Saberwing40k

Well, this is new. I normally hang around the Technic forum, but I just had to enter the Freighter Wars contest on Lego Rebrick. I wanted to make a cool model, and so I ended up making a not quite microscale model, with lots of asymmetrical greebling, WW2 bomber inspired turrets, and of course, lots of guns. The general idea is two YT-1300 freighter jammed together. I had actually come up with a backstory of sorts for this ship, but first, some more pictures. This image shows the other side of the ship. The design has many differing colors, suggesting that it is patched together from many other ships. Doing this in a way that looked good was kind of hard. The underside, showing some ventral turrets, and some big honking railguns up front. These complement the turbolasers up top. The rear engine cluster is probably the biggest departure from the standard YT-1300, but the Republic Cruisers had them, and that's probably what these got yanked off of. Another departure was the cockpit. The two side pods are gunner stations, while the cockpit is central. In universe, this is to give the pilot better visibility in combat situations. I just realized it now, but it also harkens back to the very first concepts for the Millenium Falcon, before they switched to a saucer shape. And now, here's my backstory, if you want to read it. In some parts of the galaxy, ships are uncommon, due to remoteness, high tariffs, or other factors. This lack of easy access to ships forces natives of these regions to get creative, letting no ship die easily, and combining parts that have no place working together. One example of this is actually so common it has a name: the YT-1300.2. Combing two ubiquitous Corellian YT-1300 freighters into one ship, this amalgamation results in a ship with double the cargo capacity, while not increasing the crew requirements. It is a good use for two ships that would otherwise be scrap, and giving them a new lease on life. Such a concept is also appealing to smugglers and other miscreants, as it is cheap to make, easy to find parts for, and spacious, either for illicit cargo, or special equipment. One such example of a pirate YT-1300.2 is the Eliminator, a beast considered unholy even in the regions where hybrid ships are common. Designed and piloted by one Erik Carter, the Eliminator has but one purpose: eliminate First Order ships. Erik and his crew were originally privateers hired by a system sympathetic to the Resistance cause, but they quickly grew to detest their outdated or inadequate equipment. Erik did have a stash of unusual technology he procured from his home planet near the Unknown Regions, but he was not allowed to modify any ships they were lent, nor was the crew able to afford their own ship. However, the captain of the crew, an odd fellow named Zakrov, purchased two wrecked YT-1300 freighters from a salvage auction while intoxicated. Neither freighter was flyable on its own, and indeed, neither had been turned on in nearly a decade, hence why they were so cheap. The crew was initially furious, until Erik revealed his daring plan. He saw potential in the wrecks, and would combine them into a single, working ship. One ship had no engines, due to some engine failure, while the other had impacted a space station, destroying the front mandibles and much of the front of the ship. Erik's theory was sound, but didn't work in practice. A test run revealed that the combined ship had poor acceleration, poor maneuverability, and poor combat abilities. Nonetheless, it was a ship of their own, and a good base for modifications. Soon after, every crew member began scouring auction sites and salvage yards, looking for more parts. A cockpit from a shuttle unit was mounted centrally, as Erik considered that a much better location for a cockpit. The original cockpit was replaced by a ball turret with anti starfighter lasers, and mirrored on the other side. A cut down engine block from an Old Republic frigate provided higher thrust, but that was not all. Next came the weapons, something Erik had wanted to implement for a long time. He had procured a rare type of ceramic composite that converted heat almost directly into electricity, and by applying this material to some overvolted turbolasers, Erik was able to increase their rate of fire to that of a much smaller blaster. Many odds and ends later, and the Eliminator was born. The Eliminator, or the "Flying Dumpster", as she is affectionately (?) nicknamed by the crew, is a singly lethal ship, built on a shoestring budget. Despite her small size, the Eliminator packs the firepower of a heavy frigate, with 2 double turbolaser turrets, 4 anti starfighter emplacements with 2 quad lasers each, 5 with a single quad laser, 2 variable torpedo launchers, and 2 unique spinal guns. These latter guns use a unique technology to fire a physical projectile at extremely high speeds, causing immense damage on impact. This is advantageous, as the guns ignore most shields, and can be fitted to fire a variety of projectile types, including tandem charge and shotgun rounds. Another feature of the guns is the ability to fire a round into hyperspace, on an intersecting trajectory with an enemy target. This attack is utterly devastating, even to a Star Destroyer, but it is difficult to program, and risky to execute, as the Eliminator could be caught in the blast wave, or have its hyperdrive blown. Used far more often are the twin turbolasers on top, which are overvolted, which would ordinarily be detrimental, but with Erik's special ceramic composite barrels, they can fire at high rates for extended periods of time, a massive advantage in combat. Providing cover fire are quad laser cannons mounted on various turrets the whole ship over. These turrets utilize modified CEC AG-2G quad lasers, fitted with boosted cooling systems. The ship also has several micromissile batteries. To provide increased durability, the Eliminator was fitted with no less than four separate deflector shield projector systems. While that sounds highly unreliable, it actually allows the shields to be cycled, making them harder to wear down. Like any good smuggler ship, the hyperdrive has been modified as well, to a standard of class 0.75. Zakrov was unwilling to boost that system any farther,given that he's crazy, not stupid, and 0.75 is faster than most First Order ships. In sublight, the Eliminator has three massive engines,plus numerous verniers, making it far more maneuverable than a freighter has any right to be, and allowing it to dogfight with First Order TIE fighters. The sublight engines and deflector shields have numerous exotic components on the inside, making them far more efficient, and harder to detect. Even the hull of the Eliminator has panels of exotic composite making up its armor. On the inside, the Eliminator has virtually no cargo space, instead having spacious crew quarters, and lots of additional systems. While it may be temperamental, and its crew just as much so, the Resistance are glad to have the Eliminator around. P.S. Erik Carter is pretty much my Author Avatar OC, so you might be seeing him more often.

