A friend harassed me about my Transport Bug only being as good as what it's going up against. If all goes well, we will see more Galaxy Squad stuff in the future. So we've seen some Battle Droid vehicles. Let's have a look at some Republic stuff.



This is a great set. You get some Battle Droids, some Supers, a STAP, some foliage for the robots to take cover behind, and a clone dude with a BARC speeder. I'm not sure what's going on with the crazy acronyms in Star Wars. Do they have WOOF troopers, too? I know they have ARF troopers. It probably stands for Advanced Recon Force or something like that. But with the Battle On Saleucami set here, we have a BARC trooper with his BARC speeder.

The bike has a new style of Lego spring-loaded shooter in front. You load the red projectile into the launcher, then press down on the part sticking out of the back just in front of the dude, and it shoots the missile, knocking over the Battle Droids. While this isn't as bulky or bad as Lego's previous Technic shooter that appeared in a lot of sets in the past, I'm still no fan of spring-loaded missile launchers. So that had to go.

I looked up the BARC speeder and checked out some images of what the real thing looks like, and I noticed that it has forward blaster cannons just underneath the forward pylons (or whatever those things are... nacelles?). The Lego speeder also uses harpoon guns for the guns in the back. I know what that spells. Lazy! It took just two extra pieces to make some decent-looking cannons for the back part. Also did some color mods to make the vehicle more consistently white with the Republic dark red here and there for accent, and placed a clip on the right nacelle in the back to hold the dude's gun while he's driving his vehicle. For the most part it just took a few extra parts here and there, and I've got a more accurate-looking BARC Speeder. I got two more of these sets and built a total of three of these things (though just one is pictured).




You can see the forward blaster cannon underneath the forward pylon here.


The guy's gun is just underneath him.
He can reach down and grab it if he needs it.





Last year I modified the Clone Walker from the Clone Walker Battle Pack, a set from a few years ago.



I had another look at it, and did even more modifications to it, using inverted radars as joints for the legs. Also made a second one.




Also modified the forward blasters so they can aim downward at approaching Battle Droids.


At left is a modified AT-RT.
That's where I got the idea for the inverted radars used as leg joints.
The main cannon on the official Lego AT-RT can not adjust to aim downward.
With a few simple modifications, mine can.



I also made a clone walker of my own design.



Similar to an AT-OT or an AT-TE. My sister just calls it an AT&T. Seriously, someone went way overboard with the acronyms in the Star Wars prequels. AT-OT, AT-TE, AT-RT, AAT, MMT, STAP, IBM, AT&T... Yeah, as far as my sister is concerned, they're all a bunch of AT&Ts. And I agree.

The Lego AT-TE is much larger and more bulkier, and you can barely fit any guys inside because of the thick angled walls and interior infrastructure that holds the whole thing together. I wanted to have an AT&T that I can fit a decent number of guys into, so the design on mine was kept simple with an open top. The forward cannons are on small ball-joints, and they can be posed in a number of ways, though I didn't do that in any of the shots here. The cannon on top of the driver's cabin can rotate 360 degrees and elevate. The ladders on the sides can flip down when our clone dudes are ready for debarkation. Finally, there are two pairs of binoculars near the back, and a pair of extra blasters in case someone runs out of ammo or loses his gun during a pitched battle.








As seen here, the pilot's seat slides out of his cabin.
When put back in, it slides into the cabin on small tracks, and a clip keeps it from sliding back out on its own.







Next time, more Lego Star Wars Clone stuff.

I got the Kashyyyk Troopers Battle Pack set...



...and modified the Kashyyyk Swamp Speeder. The Clones have new blaster guns for 2014. There's a small trigger, and the gun can launch little projectiles across the room. They put two of the guns on the front of the Swamp Speeder. I don't have a use for these guns, so I created more accurate blaster cannons of my own. The speeder's cannons can aim left or right, and also elevate. Also did some mods to the body of the vehicle, gave our pair of Clones levers so that they can operate their vehicle, and gave it an instrument panel that rests between the two guys. I made two modified Kashyyyk Speeders.











Also designed a Republic Dropship from scratch.



Sort of like a mini-gunship, it carries six troopers who sit on a deployment platform in the back. The Dropship can land and drop off the platform so our Clone Troopers can deploy into battle. A piece with a Technic pin holds the deployment platform in place while connected to the Dropship, and a simple Technic mechanism pushes it out for deployment.

















