[MOC] KdaptPreacher's 1:1455 Fleet --- 208 ships and counting (New: Onyx Cinder)

[The-yukio]

On 10/11/2023 at 9:02 PM, Kdapt-Preacher said:

The bottom half is definitely used on its own (in 10256 Taj Mahal, for example, and probably other places), but I can't think of any examples of the top half either. I dunno. Very much a grey area. I don't use minifigure hands, personally--I know the majority of the community is cool with that, but it always seemed like a bit of a bridge too far for me. Using the turntables isn't as far, but I'm still not completely comfortable with it. I may get over it. We'll see. In the meantime, I fully support anybody else using the turntables if they prefer.

I've been looking and haven't come up with an example of them being used separately in an official set. If you can think of one, that would make up my mind immediately. In the meantime I'll think about exactly where I draw the line here. If I decide that it's legit, then I'd definitely consider replacing the boat studs on the Immobilizer; you're almost certainly right that they'd work better for some of those angle plates. It's moot for the moment since I'm not going to be able to make any structural changes to anything until I'm back in the US and have access to my physical bricks again anyway, but if you have the Immobilizer assembled and want to make that change I would completely encourage you to do so.

I must be stupid, as I can't find an official lego example either. I guess the only thing I can say is that they come separate in sets, the bottom part have been used on its own in official sets already, and the only way we'd be using the top turn piece is stud to stud connection. That's my argument for it being a legal method.

[The-yukio]

On an unrelated note, I'm looking at what I'd like to put in my Imperial fleet. So far I have a squadron of TIE fighters and bombers each, 3 Gozantis, 2 Arquitens, an Immobilizer, and an ISD still in the box. What other big grey triangles would be a good edition from a lore and aesthetic stand point? I was thinking of the Quaser Fire, or waiting for a Venator or Victory model. The Victory from Ky-e Bricks on Rebrickable looks nice, but I don't like the engine design a whole lot as its completely different from 75252. Getting a second 75252 is also off the table. Any suggestions?

[Starwarsfan12346]

2 hours ago, The-yukio said:

On an unrelated note, I'm looking at what I'd like to put in my Imperial fleet. So far I have a squadron of TIE fighters and bombers each, 3 Gozantis, 2 Arquitens, an Immobilizer, and an ISD still in the box. What other big grey triangles would be a good edition from a lore and aesthetic stand point? I was thinking of the Quaser Fire, or waiting for a Venator or Victory model. The Victory from Ky-e Bricks on Rebrickable looks nice, but I don't like the engine design a whole lot as its completely different from 75252. Getting a second 75252 is also off the table. Any suggestions?

If you want some more grey triangles, I would go with the Victory-II class Frigate. If you want want smaller there’s the Tartan, Lancer, and Carrack. Quasar is still a good choice though

[The-yukio]

On 10/18/2023 at 1:32 AM, Starwarsfan12346 said:

If you want some more grey triangles, I would go with the Victory-II class Frigate. If you want want smaller there’s the Tartan, Lancer, and Carrack. Quasar is still a good choice though

I've thought about the Lancer and Carrack, but the Victory-II looks a little fragile and not very robust.

[pancake87]

I cannot wait to see the finished Venator!

[pancake87]

On 9/15/2023 at 12:12 PM, Kdapt-Preacher said:

Basic structure of the ventral surface. Obviously lots of greebly work to do on the central bit and in the hangar, but I think this is about what the ventral hull armor needs to look like. This is the RotS version; the TCW version is very similar from this view but will have the brim notch much further back.

what is gonna be the approximate length of the model

[Kdapt-Preacher]

On 10/17/2023 at 12:10 PM, The-yukio said:

I must be stupid, as I can't find an official lego example either. I guess the only thing I can say is that they come separate in sets, the bottom part have been used on its own in official sets already, and the only way we'd be using the top turn piece is stud to stud connection. That's my argument for it being a legal method.

