mcphatty

Thanks all! @TeddytheSpoon yes weirdly there are always leftover pieces when I do these, this time 17 of them, the biggest is the 4x10 plate! I've replaced the original renders with photos. Here's a couple showing an exploded view of the modified troop bay, the rest are on the original post.

Hi all! I’ve done a quick rebuild of the new U-Wing set 75399, removing the black 4x10 plate that runs through the centre and rearranging lots of smaller plates to make a new internal structure that’s still strong and swooshable. The U-Wing now has space for two sitting or one sitting and one standing minifigure in the troop bay, plus one sitting pilot (with helmet if you like) in the cockpit. I also move the cockpit forward slightly and made the front edge of the windscreen piece meet the nose area for a cleaner line. This mod is also an alt-build using only the parts from the set! It’s possible to modify the U-Wing without totally disassembling the original set first, but I would recommend taking the centre structure apart completely to get to all those small plates you’ll need during the rebuild. You’ll only need to repurpose two slopes from the engines, and two white 1x3 plates and two white 1x2 plates from the wings, otherwise the engines and wings can be left intact. Free instructions are on Rebrickable. Here's more photos of the modified set along with a couple of renders showing the slight change in shape and extra troop bay capacity.

Hi all, nothing much to see but I thought I'd drag this old mod out of retirement and share some photos of my 75333 Ahsoka Delta-7B, featuring here the old Ahsoka minifigure but the new one is of course now available. The recolour requires set 75333 plus another 31 pieces, costing aroud £3.

Morning all. I've been busy working on a way to remove the stand from the 2024 C-3PO, so he displays a bit better with R2-D2, here's what I've come up with. Luckily the set's original feet aren't connected too securely to the lower legs so it's possible to either reuse parts from the original feet or build entirely new ones so that 3PO can switch between his original base and the free standing feet. Here's what he looks like off his base and you'll find instructions and the inventory on Rebrickable. @rvlmocs over on Instagram kindly offered to test the idea for me as I haven't built the set yet, he confirmed that 3PO is steady enough on his new feet for display and posing. Here's what the new feet look like before being connected. I've also tweaked 3PO's head by changing how his eyes are connected and moving them down by half a stud, this helps make his face look a little less elongated surprised. I'll add pictures once I've done the modifications myself, in the mean time I hope it helps some of you display your C-3PO with R2-D2 a little more naturally.

@lowlead thanks for sharing this, really pleased you liked the MOC/alternate build! What do you think of the wings? I gave up trying to give them any kind of curved shape, accuracy went out of the window too so I just added hints of details from the Scimitar that I think looked okay. The rest I'm very pleased with. The stand instructions are on Rebrickable now And here's some of my photos...

Just a quick video to give you an idea of how my R2 leg mod works. It's not super clear but to unlock the middle foot it needs to be moved forward, to the front of the droid, which slides the axle out of the pin hole at the bottom of the main structure.

That’s a very cool set of mods! I love the idea of the set being a giant suit for regular sized R2, the opening cockpit is smart and I like how you’ve smoothed out the head without rebuilding it entirely. Great job, I bet your nephew loves it!

@PaulPrime I’d like to see what you come up with on R2’s head, I had a try with curved slopes but settled on the round plates to make the mod cheaper. Apart from his head R2 is a great set, such a nice size.

The excellent 2024 R2-D2 turns out to be the perfect base for an astromech and I've used it to build everyone's favourite little war criminal, Chopper! He's properly scaled with R2, highly detailed and features posable arms as well as a retractable middle wheel/foot. As always instructions are on Rebrickable, thanks for looking!

I’ve been working on this little guy for a couple of weeks and now he’s finished! Chopper is heavily based on the new R2, built to the same scale of course, and features the same retractable middle foot/wheel. Instructions are also on Rebrickable, I’m now waiting for parts orders to arrive and will post photos once he’s built.

@PaulPrime your nephews idea is brilliant! I might see if I can find space in the head to do that myself

Hi all! I've been busy modifying my 2024 R2 to store the middle foot inside the body. I'm convinced that the designer of this set intended the middle foot to be retractable, but for some reason the feature didn't make the final model, so this is my effort. Here's a cutaway render of the mod as well as a video of the work in progress version. I'll replace the video with one of the final design soon, I've also put together some free instructions with the extra parts only costing around £2.50. https://bricksafe.com/files/ron_mcphatty/big-ships/mod-75379-r2-d2/MOD 75379 R2-D2 V1.mov The mechanism is built around one of the 4x6 Technic Bricks included in the set, it contains an axle held under tension by a rubber belt (part x71) that pops out to hold the middle foot in either the retracted or lowered position. Tipping R2's body backward causes the red liftarm part to push the mechanism down and the middle foot drops, and if it doesn't drop all the way pulling it down will lock it in place. Pushing the whole middle foot forward slides the mechanism (and axle) out of it's locked position so it can be pushed up back into R2's body. Then by tipping R2 upright the red liftarm part moves back and allows the mechanism to lock in the upward position. Despite being hollowed out R2 remains a strong build and the new mechanism works fairly well, but I would love for the middle foot to drop all the way down on it's own. That's something for me to keep working on, but if you guys have any suggestions at all I'd be very grateful to hear them. Thanks for looking!

