[MOC] - WIP - Kage Goomba's YT-2000 "Otana" - UCS - Ready for Evaluation

[Kage Goomba]

Sorry for the long "Dry spell" - been staring at this for a while trying to come up with a solution.

Here's the 3rd attempt at the turret.

Stripped the "stolen" quad guns off the UCS falcon down further - removed the extraneous crap and simplified to make it able to fit.

Then I squeezed the length of the dome frame so it would be centered. Now it is.

It's not a circle - but it looks better.

I've lost the mounting solution on this iteration - but those 4 axle holes on the pieces are likely where I'll mount from as they are there. May need @Kdapt-Preacher to test to see if it will be strong enough to hold with or without assistance if he's got the parts :)

Anyway...what do you guys think?

I'll have to change the plating on the engine array but I'm hopeful it won't be terrible.

PS: no loose bits - short of the obvious as I'm going to reinforce/strengthen.

[Kdapt-Preacher]

I have a bunch of those round pieces. The clutch parts of those axle holes are twice as thick as on a typical 2x2 round brick, effectively two plates thick instead of one, so they'll hold a lot of weight under typical applications. I may not have that many 2x2 slope bricks to build that whole thing, but I can work something out.

[Kage Goomba]

14 minutes ago, Kdapt-Preacher said:

I have a bunch of those round pieces. The clutch parts of those axle holes are twice as thick as on a typical 2x2 round brick, effectively two plates thick instead of one, so they'll hold a lot of weight under typical applications. I may not have that many 2x2 slope bricks to build that whole thing, but I can work something out.

More worried about them holding on the underside in terms of weight....if i need to thicken the "hole" with bricks with axle holes or cap them with a technic "clutch"?

[Kdapt-Preacher]

9 minutes ago, Kage Goomba said:

More worried about them holding on the underside in terms of weight....if i need to thicken the "hole" with bricks with axle holes or cap them with a technic "clutch"?

I would expect them to hold with just the four axles, but you'll certainly never go wrong with adding more or stronger connections. The round pieces have regular antistuds on the underside, too, so you ought to be able to add as many connection points as you want unless there's some particular reason that section can't easily align with the rest of the ship.

[Kage Goomba]

48 minutes ago, Kdapt-Preacher said:

I would expect them to hold with just the four axles, but you'll certainly never go wrong with adding more or stronger connections. The round pieces have regular antistuds on the underside, too, so you ought to be able to add as many connection points as you want unless there's some particular reason that section can't easily align with the rest of the ship.

Yet an another challenge to worry about lol

[Kage Goomba]

 

Made some progress with the new turret dome - coming along nicely - reinforced with plates so bits don't fall off.

Managed to use the 4 axel points to mount directly to the main body - it should hold - may be issues with weight - but with 4 points of contact.

If necessary I can add plates to reinforce the grip on the underside. Not sure.

Any thoughts on that?

there's a 2x2 Brick with a "+" hole in it that's surrounded by bricks and capped with a technic plate in terms of where its mounted at.

Thankfully I only had to nudge the whole structure by a millimeter forward to make it fit. Quite nice.

Edited March 15, 2022 by Kage Goomba

[elfprince13]

You can use longer standard axles in a sandwich, alternating passthrough technic plates (e.g. 2x4, 2x6, 2x8 with holes) that tie into the surrounding brick-built superstructure, and 2x2 round with axle holes for extra clutch (or the 2x4 bricks with axle holes if you really want to go hardcore). Ideally you want to run that all the way down to the bottom of the ship, and maybe stop for a few tie-ins to the existing technic infrastructure I see you have in place.

 

example:

Edited March 15, 2022 by elfprince13

[Kage Goomba]

1 hour ago, elfprince13 said:

You can use longer standard axles in a sandwich, alternating passthrough technic plates (e.g. 2x4, 2x6, 2x8 with holes) that tie into the surrounding brick-built superstructure, and 2x2 round with axle holes for extra clutch (or the 2x4 bricks with axle holes if you really want to go hardcore). Ideally you want to run that all the way down to the bottom of the ship, and maybe stop for a few tie-ins to the existing technic infrastructure I see you have in place.

 

example:

The idea has merit - but I'm not sure that will work for this situation. only got one axle per corner to work with.

Also need to be able to disassemble it (for whatever reason) if needed.

[elfprince13]

19 minutes ago, Kage Goomba said:

The idea has merit - but I'm not sure that will work for this situation. only got one axle per corner to work with.

Also need to be able to disassemble it (for whatever reason) if needed.

I think you could build a box around the turret + canopy area, connecting those 4 corners. If you go with longer axles, you could tie into the main body of the ship and not just those top few dome layers.

[Kage Goomba]

Not sure I like it..but its coming along.

[Kage Goomba]

Well this is terrifying.

I'm now ready to "mirror" the underside.

Scary thought.

Anyway - tell me what you guys think.

[Guyinaplaguemask]

It looks nice, but will you tile it off and add greebles, because it looks fairly barren right now.

