agree regarding the official A-wing. Too much chunky, not enough sleek. Also the windscreen off it costs $120 on bricklink, which I know I shouldn't hold against the set but I do.

Yeah, I do like my classic space wings. Actually I don't, they're quite inconvenient to build with, but they're the perfect angle for the awing. Which hinges did you mean? Thanks! I also tried the same parts in brown which looked a little more like leather seats, but wasn't as visible through the canopy. Parts availability is a factor, but alot of shots of the awing are dark, cuz they're in space. And if you lighten them enough that the grey areas look white, then the red areas are closer to a desaturated lego red than to dark red. Basically the lego red is better at getting across the weathered look of the red on the model. The dark red just looks too... snazzy? Especially contrasting with the white. There's a frumpiness to the red that better suits a worn-down rebel beater. Oh that's nice, we actually had some similar ideas here. Sleek yet chubby, yes, that's it exactly, thanks! Well there's just so many new roundy bits and my old awing looked so flat....

Unfortunately the interior stuff just doesn't hold a lot of value for me, leaving the exterior quite small for the price-tag. Would have maybe liked to see them skip things like a pilot area and just focus on going bigger, on the exterior and Jabba's room, which, as-is, is so cramped poor max rebo has to play solo. Compared to other recent high-end efforts, the proliferation of studs, plate-wall construction and relatively low minifig count makes it look a bit low rent. There's quite a lot of characters you'd expect to be in a $500 jabba's barge that just ain't here. Like where's Luke? Who's Leia gonna triumphantly swing to safety with? Friggin Salacious Crumb?

In which Guybrush rambles for a long time. So a lot of new curvy pieces came out since I built my 1/12th (ish) scale A-wing back in 2009 and oh God I'm old! So it was time for an update, and here it is: The primary goal was to make it look properly roundy. My old one had the overall shape right, but read as flat a lot of the time. The official one it too chunky, the shape should be more oval like this. This is also the first time I feel like I've been able to properly capture the rocket slit without compromising the shape. I don't even wanna tell you how long I spent on those hatches with the triangular tops. Two studs wide? Too small. Four studs wide? Too big. So the triangular tile is actually mounted at a 45 degree angle to everything while still having to line up. One of the more complicated things on here actually. You can also see here I got the engine taper right this time. Also the first time I've attempted to render the slope of the back section between the engines. Another thing I wanted to improve was making it look like a big model of a small ship, as opposed to just a big ship, which can be tricky, but part of the solution was actually the seat. I ditched my old dark grey one in favor of tan, so it would always be visible through the canopy. I think it really helps make it look... liveable, useable? While also making it clear this is a really small ship. Are you ready for another really anal detail? Okay, so the awing's central red wedge.... viewed from the side, the official has a rectangular core to the front of the cockpit, then a wedge. My v2 had the whole section in a triangle from back of canopy to tip of nose. Neither is really correct. What I did here was very slightly angle the cockpit area, the tape it down, using 1x12 curved slopes to disguise the change in angle. It's subtle but it makes a big difference over v2. The pointy white things up front I borrowed from Anio's version. See how roundy it is? This pleases me, and again, you can clearly see the headrest, making it look like the small ship it is. I know the red wedges seem a strange choice in the nose section, but the studio model has panel lines that about match that shape. The frame around the windscreen was just sort of a happy accident to make it the right dimensions, but I like how it looks, especially hinged open from the front like this. Thanks to the new 4x4 macaroni bricks I was able to proper engine detail this time. I showed this to my nephew out of context and he said "You made an Arc reactor!" Interior shot in which you can almost but not quite make out the joystick. Detail shot. I will confess I only found one model source that showed the silver pipes, but I really liked them and I happened to have four, so here they are. I found the best way to make the round slope look continuous was to turn the 2x2s around backward. Not sure why but it doesn't look right the other way. The underside, which I put way too much work into for the bit most people won't see. I'm actually holding it upside-down here. Normally the stand attaches her and blocks the intake vents so this was the only way to show them. I know the old 4x8 space wings aren't popular any more but they really are the perfect angle for the a-wing. Bricklink gallery for when it eventually gets moderated. Yes, I know, I should switch to flickr. Let an old man have his antiquated site. Thanks for checking it out and reading my blathering!

Very nice! I was about to say "pity that grey wrist piece doesn't come in brown" before realizing it's the shackle!

I like the use of revolvers especially

It's going to be about the size of the official. I was actually going to buy the official, but it's like $1200 for no apparent reason, and there's a bunch of stuff I'd want to fix on it anyway.

I dunno when I'm gonna get to finish this thing, so here's the rear turret of the Tyderium made out of superhero shoulderpads. If you just made the top half it could also work as a cute awning for a little shop. The underbite is deliberate. Studio model looks like that. Kinda bugs me but it's accurate. Also apparently you can stick a shovel up a 3x2x3 brick and block the bottom off with a 1x2 plate to make kind of a weird intake-looking thing. I had to scrap these from the final project though. Too big. Anyway, nothing special, just having fun with new parts. Or at least new to me after me thousand year siesta.

