Subject:
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Re: New Blacktron I Creations
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.space
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Date:
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Sun, 2 Apr 2000 20:37:27 GMT
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(details)
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John Robert Blaze Kanehl wrote in message ...
> Ahhhhh <sigh> trans yellow 4x10 plates, classic gray landing plates and
> Blacktron....ohh to be young again...lol
>
> My brief Dark Age was in college, so I missed much of Blacktron...I only
> have some figs from eBay auctions and minifig pacs...
I was originally only marginally into space, then last year I lucked into a
6973 Deep Freeze Defender for $18. At first, I bought itfor the garage door,
(un)fortuanately for me, it came assembled (a kid is entering his dark ages,
and selling his sets through a used toy store, to make sure he has the set,
he builds them up, and then the store displays them built). This allowed me
to see just how neat a set it is. Then I bought out another kid entering his
dark ages. I was buying town and castle stuff from him, but he had a fair
bit of space. The 6894 Invader was one of the sets there. After both of
those acquisitions, I reallized I really like both of those themes, and have
acquired more.
One thing I realize I still need to get more of is more trans-yellow
canopies. I've got a good quantity of plates and bricks, but not enough
canopies. I only had one other 4x6x2 canopies (I do have a bunch of 3x6x1
canopies). I'd also like more trans-yellow window glass.
> I think you captured and executed the modularity that was the Strength and
> innovation of Blactron 1 ...I love your variations in combining the
> modules...wow you could easily integrate these containers, etc into a
fleet.
When I went to see Chris Giddens and his big space ship, I was treated to an
amazing space display. Amongst the display of course were several varieties
of modular ships (TLC obviously likes this, it's too bad Star Wars doesn't
lend itself better to this, they obviously still are thinking somewhat
modular, though the other recent space themes have been mostly un-modular
[at least of the sets I have bought or looked at]). It was obvious to me
that modularity was one of the neat things about many of the space sets.
My next space project will be doing something with all the Ice Planet 2002
bits I've collected. I'll probably make a nice big base for them (I do have
6983 Ice Station Oddesey for a start). One thing I need to do is modify the
Deep Freeze Defender's missile so it is the same as the others in the
series, which will mean modifying the Deep Freeze Defender some. I'll
probably make it more modular at that point also, which will make it easier
to find a way to use the 2nd DFD that I have to make a larger ship.
Other groups which will be in my space lineup will be Spyrius, Space Police
I (I don't have many sets, but have a bunch of parts), possible Space Police
II (have one or two minifigs and a bunch of logo parts), possibly M-Tron
(again, got a bunch of parts and a few sets), and I'll probably work some
Star Wars ships into the mix. I've got a TON of 1843 Castle/Space value
packs, plus the base, I really should have bought the Spyrius sets the toy
store had, at least the 6939 Saucer Centurion, perhaps if they hadn't had
6949 Robo-Guardian, I might have not turned away from Spyrius in disgust (I
just am not much of a "large robots"/Robotech fan).
> You have inspired me...I have been focusing on Castle/Ninja creations
> lately, but Space was my most beloved theme prior to the Yellow Castle • era...
>
> I love taking Lego models and modifying them...Classic space was great for
> this...even some town.
> I critiscized the "wheels as engines" thing a long tome ago, but now I have
> seen the light...the contours of these pieces matched w/ your creativity is
> enogh to change my mind....that Mos Espa set is more appealing all the
time.
I think I saw some creations with them prior to the Mos Espa pod race, but
that set has clearly shown me some things for making large engines. A key is
to use other parts in conjunction with the wheel. In the Challenger, adding
the cones inside the wheel (with the open part of the wheel facing the rear)
made the parts into an engine instead of a weirdly placed wheel.
> It's great to see some of your work after seeing your eBay acquisitions • (you
> beat me a few times...lol)
Just wait until I get a chance to sit down and start building pirate and
castle. In fact, I was originally planning on building my Red Seas Barracuda
(a BSB done in red and dark grey with green trim), but the Blacktron just
screamed more to be done (probably because the RSB will just be a re-hash of
a TLC set, with some enhancements, over the Blacktron I being pure MOC
inspired by the Invader).
> > This was a lot of fun to build. I had a lot of fun putting together the
> > Challenger's cockpit section.
>
> I love multiple occupant cockpits...such a challenge, but rewrding when you
> get it right...
My cockpit could probably be re-worked to be better, but does look pretty
good.
Some of my ideas for future additions to the fleet would be a troop
transport module, and a heavy weapons turret (though I see the Blacktron as
more stealthy, don't engage capital ships type of folk). The troop transport
possibly done as a Challenger width module so it can seat a good quantity of
troops, but there would be ways to do a good job in the 6 wide form factor
of the containers. A base is also definitely in order. I'm also thinking of
swiping a trans-yellow visor from an A-Wing pilot, and chosing a good head,
to be the Challenger captain.
> Angled plates just kept finding a good place
> > to get a nicely shaped front.
>
> I love it when a plan comes together...when all the bricks find a home in
> seconds, minutes...
One thing which certainly helped is having built the 924 from the big pile I
bought off the 2nd kid.
> Unfortunately, an almost all black interior
> > doesn't show through the trans-yellow plates very well.
>
> I think your pictures worked out well, I am getting used to my Soy Mavica; • I
> can't photograph black well at all
My camerea is an Olympus D450Z. I was looking very seriously at a Mavica,
and in some ways still wish I had gotten one since it's got an
astronomically better macro capability. Fortuanately, there's enough yellow
in Blacktron to make it so that you're not taking a picture of a pure black
blob. I do also have to take a bit more time and use my slave flash which
helps with the shaddows (look at the water tower in my town creations to see
how much a slave flash improves the photography). If I had a Mavica, I'd
work on a close up, minifig perspective shot of the Challenger.
What's too bad was the camera was full with some wedding pictures I hadn't
offloaded yet, and the computer became rather innaccessible during the
construction. A picture of the mess in my computer/sorting/storage/building
corner would have been something to see... This excercise has definitely
shown me that my method of sorting parts doesn't hinder creation (though
interestingly, all the basic bricks which were used came from my overflow
buckets (one of 1x1,2,3,4 bricks and one of 2x2,3,4 bricks), boy is it hard
pulling black bricks out of a mixed bucket in poor light. One good part of
that is that some of the filler in the engine is red instead of black.
Lighting is definitely a key to a good building experience. When (if) I buy
a house, I will need to work on a better building area.
Frank
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Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: New Blacktron I Creations
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| In lugnet.space, Frank Filz writes: <snip> (...) SNIP Hey Frank! Awesome ships! Super job. You are a spacey one afterall! And Thanks for the tip o' the hat! The big blue space ship is in pieces now due to our move, but it will be back crusing the (...) (25 years ago, 3-Apr-00, to lugnet.space)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: New Blacktron I Creations
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| (...) Since I use webtv...loading took some time, but was wekk worth the wait = ) Ahhhhh <sigh> trans yellow 4x10 plates, classic gray landing plates and Blacktron....ohh to be young again...lol My brief Dark Age was in college, so I missed much of (...) (25 years ago, 2-Apr-00, to lugnet.space)
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