[MOC] Hoth AT-ST

[Roses]

So after building a minifigure-scale Snowspeeder, I thought I would give the Empire a bit more firepower (not that they really needed it, come to think of it) and build an All Terrain Scout Transport - the famous AT-ST.

Though its fame is attributable to its appearance in Return of the Jedi, the vehicle made its first very brief appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. Featuring different proportions from its Endor variant, the Hoth AT-ST seems to have longer legs and a stockier head, which made figuring out the approximate size of the vehicle a bit of a challenge. The model is about 31 centimeters tall, half the size of the minifigure-scale AT-AT, so about 11 meters if it were in full scale. Most sources place the AT-ST between eight and nine meters tall, which I assume is for the more famous Endor variant, whereas the Hoth AT-ST seems to be taller to brace its snowy environment.

[muhkuh]

love it!

[Kage Goomba]

Nice!

[MaceWindu]

Wow, those legs! Most impressive!

[Guyinaplaguemask]

I wpuld,love to see a comparison between the hoth version, and endor version.

This looks fantastic, how stable is it?

[deraven]

Looks great, and the greebling is nicely done (especially around the guns).  

[Roses]

23 hours ago, muhkuh said:

love it!

22 hours ago, Kage Goomba said:

Nice!

21 hours ago, MaceWindu said:

Wow, those legs! Most impressive!

Thank you all!

20 hours ago, Guyinaplaguemask said:

I wpuld,love to see a comparison between the hoth version, and endor version.

These are the main reference pictures I used:

And here's what the Endor variant looks like:

The main differences are the proportions between the head and the legs, and the overall shape of the head, which looks stubbier and more elongated towards the back on the Hoth version.

20 hours ago, Guyinaplaguemask said:

This looks fantastic, how stable is it?

Not very ... Originally, it was fully articulated with all five movable joints on each leg. Going from the top of the leg to the feet, there were: (1) The joint connecting the body to the legs, to which I added a worm gear mechanism to try and make as stable as possible, (2) the forward top joint, (3) the first backward knee, which I think is the only movable joint on the new official AT-ST, (4) the lower backward knee and (5) the ankle.

Since the vehicle is so top-heavy and tends to lean forward, I had to fix most joints so the model wouldn't topple over while on display. I managed to get it in a walking position thanks to some quick adjustments, a stand to hold up one of the legs and some Photoshop magic.

18 hours ago, deraven said:

Looks great, and the greebling is nicely done (especially around the guns).  

Thank you! Greebling is my favorite part of building , it's a fun challenge trying to figure out what piece will be the perfect fit to recreate those tiny little details. I'm currently building a minifigure-scale Y-Wing, and that is 90% greebling!

[Daddy_Stardust]

Beautifully done. 

If you ever needed a side by side comparison, this may help to confirm how great a job you did:

[jdubbs]

5 hours ago, Roses said:

These are the main reference pictures I used:

It looks great! One question... did you try using a larger radar dish under the side canons? Or would it be too oversized? In the source photos, it looks like it chews up a substantial chunk of each side of the head.

[AIex]

Is there any sort of interior?

[Roses]

Here's a quick picture I took of the AT-ST with my recent Snowspeeder MOC:

20 hours ago, Daddy_Stardust said:

Beautifully done. 

If you ever needed a side by side comparison, this may help to confirm how great a job you did:

Ooh, thanks for sharing that picture! I couldn't find any actual side by side model comparisons online but it's nice to see how different both versions are.

19 hours ago, jdubbs said:

It looks great! One question... did you try using a larger radar dish under the side canons? Or would it be too oversized? In the source photos, it looks like it chews up a substantial chunk of each side of the head.

Thank you! I did try using a 6x6 dish, but it was much too big. Brickvault's Endor AT-ST uses the rare 5x5 dish, which I believe would be the best fit for the Hoth variant:

]

Unfortunately, I don't have any in my parts collection, and they would set me back about 25CAD if I were to buy two at the same Bricklink store. I think the 4x4 dish is the closest, most convenient replacement, though.

12 hours ago, AIex said:

Is there any sort of interior?

Nope! There used to be plenty of room inside the cabin to build an interior, but I ended up using that space to increase the structural stability of the AT-ST's head. Building interiors is something I'm trying to improve at, since I tend to set all focus on the exterior, then on the back and underside and finally on the inside. It's a low-priority zone for me but the MOCs that manage to include interiors do add a nice additional layer of detail to the build.

[AIex]

58 minutes ago, Roses said:

I ended up using that space to increase the structural stability of the AT-ST's head. Building interiors is something I'm trying to improve at, since I tend to set all focus on the exterior, then on the back and underside and finally on the inside. It's a low-priority zone for me but the MOCs that manage to include interiors do add a nice additional layer of detail to the build.

Definitely been there, haha! I had an older AT-ST design that could barely squeeze one minifig inside, and the sides of the head were attached mostly by hopes and dreams. Getting over both of those hurdles while retaining a good exterior is very tricky. Given the circumstances, I think you made the right choice, especially since the interior wouldn't be visible due to this variant's closed "eyes"

Fantastic work all around, and great photography, too.

[Roses]

20 hours ago, AIex said:

Definitely been there, haha! I had an older AT-ST design that could barely squeeze one minifig inside, and the sides of the head were attached mostly by hopes and dreams.

Oh, I'm also a strong adherent of hopes and dreams for holding things together  . It's very difficult to sacrifice details and accuracy for the sake of sturdiness.

20 hours ago, AIex said:

Getting over both of those hurdles while retaining a good exterior is very tricky. Given the circumstances, I think you made the right choice, especially since the interior wouldn't be visible due to this variant's closed "eyes"

Fantastic work all around, and great photography, too.

Thank you! I have a makeshift setup using dollar store carton sheets and standard Ikea desklamps, but the real savior is Adobe Lightroom to adjust the exposure and white balance of the subjects and the background separately, that is if you're shooting with RAW.

Here's the original shot I took for the edited picture, for which I used a greenscreen:

That is before Lightroom editing for the color temperature, exposure, highlights and shadows, and Photoshop for removing the stand and the green reflections from the green screen that are all over the AT-ST, and for the background editing. The Snowspeeder and AT-ST are the first two MOCs I've ever used Photoshop on, and I can't sing the praises for that program enough.

[cheech]

Looking great !!!

mine is not a complete moc, just a mod….

 

[muhkuh]

@Roses hey there do you sell a instruction? 
Regards Max

[LEGO Train 12 Volts]

Stunning AT-ST, the photos have superb quality and the first green screen image has unprecedented professionalism!

[Roses]

On 7/31/2022 at 3:03 AM, LEGO Train 12 Volts said:

Stunning AT-ST, the photos have superb quality and the first green screen image has unprecedented professionalism!

Thanks! It was a pretty fun way of learning a bit about Photoshop

On 5/20/2022 at 4:28 AM, cheech said:

Looking great !!!

mine is not a complete moc, just a mod….

*snip*

Thank you! That looks quite good, I appreciate the added mobility and stability from the Technic ratchet joints. My version is a pain and a half to pose, balance and display

On 7/28/2022 at 5:24 AM, muhkuh said:

@Roses hey there do you sell a instruction? 
Regards Max

Sorry, I don't have any plans on making instructions for this model.

[cheech]

[cdavidc29]

This is one of the few MOC’s I’ve seen of the Hoth variant. I always knew it was a little different to the Episode 6 / Endor version, but the attention you paid to those differences help this model stand out in comparison to others.