[MOC] Coming SOON! Space Battleship Yamato 2199 and Star Blazers Argo (1970's version) new MOCS and some consolidation!

[Corellian Corvette]

Within the next few days I'm going to release two new MOC's of the Space Battleship Yamato and consolidate some of the confusing things I did around stands, colors, etc. Going forward I will only have 2 MOC's.

I know quite a few people have built the Chinese / Vonado / AliExpress Yamato which was created as a set using "compatible" bricks (although with quite a few unfortunate color changes). I was seeing a lot of interest in that build, but it prevented me from making changes which I'd been working on over time, and I decided it's time to retire that MOC and update with new parts and some new build techniques.

I've also spent a bunch of time on the manual this time - I really wanted it to feel like a "real" Lego set.

So with that, very soon there will be two new MOC's up, and as always both will have free instructions for download (I'm waiting for them both to be approved so I can retire the existing ones and link to the new designs)

Space Battleship Yamato 2199
This is an nearly complete re-build and if you're going to build only one, build this one. It's so much better than the original in terms of detailing, proportions, rigidity, etc. It's just better in every way, although it's going to be a bit pricey and comes in about 500 pieces more than the old MOC (but it includes the stand!). For anyone who build the original MOC (or has the Chinese KO) I'm going to make a parts list available to be able to "upgrade" from that build to the new 2199 Version. It will shave quite a bit of $$ off the build to buy the bootleg set and complement with new bricks, although I always encourage people to build using all original bricks (there are some parts like the minifigure hands and lettering from the stand that is way more cost effective to just get the bulk parts)

https://www.bricksafe.com/pages/apenello/space-battleship-yamato-2199-

Star Blazers Argo (1970's version)

There are actually differences between the ship in the 70's anime and the new update (and lots of changes to the ship over the years) and the last MOC was sort of a mix of different designs. In this case, I kept the sleeker, smaller MOC and updated it with a bunch of new techniques (a *lot* of changes to the interior structure make this much more rigid) and optimizations to the instructions to make the build a little more fun. 

This build is simpler, cheaper, with less pieces. I still think this looks great, and it's cheaper to build so I'm keeping the older build going and making it more of a "retro" ship model.

https://www.bricksafe.com/pages/apenello/star-blazers-argo-space-battleship-yamato-new-for-2021

 

Here are some side-by-side renders showing the differences in the two ships. It's hard to show in pictures but I'm really happy with the detail and proportions of the 2199 version. 

Feedback is always appreciated! 

Thanks!

[Geihlen]

This is a really, really fantastic rendition of the Yamato. You've done a great job with shaping and details while also striking a nice balance between something that displays well and something that could be flown around the living room. Very impressive.

[Corellian Corvette]

Thank you but I must always, always give credit to the original designer Clayton Marchetti who built the original version back in 2018. He's does incredible stuff https://www.flickr.com/photos/10130710@N03/

There were no instructions or guides for his build, so I had to use pictures to come up with something that could be built. And of course, I had no idea what the inner structure looked like. On top of which making actual buildable instructions, etc. took A LOT of time. 

I've been absolutely obsessed with this and have never really stopped making tweaks/improvements. When the KO Yamato was released, a lot of people were building it and giving me suggestions for improvements, and of course the availability of new parts in new colors over the last few years have helped as well. So by now, both models are really about as good as I can make them thanks to new parts and feedback from builders. 

By now, the 2199 Model has drifted pretty far from the original in many ways. They look similar but share only about 1/2 of the parts (mostly the outer hull parts), and that's after incorporating a lot of the improvements for the 2199 version back to the original build.

And yes, this is 100% flying around the house approved! That was ABSOLUTELY mandatory and my 6yo fly's it around the house all the time. I've been considering creating some sort of techinc "handle"  somewhere because the structure is super stable and strong, but you do have a lot of little wings on the bottom that make it hard to find a good hand position. 

[Geihlen]

Well, you've done an excellent job interpreting and iterating on that original model.

I can relate to obsessing over a project and constantly tweaking things. I'm working on something now that has been like...7 weeks in the making now and, even as I'm building it in real bricks, I'm still fiddling with it. In any case, your determination with this one looks to have paid off big time.

A technic handle would be a very fun idea, though I can definitely see the challenge in finding a good spot for it. I guess if it's that sturdy and a 6 year old is already swooshing it, it's probably just fine as is.