Because normal Lego bricks can be disconnected from each other pretty easily when used to make thin pillars, the pillar that connects the platform to the ship has a Technic crossbeam running through it. I used parts that a crossbeam can be inserted through. The crossbeam has a stopper underneath the platform and runs all the way up through the pillar to the piece with the connector pin, making for a stable and durable pillar.

Next time, more Lego Star Wars mayhem.

I got the new V-Wing set for 2014. It's not entirely accurate. I took a pic of the back of the box so you can see how they handled the wings on it.



As seen here, the wings do not fold forward like the real thing. Instead, the entire wing assembly rotates on an axle for landing and take-off. I modified the assembly so that it can't rotate and then used some plate hinges that enable the wings to fold forward for landing. When the ship takes off, the wings unfold. I have to manually adjust each of the four wings, but that doesn't bother me. Also did a few cosmetic modifications here and there.


The ship is landed here.




Here the ship is taking off and the wings are starting to unfold.


The hinges allow the wings to be angled forward just a bit for an even more accurate V-Wing.




I used some curved parts as guides for the wings to prevent them from folding inward toward the ship. The guides keep them at their appropriate angle.





With all these Republic vehicles, my CIS Battle Droids are kind of out-gunned, so I set about fixing that problem. Lego hasn't done a beige Droid Tank set since Episode 1 came out. I really like the dark beige color on the Battle Droid Carriers, so I built a Droid Tank of my own design in dark beige.



The turret can rotate 360 degrees, the main cannon can elevate, the side cannons can aim upward or downward, and there's a pilot capsule that slides into the back of the vehicle. My custom made AAT isn't completely accurate. The turret doesn't have an opening hatch on top, and I think the real thing is much larger. But I'm happy with it. A Star Warsy vehicle with my own personal touch added.













The pilot capsule works on the same principle as my custom made Clone Walker Transport. It slides into the opening on small tracks, and a clip holds it in place. It grabs onto tiny knobs on a standard click-joint hinge part, preventing the capsule from falling out on its own, but it disconnects easier than clips that grab onto bars.

Next time, more CIS Battle Droid Mania. Go Battle Droids!

Before we have a look at the Droideka Carrier, let's have a look at the Droidekas themselves, also called Destroyer Droids.



This is a nice battle pack set from a couple years ago that makes Destroyer Droids accessible for collecting and army building. Before this, they were only available in larger, more expensive sets. So it's a nice set to have, and you might recognize the two clone troopers, who appeared in one of my previous MOCs.

While there's nothing wrong with Lego's design of the Droidekas, I wanted mine to be a little more accurate. I was looking at some pictures of real Droidekas and noticed that the arms with the blasters are connected to the head, not the body. Also, the curved part is at a slant. I've also perused lots of pics of what other people have done with the construction of custom-made Lego Droidekas. My conclusion: It is really hard to build an accurate Destroyer Droid with Legos on minifig scale. Larger display models are definitely doable with Lego parts, but a Destroyer Droid on minifig play scale is difficult to make. The problem is compounded by the fact that these robotic monsters can curl up into a ball and roll around on their own. After much research, I think I finally understand how they do it and which parts move in which ways. I understand why the Lego designers kept their design simple and functional. It works better than some custom-made stuff I've seen.

After a couple of failed attempts at a Droideka of my own custom design, I went with Lego's version, slightly modified to my own taste.



The blaster arms are properly connected to a brown bar that runs through the head, which has been slightly modified and elevated. The curved part in the back isn't quite right, but there really isn't much else to work with on minifig scale.



And here's the process of uncurling from ball shape to battle mode. As I understand it, the legs sprout outward from underneath while the head elevates and the gun arms lower into firing position.

My Lego Droidekas aren't entirely accurate, but I think they're good enough.



With the Droid Tank finished, I wanted to make my own MTT in dark beige. The real MTT is turd brown, an unappealing color choice. The real one is also much larger. Since I already have Battle Droid Carriers for regular Battle Droids and Supers, I thought it would be nice for my MTT to carry Droidekas. Dark beige is apparently a rare Lego color. Not many styles of parts to work with in that color. I also had some nice stuff in another rare color, dark brown.












I really like the removable roof concept that I started with the Galaxy Squad Transport Bug. It makes it easier to access the interior. I'm not the first to do that with Lego vehicles, but I really like it.


The pilot's cabin slides into the upper section on a custom-made track, and a pair of clips hold it in place. Same concept as the Droid Tank and Clone Walker Transport.