It's normal for interest in a hobby to come and go. It's healthy to take a break. I know because it happened to meeeeeeeee...

when bricklink runs entirely out of grey I guess we'll know who to blame :D

That's amazing! Some very very good sphere work on the cockpit area. Interior looks great too! I'm amused by the extra seats in the cockpit area, like he's got a bunch of buddies he can bring with him. What are the parts to either side of the ball, on the top front edge of the wings? They look like curved grey panels and you've got a bunch of black and dark detail under them?

Oooh, that's quite nice! There's some very precise angle work required to get all of that to line up so nicely

Wait they had a bigger R2 this whole time and they stuck that minifig one on there?

I love how the fuselage works with the panels hiding the angled parts. And proof positive that if lego should have canted the canopy on the new official one.

Thank you! I was super excited to do the trick with the bars in the central body. I was kind of hoping people would be a little more stumped how that works but I guess I should have known better :D Man that takes me back! I don't even have pics of that old thing. That takes me back too! Is that still the only cloud car set?

The other windscreen option was to do the same thing with the old school minifig-scale xwing cockpit, which is arguably a more accurate size, but always looked too small and gave me no room to build an interior. I could have scaled the whole thing down a little to accomodate them, but then the central box would be way too big unless I stopped using the window bar trick for the side pipes, and I definitely wanted to keep that. Ironically it looks like brickshelf finally moderated it while we were talking :D

Someone took apart his 2022 galaxy explorer :D I really like it at this scale. Doing the iconic window shot as just an open panel also has an extremely "classic space" feel to it :D

Looks good! The round bottom plate under his butt is a nice touch that would have been easily missed!

So slick! I love it!

I'm not! :D No other projects. Just this. Ever since I moved the collection has been mostly in the closet. I had the basic idea for this (the nose section with the wedges) way back around the time I last posted something, but the long ones weren't available in red, so I packed it away, and then I had to pack everything up for the move, and suddenly it was 14 years later. My nephew came for a visit so we dug the collection out and had a blast with it, and that's what made me decide to dust this idea off again. Thank you thank you! You're all very kind to someone who disappeared for so long :D Thank you, thank you! The shaping was definitely the focus. It's something I was never very happy with back in the day but now there's so many new curvy bits! Thank you! The stuff the community has been putting out since then makes my stuff look super old and dated. It's kind of crazy how far it's come :D Thank you! Oh, it's still pretty dull! Just two blobs. Would have been more fun to build with more details. Maybe. Thank you though! Thank you! I'm particularly proud of those radiator parts, or whatever they're supposed to be! It was a fun challenge building them into the central box thingy. Thank you! I dunno man, the official gunship looks pretty solid to me :D. The windscreens are this part turned sideways and half buried in the body: https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=62694#T=C Also, fun fact! There's a variant of that part that bricklink hasn't recorded. Some of them have additional detail molded into the inside of the glass in the form of a textured frame. One of the windscreens I got had it and one didn't! Thank you thank you! Wanted to ask, I've only just noticed the brickshelf gallery is not publically viewable. That just means its waiting moderation? It's been a while since I uploaded anything there :D Should I post more pics or just wait?

Well it took me almost 14 years but I finally finished the least interesting vehicle in Star Wars! It is red instead of orange, which is unfortunate but unavoidable. And it has hotdogs on it. That was avoidable, but preferred. There is no windscreen that suits this thing, so I used the closest thing I could and as a result is a windscreen that's a little too tall. More pics are here if interested. Thanks and see you in another 14 years!

On reflection I think I have to agree with Collin. This is actually my favorite of the ep3 ships I've seen so far. While it is a little silly, it's certainly no sillier than any other SW designs (I'm looking at YOU, b-wing!) but it doesn't have the problem that the new JSF and Arc thingy do. It's not trying to look like the midpoint between two totally disparate designs. Both those ships suffer because they try to look like a midpoint between two two utterly different ships, and wind up looking entirely too complicated. Design doesn't evolve that way. The midpoint between a WWII tri-plane and the stealth bomber is not a triangular, 3-winged ship with propellers AND jet engines. If Lucas wanted the JSF to visibly evolve into the tie fighter he should've started it out looking more like one. Design doesn't evolve like a morphing animation. I think part of what makes it look so ugly is that the colors in the top pic are way off. The sand blue looks almost like Maersk (which while rare, is rather a butt-ugly color) Does anybody have any pics of the non lego version they could link to? (meaning the ship, not the droid)

Well, I WAS hoping for something blue to build, but this is a bit silly for my tastes. I smell a new snot piece. 1x2x1 with 2 studs on both sides. Also the new 2x4 double wedge plate intriques me. Hopefully it will come in halves too. Notice that the hemisphere pieces use clicky connectors instead of the older hinges. The journey to the clicky side is now complete.