[MOC] Docking Bay 723

[dsoffers]

No, that’s not a typo in the topic title.. The Death Star has a lot of Docking Bays. In short: while this is based on Docking Bay 327, it is smaller and due to space limitations (and limited techniques) has a few different designs. Therefore I decided not to call it a DB327-moc and give it a twist of my own...

I originally intended to post this about a month ago, when I finished the project in LDD. Every time I was about to start writing this post, I hesitated and backed off. I guess part of me was afraid of your comments, because imo, compared to the other amazing MOC’s on this forum and on other places of the internet, mine is a bit ’simple’. But I eventually decided that posting this is the only way to learn new tricks and improve my techniques.

I guess I should also add a bit of background information about my Lego life, in case people missed my post in the SW Purchases thread: I haven’t touched a Lego brick for over 16 years, until about 2 months ago. During the summer (when I got bored with the usual videogames) I was already considering doing something with Lego again. I still had a (16y old) Technic set that I never finished and that would have been the perfect starting point. Like this topic I’ve been postponing it for a few months but occasionally browsing through the available Lego sets. Pretty quickly I decided that I’d go for the Star Wars sets as I’ve always been a fan of the movies. (Still need to watch those Clone Wars seasons..) I showed a few to my mom who immediately decided she would get me the UCS R2-D2 for Christmas and the dawn of my new Lego era had arrived (around half October).

After purchasing a few sets I simply fell in love with the 7965 Millennium Falcon. It was such an amazing build (for me at least, with my inexperience) with me constantly wondering where certain pieces were going to be used.. This lasted throughout the entire build until it all fit together in the end. While the set isn’t perfect (reading reviews here showed me that), I can only dream of a UCS Millennium Falcon so this is as good as it gets for me. This MF was so cool I decided to build it a proper home.

While browsing the forums, MOCpages and other websites I stumbled upon the Docking Bay 327 MOC’s and decided that would be the way to go for my MF. Incase you’ve never seen them, these are the 2 I used for inspiration:

http://rebrickable.c...-for-ucs-falcon

http://mocpages.com/moc.php/293188

While these are awesome, I had (very) limited display space and, while I knew I would not be able to ’compete’ with the other designs, I also definately did not want to copy them. This project consisted of a lot of ’first times’ for me:

• First time working in LDD.
  
• First time creating something based on something ’real’
  
• First time using Bricklink
  

(And a few others I’m probably forgetting right now..)

If you managed to read through all this text, I will now reward you with the necessary pictures (click to enlarge).

Overview while still on the dining room table

Luke trying to disconnect the fuel lines

(Those lights look a lot better in person than in the picture..)

Luke is still messing with those fuel lines...

…when he’s spotted by an Imperial Officer..

(I designed this without actually using a minifigure to decide on the scale, I’m glad I can fit a minifig in there but I’ll need to increase the height on it whenever I do another Bricklink order.)

Chewie has Darth Vader in his sights while Leia is aiming at someone else..

Overview in the 'display area' (which also shows who Leia was aiming at)

I also made a short video showing off the Leds, I'll update this post with the Youtube link once I've uploaded it.

1 of the red wall leds arrived dead, so I need to put in a new order to replace it. I originally intended red & blue background lights for the Darth Vader/Obi Wan scene but I seem to have misplaced my 2 blue leds, so I decided on 1 red and 1 white with a transparant red plate. The effect is not really what I had in mind though so when I order new leds I'll probably replace the leds with lit up Lightsabers.

*EDIT*

The video's up now, sorry for the shaky camera:

Edited December 26, 2013 by dsoffers

[CardinalBricks]

This looks perfect! For what it is, this is as good as it can get!! Well done.

[BEAVeR]

That's a really nic docking bay! It's nice to see that MF getting a proper home. You did really well with all those greebles on the walls, and the decorating of the bay itself. I love the placement of those crates.

You say you've posted this to improve your techniques. Well, it's already a great build. You used SNOT techniques where appropriate, abd greebling seems to go very well. The use of lights is amazing. If there's something to improve, it would be perhaps the minifig placement. It's already very good, but some minifigs seem a little pointless, thus distracting from the story you really want to tell. As for building techniques, my only remark would be that i'd want to see those corners of the great entrance of the bay rounded. Now you've used slopes, but I think using the viggest arc pieces would do a better job ere.

I still think this is a great build, abd worthy counterpart of that big hangar bay for the UCS MF. You did an amazing job here, congratulations! Never fear to post something again.

[Only Sinner]

I just had to stop and sat thanks for sharing this fine MOC. I really tike all the detail you put into such a limited space. It's also nice to see a little spin on canon as apparently, the Empire has been using reprogramed Droidekas from back in the Clone Wars. I imagine this notion will be put into a novel or some other EU material if it's not already. I like this slightly alternate Death Star scene and all the work that went into it.

