I'm back! Sort of.
About this creation
Hey folks. I'd spent a good 45 minutes or so typing up a witty and eloquent introduction, followed by clever captions for each of the photos. Then, I went and pressed "continue" and it all vanished.
...Hence the original lack of description/information/excuses/general tomfoolery. But alas, Mocpages has an edit button, and you shall now suffer the full brunt of my not-so witty "humor."
Construction Journal Entry 2: Rameses-class Strategic Battlecruiser
I know it's been quite a while since the first entry. Work has progressed slower than expected, due to the general business of my schedule, the band of goblins that keeps stealing my food, and the cost of Legos. Not to mention that as this project stretches out, I keep finding things I want to redo, redress, or redesign. On occasion I get distracted by smaller side projects (which I'll get around to posting eventually). And then there are those evenings where in attempting to do one thing, I break something, and in the attempt to fix that, I break something else. There have been a few particularly spectacular cascades of failure at which I had to laugh, lest I go insane (or rather, more so than I am already).
I'd like to apologize for the quality of the pictures. I know some of them are pretty bad. You'd think an architecture student might be more diligent about documenting his work well; on the other hand, these images are just meant to give you a sense of where I'm at and where I'm going with the project. Naturally upon completion of the project I'll take some better, clearer photos and touch them up all sorts of nicely in photoshop.
I have an admission to make: I defied the Lego gods by using a steel shelving rod to help reinforce the axial spine of the ship. Due to the flexibility and tolerance of Lego pieces, even in a rather impressive truss construction, the ship was sagging significantly in the middle. While that issue has been aleviated, the left and right wings still sag far too much for my liking. I'm considering using fishing line to straighten them out.
Unlike such shipbuilding geniuses as Kelso, I didn't have to foresight to plan modular units into which the totality of the construction could be subdivided. So I'm not sure if this will ever leave my room: the wingspan is between four and five feet, and my door is a standard two and a half. Originally the wings were designed to be detachable, but then I had the bright idea to put in that stabilizing ring which makes the whole thing far harder to break down. Indeed, the pieces in that ring are under considerable tension and it was quite hard to put it together, let alone edit.
Miscellaneous information of interest:
-The SHIP is at 1:5000 scale, meaning a 1x1 brick represents 40m x 40m; the model represents a ship about 12km long.
-In presently incorporates at least 10,000 pieces. I honestly haven't kept track beyond that. It weighs something like 40 pounds, but I'm not too sure on that one either. Here's hoping the hooks it's hanging from don't fail.
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But without further ado, we'll get to the pictures (for the quality of which I again beg your pardons).
The infill section of the bottom wing features a reasonably large hangar bay for the deployment of fighter-sized combat drones (mighty tiny at this scale, so I chose not to build any). These drones provide the bulk of the fighter cover and power-dispersion for the BC.
The new and improved port sensor array. The bridge tower looms in the background. As my Great Aunt Nellie used to say, "When in doubt, add more antenae."
The port wing sports a large hangar bay capable of holding two large troop landing ships. Each can carry thousands of soldier-equivalents as well as several heavy vehicles.
The starboard wing in turn houses an even larger hangar bay that serves as home port for a remote-slaved frigate-equivalent module. This large and powerful remote drone functions as the advance eyes and ears of the battlecruiser, and can also lend significant firepower support in combat.
The hangar bays in their empty, greebled glory:
So I redid the warp-drive nacelles, because I wasn't at all satisfied with the previous iterations. I'm still not sure if I'm satisfied, although I am amused by the resemblance to some sort of giant pterodactyl head.
The main thruster unit. Costarring in this scene is my replica Anduril which broke, and cannot be taken off the shelf without falling apart (quite sad, really) and the unpainted remainder of my Games Workshop LOTR miniature collection--I never could quite finish that Mumakil.
An auxiliary thruster unit. Ain't it a cutie?
Greebles!
A very blurry picture of yet another hangar bay, this one on the trailing edge of a wing. I'm not sure what it's for, but there it is.
I eliminated some of the busiest detail in this section, opting for a smoother appearance that I'm liking somewhat better.
One of the more challenging sections to build was the cladding that would cover the intersection between the main swept-forward wing, the swept-back turret strut, and the stabilizing ring structure.
The Strategic Battlecruiser can deploy a wide array of remotely controlled support craft to enhance its strategic and tactical versatility. Here we see our remote-controlled frigate from a few pictures ago...
...the two heavy troop landers...
...a shield projector drone...
...a monitor-equivalent drone (basically, a small craft that provides orbital firepower support for ground operations)...
...an energy transfer drone--think of it as a mobile battery charger that can collect energy from whatever the sources are and deliver it to the BC, eliminating the need to the ship itself to make fuel pitstops...
...a weapons platform drone, pretty straightforward...
...an "I don't know what it is but it's there" drone...
...a communications/sensor array drone...
...and the whole happy family.
Here we peer down the gaping maw of a matter-processing unit (at the leading tip of the warp nacelle).
Mmmmm...stripes.
And visible beneath the turrets is power conduit-infrastructure. I'm not really sure how to photograph this well.
Giant cooling fans that stop the main processing substrates at the core of the ship from overheating. Not that coolant fans would do much of anything in space. Oh well.
Closing comments
There's still lots of work to go and lots of bricklink orders to place. I won't have time to work on this much for a while, but fear not, I'll finish the thing eventually. I'd like to offer my gratitude to the other SHIPbuilders out there and everyone who exhibits their Lego creativity on this site and others.
