UCS MTT MOC

[BrickDuvel]

Hello, after several months of building, demolishing and rebuilding, I just finished my Lego Star Wars UCS MTT MOC.

I picked the MTT as a set to build a UCS style MOC for several reasons:

• Till today there is no Lego UCS version of the MTT. The existing Lego sets (7662 and 75058) are play sets and therefore not that accurate to the 'real' Trade Federation Multi Troop Transport.
• It's a challenging build, the MTT has great curves, the thing is all sloped and rounded, so a lot of trial and error fun.
• I like to build to minifig scale and the MTT is just 'small' enough to do this. To realise a set in minifig scale is almost impossible for the Lego company (UCS Falcon as the exemption to the rule) When I started the build I also did not see any lego MTT MOC's on the internet in minifig scale, so I wanted to fill the gap.
• When build to minifig scale the build is at a sweet spot in terms of size and weight. It's quite a large build, so you can work full on detail, but you can still pick it up easily and it still fits on a small table or deep bookshelf.
• It comes in brown , so something different than the usual Star Wars grey shades. After seeing the incredible UCS Sandcrawler of Cavegod and Marshal Banana a couple of years ago, it's clear that shades of brown can be quite interesting for a lego Star Wars build.

The build is a compromise between SW universe vehicle accuracy, integrated technical functions and playability. The MTT's main function is to transport and deploy battle droids. Therefore the whole build is centered around the battle droid rack. The droid rack is deployed by a technic scissor lift that is propelled by 2 lineair actuators powered by a PF XL motor. It can also be operated manually trough the top wheel on the backside of the MTT. I wanted a droid rack with four vertical rows of droids like in the real SW universe. It can carry 48 droids (2 rows wide, 4 rows high, 6 droids in a row), so the front had to be wide enough to allow the droid rack to pass, but still small enough to take the inwards curved sides at the vehicle's narrowest point. Because of the height, there was also not a lot of room to make the bottom in the front sturdy enough.

Bodywork:

Different shades of brown combined with dark blue grey. I tried to go for a weathered look, as in an MTT that has seen some battles. Because of a lack of greebling opportunities I made some blastholes in the sides to go with the weathered look .

Specs:

• Lenght: 90 studs, 70 cm/27 inches 
• height: 35 studs, 34 cm/13 inches
• weight: almost 8 kg/17lbs

Structure/firmness:

The inside is all technic bricks and liftarms. You can easily lift the set up on the 2 sides, flex is ok.
It rolls on 6 wheels, so kids can move it to play with

Work in progress:

• trial and error to get it moving again on 2 or more lego XL motors or skip the motorized propulsion overall. When I finished building the technic frame, it could be driven by 1 PF XL motor and steered by 1 medium motor. Now with the exterior finished the 8 kg is definitly too much for one XL motor.  If anyone has some experience building heavy moving lego or technic vehicles, I'm open to tips Question to the community: would adding one extra XL motor be enough to propel 8 kg? I believe the Sandcrawler MOC is double this weight and it runs (more like crawls) on 4 XL motors?
• making building instructions: I'm doing this in bricklink studio. I'm making progress, but It will still take a couple of months to finish them.
• As for a total number of pieces used, I can't say right now, I'll be able to add the number when the instructions are finished.

  https://www.flickr.com/photos/191523974@N02/albums/72157717588828336 

  I've posted some pics on my flickr account:

 

Edited December 29, 2020 by BrickDuvel

[G59]

Wow, pretty damn big when compared to the MF! Is there any pic from the interior ?

[Cjd223]

This is so cool! Definitely a model that has long needed a UCS rendition. Nice work with all of the different slopes!

[JintaiZ]

Nice build! Great use of slope pieces.

[Cylo]

Looks amazing! Never thought it was that big

[jimmynick]

18 hours ago, BrickDuvel said:

It's a challenging build, the MTT has great curves, the thing is all sloped and rounded, so a lot of trial and error fun

And you nailed it! An astonishing build, well done. Thanks for sharing and welcome to Eurobricks.

[deraven]

Very impressive, and well-captured!  It looks like the battle droid deployment rack is functioning?  If that's the case it would be awesome to see a video of that.  

[lowlead]

Uhh...WOW!!

What a way to make a splash on the forum!!  This build is jaw-dropping in every regard - the texturing with the various shades of brown is perfect!  The shapes and angles you achieved are most impressive.  One question:  Is there a specific reason you chose the very dark brown color for the front 'nose' door?  I don't recall there being such a color difference on the vehicle.  Either way, incredible work!

