[MOC/INSTRUCTION] ISD Monarch

[marksman556]

For those who have built this, how did you find the instructions? Easy enough to follow or a bit of a struggle?

[Cygma]

Hi All, I've been building the Monarch and thoroughly enjoying the design, techniques, and instructions. I am at the engines part and have run into a snag that I could use some help with.  A black axle is used to connect the death star half to the engine assembly and then a small dish is supposed to attach to it. My problem is that the hole of the dish is too small to fit over the axle.  I have the correct parts, and have been following the instructions to the "t". Has anyone else experienced this, or am I doing something stupid?

[marksman556]

Just add 2x2 round tiles to the top of it if you've got them

[rockpig]

If I remember correctly, the axle shouldn't stick out as far as the instructions show. Build the Death Star half with the 2 interior parts (Plate, Modified 2 x 2 with Bar Frame Octagonal and the Dish) first. Then, place it over the axle, which is already installed in the Wheel Hard Plastic with Small Cleats and Flanges. Push it on until the axle hits the back of the dish. It may be a bit wobbly, but it should hold on.

I didn't try this, but maybe a round plate with axle hole attached to the back of the Death Star half may decrease the space and stop the wobble.

[Cygma]

17 hours ago, marksman556 said:

Just add 2x2 round tiles to the top of it if you've got them

 

14 hours ago, rockpig said:

If I remember correctly, the axle shouldn't stick out as far as the instructions show. Build the Death Star half with the 2 interior parts (Plate, Modified 2 x 2 with Bar Frame Octagonal and the Dish) first. Then, place it over the axle, which is already installed in the Wheel Hard Plastic with Small Cleats and Flanges. Push it on until the axle hits the back of the dish. It may be a bit wobbly, but it should hold on.

I didn't try this, but maybe a round plate with axle hole attached to the back of the Death Star half may decrease the space and stop the wobble.

Thanks marksman556 and rockpig.  Used both of these solutions and they worked like a charm.

Good to know it was a matter of a workaround rather than something I was doing completely wrong. 

[Spooky_Spoon]

Hi guys, I am considering building the Monarch, but I am a little intimidated by the amount of time and money need to build it.  I am wondering if anyone has any tips or helpful resources for building it.  Alternatively, I could get the official lego one as it is smaller and more affordable.   Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Edited June 18, 2020 by Spooky_Spoon

[Evergreen]

3 hours ago, Spooky_Spoon said:

Hi guys, I am considering building the Monarch, but I am a little intimidated by the amount of time and money need to build it.  I am wondering if anyone has any tips or helpful resources for building it.  Alternatively, I could get the official lego one as it is smaller and more affordable.   Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Hey and welcome to Eurobricks!

I would highly recommend that you use Bricklink (BL) and LEGO's Bricks and Pieces (BP) to gather your pieces from. With BP, I would only use it for certain pieces like the 2x4 LBG tiles because on BL they are quite expensive. The drawback with BP though is you'll have to spend quite a bit of time comparing prices from BL to BP if you want to really save money. And I would recommend you do this first and in one sitting to save on shipping costs.

With BL, after you uploaded the part lists to a wish list, I would use the "Easy Buy/Buy All" feature to get all the needed pieces with one click! But before you buy anything, I recommend that you "dislike" a certain amount of BL stores because certain stores are just ridiculously expensive. After you think you got those stores out of the way you should be able to purchase all the parts at the optimal price.

For building the Monarch specifically, I would change out or just remove some parts like the Lever Small Base with Light Gray Lever, Tool Wrench, Box [3-Rib Handle], and Hinge Tile 1 x 2 1/2 with 2 Fingers on Top (replace with like the 1x3 tile) because those parts got really expensive over time. Those are some that I'm certain won't affect the general MOC. 

I hope my suggestions help a little and this MOC is definitely not an easy one to gather parts and build. But if not, that's completely alright and the UCS ISD is definitely a fantastic alternative with less stress haha. Either way, best of luck and have fun building this! 

