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Challenge II, Category A - North Head Battery Dirk's previous story can be found here Bregir's characters have been used with his permission. ------------------------------------------------------- After a fortnight’s hard work, the Colonial Half Battery that Dirk Allcock had been directed to site and supervise construction of was complete, and the temporary Governor of King’s Harbour, Captain Jonathan Cooke, was coming for an inspection. Dirk hoped the Governor would be impressed. With the assistance of Midshipman Knowles, he had carefully selected an appropriate site that had commanding views of the wide entrance to the bay, and provided a suitable field of fire in conjunction with the already established battery on the southern side. The chosen position sat at the edge of a rocky cliff, overlooking wide stretches of beach and enclosed by vegetation all sides. A small path had been cleared leading down into a nearby cove for access and resupply and it was this path that the Governor and his entourage now approached on. Dirk was a little nervous, for he had slightly exceeded his orders in that he had made some modifications to the prefabricated half battery design, which called for a straight palisade of wood to protect the two 24 pound guns. Whilst the original palisade design was more than suitable for protection from small arms, Dirk had felt that given the position and purpose of the battery; the palisade would be better suited with sloping walls to attempt to deflect any heavy shot from vessels trying to force entrance to the bay. Dirk's second improvisation was off a slightly larger scale. He had found a stone mason newly arrived in the colony, and had quickly press ganged him into building a small furnace adjunct to the battery. The purpose for this was not so the garrison could bake fresh bread (although the Colonial gunners were impressed!). Rather it was so the 24pound shot could be heated until red hot. This heated shot could then be employed against any enemy vessels attempting to force entry to the harbour. Fire, always the greatest fear onboard a wooden vessel, was the inevitable result of being struck by heated shot. Heated shot was usually only available to large, established forts, so to employ it in a makeshift half battery was un-heard off. Dirk however, always the innovator, simply could not resist pushing the boundaries of the possible. Captain Cooke arrived, and with him was the man Dirk had travelled to Cocovia to meet, Don Isaac Montoya. Montoya nodded at Dirk, the two had matters both were eager to discuss. Both men were passionate natural philosophers, and Montoya was proposing the establishment of a New World Branch of the Royal Society of Natural Philosophy. Duty, however, came first, and Dirk’s duty to the crown had meant reporting to Captain Cooke first, and the naval officer had entrusted him with establishing this battery, crucial to the defences of the new settlement. After pleasantries were exchanged, Captain Cooke made a detailed inspection of the site, the guns and the powder, ammunition storage and lastly the furnace. Dirk explained his modified design and the Governor carefully studied the fields of fire the guns provided. During this time, Montoya spied something on the beach below that captured his full attention. A notebook appeared in his hands as if by magic, and he began furiously taking notes and making sketches. “I say” he announced “I have never seen a sea turtle like it” Instantly distracted from the inspection, Dirk glanced down at the beach and at the large turtle crawling up it. “Ah yes, I call them ‘banded turtles’ due to the unusual dark horizontal band across the bottom third of the carapace. I believe that will be a female coming ashore to lay eggs” replied Dirk excitedly. “The natives hereabouts say that this area is a major breeding ground for them, although this is the first I seen come ashore.” “Yes that band is indeed unlike anything I have seen before” commented Montoya “The natives also say that the female turtles will return to precisely the spot they were hatched from to lay their eggs, although how they discern this fact I have no idea” added Dirk. Both men were now totally absorbed watching the turtle, making observations and comments as if the bemused governor and crew of the half battery did not even exist. “Is there a way down onto the beach?” Asked Montoya. Captain Cooke gave a slight shake of his head, and his lips turned slightly up in a grin. He knew his patron and good friend, Montoya, well enough to know that any hope of further discussions of arcs of fire or powder storage were hopeless. He also recognised the same traits in this Army officer. Truth be told he was well pleased with the battery. It had saved him the work of supervising the construction himself, and the location was indeed ideal. The modifications, to the battery design, while slightly un-orthodox, were indeed inspired. Only the Army would thought of something as devilishly effective as heated shot. The Naval officer in him disapproved. Fire was the enemy of all sailors. The governor in him however, was excited at this new capability. He nodded to his entourage; He would leave the two men to their turtle, the never-ending needs of the new settlement were calling him back to the harbour. ------------------------------------- Hope you enjoyed the rather long story! This has been my biggest build to date (a full 48x48), although I think my Cat B entry looks bigger! Actually there are a few firsts here for me, it is also my largest attempt at rock work, first brick built animal (sort off) and first time I've collaborated with another builder for the story (Cheers Bregir!). As always, comments and criticism welcome! Dirk's story continues here
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So i am currently looking for new ways on battery packs for lego technics and I dont want to continuously go out and buy batteries and i dont want to spend alot of money to get a rechargable pack but i do have some li-po batteries sitting around for my RC planes, is it possible i can use these? If you have any ideas please comment about them, thanks! -
Working Republic Gunship 75021 Lights (No Modding required!)