So that's what Droid Pilots do during down time!





I could probably fit more Droidekas in there if I curled 'em up into ball mode, but I'm lazy. Easier just to put 'em in there ready for battle.

This was a satisfactory project that I think turned out well. A nice addition to my CIS army.

Next time, more Lego Star Wars stuff!

I was thinking about getting the Corporate Alliance Tank Droid set. You can see pictures of it here. But then I thought, "Well, I have tank treads from another set, and it looks like I may have the rest of the needed parts in my collection. So let's see if I can build one by myself." I studied the pictures closely, and there are people at Brickshelf who have posted pictures of partially built models, so I had access to some rudimentary "instructions", sort of.

This was the result of my efforts.



I only have one large-sized radar dish in dark gray. Can't remember where I got it. So I used a pair of slightly smaller brown ones for my Tank Droid. They're not exactly the same, but they're good enough. My Tank Droid isn't as tall as the official Lego one, but everything else about it is on proper scale.

As you can see here, I've added a little something to set my Tank Droid apart. The Corporate Alliance Tank Droid is an autonomous self-propelled vehicle. The thing is a droid. I wanted to get some of my Battle Droids involved, so I built two custom designed gunner pods for them to sit in. The cannons can aim up and down independently of each other, each Battle Droid controlling his own cannon array by himself. So the Tank Droid drives itself around, and these two guys do the shooting.











I had exactly two gears in the proper size and style, for the front and back. I think the official Lego model has a third gear at the top middle (couldn't find any pictures without the large radar dish covering up what's in the middle). So I just built a simple curved hump in the middle for the tread to move over. The two large radar dishes that form the big wheel help guide the tread as it moves over the top. It works great. So maybe the third gear isn't really necessary.



Another set that I did get and was excited to get is the new Droid Gunship. It's a cool ship in Star Wars Battlefront, so it's really nice that they made a new and improved version of it for 2014. I didn't do much by way of modifications to the gunship. The Lego designers did a great job on it. Kudos to them! I just did a few color mods here and there, fixed up the pilot cabin a bit and added a control console, and made the front turrets a bit more accurate. There are also a pair of the new spring-loaded missile launchers on the sides, which I replaced with some ordinary-looking laser cannons. Not much modification. It's a solid model, very nicely designed.

The Droid Gunship can drop bombs with a pair of separate mechanisms in the back. They pull out beams that hold the bombs in place underneath the gunship. So this vehicle is already nicely designed to be a dropship. All it needed was a pair of custom designed Drop Pods for Battle Droid troops.







Normal Battle Droids have a peg on their back that fits into a Technic hole behind them, holding them in place. Same design principle as my Battle Droid Carrier. Supers are too tall to stand under the ship, so they have to sit down and hold onto little hand-hold thingies during transit. I'm sure they don't mind. They're battle robots, after all.




One Drop Pod has a little computer console on it. The other has a little map for the Battle Droid Commander to look at and see enemy troop positions and stuff. The map (which is a sticker from a Chima set) can be flipped up to reveal a computer console that the Commander can use to issue orders to his troops.




I took a couple shots of a Drop Pod by itself, since that's the MOC here. It's a fairly complicated Technic contraption attached to regular Lego parts.



Finally, I built a pair of custom designed Dwarf Spider Droids.







These cute little guys are built upside down like Droidekas are. There's a crossbeam running through the bottom half of him, helping to hold him together. Another short crossbeam runs through the upper half, holding his dome head on (that part is facing right side up). The special parts that the red eyes are on, they connect both ways to the undersides of the upside-down parts and right-side-up parts.



Next time, more Lego Star Wars Mania.

I've had the Assassin Droids Battle Pack for a while now. It's from a few years ago. You can see it here. (I threw away the box, so I can't take a box shot of my own. My bad.) I was playing around with the speeder bike design and made my own, based on the design of the speeder that comes in that set.



I don't like the IG-88 style of assassin droid. I like regular Battle Droids because I play "Star Wars Battlefront" a lot. So this is a vehicle for regular Battle Droids.





Nothing really special here. Just a small Lego thing, just for fun.



With all of the CIS vehicles, my Lego Clones are now out-gunned, so I set about building a Republic Fighter Tank from "Star Wars Battlefront".