I thought if it was a link, it's okay, and not a direct image. If that's changed, I understand that. Although, when leaked images pop up, people want to see them, right? And, google searches don't work, so what should we do?

Well, suffice to say, this has been a long time coming. I had ideas since this contest was announced, but only started building in the last week. That sounds like a great idea. Anyway, here is my entry, Admiral Seasick's Land Dreadnought. As kind of a backstory, Admiral Seasick was a rich fellow who had retired from the navy, but missed having a ship to command. However, one thing he did not miss was the rolling ocean giving him seasickness, so he wanted a ship, but not on the ocean. Thus, he contacted one of his inventor friends, and the Land Dreadnought was born. Now, the Admiral is running in a race, with some of his fellow Navy retirees, the inventor, and some assorted family members. Wish them luck, they're going to need it. Now, on to the model itself. I had many inspirations, including Mahjqa's Khagaan, armored trains, mining equipment, and of course, older naval ships. The chassis had 3 straight six engines, and steers via articulation. From a structural standpoint, it's almost complete, most of the work now is to make the thing look like a ship of sorts. The wacky functions are going to be lots of guns, of course, but there are going to be some other fun goodies, that you will never see coming. Admiral Seasick's Land Dreadnought 01 by Saberwing007, on Flickr Overview. I'm debating which end is actually the front end. Admiral Seasick's Land Dreadnought 02 by Saberwing007, on Flickr Turning. The steering gear mount is not final, and will be changed to be more solid. Admiral Seasick's Land Dreadnought 03 by Saberwing007, on Flickr One of the modules. There will be another engine mounted here. I'm debating whether this module is actually the front or the back. What do you guys think? Admiral Seasick's Land Dreadnought 04 by Saberwing007, on Flickr The central module. The large turntables are going to be mounted to the front and back modules to make the frame stronger. The gear assemblies hold 2 of the 3 engines on either side. The gear assembly in the middle is for steering, and is going to be modified to go up and have a large knob gear on top. So, that's it so far. I'm going to be working on this later today, and hopefully get the frame finalized.

I think I've found your problem. With virtually all cranes I have seen, the outriggers actually retract past the point you have them at. The back of the outrigger box is actually at the opposite side of the crane. To point you in the right direction, here's an underside view of a model crane with similar outriggers. If you look at the outrigger box, the outrigger piston actually goes past the back of the outrigger behind it. So, your assembly will be a bit longer, but having your outriggers retract in this manner will make it narrower.

Honestly, the outriggers being too massive is not much of a problem. For some components on certain machines, having something being too big is better than too small. For instance, tank cannons. Sariel talks about this in his book, and so I'm going to paraphrase. With a tank, everyone expects the cannon to be massive and intimidating, and in Lego, at certain scales, you can either make the cannon too large or too small. In that case, too large is better than too small. In his example, he actually explains how both solutions were reacted to, and only the small cannon elicited comments. For industrial machinery, like outriggers, I'd say having them be a little chunky is okay.

Opposite Directions. That's how Chinooks work.

Oh, I thought there were new images. Oh well. I forgot to mention, the Mack would be a perfect pneumatic set.

Can you post a link? Or where you found them? You are allowed to do that.