It's taken me seven months, but I have found an example, and it's even in a Star Wars set: they used one for 4-LOM's faceplate in the 2010 Celebration exclusive set. So like I said in October, that's immediate full approval for the turntables as far as I'm concerned; that's clearly the right way to do it. I should go back and look at my Immobilizer 418 model too, probably, since that has a couple of places where those boat stud 2x2s are currently used where they don't hold particularly well.

On 12/14/2023 at 3:56 AM, pancake87 said:

what is gonna be the approximate length of the model

Sorry for the very delayed response. It'll be approximately 98 studs long (~79cm, 31 inches).

[Kdapt-Preacher]

Alright, finally, here we are: #207, the MC30c frigate! Substantially the same as the previously posted version, but incorporating the feedback from The-yukio and TeddytheSpoon (thanks guys!), and with some slight color changes because it turns out that 1x1 stadium tile doesn't actually exist in dark tan.

[pancake87]

On 5/5/2024 at 10:25 AM, Kdapt-Preacher said:

It's taken me seven months, but I have found an example, and it's even in a Star Wars set: they used one for 4-LOM's faceplate in the 2010 Celebration exclusive set. So like I said in October, that's immediate full approval for the turntables as far as I'm concerned; that's clearly the right way to do it. I should go back and look at my Immobilizer 418 model too, probably, since that has a couple of places where those boat stud 2x2s are currently used where they don't hold particularly well.

Sorry for the very delayed response. It'll be approximately 98 studs long (~79cm, 31 inches).

Any update on a release for the venator instructions? 

[Kdapt-Preacher]

4 hours ago, pancake87 said:

Any update on a release for the venator instructions? 

Not really, unfortunately. The update is that I'm still in Australia and won't have access to physical bricks again for at least another six months (and maybe longer, depending on various factors). I've taken the Venator about as far as I can digitally; I don't think I can do much more with it until I've physically held it and can tell how well the internals actually hold up, and in particular how well the dorsal hull panels mesh with the bridge towers and superstructure around the back of the ship. I think I may have too much open space around the engines, but Stud.io can't really tell me that. So, rest assured that I am eventually going to finish it, but it's going to be a while yet, until I'm either back in the US or in a longer-term situation here.

[rocka5438]

off topic but how are you finding life here in australia?

[Kdapt-Preacher]

4 hours ago, rocka5438 said:

off topic but how are you finding life here in australia?

Australia is lovely. In my non-LEGO time I'm a marine ecologist, so I came to Australia to see the Great Barrier Reef and look at all your crabs, which you have a lot more of than we do in the US. The Indo-Pacific is the global center for crab biodiversity (just about all marine biodiversity, really), so there's a ton of stuff to do here, and it has not disappointed. I've seen upwards of a hundred new species of decapods in the last year, which is pretty hard to argue with as far as I'm concerned.

[Kdapt-Preacher]

Long time no update, and this still isn't much of an update since I'm still in Australia, still have no physical bricks, etc., etc. But I've been brainstorming on the Eye of Sion a bit and I've got a version that's reasonably round, reasonably thin, and I think will be sturdy enough to support the weight of the back end of the UCS ISD. I haven't been able to test that theory yet, due to the repeatedly mentioned Australia thing, but this is what I'm looking at at the moment.

Just the ring is already almost 3000 pieces before I've even started on the engines, stand, and connection to the ISD (which I think I have a reasonably solid plan for), and it'll need more greebling than it currently has, too. The Eye might end up being more pieces than the ISD itself. Although the Peridea Chimaera version of the ISD would have a lot more pieces than the regular one due to all the damage detailing, so that might still be more.

[ForgedInLego]

2 minutes ago, Kdapt-Preacher said:

I think will be sturdy enough to support the weight of the back end of the UCS ISD

I would suggest substituting the clip and bar connections with technic pin connections on the joints that will be in tension (the ones on the outer edge of the ring) so that they can't pull apart, but otherwise, it looks solid! Excited to see the rest of the build!

[Kdapt-Preacher]

6 minutes ago, ForgedInLego said:

I would suggest substituting the clip and bar connections with technic pin connections on the joints that will be in tension (the ones on the outer edge of the ring) so that they can't pull apart, but otherwise, it looks solid! Excited to see the rest of the build!