[Spooky_Spoon]

Thank you for your advice. I will look into it.

[NervousEnergy]

Question for anyone else who's built this MOC - I just started after spending a ton of time sorting and cataloging all the parts (and even then my tracking system is lacking - going to have to come up with something better), and have run into what's likely a very minor snag, but I hate missing a single brick.  You never know when it'll bite you when the model is 90% complete. 

On page 106 - step 27, there are 4 simple black 1x2 plates that need to be placed.  I've studied the picture till my eyes bleed, and can only find 2 of them (placed on top of the inner two dark grey 4x4 bricks).  Either my eyes are totally failing me (and I'm usually pretty good at spotting the new brick), or the instruction count is off by 2.  I'm using version 1.2 of the instructions, purchased from OneCase late last year.  Haven't checked to see if he's put out a version 1.3 or later.

[rockpig]

The 1x2 plates are attached about 13 studs in from each end on top and bottom.

Edited June 21, 2020 by rockpig

[NervousEnergy]

On 6/21/2020 at 9:11 AM, rockpig said:

The 1x2 plates are attached about 13 studs in from each end on top and bottom.

No.. those were place in earlier steps.  Opened the PDF on my main PC instead of the tablet I'm using to build with (many times more powerful), and flipping back and forth between pages 105 and 106 rapidly only shows the two 1x2 black plates on the tops of the inner dark grey 2x2 bricks appearing.  The other 2 black plates simply don't show up.  Either the count is wrong, or the plates are placed somewhere not visible from that angle, like the bottoms of the grey bricks.  I have no way to confirm that, though.  

[rockpig]

OK. I looked again. They probably do go on the bottom of the grey bricks directly below the two that are visible.

[Spooky_Spoon]

Well I have decided to build it.  I probably won't be done until I'm finished university though

[szimson]

It's totally worth it. it's a massive ship and you might strugle with finding a perfect space for it. I had to put mine in the attic until I move to a bigger place :(

[Spooky_Spoon]

On 7/27/2020 at 3:01 PM, szimson said:

It's totally worth it. it's a massive ship and you might strugle with finding a perfect space for it. I had to put mine in the attic until I move to a bigger place :(

About how much did it cost?

[szimson]

£1200 + I used around 1k common bricks from my own collection

[sc204]

Spending many hours with mine.  So far have just installed the second bottom panel.  Having an issue with the smooth flat pieces that go between the two panels.  1x8's and 1 x 4  attached to the spigot looking pieces connected to 1 x 2s.  Near the front support they attach close to the panels but they sort of hang near the front and are not attached to anything as far as I can tell.  Am I missing something?

Hopefully it shows on the image I was limited to a tiny upload.

 

Edited August 11, 2020 by sc204

[sc204]

Lets try this again hopefully with better pictures and my solution to the issue.

The front two panels are too wide apart to properly support the smooth 1x6 and 1x8 center covers.

I glued in (so they wouldn't pop out) 2 1x2 with center axle hole pieces at the edges of the two front panels and tied them together with a zip tie. So far seems to be holding.

Other pictures of progress so far.

 

I also reinforced a few of the forward panel connections with 1x2 blocks with center axle holes, axles and 2 x 8 flat plates the same as done for the rear of the panels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 11, 2020 by sc204

[NervousEnergy]

On 4/11/2020 at 11:11 AM, rockpig said:

If I remember correctly, the axle shouldn't stick out as far as the instructions show. Build the Death Star half with the 2 interior parts (Plate, Modified 2 x 2 with Bar Frame Octagonal and the Dish) first. Then, place it over the axle, which is already installed in the Wheel Hard Plastic with Small Cleats and Flanges. Push it on until the axle hits the back of the dish. It may be a bit wobbly, but it should hold on.

I didn't try this, but maybe a round plate with axle hole attached to the back of the Death Star half may decrease the space and stop the wobble.