Cheers,
-Brendan
Comments
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I like it |
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April 16, 2012 |
i agree with the below HOW DID YOU BUILD THAT??!!! |
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I like it |
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March 18, 2012 |
I can barely see how you built it, JUST HOW DID YOU HANG IT!? |
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I made it |
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June 24, 2011 |
I'm actually pretty happy with the segmented/polygonal ring instead of a perfectly round one; I had tried out a 1x2 brick ring ą la the warp ring in that lovely red Vulcan ship buried somewhere in older entries, but the radius was somewhat too large. I'm wondering how a brick/plate ring of the size required would be structurally sound enough to help hold up the wings...which modified pieces were you thinking of? |
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I like it |
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June 24, 2011 |
Great ship, I love the detail and color scheme.
I'm curious about your use of technic bricks to shape the ring. Did you consider building it out of modified 1x2 bricks/plates? It would give you a perfectly round shape and help lift up the horizontal wings. Or does did you find a way to make the technic structure rigid and self supporting? |
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I like it |
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June 18, 2011 |
I love ships. And that's just plain gorgeous. You have no idea what I would give for a chance to build a ship of that size. And I'm pretty fond of that frigate drone. I think it's my favorite. ^Blub^ |
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I like it |
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June 18, 2011 |
pretty small dont you think? |
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I like it |
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June 4, 2011 |
How does this not have a billion +5 ratings?!?! This thing brought a tear to my eye, epic is the only word I can think of. |
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I made it |
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February 26, 2011 |
Thanks for the kind words, and for the suggestions. They really are appreciated :)
Since taking these photos, I've gone and taken a long look at the thing to see what sorts of things I wanted to work on/revise--and boy did I come up with a lot. So while the symmetry of the design might lead one to conclude that most of the ship is already designed, that's not really the case. I'm working on making the bridge/sensor units less busy, and also want to clean up my use of color, especially in the front section. One issue that arises as a project stretches out over a long time is that my building style/preferences change between sections. I think the most noticeably different part is the very front section, which doesn't really flow very well... |
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I like it |
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February 25, 2011 |
Just two words: master piece! |
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I like it |
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February 22, 2011 |
That's AMAZING!!!!! How could one guy own that many Legos????? |
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I like it |
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February 20, 2011 |
I'll be waiting for it. Good job so far, but you should really make it smoother. |
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I like it |
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February 20, 2011 |
Impressive work so far, curious to see more. |
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I like it |
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February 19, 2011 |
just like Aslangorge said...
epic!! |
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I like it |
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February 18, 2011 |
Craziness! |
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I like it |
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February 18, 2011 |
Intense! Great micro fleet, too. I like those up close shots of the connections between the ring and the main hull. Awesome! |
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I like it |
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February 18, 2011 |
Cheese almighty! That is HUGE! |
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I like it |
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February 18, 2011 |
Excellent build. This is amazing. |
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I like it |
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February 18, 2011 |
Great work, refreshing design. You're really challenging gravity. |
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I like it |
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February 18, 2011 |
HOOOOO HAAAAARGH !!!!! WHAT A SUPER COOL SHIP !!!!! Just too bad for some bad pictures..... |
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I like it |
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February 18, 2011 |
This is an impressive piece of work, man! Bursting from details and it even has its own little fleet. Not to forget about the sheer size of this beast! Just don't drop it...! ~Cheers |
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I like it |
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February 18, 2011 |
Win! |
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I like it |
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Cheesy Q February 17, 2011 |
Star wars eat your heart out. |
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I like it |
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Mandalore The Ultimate February 17, 2011 |
Wouldn't want to run into this in a deep space encounter :P Crazy good job! |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
this is incredible,beauty and big ,,,,,bravo |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
Spectacular! |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
epic!! |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
Acturally, I don't know how to give a comment to such great creation.....I'm speechless!! Too much surprise here!!! |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
facinating! |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
Really awesome! I'd love to see it when it's done! |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
I feel your pain. MOCpages makes you re-sign in after a certain amount of time, and you can get around this by typing it all up (photos included), then highlighting it and pressing Ctrl-C and Continue. Then Paste it in the now-empty text box. |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
how long did you spend on that? |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
wow, that's big! |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
wow, that's big! |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
Very great update!!! I can see my "minifig-hands turrets" - can't await to see the finished SHIP! - Kevin |
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a truly impressive work ... I wonder how I tie you? really compliments |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
This is greeblelicious. |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
Funny, I was just over at Kelso's latest Eye of Chaos journal and he also has a SHIP and a sword in his man-cave... Anyway, I've been waiting for the 2nd entry of this bad boy! You've been busy! It's shaping up nicely. Too bad about the lost witty comments, that always has the potential to urk a guy. I'm not going to babble too much about the ship - not until the big day it's finished. Do me a favor though, you'd better get some clear pictures on that day and a good backround - don't let all your effort get lost with bad pictures and a busy backround. |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
I love this ship...i think one of the best that i ever seen...the design is amazing... this seems very frightening!
Congratulation...great work! |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
this thing is so good detailed love it! |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
Great execution of a very tricky design! Seeing your rings make me hopeful of someday doing an Eve Online Hyperion. |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
My brain cannot handle this much awesomeness.
Hmmm, first things first, add to favorite builders. Second, stand in awe.
Dude, you are insane. How long did this take you?? |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
That is an amazing piece of work. |
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I like it |
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February 17, 2011 |
:O.....This is spectacular! |
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