[MOC] [WIP] UCS Scale - Babylon 5 Earth Alliance Starfury

[Nightlores]

Lighting is an excellent idea, and pro if you keep those wires in mind during the design.

The thing with Starfuries is that every pilot had their own pattern.
Only unnamed and training pilots didn't have an unique design.

Source: http://www.starshipmodeler.com/b5/starfury.htm

The big stickers wont really work on your design.
But subtle blue lines like the 'presidential escort' has would really make it more Babylon 5 like.
And a sticker of the logo on the right wing.

Something like:

Inspired by:

 

 

[Monty]

Fantastic model, I love all the detail and how well you achieved the shaping.

[Captain_Quinn]

The difficult part for the current iteration of the design is that the available flat space for sticks is limited because of studs on wedge plates, or that particular facets on the hull plating aren't smooth. However, the current dorsal hull plate has been designed with having a series of hull art stickers made available.

I've also had a play around with variants built in different colour schemes using bricks alone. The Earthforce-1 Presidential Escort livery like you pointed out was one, Black Omega was another. My focus in the short term has been the base design. Once that is squared away, then I can work on variants more seriously.

@Monty, thanks man. It's the challenge of balancing proportions, angles, detail and making it recognisable, against size and part count (not to mention the effect of gravity when building something like this for real).

[Dracoargenteus]

This is marvelous! Add me to the list of the envious and impressed!

I'd love to build one myself also if/when you finalize the design and make it available.

Keep it up!

[Lethke]

Wow. I got two of the Revell Star Furies, but this would be a nice addition to them. :D

[Captain_Quinn]

Well, some good news... prototype build testing, including the lighting rig, is going well.

The final parts list has yet to be determined but based on the current release candidate, the 7700-odd parts for both Starfury & Stand tick over around USD$1300 + shipping on Bricklink. It's currently going through QA to find any mistakes, areas that can be simplified/optimised, the assembly order is being sequenced and refined in preparation for export to generate instructions.

The lighting is an off-the-shelf DIY kit that comes in at around USD$150 for engine lights, cockpit lights, and power supply/cable. The design accounts for routing and fitting lighting, but is stable with or without the lights.

I'll post another update when I have a finalised parts list ready to go out to anyone interested.

 

[Dracoargenteus]

6 hours ago, Captain_Quinn said:

I'll post another update when I have a finalised parts list ready to go out to anyone interested.

 

Excited ... absa fraggin' lutely!

[SATSOK]

Very nice work !!!

[Captain_Quinn]

A brief update, since a combination of work, nit-picking details, and this thing we call "life" has meant that the current phase has moved at glacial pace.

Thankfully, @manglegrat was able to take the design file, with it's current steps and groups, and successfully assemble a test build:

I plan to release the parts lists later this week, so that anyone interested in putting this together than begin getting their pieces together.

At this stage, it's looking like the instructions will be in three stages; Stand, Internal Frame/Superstructure, and Panels/Details. Except for the Cockpit Module, the design is entirely symmetrical.

I was able to put together an "off the shelf" lighting kit together that fits into the design quite nicely. The stand and internal frame have spaces for circuit boards, batteries, etc., allowing for the engines, thrusters and cockpit to be lit up. I'm not 100% satisfied with this lighting solution, and I'm hoping that I can organise a set of custom length cables, as the 50cm cables from Centre Hull to Engines is >just< a bit too short to allow for splitter boards to fit where I had intended. The rear panels of both the Stand and the Starfury are removable, allowing for choice on whether or not a battery pack is placed inside the hull, the stand, or a dedicated USB power supply and cable is used.

There's a few odds and ends to tidy up, some challenges in rendering custom parts (Studio's ability to flex hoses SUCKS harder than a Dyson), and of course, the obligatory artwork for stickers, etc. 
 

 

[Dracoargenteus]

Hoping life is treating you better!

This is great news! Time soon to collect all the parts soon, oy vey.

 

[spirogero]

We, anxiously, are waiting for the completion of the project. Keep up the good work.

[Captain_Quinn]

Happy to report, parts lists are ready for interested parties to download in preparation for subsequent instruction release. Download here

The parts lists have been split into 2 XML files for uploading to Bricklink (separate files for the stand and the Starfury), but I've also created an Excel spreadsheet that has the same as grid format and list format.

Even though the part count is almost 7900 pcs, I've aimed to stick to readily available parts so that costs are minimised and no matter how long it takes to collect they should stay available and at reasonable prices.

Assembly step renders are coming along nicely (about 80% of first pass complete), with post processing (crop, zoom, section focus, etc) of those steps remaining. Following that is the general layout, DTP graphics, covert and internal artworks, and the graphical parts list. I'm also trying to work out the best way to illustrate how to install the lighting array, to include that. At present, instructions are likely going to be a multi-PDF file distribution simply because of the number of build steps involved.

