[MOC][Instructions] Micro Scale Blockade Runners: The Liberator and Tantive IV

[mcphatty]

Hi everyone! I have been building up to tackling a 'Blockade Runner' CR90 Corvette for over a year, MOCs this size are definitely not my strong point so my thanks go to community members Bruxxy and MasterBrickSeparator for their help. First things first, here's a render of both the Tantive IV and Liberator colour schemes, there are more on my Flickr page and should any of you be interested the instructions for both colour schemes are available on Rebrickable.

I can hear a lot of you screaming at your screens "Its not micro!" and I admit you're probably right, the build is 59cm long and weighs 1.6kg which is similar to the Tantive IV set 75244 from 2019. It is however the same scale (1:250) as the rest of my little fleet of ships so I feel like I couldn't not slip micro into the title. I've tried my best to make the exterior as accurate as possible, I began by dividing and measuring the obvious sections and designing them seperately in Studio, then connecting them to a Technic frame.

I started with the cockpit and worked backwards, although I nearly gave up there as getting the shape right whilst leaving space for an bridge was a nightmare, the modular nature of the ship made building the rest much easier though. The central fins also proved difficult, they are the most fragile part of the ship and can be easily knocked out of position, but very luckily they fit around the cylindrical core well enough to look pretty accurate. The fins also make the ship harder to pick up, two hands are required to lift the ship off a surface until you can hold the stand in one hand. I'll keep working on his aspect in case a stronger solution is possible, I would really love it if I could make the ship one-handedly swooshable. Fininishing with the engines I came across a new challenge, how to build the 11 thrusters with enough detail but not so much that they would cost a fortune in small pieces.

The structural frame is very strong, its probably overengineered but I'm pleased with how solid the build feels as the strength was a complete unknown to me whilst designing in Studio. Best of all the frame allows for a tiny interior, sadly its not 1:250 scale (Lego pieces only go so small!) but it does give the MOC some extra playability and character. The roof can be removed in two sections to expose the cockpit, the upper deck and top gunner position, a central corridor running the length of the ship and the docking areas near the rear side pods. The upper deck can also be removed to reveal the main deck's conference room, side engineering corridors and micro escape pods, which are also all removable. At the end of the project I especially enjoyed adding a little 4-stud tall crew, each little stack of round plates is probably unreconisable individually but I think that when they're seen together with the ship they really come to life!

Whilst putting together the instructions for both colours I decided that I wanted to build the Liberator from Star Wars Rebels. I've been rewatching the show and I have to admit that after seeing the ship in action repeatedly in season 2 I feel that its far more exciting than the Tantive IV! I'd love to take more photos of the Liberator with my other micro ships but at the moment I don't have the equipment, skill or enough micro A-Wings to do a decent job, but I'm working on it. Here's a few photos showing the Liberator along with my micro Ghost and X-Wing, plus the interior. You can see more in my Flickr album.

I've tried to balance detail and cost, so apart from a few rare colours for the Rebels crew the 1900ish parts are all common and each of the ship colour schemes will cost roughly £/€/$150 to build. I know that the Blockade Runner has been recreated in Lego many times, both by Lego themselves and the community, but I've tried to make something with a few unique features that is hopefully a worthwhile addition to the roster. Thanks for taking the time to look :)

 

Edited May 5, 2021 by mcphatty

[Stuartn]

That looks incredible. You've captured a lot of the angles and details nicely, and it looks great alongside your other microscale MOCs. Do you plan on building the RO/OT version in real bricks as well?

[Rubblemaker]

IT’S NOT MIC... ..... oh wait... you already did that...

Amazing job as ever Ron, these look as good now as the first time I saw them in the LUG! 

[mcphatty]

Thanks both!

@Stuartn I don’t plan to build the Tantive right now but I think I’d only need to spend around £50 on parts to colour swap the blue and grey Liberator to white and red, so maybe one day I’ll do a conversion!

[macaron35]

my god, this is amazing, hopefully I am not building everything you make otherwise I would be broke in no time :p

still, I think i will be putting this Tantive on my wish list :)

[mcphatty]

@macaron35 my wife isn’t happy with me because I have made everything, haha. Luckily she can’t see my Bricklink order history. And thanks! If you do make the Tantive I’d be very keen to see a photo.

Edited May 7, 2021 by mcphatty

[Tom_Brick]

Love it. The details are amazing...

[macaron35]

4 hours ago, mcphatty said:

@macaron35 my wife isn’t happy with me because I have made everything, haha. Luckily she can’t see my Bricklink order history. And thanks! If you do make the Tantive I’d be very keen to see a photo.

well my wife isn't happy either because she can see the results and how much space it is taking.

We are moving to a new house in 3 months and in the office, there is a full wall dedicated to Lego shelves. I swore her I would stop but you just forced me to keep going 

There are 3 ships i want madly, but I didn't buy or build them so far because of their size... the Tantive IV, a ISD and the arquitens class cruiser

 

I can no longer build ships exceeding the length of the Tantive IV because of the lack of space

I guess than the inside of the ship is too small / too low to fit minifigs ?

Would you mind posting a picture of the Tantive next to a 75211 Tie or a X-Wing

and another pic with the Tantive with minifigs ?

just to compare sizes

I have never built micro or mini before I am trying to figure out how the ship would like compared to others

thanks a lot

Edited May 7, 2021 by macaron35

[mcphatty]

@macaron35 Sorry for the slow reply! Most of my sets are in storage and I haven't had the time to grab an X-Wing or TIE for a photo, but hopefully these pictures will give you an idea of the size. It's almost the same length as set as the 2019 Tantive so any pictures you can find of that set with other fighters will help too.

 

[macaron35]

1 hour ago, mcphatty said:

@macaron35 Sorry for the slow reply! Most of my sets are in storage and I haven't had the time to grab an X-Wing or TIE for a photo, but hopefully these pictures will give you an idea of the size. It's almost the same length as set as the 2019 Tantive so any pictures you can find of that set with other fighters will help too.

 

Hi Ron,

thank you very much for your reactivity !!

That's great to hear. I guess the inside of the ship is too small for minifigs but I belong to those who don't open the ships and put minifigs inside. I will display minifigs in front of the ship.

I will be more than happy to build this Tantive, not immediately but it will definitely be on my to-do list :)