Other Pete J's thread of Lego building (current project: UCS AT-AT)

I just had a scary thought. Will Aliens be one of those things that we bang on about and our grandkids roll their eyes at, like John Wayne movies were for us?

I don't know if I could deal with young people questioning that film's greatness.

 

Alien was 42 years ago (Aliens 35). People are already banging on about it to their grandkids

 

Was off work today owing to an extremely poor night's sleep caused by an injured shoulder. Mostly better now though. So I worked on the AT-ST:



The model requires some tubes to be bent into shape in later stages, so I set up some jigs, used my hot water (which has a temperature rating of 'OUCHTHATSHOT') to heat the tubes and then inserted them. I'll check how they are just before I go to bed.

In other news, the missing parts deliveries have been inventoried. Mustang progress to resume soon enough.

 

'Ouchthatshot' is usually the best temperature for doing anything.

 

Agreed. "That'salittlewarm" rarely does anything.

 

Ok, title currently says Current Project : M41A Pulse Rifle ... and all I'm seeing is kiddy Star Wars stuff ... "Where's the Pulse Rifle, I wanna see the Pulse Rifle, Muuuuuum, THEY WON'T LET ME SEE THE PULSE RIFLE ... HEEEELP"

Is it a few pages back or not here yet ?

 

Look back a page...

 

Update:

AT-ST



Almost there. Unfortunately missing two parts:



Order already placed, reported as packed, probably posted today and with me before the end of the week. In a way it was meant to be as the seller also had an AT-ST pilot for sale, which means I can have two of the correct minifigures rather than two AT-AT commanders.

Pulse Rifle



There we go, under barrel grenade launcher finished. That'll keep @spolsh happy.

I'm on holiday for the next fortnight and owing to the current situation (and the fact I keep spending money on Lego) I'm not travelling anywhere, so hopefully this'll result in a lot more Lego building than normal!

 

Looking back a page or two, by the way, ammo counter is way cool, but that stormtrooper blaster looks really neat too.

Side note : Do your mates kids ever go up to their parents after you've visited and said "I'm sure I had some of those sloped lego bricks, but I can't find them"

... and I suppose I've got to go back through another million page thread to see what I've missed now.

 

End of day update:



Yet again, I'm missing a part. Just one this time:



However, this doesn't technically mean I have to stop as it's an external detail. I'm not going to rush into ordering it just yet as I want to wait for the other order I made recently to turn up first. So I'll probably go back to the Mustang.

No, but you've given me inspiration!

 

Update:

AT-ST Completed!



An absolute b*st*rd to balance, involving accidentally knocking a couple of things off and some choice words uttered. Definitely a display piece - other poses might be possible if a liberal amount of Blu-tac is applied to the feet.

Originally I was going to put it on a shelf by itself (with Ewoks and Rebel scum running away), but decided to add it into the Hoth diorama (yes, the AT-ST was in The Empire Strikes Back, albeit in a different style) to leave a shelf free for something else *cough*meditation chamber*cough*:



The Mustang and Pulse Rifle have progressed a little, but I'll post pictures when they're advanced further. For now, I'm visiting friends and family for a week. I haven't decided what project I'm taking with me to work on yet...

 

I decided to take the Lambo Sian with me to work on while I visited the folks:



This will be an improved version of the default model. Upgrade list:

1. Pimped up scissor doors keeping them in open and close position by using shock absorbers.

2. No more swabbly doors by reinforcement of door link and better guidance of doors.

3. Optimized gearbox based on the Pimp up my Bugatti design with centre diff integrated into nice 11x15 window frame.

4. Removable cylinder head cover

5. Reversed paddle shifter to gear up when pulling right paddle to the driver. Also secured 2L Liftarms to not fall off during shifting

6. Hand-Of-God Steering and Hand-Of-God Shifter with Gear Indicator on the dashboard

7. Optimized and reinforced front axle with Ackermann steering, with gear rack limiters to avoid rubbing the rims to the steering arms when steering is fully inclined.

8. An additional window in the underside giving an additional view inside on the "red" cardan shaft between front and rear axle, the "yellow" knob gears for the shifting mechanism and the 2 "grey" CV-transmissions for forward and reverse gear between gearbox and DNR-switch.

9. Roof reinforcement for an easy and "safe" one-hand-grip to carry the car.

10. Adding some friction to the spoiler lift mechanism to keep the rear spoiler in uplifted position.

11. Overall aesthetic improvements to further increase the likeness to the real car, most noticeably a better looking exhaust and using the printed 'Sian' plaque as a numberplate.

I'm also changing the build to right hand drive - to achieve this I'm simply mirroring the build instructions - this usually works but the gear shifting mechanism may end up the 'wrong way round' - i.e. the left paddle switch will increase gear instead of the right, and the gear indicator may rotate anti-clockwise when increasing gear. We'll see!

I've completed the main section of the gearbox -



A bit fiddly, but noticeably more compact.

Annoyingly, I was working off an outdated parts list when I ordered bits, so am missing the two shock absorbers for the doors. I can only get around 1/3 of the way through the build, but at least I can get to the stage where I can check that the steering and drive train is doing what it's meant to. When I'm back home, I'll order the two shock absorbers, along with the missing bit for the Pulse Rifle.

 

Sian update:



V12 installed! The keen-eyed among you may also notice I've switched the orientation of the shock absorbers - I think it looks a lot better and is what was done on the Centenario. There's actually been a bit of progress since this image, but I'll show that tomorrow after I get to a good stage to do so.

In regards to switching the model over to right hand drive, the steering worked out fine, but getting the gear shifter to increase by pulling on the RHS paddle (as you would in a real car) took some thinking. I almost considered rebuilding the whole gearbox before realising a far simpler solution existed in simply changing the position of one of the yellow 'four tooth gears' at the shifter. Likewise, the gear indicator was rotating anti-clockwise, before a quick rearranging of a bevel gear and a delve into the spare parts box I'd brought with me. Also, all steering and gear indicator elements are perfectly aligned after careful cog orientation - no 'slightly off' steering wheel allowed!

I have to say, the gear shifting mechanism is the smoothest yet and improves further on the design seen in the Chiron. Operation is reliable and satisfying. Another thing that has been improved is the suspension: the Chiron had a huge problem with not returning to position; the Sian's push-rod is noticeably stiffer thanks to a pretty severe lever system - I hope that this isn't putting too much stress on the parts!

 

How's your wallet feeling @Pete J ?

https://www.lego.com/en-gb/product/app-controlled-cat-d11-bulldozer-42131

 

those yellow tracks make me crazy

 

Sian update:



Would've liked to get a little further, but time to pack up and head home tomorrow! I'm not far off needing those shock absorbers anyway.

Ha, beat me to it! Image for the others:



A cool model for sure, but not so appealing as the Liebherr 9800 IMHO. Not to mention I'm a) a bit skint and b) running out of room for Lego models! I think I'll wait for reviews, and stick it on the wishlist to see how far the price drops a while after launch. After all, I kinda wish I'd bought the 8275 years ago...

 

Looks like that's how the IRL ones come from the factory.
https://www.cat.com/en_GB/products/new/equipment/dozers/large-dozers/15969853.html

 

Christ alive. 105 tons. Heavier than a tank! 'Only' seems to need 850 horsepower though. Always amuses me how many of these large machines use engines that are the same power output as a high end sports car - I imagine the torque is pretty insane though.

 

Massive amounts of power and torque, but they're crap for drifting or doughnuts though

 

The Mandalorian Razor Crest custom LEGO model design and instructions for MOC on Imgur