I'd have to agree. Or maybe it's not an Anthem at all. Anyway, here are my thoughts on the sets and prices: 42071: Seems to be in line with small set prices. ~$20, ~200 pieces 42072 & 42073 About in line with pullback prices. The price in Euros would be about $25, but usually, Lego prices the sets in the US at the exact same number as the amount of Euros, and does not follow the exchange rate. ~$20, ~150 pieces each. 42074: We can't see enough of this set to tell if it has 350 pieces or not. I find it kind of odd that going by the catalog images, this set has a larger box than 42075, even though that set is more expensive, and presumably has more pieces. If Lego makes new pieces for the sail, as opposed to sailcloth or plastic, I'm gonna scream. ~$35, ~350 pieces. 42075: I can't believe that a 2 function set is this expensive. If Lego is wondering why they are having lower profits, it's things like this. I seriously have trouble justifying this set's price or size, but it could be surprising, as we only have one image to go on. ~$45, ~450 pieces. 42076: Once again, I have trouble justifying the size and price of this set. It seems awfully small and crude for 750 pieces. Although, once again, it is just preliminary. ~$75, ~750 pieces. 42077: This is where I think the price might be higher. I don't see this set as being only a thousand pieces. But, now that we have this info, I highly doubt it will have anything interesting under the hood. $100-$120, 1000-1200 pieces. 42078: I have been vindicated. This set isn't small at all. At minimum this set is as big as 42054. Again, we have a price range now, but this set is either big or bigger. At the top end, this set might be the first non flagship to clear 2000 pieces. $170-$200, 1700-2000 pieces. Given how 8258 had only 1800 pieces, I can see a truck and trailer out of approx. that number. 42084: In line with the small sets, but this is really out of place. The number would put it in 2019, as even if we have 4 2h sets, that leaves the flagship at 42082. Unless Lego is going to do more sets for 2h, but that is an unknown. ~$10, ~150 pieces. Well, that's some information but not much more than we already knew. And, quick rant, I think Lego might be forgetting what Technic is, and means, and that might be causing them problems.

Purple! I've been looking forward to this after seeing your previews, and it was well worth the wait. The video editing only adds to the magnificence of this model, but it's a mini masterpiece in its own right. Could you post LDD files or more pictures of the grabbers on the small vehicles? I think that would be a very helpful thing. LDD of this whole thing might be asking a bit much. Side question: In terms of real measurement, how big do you think this vehicle would actually be, based on the microfigs?

That would be a Mack RS-712LST, but the outline is not similar to that truck at all. Also, a movie vehicle would have its own deal for a license, and that might not happen. On the other hand, a truck of that type might be a B model.

Oh god, it's another truck designed by Picasso...

Oh god no, not the lemons... I think you mean Le Mans, that's the proper spelling. But, there have been lemon sets. I'd agree with some them, but @AVCampos, 8063? I think it's a decent set, not the best, but not that bad. 42070, now that's a terrible set. I don't think we should keep talking about this, though, it's not that on topic

Since Lego had it as an outline, I'd say yes. Also, here's why I'd say the truck is not that small. Recently, we've had a few sets that would have been flagship size, but were not. Therefore, there is the possibility of Lego releasing a set with 1800 or so pieces as a 1h flagship, but this isn't confirmation. This is just what I am speculating based on previous trends. The only confirmation of size and scale would be a picture of the truck clearly showing everything, which might or might not happen before the toy fairs.

Lego has demonstrated that they are willing to include axle built engines in sets, as the 9393 B model had one, and that's probably how they'd be able to fit a straight six engine in the Mack. I don't think it's going to be as small as everyone thinks, though.

Those white axle pieces are solid in the middle, so pushing from the other side won't work. But, WTF, shouldn't the design department have caught that? I'd get it out by bending the white connector down far enough to pull it past the frame.

The 1h rally car could be exactly what you need. I don't think it will have Mcpherson strut suspension, because heaven forbid Lego do any suspension besides double wishbone. Is it so wrong that I want Lego to do other suspension besides the standard double wishbone stuff? I mean, virtually every Lego Technic vehicle with independent suspension has the same setup, while in reality there are many different ones. And, isn't part of the Technic ethos authenticity? Rant aside, we'll be getting a rally car, of some fashion, in white in 1h 2018. We don't know of any features or functions. As for a successor to 42056, I'd say we'd have to wait until Toy Fair, which is at the end of January, although a listing may or may not leak earlier. Even then, it would probably look like "Ultimate IP Mk2", or something similar, as the Porsche was listed as that before it was revealed.

It's so pretty. I want instructions so bad!

Nope, it's exactly as hard as you say it is. Most builders either do LDD after they are done building, or at the same time, to get a feel for the model while building in real bricks various subsystems.

Even if the dates weren't correct, it is odd that there was nothing pneumatic in 2017. I hope there is some stuff in 2H 2018 that is pneumatic,because there is no possibility of it in 1H 2018, unless the Mack trailer has it.. I don't think so, though, as it has no pneumatic system logo.

Choose what's cheaper, there is no functional difference.

Kind of reminds me of a Tyrell P34 F1 car crossbred with a drag tractor. Perfect for this race. But please oh please don't use the poor hedgehogs as ammunition for a catapult.

You pulled it off, and it looks excellent. Shame about the diffs, though.

Yeah, I may have jumped to conclusions. But, as it stands now, I am not impressed with much of the lineup. And, I to am worried about Technic becoming too much like City, but I think it's too early to draw that conclusion.

I think the same thing. Lego, hire me and Lipko already!