Sticker artwork is also coming along nicely. I tried to maintain large enough flat areas for decals for squadron/pilot art, EA logo, various labels/signage you would expect to see on a combat craft. Finding suitably high resolution canonical material of this is proving... "challenging".

In the meantime, here's a quick idea of how some of the compositing for internal art might look:

[Dracoargenteus]

Yes. I haven't posted much here.

Essentially finding out you were working on a large scale lego starfury brought me to this site and this forum.

So you may be getting a lot of praise and encouragement for such an excellent piece of work because I'm so focused.

But still, it's so worthy of it! Bravo!

Collecting parts and figuring a display with Manglegrat's B5 and Omega class Agamemnon (which I'm still collecting a few more parts to do). 

Can't wait and thank you, Captain!

 

[stardust2101]

Hella impressive!

 

Say, has anyone on here ever rendered the Terran Wraith from Starcraft?

[Dracoargenteus]

6 hours ago, stardust2101 said:

Say, has anyone on here ever rendered the Terran Wraith from Starcraft?

I found one that looks like a virtual build.

https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/144558-12-days-of-starcraft-day-2-terran-wraith/

There are a few scattered over pinterest and youtube via a search and all I have seen so far are about a cubic 36 stud scale or so.

Edit: There was even a Lego Ideas submitted in 2018, about cubic 24 stud scale. Had enough interest to get a year added to it's approval but didn't make the cut.

https://ideas.lego.com/projects/d5efb3b2-06f5-4bfb-8691-e36e46f2f0ac

Edited August 10, 2021 by Dracoargenteus

[stardust2101]

Saw the Lego Ideas submission, pity it didn't take off. Still, those are pretty cool. Got a few I'd like to make at least virtually, before trying to build the real thing, to take to shows, once the plague is no longer a thing!

[Dracoargenteus]

I don't know what the Minifig legs are for, but I have them coming... from Germany.
When they arrive that will be every part, woohooo! When the rest of the pick a brick parts arrive about this weekend, that will be everything but the legs. That's 7794 pieces (7854 with the 1x4 hinges in parts counting the legs)? I've never prepped such a large project.
I envy manglegrat's capability to build this from parts on hand lol. 

Can't wait!

[manglegrat]

On 9/28/2021 at 7:25 PM, Dracoargenteus said:

I envy manglegrat's capability to build this from parts on hand lol. 

Oh no, even with my epic collection of MOCcing parts I had to order plenty of stuff I didn't have already to build this (mostly wedge plates, curved slopes and 4x6 tiles with studs)...   

[Dracoargenteus]

I envy corrected! 

As an AFoL, I'm still more a builder and appreciator than a designer. Some things I've seen others do still impresses. I don't disassemble and imagine much. You guys deserve much praise for original designs. =D

[Captain_Quinn]

The learning and development experience continues, and with installation of the lights, wiring, batteries, inspiration struck for a few improvements for stability. These improvements have changed about 20 pcs, and added about a dozen more. All common pieces, easily obtained, most already in the parts list... but definitely worth it for the stability for certain aspects of the build.

 

[manglegrat]

Looks awesome all lit-up, @Captain_Quinn! 

[Dracoargenteus]

@Captain_Quinn looks great! 

Wondering if it's worth it to find pieces for technic figure too. AHHH!

[Captain_Quinn]

1 hour ago, Dracoargenteus said:

Wondering if it's worth it to find pieces for technic figure too. AHHH!

Well, the technic figure is an "all-or-nothing" piece... I've got partial figures from finding broken ones in bulk lots, but i've never been able to successfully repair or reassemble one from those parts.

I've been trying to design a pilot from readily available pieces, but so far no luck.

[Dracoargenteus]

5 minutes ago, Captain_Quinn said:

Well, the technic figure is an "all-or-nothing" piece... I've got partial figures from finding broken ones in bulk lots, but i've never been able to successfully repair or reassemble one from those parts.

I've been trying to design a pilot from readily available pieces, but so far no luck.

Hmm, that's unfortunate. Even the basic minifig is so configurable being able to reassemble near infinite combinations.

Thanks for the note! I gotta let you get back to finishing up instructions, can't wait for your finished designs!

[Dracoargenteus]

Oh noes, trusted Pick a brick too much. I've still got some 1 x 6 tiles to grab. It's like they fell off my first order. =P I have to complete check on three more bulk bags.

@Captain_Quinn Can you update us with the extra parts for your change in a separate listing? I have the parts in a separate kit and currently have very little or none in the way of extras. (...or shelf space to keep them honestly!)

I've never set up a lighting kit in any of my builds. Is the lighting based on something like readily available units or something more custom? (Like cut and solder and multiplex and power?)