[Kage Goomba]

4 hours ago, Guyinaplaguemask said:

It looks nice, but will you tile it off and add greebles, because it looks fairly barren right now.

Yes. I do intend to dress it up....although that will be a challenge in itself.

[Kage Goomba]

Check my first post for major update/details.

:)

[Mandalorianknight]

Superb job! Unfortunately I definately lack the funds to test build it for you, but I'll try to help however I can.

[Kage Goomba]

3 minutes ago, Mandalorianknight said:

Superb job! Unfortunately I definately lack the funds to test build it for you, but I'll try to help however I can.

I do not expect anyone to "build it" wholly at first - not by a long shot.

but smaller sections to make sure its feasible - I think can be done - hopefully.

[Kdapt-Preacher]

Looks great so far. The greebling's obviously an important part of the final look, but the shape is solid. Like I said at the outset, I've got a lot of pieces and am happy to test-build sections of it. I've got a fair bit of travel in the next few months, so I may only be able to do so intermittently, but I'll do what I can while I'm around.

[Kage Goomba]

3 minutes ago, Kdapt-Preacher said:

Looks great so far. The greebling's obviously an important part of the final look, but the shape is solid. Like I said at the outset, I've got a lot of pieces and am happy to test-build sections of it. I've got a fair bit of travel in the next few months, so I may only be able to do so intermittently, but I'll do what I can while I'm around.

I'll throw a file together or sub-section you can poke at if your interested.

My biggest concern honestly is the belly turret staying attached and a good cradle to hold it up.

[Kage Goomba]

Still here and talking to various MOC'ers - little distracted with a project taking up space on my table (TIE Defender) :P - but still working on my Otana too.

[BarfolomewMog]

 

Hi Kage, 

If you squared off the brick sloped sections (keep it at 8 studs wide at the front and 4 studs wide at the sides) so that the turret remains fixed as you've designed it, could these voids then be filled with wedge plates on hinges as you've done else where? I think it could soften the base of the turret a bit more than the current brick sloped square set solution and provide a surface that could be tiled or greebled as well.

Just a thought, it's really coming together regardless!

Cheers

 

[Kage Goomba]

33 minutes ago, BarfolomewMog said:

 

Hi Kage, 

If you squared off the brick sloped sections (keep it at 8 studs wide at the front and 4 studs wide at the sides) so that the turret remains fixed as you've designed it, could these voids then be filled with wedge plates on hinges as you've done else where? I think it could soften the base of the turret a bit more than the current brick sloped square set solution and provide a surface that could be tiled or greebled as well.

Just a thought, it's really coming together regardless!

Cheers

 

You'll have to forgive me - could you give me an example of what you mean?

Not following for some reason - likely due to exhaustion lol.

But I'm interested in what you mean.

[BarfolomewMog]

Hi Kage

The 4x4 plates (or whatever size works) would need to be packed out by a couple of plates to bring them up to level, but I think this is a pretty simple solution that uses your existing infrastructure.

The gaps would close up at the top and open up at the bottom but wedgeplates would help with that.

Or you could flip the mixel plates by 90 degrees and attach them to bricks to create 1x brick panels.

Just spitballing here but I think this might be an avenue worth exploring.

 

 

 

[Kage Goomba]

That is interesting - if I gave you a snip of my model could you build it out in Stud.IO for me?

For some reason I'm just not grasping it fully - but If im reading this right - your suggesting me platting it out.

The other concern is weight/load on the belly side as well.

[BarfolomewMog]

Ya, plating it out between the banks of slopes at the front and the sides.

I've never used Stud.io before, I'm more of a fiddle around kind of guy but perhaps this is the motivation I need!

My next mech is ready for photography and I want to shoot it on my next batch of days off so give me a couple of weeks to get my act together and I'll give it a crack.

I make no promises though! Maybe it'll turn to crap but I'm keen to see how it pans out.

Flick over that section when you're ready, I know you're busy wrapping your head around the TIE at  the moment.

Cheers

[Kage Goomba]

6 hours ago, BarfolomewMog said:

Ya, plating it out between the banks of slopes at the front and the sides.

I've never used Stud.io before, I'm more of a fiddle around kind of guy but perhaps this is the motivation I need!

My next mech is ready for photography and I want to shoot it on my next batch of days off so give me a couple of weeks to get my act together and I'll give it a crack.

I make no promises though! Maybe it'll turn to crap but I'm keen to see how it pans out.

Flick over that section when you're ready, I know you're busy wrapping your head around the TIE at  the moment.

Cheers

I'll DM you the file containing the section - if anything Stud.IO will let you have an unfettered look at it. Pictures as well if your not comfortable.

 

Stud.IO is a great tool for digital validation and testing - its not perfect - but for complex projects - its a boon for those who don't have a room full of lego bricks (like me hehe)

 

Course right now my table is flooded with TIE defender parts and I still have other models to build :P ugh.