CP5670

Thanks everyone! The shape is actually based on an old Blacktron II moc I made many years ago, but much smaller and with modern parts and detailing. Good point, the Blacktron II guys always looked a little too nice and friendly for the evil-doers they were. I find that an edgy and angular look goes well with Blacktron, both I and II. The octagon panels and bubble cockpits were iconic of Blacktron II, so I always like to have them in mocs like this, and modern parts let you include more details in that space. And yes, the landing gear can fold inward when you swoosh it around. I used the click hinge joints (from e.g. exo-force), which have the right angles to make this work. I like to spread out models in 3 dimensions when possible, which the old Blacktron II sets also did to some extent. I wish those 2x2 tiles were easier to come by. It's a non-production part that I only have one of. I used a few other parts like that in this model, like the small antennas and spears on the minifig jetpack.

More pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/141514326@N04/albums/72157715933569563 Blacktron II gunship with three plasma cannon banks that strafes around larger targets in space. The jetpack minifig takes on a covering position to provide extra fire support.

Thanks, I've kept the stations around over the years, and put together the layout whenever I have some new ideas for it.

Bumping this old thread. I added one more station to this layout after many years, the monorail service complex, and updated the original post.

Fantastic site. It's like Technicopedia for classic space. I like how you took the descriptions of themes from the boxes, catalogs and other sources. It might be possible to get the descriptions of some individual sets as well, from the larger shop at home catalogs at the time.

Thanks all! The colors are based on one of the unreleased Lego space concepts. I've been imagining what Classic Space would have been like if they had some additional color schemes beyond the 5 or so schemes we actually got in sets.

It's great to see you're still around and working on Technicopedia. As someone said earlier, it's the best museum on the internet and I've also ended up buying or building several models after first learning about them on there. There is a lot of coverage on youtube of current sets but nowhere else is the older era of Technic (before 2003 or so) explained in such detail. Modern Technic sets are generally more complex and realistic, but some of the old sets had unique mechanisms or functions that we have never seen again, and Technicopedia is the best place to learn about them. I do more space and sci-fi stuff these days (I find I can build space mocs much faster than Technic ones in whatever time I have for Lego) but like to incorporate Technic functions in them whenever I can.

A space mining vessel that collects atmospheric hydrogen from gas giants and transports it inside internal storage tanks. The colors are based on one of the unreleased Lego space concepts. More pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/141514326@N04/albums/72157714599941017

Awesome base. I especially like how the main building looks like it was built into the mountain. The gunship and white storage tanks are also really nice.

I've noticed that Lego as an adult hobby has become way more popular and mainstream over the last 5-10 years. I think the fan events as well as models people posted online have gotten a lot of people into it, and there are lots of sets now that are obviously marketed towards adults. If you look at the modular buildings and big Technic sets on the Lego website, they even show adults building them. I agree, some of the classic Technic sets still have mechanisms we have never seen again. In fact I just built that robot arm again a few days ago, and the 8888 idea book comes to mind as well. The current sets are very complex and realistic, but the core mechanisms are not that innovative anymore and often similar to previous sets we've had.

Thanks! It's meant to be an upgraded, modern take on the old Mission Commander.

I love the look of this set. However, if the functionality is the same as the Chiron, I'll pass on it as I have that already. It's hard to do much more in a car than what that already has. These car sets are definitely designed to appeal to a different audience than the mainstream Technic sets, but can still be very well designed (at least the Chiron was, not so much the 911).

Space Police frigate and mobile command unit for defeating and capturing dangerous galactic terrorists. The police captain directs the crew from the command room (front), the prisoner containment area (middle) houses two Space Lock-Up jail cells, and a cell transport truck sits in the cargo bay (rear). Classic 9V lighting is used to light up the wings and interior, and is controlled by an antenna in the back. The panels in the wings contain minifig weapons for boarding hostile ships. More pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/141514326@N04/albums/72157714401272241/with/49920584083/

Great models with a nice mix of old and new parts. I especially like the Silent Hunter and its cat-like look. Looks maneuverable but aggressive.

