CP5670

Classic Space reconaissance craft that maps out uncharted alien worlds, with high speed engines and a ground rover for exploring the terrain. This was somewhat inspired by that trans-green canopy piece, since we hardly ever get new windscreens in that color.

I remember seeing this and like that jail seat concept. This idea book was always a bit bizarre to me though, with all the crossover models combining different themes. Have you tried making the space police monorail? That one looked really nice.

I keep all the old pre-2000 boxes with the flaps and trays for this reason. They really feel like a premium product. The newer boxes aren't worth keeping for the most part.

There is a general trend of adults buying toys that they grew up with for themselves. They have more money now but still like the same things, and all toy companies have noticed it. Lego is a pretty cheap hobby compared to a lot of other stuff people buy. This set is nice but not the kind of set I buy these days. I'm less impressed with huge Technic sets these days and prefer more moderately sized models packed with functions like 42128. I don't like those weight pieces either, they look and feel like a cheap clone brand piece.

I have used an old Logitech gamepad with a wired connection to the phone, along with the BrickController app. It works pretty well.

Very cool model. This type of system with programmable gear racks is used in the 8888 idea book. The card slides through the model, which has a slot to allow it to pass through.

I probably won't get this set, but love the new transmission parts and will definitely grab them on Bricklink.

These look really nice. The Particle Ionizer build is my favorite one, I'll have try building that.

Thanks, I liked that part too. It's like greeble machinery that actually has a functional purpose.

Good point, and I agree with you. I was originally going to use the road tires from 76023 but these tires are the only ones tall enough to have enough clearance for it to drive upside down. Although I guess the cars in Grip look like this too, one could argue that the treads give it better traction on rocky ceilings inside tunnels.

Some of the colors look a bit off to me as well, the yellow shocks stand out, but those specific ones are the only ones with enough tension to hold it up properly.

The style of this ship goes so well with Blacktron. My favorite detail is the 1x2x5 trans neon bricks in the wings.

Spyrius ground assault vehicle with jet engines that allow it to reach supersonic speeds. It has 4-wheel drive, 4-wheel steering, V6 engine and dual-sided suspension on both the top and bottom. Inspired by the racing games Grip and Rollcage, it can flip over and drive upside down on a tunnel ceiling.

Go for it, the canopies do exist in that color in the DFD. Even the jail cell covers are in that color too in 6898. SP2 in general was lacking in weaponry across the line, I always added extra cannons on them.

A base would be great, but a lot of the best bases were monorails (definitely not happening) or 6987 (seems less likely since we just got a Blacktron 1 set). The bases also relied on the quarter dome panels that they have probably retired the molds for. Maybe one of the classic bases like the Beta 1 base would work. Your description sounds a bit like this moc of mine.

I might have missed you unfortunately. I had a great time though and met many others, both new people and familiar faces from the east coast shows.

I'm at Brickworld for the first time, will stop by in a bit. What does your display look like? I wasn't sure I recognized it.

Yes there are those cases, but it was back when they used pre-colored pellets for the parts. These days there is more variation within different light bluish gray parts than between old and bluish gray. Trans neon green and neon orange have several different within-color shades that can be seen under UV light.

Do they really ever retire colors as such? As said earlier, trans neon orange still appears in a few places here and there, and there are other colors that are in production but where large windscreens have not appeared for decades, like trans green. Sometimes colors like teal have disappeared for many years and were reintroduced (there are slight differences from the original, but they are often smaller than within-color variations of the same color).

I just got around to building mine. I haven't bought any large Technic set in several years now, but found this a really fun build. Both the pneumatic functions and the actuators work smoothly and are very realistic, and the fact that there is no gearbox makes things work more smoothly. I plan to replace the hooks with the old metal ones, which I have a bunch of extras of, and the gear wheels with cranks. Easily the best Technic set in the last few years. As a fan of the old studded models, I would say the studless system has improved a lot over the years and is much more reliant on pin connections now than axle connections. The modern pins also have less clutch power and are easier to work with, and the square brackets make it easy to build up a chassis. I'm going to try incorporating more studless design into my future mocs.

Amazing model, and huge in scale. My favorite parts are the geodesic domes, and their half-finished look make it feel like they are under construction. I also like the use of slopes for snow drifts.

Awesome mech. It's great to see how popular Blacktron still is.

Glad you liked that! I find that technique looks great for Blacktron and have used it in several models. With the Galaxy Explorer release it's easy to get those windscreens in quantity as well.

Fantastic set, but I wish it was a standard set they sold and not a freebie. It will make it much harder to buy multiple copies. The stickers are probably due to the fact that it's not a "regular" set, as is the selection of parts (mostly "standard" parts except the minifig and windscreen).

Bumping this old thread. I've been working on modernizing this model with newer parts and building techniques. I updated the original post with the new model.