10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition!

Tintin needs no introduction really. Created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi (Hergé), Tintin is a reporter and adventurer who travels the world in search of adventure and stories. Over the course of the 20^th century, Hergé drew a series of 24 comic books with Tintin as the protagonist. Two of the most fascinating are Objective: Moon (Objectif: Lune) and Explorers on the Moon (On a marché sur la Lune) which in the early 1950s showed what a Moon mission could look like, something that would not become a reality until some fifteen years later. One of the key elements of these albums was the rocket to the moon: the red-and-white V2-inspired machine is one that has captured the imagination of many (including me, of course )

 

Here's a little video of my rocket in motion:

 

I tried to make the rocket itself move upwards, but I couldn't find a proper way of doing so without intersecting with the already moving clouds of smoke or destabilising the whole model. Truth be told, the clouds are pretty weak and as much as I would love to make instructions for the whole model, it's just way too flimsy for my lax standards to even approve. I'm planning though on making instructions for the rocket alone with a simple base, which is definitely secure enough.  And pretty cheap too: I think it was somewhere along the 270-piece mark.

This origniated from my father, who is huge Tintin fan. For his birthday earlier this March, I gifted him this kinetic sculpture of the famous rocket lifting off. The clouds of smoke move thanks to two simple camshafts, creating the illusion of the rocket really lifting off. Most are positioned parallel to one another except for the second-to-last row which is angled to give some more interest to the model.

 

You can find a complete album on my Flickr and on my Instagram. 

Edited March 30, 20204 yr by paupadros

Very nice effect! Well done!

Edited April 6, 20204 yr by Actionfigure

  On 3/30/2020 at 12:01 PM, Actionfigure said:

Very nice effect! Well done!

Thanks a lot! 

Mille milliards de mille sabords what a nice MOC!

Very nice model. 

Great model, and fantastic work on the smoke at the base. It looks amazing!

  On 3/31/2020 at 11:04 AM, AmperZand said:

Mille milliards de mille sabords what a nice MOC!

Or like what Haddock in our version said: "llamp de rellamps!"  Thank you!

  On 3/31/2020 at 7:31 PM, Jerry McGlade said:

Very nice model. 

Thanks!

  On 4/1/2020 at 10:12 AM, NathanR said:

Great model, and fantastic work on the smoke at the base. It looks amazing!

Thanks Nathan. It was hard to get it to work properly and is rather flimsly even at the most refined state I could get it work. Thanks a lot!

A delightful build, and I like the smoke just as much in the static configuration as when it's in motion - looks great in both cases.  Well done.

  On 4/5/2020 at 12:09 AM, deraven said:

A delightful build, and I like the smoke just as much in the static configuration as when it's in motion - looks great in both cases.  Well done.

Thanks a lot @deraven! Most of the times it's not going to be turning so it better look good static too 

 

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Little update (April 5th 2020)

As I promised I would previously, I've made instructions for the rocket. I haven't made instructions for the whole model basically because it is not stable enough for others to build. I would feel guilty if someone built this expecting the most amazing thing ever for then the clouds to fall every couple minutes. The rocket, though, is tough enough and a good standalone model.

Free instructions here

Edited April 5, 20204 yr by paupadros

This is a nice build. It reminds me of Phineas and Ferb's ship they use in the episode "Out to Launch". Nice!