I did lots of research on this vehicle, studying numerous pictures of drawings and toys (just Google "Star Wars Republic Fighter Tank" and lots of stuff will come up). The real thing has a pair of thin slits on either side of the front, presumably through which a pilot and co-pilot can see out. I don't know how they're supposed to see anything through those tiny openings, so I wanted my Fighter Tank to have a windshield. Not accurate at all. I know, I'm very inconsistent on accuracy. Sometimes I care about making things a little more accurate, other times it seems I don't care at all about accuracy. I think, perhaps, when I'm designing something on my own, it's really more about my personal take on the source material, less about complete accuracy. It kinda sets my creations apart in a class by themselves... or something.

Anyway, the front middle section isn't accurate to what the real thing looks like. But I had some angled parts with stickers on them. I wanted to use those for a decorative mid-section on the vehicle. I did try to make the rest of it as accurate as I could get it, with plenty of attention to detail on the side pylons, or whatever those things are that stick out in the front. Apparently those side pylons can flip up and down. I was playing the game and finally noticed that the sides flip upward when the vehicle moves forward, and they flip down when it moves backward. A pair of flaps in the back move up and down when it moves left or right. But a lot of the pictures of toys that have been made of this vehicle look like they're not designed with moving pylons. They have straight pylons that don't adjust, like mine.

Some of these pics are much larger than what you see here, so click on a pic to see it at full size.








I found a pic of what the vehicle looks like from the back, and it looks very similar to what I did here. There's just a white stripe going down the middle through the circular part. I wasn't able to do that little detail with Lego pieces.




Those are custom-made control panels in there, made with stickers from a couple different Lego sets. The main panel has four stickers on it, and the side panels are parts of a larger sticker that I cut up into smaller strips. Same goes for the panels on the roof-side turret. There are also a pair of blasters for the pilot and gunner, in case they have to disembark their vehicle.


And there they are, disembarking and ready for combat.

I'm not entirely satisfied with my Republic Fighter Tank. The body of the vehicle is a bit too tall and off scale, and that gunner is too tall, sitting up there with his turret. But the turret had to be on a turn-table so it can rotate 360 degrees. I dunno, it just looks kinda clunky to me, but I had fun working on it and building it.



I got the new Jedi Interceptor for 2014, which is pretty much the same build as previous Jedi Starfighter sets with just a few small improvements here and there and cosmetic changes. You can see it here. (I forgot take a box shot. My bad.) It's just a rehash of Anakin's Jedi Starfighter with yellow coloring. I wanted to do something different with some pretty sky blue pieces I had collected from a couple of other sets. Not sure what I was saving the pieces for, but I really liked the color. Well, apparently I was saving them for this:



Sky blue, or whatever it's called, is a rare Lego color. Not many styles of pieces available in that color. But I had just enough of the right pieces to get the job done here. Didn't do much else by way of modifications to the Starfighter design. It had a pair of the new spring-loaded missile launchers underneath, which I replaced with other parts.










What? Not again! This is C-3PO's Jedi Starfighter! He must have given it a new paint job. Nice choice of color, dude.





Next time, a fairly large Lego Star Wars MOC.

Lego did a new version of the AT-TE walker last year (yep, another of those AT&Ts). I wasn't interested in getting it because the last one they did used a lot of Technic parts for the chassis. I don't really like Technic stuff. I prefer regular Lego brick-style stuff. So I set about designing and building my own AT-TE, using as few Technic parts as possible.



This model uses a grand total of 4 Technic pins to connect the side panels, and a few Technic pieces are used to make the big cannon. The rest is all old-fashioned Lego bricks and plates. It has a removable roof, two gunner stations inside with custom-designed control panels, and cargo space for four clone troopers.

I did some research on what a real AT-TE looks like, and put some effort into exterior details here and there.

Many of these pics are much larger than what you see here, so click on a pic to see it at full size.














Removable roof.


Two gunners sit behind the pilot's cabin.
They remotely control the various turrets on the front and back of the walker.


Here's a shot with two of the side panels removed.


Those control panels are custom designed, using parts of stickers from some Alien Conquest Lego sets. The stickers were too long to fit on the steep slopes I used here, so I would carefully cut off part of a sticker to make it shorter. The extra cut-off parts were used along with parts of other stickers to make some of the panels. A couple cut-off parts were also used for the flat panel between the gunners.




A couple more custom designed control panels in the back section, for opening the back hatch and lowering the ladder.


Like my other AT&T, this one has a pull-out pilot cabin.




