LucasLaughing

Wow, this turned out really well. Wonderful greebling throughout, and I think you struck a really nice balance between the smooth, sleek parts of the ship and the bumpier, mechanical portions. Love the engines too... awesome job!

Sweet ship! I'm liking the asymetrical design. Only suggestion - it would have been cool to do more with that nice big wing ... maybe have some cargo or small vehicles hanging below it that could be dropped with the troops? Great build overall, though!

Thank you for the comments everyone! Also, huge thanks to all the Octan folks who gave me WIP advice and encouragement! This was my first time attempting a build this large; next year, I'll be ready to try a S.H.I.P. Thanks! I use a Nikon P510. I think that lighting and background also make a huge difference in photo quality. I don't have a fancy lightbox yet, just a very bright full-spectrum lamp. For background, I use some large sheets of paper that I got at the grocery store for less than $2. Example pic here. I just bought some sheets of black paper, which makes it much easier to cut-out the white ship using a photo editing program. Thank you! I did plan it out to be modular and come apart (fairly) easily for interior photos. I'll get some pics posted showing the overall view and the separate sections. Thanks! I also struggled with fitting some of the work stations into the interior. I ended up rebuilding one of the sections and taking out some interior supports that I'm hoping were superfluous...

As Octan expands its reach into new parts of the galaxy and prepares to face an unknown menace, supply lines become more important than ever. Although large capitol-class ships are usually powered by exotic drives, technological and budgetary limits mean that most small to medium ships still run on some sort of liquid fuel. The Extender Medium Tanker is capable of refueling ships in orbit, using its ventral boom for large ships, or its port and starboard fuel pods for smaller ships. Although most of the interior is filled with fuel tanks, there's still plenty of room for the five crew members required to run the ship. Let's take a look inside! The crew ladder leads down into the engine room. The "Flow master" is tasked with keeping the ship's systems operating smoothly. Moving forward, we find the boom operator. Transferring fuel between two moving ships required a keen eye and a steady hand. The Traffic Control and Communication tech (seen below through an open hatch during training) is responsible for coordinating the refueling operations. The navigator must plot a safe path through space, taking into account the flight characteristics of both the tanker, and the ships that it will be refueling. Lu Caslaug-Hing is the navigator in the training rig you see below; Her role on the tanker will be her first mission back after she was seriously injured during an exploration mission. Last, but certainly not least, the pilot is responsible for keeping the ship level and steady as it flies just a few meters away from the ships it's refueling. In this simulator aboard the Axle, pilot, navigator and traffic control practice working together - preparing for dangerous missions ahead. We hope you've enjoyed this exclusive look inside Octan's newest tanker. Octan - energy for tomorrow, today.

Great scenes here! That dorm room is wonderful - I can almost feel how uncomfortable the bed is, and the pot poster is spot on It's fun seeing more backstory for your character too - I like the idea of Octan buying out the Exploriens. Now I'm tempted to see if I can work some memories into my next build...

Hey everyone, it's Kevin! From HR! First of all, I want to reassure you that your colleague Lu is alive and ... well, she's alive! And she can't wait to get back to work! She didn't tell me this in words, of course; she's still floating unconscious in one of the healing tanks, but as a Certified Human Resources Professional I'm very empathetic and good at picking up non-verbal cues. She also indicated that she'd like to transfer 53 credits to Mr De Quatre to help cover the cost of her medical care. What a great employee! Side note! I know there were some “Grumpy Gusses” who were “concerned” about some of the “invasive” medical procedures associated with the hiring process. Well, thanks to the tissue gathered during those procedures we were able to grow a new lung and spleen for Lu in record time! Barring any complications, she should be back to work in about two weeks! One last thing: we've had a couple reports of CLAPPIE units exhibiting some “silly” behavior. No big deal! But, if your CLAPPIE unit displays any of the following behaviors make sure to contact your tech support professional right away: excessive giggling, sarcasm, speaking latin, speaking in tongues, clairvoyance, telekinesis or flatulence (simulated). Alright you "Lazy Larrys," back to your duty stations and remember: Hard work is its own reward! ™

I really like the hatch too, but my favorite bit is the rocket launcher on the roof Nice use of CLAPPIE, btw ... maybe s/he started life as a software assistant before gaining self-awareness.

Sweet ship! I really like the ribbed sides with the alternating dark red and gray.

Very cool - I love the shaping of the 'head' and the 'Octan' radar dish is a nice touch! One thing I've been trying lately is photographing against a dark background - that makes it a lot easier to cut out the white ships. I also picked up one of those tri-fold cardboard stands (old school science fair style) to help hold the backing paper up.

Thanks guys! Totally okay with me! I imagine that there are many different versions of CLAPPIE, with varying degrees of sentience (and benevolence?) Yep! I'm a big HHG fan, and I've always loved the image of the robot singing cheerily while the ship goes down. Thanks! I definitely spend a lot of time on the greebling trying to make it look plausible. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your idea of a crash landing near the beach...