@Johnsen that’s a great little change you’ve made! Especially since you’ve stuck with the philosophy of not using any extra parts. Thanks for sharing 😊

Amazing final scenes, you’ve done superb work at huge and small scales, the Endor battle has been wonderful to see! I especially enjoyed the Executor crash diorama and it was an honour to see some of my micro ships appear in the Home One hangar, thanks again for using those. Congratulations again on your wedding!! I hope you and your wife had an awesome day and best wishes for the start of your married life together.

I've bodged together a video of my Ghost mods to show off the ship on it's stand, not many sets can pull off being displayed on a high shelf but this one definitely can! And here's a few images to give you an idea of my modification process, starting with the original build (plus modified Phantom 2), removing sections and disassembling some of them to be rebuilt, then adding the modified sections back on and finally squeezing my Phantom 1 in the back.

Fantastic use of pieces, you’ve managed an alternate build that’s a better fang fighter than the actual fang fighter!

I've managed to get around to taking some photos of my Ghost & Phantom set modifications. I've replaced all the renders above with matching shots of the mod, and here's a few more...

Just a small update to this modification, I've added the first Phantom as an extra build! This little ship is oddly proportioned in order to match the size of the Phantom 2 in the set, most of it is taken up by the cockpit area but I did manage to include some storage inside and folding wings. As with the Phantom 2 mod, this shuttle can dock with the 75357 Ghost set (with the same very minor modification to the roof) and also my modified Ghost. Parts are around £15, some are a little less common than I'd usually settle for but I think were essential for the iconic shape and limited colour in the build. Free instructions and parts list are in a ZIP file on the Rebrickable page.

Absolutely awesome, the more I stare at your photos the more I love it! First things first, the ship looks perfect, beautifully smooth with the odd stud or bar for texture and some really clever use of pieces like those Technic panels either side of the cockpit. Great angles too and I really like how you've built the light/dark grey patterns. It's all excellent. On top of all that the interior is amazing, the contrast between the hidden mechanical detail and clean open areas is bloody satisfying to look at and I really want to know how you sqeezed all that in and gave the ship enough strength sit so comfortably on that stand. I guess I'll have to buy the instructions! Superb work, it's a real triump! Any chance of seeing some photos of it next to your excellent Rogue Shadow?

The Ghost modifications are complete! I've added instructions to the Rebrickable page, along with a ZIP file so the Phantom or Ghost mods can be done seperately. The instructions go through removing some external sections, describing which to disassemble and which to keep intact, then how to mod the ships. Overall the mod requires 550 extra parts (costing around £35) plus the parts from the removed and disassembled sections. https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-161011/ron_mcphatty/the-ghost-phantom-ii-set-75357-mod/#details

Hi all, here's a quick modification I did to the new 75357 Ghost & Phantom set. I really love this new set, it's a very well proportioned build and fairly faithful to the ship we all love, but as with most big ships it's lacking detail. As usual with Lego the underside was ignored and sadly the Phantom 2 was kindof badly proportioned and odd looking, so I had a go at improving things. As always Instructions for the modified Phantom are on Rebrickable and the 566 extra pieces will only cost about £45, plus another £15 to build the first Phantom. And here's some photos. The original structure is still in there, the mods involve removing exterior parts which only takes around 15 minutes, then almost everything I've added is surface detail or rebuilt sections. Several of the sections are completely new, like the docking rings and roof, and some like the main top panels just need some tiles and wedge plates to be added or rearranged. The underside of the ship has a lot of parts added, partly disguising the Technic Brick structure but mostly adding some simple slopes as well as the signature lower-body shape. I'm really pleased that I was able to eliminate some of the gaps around the roof area, as well as reposition the docking rings to be centered rather than high up. I think the angled stand also helps The Ghost look it's absolute best when on display. Anyway, thanks for looking and I hope you enjoy the mods!

I've added some photos to the original post, plus here's a few with the minifigures! The poncho and apron are from @thebrickway, his are the first custom made minifigure parts I've bought and I'm really pleased with how they look.

@bdestena You've done a great job lowering the top of the X-Wing rear, those boat plate pieces are perfect for keeping the panels in place. Thanks for the pictures, I've been planning to do the same so I'll give this a try

Here's my attempt at making up for the shortcomings of the T-6 Jedi Shuttle set 75362. I went to town with extra pieces (530 so far!) and added a lot of bulk and detail to both sides of each wing, along with some extra thickness and detail for the hull and cockpit. The wings are double-sided, studs facing out both sides too, held back-to-back with brackets. They're surprisingly solid and hold together well for a bit of swooshing, and with all the extra pieces the set now weighs an extra 160g so has a really satisfying feel to it! I also added a vertical stand that has a few gaps for minifigures. I've put some free instructions on Rebrickable, it's tricky to show off both sides of the wing but hopefully these photos and renders give you an idea of the substantial bulkiness of the new wing. Here are the renders from the original post...

@Aeroeza Your nose mod is excellent! The angled panel you added to the original side panels is a great piece of building, really great job sealing all the gaps up. Looking forward to seeing the finished product, have you built it for real yet? My nose mods, landing gear stand and R2 are all done, I don’t think I’m going to do anything else to this set. Free instructions are on Rebrickable, see the zip file for the nose and R2 stuff.