And there's the gang disembarking at the back, perhaps because their vehicle was badly damaged or maybe because they arrived at a CIS base they're attacking. The two gunners have grabbed their blasters and are running through the central corridor to catch up with the rest of the troops.


And here's what it looks like with the roof on.

This is a pretty big-sized Lego MOC, my biggest Star Wars creation to date. I'd say the Republic clone troopers are well matched with my Battle Droids now. This was a satisfactory project. I had fun working on it.

Took a short break from game design work, brought out last year's Transport Bug MOC, and was playing around with it when I noticed some room for improvement. Did a lot of modifications to that beast, including an improved bridge, gaps on the sides between the roof and walls better covered, and a variety of cosmetic changes all over the place. Now that I have more parts to work with, and some new styles of parts that weren't available when I designed the T-Bug, and lots more decorative sticker sheets to work with, the Transport Bug is looking better than ever, with more exterior and interior detail. As a final touch, I came up with a better leg design for the four-legged Insectoids (the previous legs on those buggers were a bit too fragile).

Many of these pics are much larger than what you see here, so click on a pic to see it at full size.

I wanted to build an Insectoid Base, but landscaping really isn't my thing. What I like to do is build vehicles. So instead of the base, I built a mighty mobile base.



The Transport Bug is the standard Star Destroyer of my Galaxy Squad saga. This is the Super Star Destroyer, the Battlestar Galactica of the Zemdari fleet. A self-reliant command base and colony ship. The Command Bug is powered by four power cores and sports a formidable array of weaponry, including four heavy stinger turrets, two missile batteries, and sixteen double stinger turrets. Interior features include honeycomb habitats, a hydroponic garden, living areas, medical bay, nursery, an expansive garage and engineering bay for repairing and refueling small vehicles, and an expansive command bridge.

For now, I'll show the exterior of the Zemdari flagship.

Many of these pics are much larger than what you see here, so click on a pic to see it at full size.

























Next time I'll show the interior of the Zemdari Command Bug.

Continuing with a look at my largest Lego creation to date. The Command Bug's roof operates the same way as the Transport Bug's roof. It's just bigger.





The beige parts in the back loosely line up with two holders on the top of the engine block that hold them in place. Angled bricks at the front and back of each side fit into custom-made grooves on the top of the side walls, marked with dark gray pieces.



The command bridge, with pilot, copilot, Red Bug in his command chair, two additional stations to either side, and two gunner stations on the walls. Those gunners control the heavy stinger cannons on the sides of the front.





Lots of the control panels are custom-designed, using parts of larger stickers. A pair of scissors and some creative use of stickers went into the Zemdari control consoles, especially those on the bridge and engineering bay.



Upper floor: medical bay and nursery. The transparent green parts above the medical beds are analyzers. They also emit green radiation, which has a small healing and nutritional affect on Zemdari. That's why the canopies on vehicles and bubbles behind the honeycomb habitats are green. Green radiation has no affect on humans or Baeralons.






A Mantizoid uses a medical tricorder-like device on a patient.

The upper deck is a stand-alone module that can be removed to get access to the ground floor.



Ground floor: Garden, mess hall, weapons storage, and more honeycomb habitats. The Zemdari eat berries and green stalks that are easy to grow underground. These alien plants have a remarkable nutritional value. Insectoids only have to eat once a day. During the story, Billy Starbeam discovers that the plants have the same affect when ingested by humans. Also in this area is a large water cooler that can be used to dispense water into glasses, and it also has a hose for watering the garden.



The two sliding doors that connect this area to the engineering bay (shown open here) can only be opened when the large engineering bay doors on either side of the Command Bug are both closed. The living areas of the ship always have an atmosphere. The engineering bay acts like a large airlock. If the bay doors are opened onto a vacuum, the two doors that offer access to the living area remain sealed. After the engineering bay is re-sealed and pressurized with an atmosphere, the two doors can open again.

Insectoids can survive in a vacuum. There are glands in their bodies that produce oxygen from ingested materials, much the same way human intestines are filled with little organisms that convert some kinds of materials into methane gas. The oxygen is stored in the Zemdari body until needed. Zemdari lungs collapse in a vacuum, and the stored oxygen is used. Four-legged Insectoids and Buggoids can last the longest in a vacuum (a few weeks). Winged Mosquitoids and Mantizoids can't last quite as long. When entering a breathable atmosphere, the lungs inflate with air, and normal breathing resumes.






A Mosquitoid waters the crops.



