[MOC] Midi-scale Naboo and Mandalorian N-1 Starfighters

[mcphatty]

This ship is an old favourite of mine, along with Anakin's Podracer they represent the geeky peak of my youth! Having a go at this in midi-scale was a lot of fun, the ship came together really quickly and going bigger than micro meant being able to explore lots of ways to do the curvy body. It's turned out to be a simple little build that is about 2/3 the length of the last set by Lego and hopefully just as sturdy.

I started this one with the cockpit and droid socket area, a pilot can sit inside but it's a tight fit, their arms will have to be touching the controls at exactly the right angle and their hands need to be upside down. I've managed to squeeze in controls and a single instrument along with some seat padding, the pilot will be sitting on the floor which is the plate running along the bottom of the ship. The sides of the ship were the most interesting part of putting this together, getting them connected so they rest in position and don't move was tricky. I have to admit that I stole the engine construction from the 2015 Naboo Starfighter set 75092, the designers have definitely come up with the best method there is and it's a very strong and cheap solution too. Finally, there's a simple and cheap stand to display the starfighter, at a bookshelf-friendly angle. I had the idea for this on the 1st of May and hammered away at it for two days to get it finished for the 4th, there's nothing like leaving your homework until the last minute, right? I am working on a Mandalorian version, making slow progress but I'll have it done at some point.

The N-1 is a compact 27.2cm long, 20.8cm wide and weighs about 200g, overall its about 2/3 the size of the 2015 N-1 set. Free instructions are on Rebrickable, I used the most common parts I could to keep the cost down, for the 259 pieces it will cost about £25 but adding a printed droid head will be extra. I finished this one a little while ago and have made a few minor updates to more closely match the build of my Mando version (posted later). Thanks for looking!

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-110240/ron_mcphatty/midi-naboo-n-1-starfighter

The Mandalorian's N-1 is ready too! More info on a later reply, here's a couple of pictures...

 

 

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by mcphatty

[SerenityInFire]

Nice build.  It looks good enough that it could be an actual set!  It's also cool that you have the whole gang there with Queen Armadillo.   

Edited June 19, 2022 by SerenityInFire

[mcphatty]

@SerenityInFire thanks! And I’ve enjoyed collecting mini figures again, posing them around Mocs adds a lot to a picture, I forgot that whilst doing micro stuff.

I’ve also resumed work on Dinn’s N-1, here she is so far…

Edited August 30, 2022 by mcphatty

[mcphatty]

I've dragged my feet with the Mandalorian version of my N-1, everyone else seemed to get it out there within 24hrs of the episode, but here she is! The structure is essentially the same as my Naboo N-1, still very strong as swooshable, with some hints at exposed structural areas and slightly different engines. I have decided to go with strength and low cost rather than exhastive detail, since the cockpit is oversized anyway I was never going to be able to make this as accurate as some of the other amazing versions out there but there is plenty of detail and the tail and bottom engine definitely won't fall off :) The ship is 28cm long, consists of 331 common pieces and cost around £31 to build. Instructions are free over on Rebrickable...

https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-115255/ron_mcphatty/midi-mandalorian-n-1-starfighter/#details

[Big_Daddy]

This still more or less feels like the "correct" scale for me. Whenever I read about minifig scale, this is what I think about and not some behemoth UCS Millennium Falcon.

Great work by the way!

[Henry Bricklider]

Both of these builds look great! This midi-scale feels far more appropriate for smaller scale ships like the N-1 than many of the official releases; I don't think I was aware of how nice this scale was prior to seeing these builds. It makes me want to build some ships with this scaling in mind.

[khatmorg]

On 8/30/2022 at 10:48 AM, Big_Daddy said:

This still more or less feels like the "correct" scale for me. Whenever I read about minifig scale, this is what I think about and not some behemoth UCS Millennium Falcon.

Great work by the way!

According to this article ; https://brickset.com/article/62976/minifigure-scale-star-wars-vehicles it's actually too large still. At 28cm length it's closer to minifigscale (24,17cm) than any other official version though, at least going by length. Proportionally, yeah it looks chibi-ish.

I really dig the look though, nice job!

[Big_Daddy]

22 hours ago, khatmorg said:

According to this article ; https://brickset.com/article/62976/minifigure-scale-star-wars-vehicles it's actually too large still. At 28cm length it's closer to minifigscale (24,17cm) than any other official version though, at least going by length.

Funny you should refer to this article, it's what I was alluding to when I mentioned the UCS MF   

[mcphatty]

The cockpit windscreen and bubble canopy pieces give these their chibi look, they’re a bit too big but I think the rest of the ships’ proportions are okay. 

@khatmorg I hadn’t read that article before, thanks for the link! It’s interesting to see which sets are the closest to their chosen minifigure scale. I like the idea of choosing the UCS Falcon as a reference, 1:41 is a good scale for minifigures looking the right size in scenes.

[mcphatty]

I've spray painted a couple of my mocs silver and the result has been pretty good, so I thought I'd give it a go on Mando's N-1. I use vinyl dye spray paint, as far as I know it's used for painting synthetic leather and soft plastics, for example car interiors, but it works well on ABS too. The paint soaks slightly into the Lego and offers some scratch resistance, unfortunately it also changes the surface texture making it harder to pull pieces apart. Two coats gives a good finish without adding any thickness, most importantly the Lego logo is still clear! I'm pleased with how this one looks, I'd planned to only paint the light grey pieces but also tried the dark grey cones on the engine intakes and the darker base colour actually gives a better reflection.

[Falcrum]

As stunning as your MOC is, I wouldn't be able to tell myself that it has any shiny parts. Maybe it's only my phone, but everything looks like it's either pure light bluish gray or dark bluish gray. The only thing hinting use of reflective parts are occasional white spots (so tiny reflections) but they can be taken for dust easily.

 

Wonderful job though!

Edited September 24, 2022 by Falcrum

[mcphatty]

@Falcrum You’re not wrong. I was comparing the pictures to the original flat light grey MOC, the silver rally stands out and I thought the reflections and bright sunlight helped, but on its own it’s hardly noticeable… maybe like you say a little bit dusty! I’ll have to work on showing the silver off better.

[Hold0511]

4 hours ago, mcphatty said:

@Falcrum You’re not wrong. I was comparing the pictures to the original flat light grey MOC, the silver rally stands out and I thought the reflections and bright sunlight helped, but on its own it’s hardly noticeable… maybe like you say a little bit dusty! I’ll have to work on showing the silver off better.

I went down the Plasti-kote path for Jeracs RZ and Azanderk's N1 - same problem with the light/sun and taking pics - half light or indirect sunlight is your friend in being able to see your shiny silver N1.  (https://bricksafe.com/pages/hold0511/jeracs-razor-crest - you would not believe its the same ship...).

If you get a chance to do some more pics that can show off your paint scheme that would be great to see - I love seeing the different N1s and how the panels all work out.

[Agent Kallus]

These are great and IMO perfectly scaled.

[Falcrum]

I read the discussion here; there is no single minifig scale, it simply doesn't exist. There is, however, a valid range of minifigure-about scales. The reason for it are the proportions of the LEGO figure - its width and height are not in sinc - so either the LEGO man is very plus-sized, or very short. If you scale builds to the height, then the figure will be too thick to fit inside, if you choose width, the build will tower over the minifigure. Therefore, you must find the sweetspot between those two extremities, and in my opinion this build is a perfect example of that.

Edited October 4, 2022 by Falcrum