There's a lot of stuff that could maybe be done to make it sturdier, but the spacing is very awkward. To achieve the 12-degree angle between segments the clips are offset relative to each other by half a plate (not half a stud, half a plate) both horizontally and vertically, which isn't trivial to achieve with anything other than clips. I think this will hold up, but of course there's no way to know for sure if it'll hold without testing it IRL. Have to see.

Edited November 8, 2024 by Kdapt-Preacher

[Kdapt-Preacher]

Celebrating the release of Skeleton Crew (only a week late), we have #208, the Onyx Cinder! Pretty straightforward little model, but I think it's ended up being a pretty good representation of the ship. In more substantial news, after more than 18 months away I am finally back in the US and have access to my parts collection again, so at long last I should be able to start making progress on MOCs again! I have a lot of IRL work to do at the moment, so it's not going to be an immediate giant burst of stuff, but I'm optimistic that I'll be able to get things rolling again in the near future. It's past time to get the Venator finished.

[Calanon]

Just seen these all for the first time and these are great! I'd wanted to make some mini task forces/battle groups and these are perfect.

[Kdapt-Preacher]

On 12/12/2024 at 12:42 AM, Kdapt-Preacher said:

In more substantial news, after more than 18 months away I am finally back in the US and have access to my parts collection again, so at long last I should be able to start making progress on MOCs again! I have a lot of IRL work to do at the moment, so it's not going to be an immediate giant burst of stuff, but I'm optimistic that I'll be able to get things rolling again in the near future. It's past time to get the Venator finished.

Aaaaaand..... I'm moving to Guam. Immediately. Still in the US, technically, but no better than Australia was from a LEGO standpoint (actually worse, since there are LEGO stores in Australia and there aren't any in Guam. And the cost of shipping anything will be ridiculous). I'm not going to have time to finish the Venator or probably anything else. Sigh. IDK. I'll try to come up with some better solution so I can continue building MOCs in the future; I've hated not really being able to work on this project for the last two years, but it doesn't look like it's going to immediately improve.

[Mr Ogel]

sorry to hear that for your Lego projects - at least you still can build digitally....but watch out the Mariana Trench - don't dive too deep :)

[Calanon]

Sounds exciting professionally, even if highly frustrating from a hobby point of view.

If you have time to do anything in stud.io I'd love to see more small builds - I found a 1l bar with clip attached to bucket handle for a 1:1455 X-wing elsewhere and I used a 1x1 half circle extended for A-wing but I'm pretty stumped on a B-wing in that scale.

[Kdapt-Preacher]

4 hours ago, Calanon said:

Sounds exciting professionally, even if highly frustrating from a hobby point of view.

If you have time to do anything in stud.io I'd love to see more small builds - I found a 1l bar with clip attached to bucket handle for a 1:1455 X-wing elsewhere and I used a 1x1 half circle extended for A-wing but I'm pretty stumped on a B-wing in that scale.

Yeah, I think Guam is going to be great. Tons of crabs out there! The timing is just very awkward. As for the B-wing, the knife piece (44658) is about the right size. The stand would have to be kind of comically bulky compared to the ship, of course...

[Calanon]

3 hours ago, Kdapt-Preacher said:

Yeah, I think Guam is going to be great. Tons of crabs out there! The timing is just very awkward. As for the B-wing, the knife piece (44658) is about the right size. The stand would have to be kind of comically bulky compared to the ship, of course...

Good shout - I think 85861 or 3386 work well as a minimal stand for it.

At the back is something I was trying for X-wing but not sure.

[Kdapt-Preacher]

1 hour ago, Calanon said:

Good shout - I think 85861 or 3386 work well as a minimal stand for it.

At the back is something I was trying for X-wing but not sure.

Hmmm. 3386 is a good idea. I'd been thinking about a vertical clip so the B-wing could fly 'upright' with the knife blade downwards, but holding it horizontally like that is about as good. I definitely like the bucket and clip better for the X-wing, but they're all just difficult to make readable at this size. It's pure happy coincidence that the TIE fighters happen to work out as nicely as they do; basically no other starfighter is that cooperative.