Engineering bay, currently servicing a small scorpion walker. Power cores, engineering controls, a track that the vehicle can move back and forth on, and refueling stations for pink and green energy. Yellowish-green energy is refueled by the module that the vehicle rests on. Flying Insectoid vehicles have yellowish-green wings, which project their shields (same goes for the Transport Bug and Command Bug).

Also here is a converter where blue energy crystals are infused with red energy to make the pink energy that most of the ship runs on.




I put the upper floor back on for this shot.


Servicing a Dragonfly speederbike.


Servicing a Swarm Starfighter.


Transport Bug and Command Bug, side by side for comparison.



Special thanks go out to God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit for inspiration, ideas, and help with problem solving while I was working on this project.

The four-legged Insectoid buggers are originally from this Galaxy Squad set:



And here are my first modified ones...



The silver legs on these buggers, while cool, are also thin and fragile. I found a better part to use for their legs to make them more durable and easier to handle. Also did a few other modifications to the designs of the flying beasties. As seen in the Transport Bug V2, here are the newly modified four-legged Insectoids.







These creatures are animals native to Zemdar. Maybe a bit more intelligent than most animals their size. They understand what's going on and what's at stake, and they are fiercely loyal to the Zemdari cause. The Zemdari install stinger cannons on their bellies with cybernetic implants that enable the animal to control his cannon. The green humps on their backs are also installed (they emit healing green radiation). These four-legged buggers aren't very accurate with their cannons, but what they lack in targeting skills they make up for in numbers. They breed like ants on numerous Zemdari-controlled planets.



These guys with the bulbous egg sacs are the Hive Queens. They usually don't carry stinger cannons, as they spend most of their time deep in a Hive laying eggs.

"Don't matter if it's old or covered in mold, it's for the Shorteez!"
~ Sir Loin

The last few years my mom has been participating in a Christmas charity called "Operation Christmas Child". What you have to do is fill up a special Christmas shoe box with goodies. Small toys, tooth brush and paste, pencils, erasers, other school equipment and such, and whatever else you can fit in there, and your shoe box is shipped across the world to a third world country where there are poor families and children in need, and each child in these poor areas gets a shoe box for Christmas. You can do as many shoe boxes as you want, and the charity people will provide them for you.

My sister started calling it "for the Shorteez", which is a quote from an Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode.

My mom's been doing this every holiday season for four years, and we average thirty-something boxes per season. She's been trying to get me interested in contributing home-made Lego sets. This year I contributed some small Lego Friends sets (girly Legos). We've already turned in our contributions for this holiday season, but next year might turn out to be a bit more interesting in the Lego department.



So a couple weeks ago I was at Bealls looking for a new pair of shoes, and I found this...



Another one of those backwoods Lego knockoff brands that shows up in Dollar General and other places. Block Tech. I got this set for $15 on clearance. It looked kinda cool, so I checked it out. The brick quality is okay. It's not Best-Lock-bad, but neither is it Lego-good. Somewhere in between, kinda decent. The model designs aren't all that great, but the four-legged vehicle in the center turned out to be decent. The little base in the background is more like a mini-model, with no room to put a minifig in there. The robot is a mess of joints that fall apart easily. The scorpion turned out okay with a few modifications from me, as did the little rover.




I like the cute little smiling aliens. They're pretty cool.



So I got kind of inspired by the four-legged vehicle, had a look at my parts collection, and assembled this...



A neo-classic space exploration module made from real Legos. The reason why it's generic exploration is because the Shorteez aren't allowed to have superheroes, monsters, anything that has guns, or anything that involves violence. It's in the rulebook for the charity. So what we've got here is a planetary scout walker with a Jack Fireblade minifig guy from Galaxy Squad. I have lots of extra Galaxy Squad figs that could double as ordinary spacemen explorers (got them in extra sets I bought for parts). For now, I'm putting Jack to good use. He has a little control console, red canopy, floodlights up front, walkie talkie and tools on the sides, and a radar array with transparent red antennae in the back. The transparent orange parts under the legs are thrusters that enable this vehicle to jump off the ground and hover. The radar array can rotate and elevate.


There's a wrench and walkie talkie on the side. They're on clips, and can be removed and put into the spaceman's hands.




In the back is a storage box with a silver crystal in it.


The box is removable, and so is the lid. So if this guy is exploring and finds some moon rocks or, I dunno, whatever you want to call it, he has a place to store the moon rock.