I love classic space and the old space themes and build mocs around them, but they are admittedly pretty niche and would be hard for a kid to get into today. You had to grow up with these sets back then to appreciate it now. I often take Blacktron models to shows and the kids always think it's Batman. I wouldn't expect these models to get much traction on Ideas, especially against all the licensed stuff. It's actually surprising the exo-suit did so well, but Ideas was a much smaller platform back then with a lot fewer models. I prefer to just stick to mocs (and enjoying stuff made by others) instead of wishing for more classic space sets, which are never going to be able to compete with Star Wars and would divide fans even if they did come out. For me, the main thing that sets classic space apart from both realistic space and Star Wars is the color schemes. The old space themes were all about those sharp looking color schemes, including both the colored windscreens and contrasting main colors (e.g. white/black or blue/gray), and they make models really stand out especially at shows. If we had enough trans colored windscreens released in sets for mocs, that's good enough for me. They were historically rare but we have been getting more of them in the last 4-5 years, especially in the DC/Marvel sets.

Thanks! The gearing is actually set up so that the rear wheels have a slightly lower steering angle than the front wheels, and the middle wheels turn very slightly to account for that. In practice it doesn't really make a difference either way due to the slack in the steering arms.

Classic Space exploration vehicle for navigating toxic lakes and swamps on remote planets, with sonic cannons for breaking through underwater ice. It has drive, steering and independent suspension on all wheels (6x6x6) with a working retro-style engine. The color scheme is a reimagining of Seatron, a Lego space concept from the 1980s that was never released. More pictures: https://www.flickr.com/photos/141514326@N04/albums/72157710845163583/with/48734489753/

Great find. The reporter is actually a Futuron guy. I think his voice is just gibberish, as if it's supposed to just depict him saying something. Some of these scenes actually appear in the catalogs from that era, like the Futuron monorail coming out of the tunnel.

Great find. The catalogs from that period show Spyrius assaulting the Unitron monorail and just tearing everything up, and are not very subtle about it.

I think people are simply attached to whatever they liked growing up. For me it was the old space themes more than the original (before 1988) classic space, but I like classic space too. There is actually almost no difference between the final wave of classic space and Futuron, only the minifigs. I do think the dynamic, high contrast color schemes of all the old space themes really stand out, and we don't get much of that in modern themes like Star Wars, which are meant to look more realistic. I often take Blacktron MOCs to shows and kids love them because they think it's Batman, without knowing anything about the original themes, while adults have often commented on how the colors catch their eyes at a distance.

I partially built this big logging truck decades ago, which was supposed to have the same kind of functionality as the 42043 Arocs. It was becoming too heavy and many of the functions did not work well (like the suspension), so I scrapped the whole project.

Thanks all! I went through several different choices for the wheels and settled on these. These are big enough for the model to stand upright on two feet (essential for the walking to work), but not so big that they look weird.

M:Tron mech for prospecting ore fields in rough terrain. It walks forward automatically when filled with air pressure using a sequence of 8 pneumatic pistons (in trans neon green) and 14 switches. Inspired by Kevin Clague's walkers, various leg motions are synchronized and move in lock-step to keep the mech stable. This is a repost of a thread in the Technic section, I figured I would post it here too since the sci-fi forum attracts a different crowd. More pictures and video: https://www.flickr.com/photos/141514326@N04/albums/72157709337341107

A change in humidity or temperature would be the best explanation. I've seen these cracks on a few minifigs and cheese slopes, but it's pretty rare in my collection. A lot of other issues came up as a result of this, especially with the color consistency, and it's been like that ever since then. I've just come to accept that Lego quality is never going to be like it was back in the day. It hasn't affected their business, so they have no reason to go back.

Thanks all! The trans neon green pneumatics are test-produced pieces that didn't appear in any set (see this thread) and were what originally inspired this model, although they did come in trans clear and trans light blue in a few Lego education sets. I just finished it and haven't posted it before, so it might be a good fit for that contest. The red looks kind of Martian anyway.