Location: Jurin II - E02 Tags: Exploration, spaceship Lu's Log - 02 Augustali 3815 I'm finally back on Jurin II. I found an artifact here about a month ago and I've been wanting to return to see what kind of progress the science team has made. The initial news is disappointing: after observing the artifact for several weeks, and watching at least three scorpion creatures pass into the field and slowly disappear, the science team sent in one of Dr Long's probes. Unfortunately, the field around the artifact reacted violently and disappeared, taking the artifact with it and injuring several team members. Not to worry, though; our engineers have upgraded a Mudskipper with an array of powerful sensors and magnetic field detectors. If there are any more artifacts in the area, we should be able to find them. I'm lucky enough to take this ship on it's maiden run and I'm looking forward to a day spent flying over beautiful oceans and islands. The cockpit is a bit cramped - the engineers had to run a lot of the wiring through the wall, but the team assures me that the equipment poses no danger to the pilot... ...despite several warning labels stating otherwise. Still, I'm not too worried about it - the engineering team knows what it's doing. And I - whoa - Note from Octan Administrator: at this point, a loud cracking noise is heard, and Ms Caslaug-Hing's audio log shuts off. The next few minutes have been reconstructed using the "Mudskipper's" cockpit voice recorder. 14:23:22 - Lu: What the [expletive redacted] was that? Did we hit something? CLAPPIE, I've got a ton of alarms going off - can you tell what's going on? 14:23:35 - CLAPPIE: Lu, it appears that the weight from the side-mounted scanning unit is damaging the main power conduit. Power levels are dropping rapidly. 14:23: 51 - Lu: Are you able to fix it? 14:23:56 - CLAPPIE: I'm afraid not. It's a mechanical problem, and I'm not yet able to interact with ordinary matter. 14:24:04 - Lu: Mudskipper 4 to JTC [Jurin Traffic Control] Maianday Maianday Maianday, I am losing power and multiple systems are shutting down, over. 14:24:15 - JTC: Mudskipper 4, JTC. Acknowledge your Maianday. Are you able to return to base, over? 14:24:25 - Lu: Negative, JTC. I think I'm going to have to ditch, over. 14:24:31 - JTC: Copy, Mudskipper. We have a fix on your beacon and - [loss of radio signal] 14:24:36 - Lu: [expletive redacted] We're coming in too fast - 14:24:52 - Onboard computer: Altitude low. Altitude low. 14:25:00 - CLAPPIE: [singing] We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when - 14:25:06 - Lu: Not helping, CLAPPIE. CLAPPIE: [singing] -but I know we'll meet again some sunny day... 14:25:18 - Onboard computer: Pull up! Pull up! CLAPPIE: [singing] KEEP SMILING THROUGH, JUST LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO - Lu: Aaaaaaah 14:25:25 - [sound of impact. Recording ends]

53 credits to Bob, please.

Thanks! Yes, I'm a huge fan of Welcome to Nightvale! We were lucky enough to see them live a few years ago when they came to Seattle - the highlight was someone in the audience that was dressed up like the glow cloud. Thank you guys!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone - I really appreciate it I'm also hoping that LEGO introduces more microfigs - the ones that come with the SHIELD helicarrier are nice but that set is way outside my price range. @Pombe - thank you! I take a *lot* of test photos, and often end up re-shooting the scene several times before I have the angles or perspectives that I was going for. I usually use GIMP to do basic editing, but I've also been loving picmonkey.com for some of their touch-up and focus tools.

That's some nice overlapping vegetation, and I really like how one of the ivy plants is holding a sword.

Very cool wreckage! I'm wondering if a bowl of petunias is going to make an appearance in a future build

Awesome build! I like how you've created a recognizable bar, but retained the SciFi feel. Lots of great details, and fun dialogue as always.

That's a beautifully sculpted ship! Also, props for putting in landing gear - that's always a pain on ships of this size but you pulled it off nicely. My only suggestion would be adding a bit more detail / greebling to the engine exhaust on the rear, and the ion cannons, but overall this is a sweet build.

Tags: Octan, Exploration, Land Vehicle Location: H08 - Sinden's Run Lu's Log: 26 Julali 3815 I'm a long way from home. We all are. The Milky Way, our home galaxy, is 2.5 million light years away and tonight, standing on the airless, rocky surface of an asteroid, I can feel the distance. We've been here a few days, field testing one of Octan's newest toys - the OEV 197 "Armadillo." Tricked out with several dozen cameras and sensors, a heavy duty drilling unit and a roomy interior for its crew of 3, the Armadillo is a sweet ride. This asteroid (RM8942b), part of the "Sinden's Run" belt, is an ideal testing ground, full of craters and cracks. It's just big enough to have 1/4th earth gravity, so if we have any 'steering anomalies' the vehicle wont get too banged up. Because there's no atmosphere, we wear bulky, bronzed colored space suits that seem like they're a few decades old, but they keep the air in and the cosmic rays out, so I can't complain. The other explorer and I head out to collect surface samples while our driver tests the drill. This crater is relatively young, less than 10,000 years old, so we're hoping there's awesomnium near the surface. With no atmosphere and a close horizon, night on the asteroid falls quickly. No sunset, maybe 30 seconds of dusk, and then it's pitch black. I carefully make my way back to the Armadillo. We'll head back to the Axle in a few days. Maybe I'll get a day or two off before heading out again to parts unknown. This is Lu, signing out.

Nice review! I think this is my favorite set as far as the new Minecraft releases, but that's coming more from the perspective of a Minecraft fan - I can see how LEGO builders who aren't into Minecraft wouldn't be impressed. That dark red though... "The instructions also demonstrate how the glowstone glows. Leave them in the sun all day and wait for a crescent moon to come out. It doesn't specify waxing or waning. I wonder if it matters..." I agree with your nephew about the plants next to the treasure chest being Nether Wart, although in the game it only generates in certain rooms, so that's weird placement for it...

This is great - I love how many stories you were able to incorporate into your build. I like the hallway details in your main build especially, and as others have mentioned that's a sweet microscale ship!

Awesome build! I really like the microscale mech, and the holo spaceship is cool too!

43 credits to Bob, please.

That dropship turned out really well! I love how the bike and figure fit inside. Really nice action shots, and beautiful landscape to boot - awesome build!

Thank you! Good call - I wasn't that happy with the panels either, but I like the idea of covering the seams with plates.