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 Building / Mecha / 10634
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Subject: 
Re: A way to get dirtside when driving a light mech
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.build.mecha
Date: 
Tue, 4 May 2004 01:59:47 GMT
Viewed: 
620 times
  
In lugnet.build.mecha, Tobias Möller wrote:
   You have improved, and I mean it in a good way ;) I thought your first dropship was way cool, and I was really impressed by it, this ship is much more detailed than the previous one, and its shape is smoother, except for in front; the body-to-cockpit transition is a bit rough, but overall, it looks sleeker (as sleek as “the panel-van of 31:st century warfare” can get ;))

While it does not compare in size with the previous one, the greater attention to detail and coherent color scheme more than makes up for it. I like the weapon designs, they look beefy and like they pack a mighty punch.

The mechs look good as well, I especially like the blue one.

Your work is very inspiring - I actually took up mecha building because of your first dropship. I wanted to build one too, and combine my interest in building space with my interest in mecha, which at that time had yet to manifest itself in an actual creation.

--Tobias

Thanks for the response! I agree about the body-to-cockpit transition. When I build a dropship, I start with the cargo area, because the internal space requirement and my parts inventory are the only binding constraints. (Luckily, we Lego builders don’t need to worry about the actual physics of dropping out of orbit with 100 tons of lethal cargo). That basically leaves me with a rectangular box that needs to look high-powered at the back, tapered at the front, and greebled all over (as much as possible). So, yes, the transitions can be awkward.

I’m glad that my MOCs were inspiring to you. I started posting here because of all the inspiration I’ve gotten from the great artists that hang out on this board (and .space too!), and I wanted to share my own stuff on the chance that others might get some good ideas from it.

I hope you do build a dropship, because I’d like to see it! Eric Sophie also mentioned an interest. I’d like to see how other builders resolve the challenges in dropship design, like:

1. Imparting a dynamic shape to what is essentially a cargo container

2. The bottom side. Notice you’ve never seen the underside of my dropships? Well, there’s nothing but an ugly skid plate. Tricky landing gear would need to be sturdy to handle the weight, but would cut into the precious cargo space.

3. Mech deployment. So far I’ve sectioned the sides to swing half up and half down, but that seems a poor design for high speed aerial deployment of jump-jet equipped mechs, like in the end-of-game video from Mechwarrior 3 (okay, so I’m a little concerned about the physics). A sliding door design would be sweet, but potentially a space- and part-hog.

Of course, these problems are similar to those faced by the capital ship builders, but with a dropship you have the added challenge of needing lots of open interior space, because of the height and bulk of the mechs.



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: A way to get dirtside when driving a light mech
 
You have improved, and I mean it in a good way ;) I thought your first dropship was way cool, and I was really impressed by it, this ship is much more detailed than the previous one, and its shape is smoother, except for in front; the (...) (20 years ago, 3-May-04, to lugnet.build.mecha, FTX)

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