MOC / Modification: Ice Planet 2002 Leviathane

[Roger_Smith]

I recently bought a huge lot of old Lego system stuff from Ebay, consisting mostly of Space and Town Parts from around the time of my childhood. I'm still in the process of identifying what sets are buried in that lot (It contained no instructions or boxes), but one that was easy to identify, as it was still 80% intact when I got the lot, was 6973 Deep Freeze Defender.

I bought the lot mostly because it had a lot of Blacktron 1 and M-Tron stuff, and originally thought I'd propably resell the Deep Freeze Defender, since Ice Planet came out when I was just losing interest in lego in my childhood. But it is missing a few parts and when I saw what low price even complete sets go for on ebay.de, I quickly thought otherwise.

I didn't care for the sets original design very much. The general idea is cool, but I didn't like the way its wings strut out randomly in all directions, and there are several areas throughout that seem thoughtless and unimaginative to me.

So it was clear to me that I would use it as a starting point to create a ship of my own, while refering to the original plan in some parts.

I took some inspiration from ships like the Futuron 200, borrowing the concept of a ship with a longer hull in the middle and two smaller cockpits at the wingtips.

This is the result:

A view from the back:

Cockpit detail:

I decided that my version of the ship would be a lot less peaceful than the original Ice Planet theme. Thus I added manned lasers on the wings that can be turned to either side to some extent.

The original Deep Freeze Defender could be separated and recombined in several parts. Since I based the main hull of the ship on the original instructions, the aft section of my ship can also be separated from the rocket-holding-section. I forgot to take a picture of that, but its not that interesting anyway.

I also made the wings and outer cockpits separable from the main hull, which leaves a sleek, streamlined ship:

The wings and outer cockpits can be recombined to form a smaller spaceship with one laser...

or two lasers in the middle!

Some more detail shots:

I'm pretty satisfied with the outcome, but I still have some ideas that I might add in the future:

- adding a second locking mechanism on the outer side of the wing cockpits. That way, I could recombine them into a smaller ship with one cockpit in the middle and two wings with turning lasers.

- creating an interlocking part that could be stored inside the back of the wing cockpits that would allow the two cockpits to be connected directly

- adding a locking mechaism between the main cockpit and the rest of the ship's main body so the cockpit cound be combined with the cargo section at the back. This may prove difficult or impossible to do without harming the ships look.

Tell me what you think of my creation. This is actually the biggest spaceship I ever built, and also my first big creation since I rediscovered Lego just several weeks ago.

[jonwil]

Nice job, really captures that Ice Planet feel whilst looking bigger and better :)

[DraikNova]

Pretty cool. As johnwill mentioned, this really captures the theme's feel.

Edited February 15, 2013 by DraikNova

[Roger_Smith]

Thanks you two :)

Nice job, really captures that Ice Planet feel whilst looking bigger and better :)

That was the intention

At 54 studs (52 not counting parts extending over its edge) length it isn't actually that much longer than the Deep Freeze Defender. It's a lot wider though, at 50 studs.

[Big Sal]

Really nice - I like how you made the canopy at the front

[Si-MOCs]

Oh man that brings back memories... Great re interpretation of the old theme. That front section is gorgeous!

And good on you adding in some of those classic play features

But you're missing engines in the back

[Captain Settle]

Fantastic MOC. Looks much better than the original set.

[Roger_Smith]

Thanks again

Oh man that brings back memories... Great re interpretation of the old theme. That front section is gorgeous!

And good on you adding in some of those classic play features

But you're missing engines in the back

The Deep Freeze Defender had like a dozen jet engines underneath the main hull, and none at the back. I stuck to that idea, just didn't line them up in a row... makes more sense that way to me, otherwise they'd just burn each other