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I posted my MK II Viper a few years
back. I finally got around to doing the MK VII version in LDD and rendered in
Bluerender.
It is built in the ~1 stud = 1 foot scale I have built my other models to. It
is slightly longer than scale, but that is to compensate for the extra width
that our overly obese minifigs require.
brickshelf gallery
when moderated
In my research, I realized that there are two subtly different versions out
there. The original has the wings blending into the fuselage all the way out
toward the nose and has different shaped wings. The “MK VIIB” has the wings
blending into the fuselage about the midpoint of the nose (and remind me a lot
of how the wings on an F-18 blend into the forward fuselage). I chose to try to
model the “B” model and used this
site put up by one
of the VFX modelers for the show as a reference.
This was a difficult build to try to make all the angles come together and look
“right” at this scale. The core is a 2x2 structure using the many bricks with
studs on their sides that are now available. The model literally has “studs up”
in all 6 directions to achieve the form.
I did look at this excellent
MOC of the MKVIIA by
atomictoaster85 somewhat in the build process as it appeared much smaller and
“true to scale” than other MK VII MOCs I have seen online. Given the shape of
the rear fuselage behind the cockpit, there are only so many ways to achieve the
“stepped” look with LEGO bricks at this size.and that portion of my model does
look very similar. I don’t know if I am satisfied with the large sloped wedges
on the sides of the rear of the fuselage relative to the MK VII reference I was
using and may continue to twiddle with it in the future.
A minifig does barely fit into the cockpit, but as a result, the controls and
instrumentation are not as detailed as I would normally like. Yet another
compromise when trying to build at a smaller scale.
I have been challenging myself to include fully retractable landing gear in
these Viper models that closes cleanly. On the nose gear, I didn’t quite
achieve the effect I wanted. I had another nose gear design planned (similar to
my LL919 model) but the nose structure became too compromised when I started
deleting bricks to make room for the nose gear assembly. So I ended up using a
simple hinge piece with a 1x2 brick. It works, but does interrupt the clean
lines of the bottom of the craft.
Lastly, I’m not sure I like the minifig surfboards for the wing/tail tips. I
thought they would look cool, but are too wide for the scale I’m working at. I
would also like to eliminate the gaps on the wing/tail cannons. Again, these
are some things I might continue to experiment with. But overall, I believe the
design is 90% there, and I am happy with it for now.
Thanks for looking,
drc
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