Just to confirm:  would that be part 4032 (Round plate 2x2 with axle hole)?  Sharing the axle hole in the octagonal wheel part with the inverted dish stud and axle connector just makes things too wobbly for me.  

Quote

I glued in (so they wouldn't pop out) 2 1x2 with center axle hole pieces at the edges of the two front panels and tied them together with a zip tie. So far seems to be holding.

That's bloody brilliant.  I also have a bit of excessive gap in the two forward halves there near the front - It's very minor, but enough that the covering plates drop past the bulge like yours.  I was simply putting a bit of tape through the top anchor plates to keep them from dropping, but your solution is more elegant in that it fixes both the cover droop and the gap.  

Great model and design, with just a few of these very minor issues.  I've been continually amazed as I build it with some of the architectural wizardry OneCase pulled off in this design.  The design and visual complexity of the rear engine works (notwithstanding the wobbly death star halves) and how it all goes together is just jaw-dropping.  Best $40 spent on instructions ever.

[Spooky_Spoon]

I'm going to sell all my old chima and ninjago stuff to help pay for this 

[sc204]

I made a couple of other minor "band aids"  The rear corners of the lower panels were sagging away from the structure so I took a couple of pieces to pull the panels up to the center Technic framework.  A 1 x 4 standard piece (I used one with side studs as that is what I had but not needed)  a 1 x 3 plate with 2 studs and a 1 x 2 with axle.  

 

 

I tied the 2 upper main plates together the same as the bottom to tighten the gap so the 1 x long smooth plates fit better.

 

 

Finally when finished I made a non standard connector to join the 2 " faucet" pieces.  2 1 x 1 rounds with open stud joined with a piece of 3L bar

 

It was pointed out that the back right corner had a small area of  greebling mising from the instructions so I made something up with parts left over.

 

I did leave out the 2 1x1 smooth tiles from the center front and rear of the plates that just sit on top.  They didn't seem to allow the plates to fit properly.  I wish they were made to attach in a better way.  I couldn't figure a simple way to do it though.  But then i am good at following directions not designing things.

 

I did use glue on pieces that were loose or not well supported.  Including all of the  levers on the back panels above and below the engines.  I think a bunch would end op missing over time.  I certainly have no intention of re-kitting this build any time soon.  Hard to believe that lego doesn't have a better option for the radar domes on top of the bridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TwoSolitudes]

Wish there was a non-glue option to correct those front gap issues... the other tips here are great. I’m just finishing the frame on mine. So far so good. 

[TwoSolitudes]

OK, having completed the main top and bottom panels I am faced with the same issue as everyone else with the gap being two wide towards the front, so that the skinny tiles fall out (at the bottom) or fall in (on the top). 

For the bottom I put in a couple of clip pieces which did the trick- though not the most solid of connections. But I am struggling with the top. I currently have a couple of 1x2 hinge pieces at the the end of nose on top to pull it close enough. Those fit- but obviously break up the look so its just a temp solution. I'd like to avoid glue and ties if possible. Does anyone know of any other non-glue solutions to this front gap issue?

Otherwise I'll use SC204's glue fix.  

 

Edited December 10, 2020 by TwoSolitudes
eye candy

[RobK]

I recently started this build and have reached step 183 in book A, For the life of me I cannot find the first 7 pieces it states are required. I believe them to be grey and half the size of the normal blue and black ones. Any help on where people have found these (which bag?) would be appreciated.

 

[blackman88]

On 9/7/2020 at 8:44 PM, sc204 said:

I made a couple of other minor "band aids"  The rear corners of the lower panels were sagging away from the structure so I took a couple of pieces to pull the panels up to the center Technic framework.  A 1 x 4 standard piece (I used one with side studs as that is what I had but not needed)  a 1 x 3 plate with 2 studs and a 1 x 2 with axle. 

Seem that you are using 3rd party bricks to construct people MOC, and still do some posting on original creator page?  I just feel something not right.  No offend.