Lots of Lego sets come with a small piece of terrain. So I made a small rock formation in dark gray, and you can put the silver crystal on there. So he finds this silver treasure, uses his tool to chip it loose, then stores it in the box and hauls it back to base. Just a little something for our space explorer to interact with.


Mom thought our space explorer needed a buddy on his adventures, so here's a robot companion on a little jet-powered thingie.

So I kind of made my own custom-designed Lego set. I had enough pieces to make three identical sets.



Next year at Christmas, three lucky kids will be getting this home-brewed Lego set.



I also made a Zemdari Scout Walker for myself, based on the same design.



This puppy has two adjustable stinger cannons up front, a missile launcher on either side, and a medium-sized heavy stinger cannon in back. Not as powerful as the heavy cannons on starships, but it packs enough of a punch for scouting missions. The transparent pink parts under the legs are the thrusters (all Insectoid engines are powered by pink energy).

I made some custom-made instructions for the Planetary Scout Walker. No pics of that because we already packed the sets away in small plastic containers that will go into shoe boxes for the charity.

But I've made four more models for the kids. This time it's a Radar Research Cruiser. Comes in two color schemes: orange and green. I made two in each color scheme.



Extra Jack Fireblade and Chuck Stonebreaker minifigs from Galaxy Squad went into these sets. The design of the ship is classic Lego Space. Lots of classic sets were two-seater starships, and lots of the ships had a cargo hold in back. There's at least one classic Space set that features the double-wing design on the sides of the forward pilot cabin. So this is a neo-classic spaceship design. Classic design ideas using current-day parts.

Let's have a closer look at the orange version first. Many of these pics are larger than what you see here, so click on a pic to see it at full size.








Two hinged parts in the back with the engines on them open up so you can pull out the cargo.


Cargo includes two boxes that hold silver crystals, some tools, binoculars, and a walkie talkie. Everything our two intrepid astronauts will need while exploring new planets. So like the Planetary Scout Walker, these guys would be flying around and detect something interesting on the radar, then investigate and find these silver crystals.

Here's a look at the green version.










The cargo module slides into place and is held secure by two tracks in the cargo bay.



During Christmas 2015, four kids will be getting this set.

I got the Chima set Lavertus' Outland Base for Christmas. Really nice set.



I really like the Spider half-track vehicle that came with this set. It's a nice small-sized vehicle with a good overall look to it. Here's a closer look at it.



So for my Insectoids, I made a Laser Driller, based on the Spider half-track's design.



This vehicle is seen at Zemdari mining operations. It sports two laser drilling arrays on the sides, a couple drills up front, and instead of the Spider's missile launchers I gave it a radar array. The driver has plenty of controls at his disposal, and a holographic display up front for displaying the location of energy crystal deposits that the radar finds. The laser drillers and radar are adjustable, for drilling and detecting in a variety of directions. This vehicle is a non-combatant.

Something I learned while constructing my own variation of this vehicle is that it's made from a lot of special parts. It doesn't look like much, but it uses a lot of rare parts in rare colors (well, rare in my parts collection, at least).

Finally finished the instructions for the orange- and green-themed Radar Research Cruisers. It turned out to be more challenging than first thought. Lots of pictures, and lots of hard work. I may have bitten off more than I could chew when I designed these spaceships, but I got the work done and have home-made instructions for the kids.


Just a broad look at the instruction pages. Each set has five pages of assembly instructions. Mom helped to assemble them in a document for printing.


Here's the place where I took all the pics. A few pieces of blue paper covering my usual picture-taking location on the table-top. To create the instructions, I would arrange the parts needed for the current step, take a pic of them, then either place them on the model under construction or put a few pieces together to form a small assembly that's later placed onto the model. So, a second or third pic there. Then the completion of the current step in the lower right corner. Then I'd take the sub-step pics and overlay them on top of the completion pic. There are 30 steps in the construction of the Radar Cruiser. Hundreds of individual pics went into this.




The finished Planetary Scout Walker sets.
Parts are in zip-loc bags. Instructions are folded up and placed in the bottom of the container. Mom got fancy and designed a front cover pic which was pasted onto the container's lid.


Radar Research Cruiser sets.

The Planetary Scout Walker has 211 pieces. That would be a $20 set. Radar Research Cruiser has 242 pieces. That would be a $20 to $25 set. Eight home-made Lego sets in total. containing well over a thousand Lego pieces.