[dsoffers]

Thanks for all those nice comments, next time I won't be so shy to post my creations, I promise.

I've also updated the first post with the video.

If there's something to improve, it would be perhaps the minifig placement. It's already very good, but some minifigs seem a little pointless, thus distracting from the story you really want to tell. As for building techniques, my only remark would be that i'd want to see those corners of the great entrance of the bay rounded. Now you've used slopes, but I think using the viggest arc pieces would do a better job ere.

About the minifig placement, I originally had a different layout in mind with more Stormtroopers but after putting the Falcon in place there was not enough space left to work out that idea, so I had to improvise. I had read about using arc pieces for the gate but the guy who made the bigger MOC posted somewhere that certain parts needed painting, which I didn't want to do. I'll have a look though and keep it in mind for the next version.

It's also nice to see a little spin on canon as apparently, the Empire has been using reprogramed Droidekas from back in the Clone Wars.

Whoops, even though I'm a fan of Star Wars those Droidekas look all the same to me.. And these were the only 2 I had, I couldn't send the Imperial Officer in there by himself, that would be cruel. There were supposed to be 2 Stormtroopers accompanying him, but I only have 1 so it was a last minute decision to go with the Droidekas.

Some 'fun facts' I forgot to post yesterday:

* Display area (LxWxH): 70x48x45

* MOC size (LxWxH): 70x48x26

* 112 unique bricks

* Total brick count: 2479 (Which would have ended up lower if I had rebuilt it in LDD using more efficient brick choices. To get the basic walls done I sometimes copied a certain brick in order to change it later and then forgot all about it. Redoing would improve the structure and stability, but it's not falling over so I'm happy.)

And even though it is quite small I tried to build the gate big enough to let the Falcon pass through. And it worked!

(Some quick pictures while I was finishing off the gate, which is why the top wasn't connected yet)

Edited December 26, 2013 by dsoffers

[pihlbrick]

It looks really great. My first impression from the first shot was that this looks like an old 8-bit C64 game with the blocky arrows (totally thumbs up)

But I would really hate having to pilot the falcon through such a narrow doorway :) seems it would be hard to turn it around in there as well. But as a display peace it is beautiful!

Edited December 26, 2013 by pihlbrick

[Lobot]

Excellent work, it's beautifully finished

[dsoffers]

But I would really hate having to pilot the falcon through such a narrow doorway :) seems it would be hard to turn it around in there as well. But as a display peace it is beautiful!

I honestly wouldn't want to pilot it out of there either, luckily (?) for them they'll never have to.

Excellent work, it's beautifully finished

Wow, thank you for this, it's an honor.. I never expected this to be blogged.

[BEAVeR]

Thanks for all those nice comments, next time I won't be so shy to post my creations, I promise.

I've also updated the first post with the video.

About the minifig placement, I originally had a different layout in mind with more Stormtroopers but after putting the Falcon in place there was not enough space left to work out that idea, so I had to improvise. I had read about using arc pieces for the gate but the guy who made the bigger MOC posted somewhere that certain parts needed painting, which I didn't want to do. I'll have a look though and keep it in mind for the next version.

You better won't be shy! Imagine what great bulds wouldn't get blogged then ;)

About the minifigs, I see what your point is. But when so much different things are going onin such scene, one gets distracted from the build and the story. Maybe you could try concentrating all the action towards one point. Some other fun observations about the minifigs: Luke seems floating in the air. And Luke and Leia seem to have exchanged their torso's ;)

most arc pieces seem available in white, like piece 6060 or 2339, so you won't need to paint anything. It's one of the only improvements I can see on this well investigated (well, apart from the droidekas perhaps ;) ) MOC. Looking through it again, I noticed some nice details, as well as multi-layered texturing in some places. All those grids are really nice.

[dsoffers]

@BEAVeR: You're totally right about the torso's.. I probably messed up while building the Falcon and didn't pay enough attention to the manual. I switched them and it looks a lot better. Thanks. You're also right about the floating Luke but hey, he's a Jedi, who knows what other powers they have that we don't know about.. (I can't get him to stand on his feet while he's holding the tube, he always starts floating. We could also pretend that he jumped to get to the cable and it's a sort-of snapshot of that moment. )

I'll see if I can rearrange the figs to concentrate the action a bit more but, as it's only visible from the side, Luke, the Imperial Officer and the Droidekas are hard to spot as they're in the background. I currently have my 2 nephews on a sleepover so it'll have to wait a few days though.

And I was so wrong about the Droidekas in that scene. I thought I remembered seeing them in Episode 4. (I remember a Jedi shouting "Master! Destroyers!" but that turned out to be Ep.1..) Now I need to get a few extra Stormtroopers to fix that.

Edited December 26, 2013 by dsoffers