joev14 posted a topic in LEGO Star Wars
Hey there everyone, I'm Joev14, a new guy on the forums. I got myself pretty much all the fall 2013 star wars sets, and have been experimenting with an idea I had, what if it were possible to put working lego electronic lights into a Republic Gunship and AT-TE, without using any modified parts. After much work, I have finally found a way to do lights in both the AT-TE and the Gunship. So without further ado, I present to you, building steps for how to install working unmodified lights into your Republic Gunship. Click the photos to be linked to larger versions of the images. Sorry for the change in lighting throughout the pictures, sometimes the flash from my camera makes it hard to see the separate white parts, so I don't always use it. Step 1: Begin with a standard 75021 Republic Gunship (Mine is slightly modded with orange accents and a few other things, but the base design is still the same) Step 2: Absolutely necessary parts. You will also need a wire of whatever desired length (I recommend the 15-stud long ones), and two of these lights. Step 3: Recommended parts Step 4: Remove any parts that may get in your way, including minifigs inside the hangar. I also recommend removing the wings, although you don't absolutely need to. Step 5: Remove this chunk of the ship. Step 6: Remove the two sides of the upper section of the ship. Step 7: Continue by removing all the above-shown parts. Step 8: Remove the 4 containers. It is your choice whether or not you want to keep them. I chose to turn them into a crate as shown below. Step 9: Canister pod Step 10: Remove these two pieces Step 11: Replace the four openings where the canisters used to be with these four bricks. Also, run a wire from the hanger roof through the opening in front of the handle as shown. Step 12: Place these three plates on the bottom of the battery box. Make sure to put in a 9V battery first, so you don't have to go back and do it later! Step 13: Place the battery box in the space shown. Attach the lead of wire to the battery box (make sure to skip one set of studs, this is crucial). Step 14: Place two of the slopes in front of the wire end, and two small cheese slopes behind the co-pilot. Place 2 L-shaped plates around the wire opening. Step 15: Place two 1x2 plates ontop of the L-shaped ones, then another two L-shaped plates facing in the opposite direction atop those. Finally, place two 1x3 plates ontop, bridging the battery box to the L-shaped plates. Step 16: Place two more 1x3 plates on both sides of the end of the wire. Place two rounded slopes atop them, and finally, place a 2x4 tile on top of the wire end. Step 17: Place two more rounded slopes to cover the wiring. Step 18: Reattach the remaining large sections of the upper part of the ship, excluding the wings. You may fill in the gaps as desired. I intentionally left the 1x4 block area behind the co-pilot exposed so you can still press the button on the battery box. Step 19: Next comes the lights. There is no specific way you have to place them, but I chose to do it in this configuration. With a few red studs, as well as two round trans-orange bricks, I can get the two lamps to light up the whole hangar. Step 20: Above are the parts you should still have remaining, assuming you used the same method I did. Step 21: Reattach the wings and put all your figs back in, your done! Step 22: And boy does it look sweet! What are everyone's thoughts/suggestions for this? The only thing that really seemed to have me stumped was the rounded slopes in front of the handle, I couldn't figure out a sturdier design. While it does hold up, it looks a little awkward with all the obvious spaces between the bricks. I can't figure out a better looking way to do it and still have room for the wire though. Ideas? Facecast Episode discussing these modifications: (skip to 15:20) I will be posting the guide for how to put lights into a 75019 AT-TE soon! -
I have submitted a new project to LEGO Cuusoo, an inductive charging system for Power Functions trains etc... The idea is that the train would stop over an inductive pad, similar to the ones available for phones etc... but tailored to fit between the rails. It could be placed out of sight in the through-sidings of a fiddle yard so that one train would run while the others charged up. I would like this to become a single LEGO piece similar in size to an IR Receiver i.e. 4x4 with a flying lead. The same coil device would be used under the track and on the train. This is the simplest possible form and probably the cheapest too. I would equip all the sidings in a fiddle yard with coils (perhaps 10 on my layout) and each train (maybe 16), so 26 coils in all. I hope each one would not cost any more than an IR Receiver. It would also have application for Technic and Mindstorms, so making the same piece work in all markets makes it most viable. Please follow the link, support, leave comments and spread the word! Thanks, Mark