[BrickDuvel]

 

On 12/28/2020 at 10:15 PM, G59 said:

Wow, pretty damn big when compared to the MF! Is there any pic from the interior ?

I'll post some pics of the interior spaces on the Flickr album. The cockpit has an interior and the backside has 2 cargo spaces to carry a few extra minifigs eg super battle droids. On the backside I took the liberty to deviate somewhat from the real MTT in favor of playbility. There's no interior in the whole middle section of the MOC, it's fully used as a technical area for technic parts, motors, gears and wiring.

 

20 hours ago, deraven said:

Very impressive, and well-captured!  It looks like the battle droid deployment rack is functioning?  If that's the case it would be awesome to see a video of that.  

You'r being served. I just made a short video of the droid rack deploying. It's not that fast because I geared down a bit to spare the motor and the gears.  As you can see in the video,I made the hole in the front as narrow and as low as possible.

 

12 hours ago, lowlead said:

Uhh...WOW!!

What a way to make a splash on the forum!!  This build is jaw-dropping in every regard - the texturing with the various shades of brown is perfect!  The shapes and angles you achieved are most impressive.  One question:  Is there a specific reason you chose the very dark brown color for the front 'nose' door?  I don't recall there being such a color difference on the vehicle.  Either way, incredible work!

I really liked the thick rounded bricks, they work great as a robust battering ram on the front and they're just the right size to cover up the round hole for the droid rack. Unfortunatily they don't come in reddish brown, so dark brown was second best.

 

On 12/28/2020 at 11:39 PM, Cjd223 said:

This is so cool! Definitely a model that has long needed a UCS rendition. Nice work with all of the different slopes!

 

On 12/29/2020 at 3:31 AM, JintaiZ said:

Nice build! Great use of slope pieces.

 

On 12/29/2020 at 2:52 PM, Cylo said:

Looks amazing! Never thought it was that big

 

On 12/29/2020 at 3:44 PM, jimmynick said:

And you nailed it! An astonishing build, well done. Thanks for sharing and welcome to Eurobricks.

Thanks for all the great supporting comments!

Edited December 30, 2020 by BrickDuvel

[deraven]

5 hours ago, BrickDuvel said:

I just made a short video of the droid rack deploying. It's not that fast because I geared down a bit to spare the motor and the gears.  As you can see in the video,I made the hole in the front as narrow and as low as possible.

Nice!  I think if you added some rollers (inside, not on the rack) or something else to help reduce the friction so the motion was smoother, the speed isn't a problem.  Of course, if you can also rig it so it automatically lowers/spreads the droid rack out after it's fully extended from the chassis, that's the finishing touch.  

[muhkuh]

Are you going to sell instructions for it?:)

[BrickDuvel]

I'm currently making all sorts of modifications to the MOC. I changed the motorized parts on the inside and am testing on how much weight the technic gears can handle. As for the outside, the MTT cockpit will be lowered a bit, to be more realistic. The backside will also see some changes. But when all this is done, making digital instructions for the MTT is still the plan.

[Brikkyy13]

This is hands down one of the best MOCs I’ve seen in a while, the shaping is absolutely amazing, you should be very proud. 

The droid rack though, that’s what’s holding this model back. If it could fold out and deploy the droids like it does in the movie, not just extending out of the front like the official lego sets, that would take this build from great to perfect. 

[TheApatheticOne]

This is amazing, the best UCS style MTT MOC I can find on the internet. Any idea how many pieces this has so far? Looking forward to seeing the updated model.

[LEGODadWI]

On 5/2/2021 at 10:15 AM, BrickDuvel said:

I'm currently making all sorts of modifications to the MOC. I changed the motorized parts on the inside and am testing on how much weight the technic gears can handle. As for the outside, the MTT cockpit will be lowered a bit, to be more realistic. The backside will also see some changes. But when all this is done, making digital instructions for the MTT is still the plan.

I'm excited to see and build the end product (the prior version was awesome).  Any idea when you might have a version for sale?

[Kage Goomba]

I squeed......

 

I'm totally blown away - fantastic build.

[Sucram]

That is insane, I would love to see Lego do an official UCS rendition of this set, along with a lot of other things from the Phantom Menace

[Kim-Kwang-Seok]

That looks like 60 droids per "haul"? Unfortunate them gungans were making the naboo battle so childish. Otherwise I think vehicles such as the MTT would have made for some iconic EP5-Hoth worthy designs!

Also your other pictures are insane! I counted something around 80 cannons on the ship? My record I think is like 60 on my modified Destinys Bounty!

[KevinYoung]

Lego needs to do this in UCS .