Planetary Outpost

The redesigned Command Centre is the first of five ways Planetary Outpost’s rooms can be built. 

It features a two-toned SNOT-built table, slanted printed tiles from a host of LEGO Classic Space themes (and a few other modern ones - can you recognise them all?), and wall mounted control panels inspired by my other LEGO Ideas concept, The Bridge.

This is the nerve centre of the entire base. From here, the crew can not only control every aspect of their outpost, they can also monitor the surrounding area, and be alerted of any issue at a moment’s notice. 

Along with the spacesuit recharging platforms, the adjoining Storage Facility is a place to keep the excavation tools when not in use. The cupboards are used to store other items such as weapons, and communicators.

The next update will focus on the galley.

Until then,

Captain out.

They’ve arrived! The pieces I need for my internal redesign are finally here! But today is not the time I’ll be unveiling my changes. Sadly, I need to do the unthinkable once again, and reach for a canister of spray paint because a particular piece has never been produced by LEGO in the colour I need.

It’s not such a rare piece: a 1x2 brick with two studs on the side (part 11211). I couldn’t find it in blue on LEGO’s site, and I was really surprised to discover it isn’t available from BrickLink either!

Last week, I struggled to find a rare piece in the right colour, but succeeded. This week, a piece that has been used continuously since 2012 and has appeared in 520 sets doesn’t come in blue…

So spray painting, I re-go.

But not so fast: last time I dabbled in recolouration the blue paint I used was much darker than LEGO’s own blue, more like its Earth Blue than its actual Blue… and as these bricks will be connected to other blue bricks, the match has to be good enough so as not to distract.

So I set off to do some research and see which is the exact blue colour LEGO uses and if it can be replicated.

Turns out, others had already been down this path, and I found two sites that were able to match LEGO’s colours with Pantone Codes, this one and that one.

It was convenient having two sites so I could cross reference the colours and see if there were any discrepancies. 

Turns out they both agreed that LEGO Blue was Pantone 293.

I then found a site which sales Pantone colours in spray paints, and I placed my order.

Then came the moment of truth: I prepared the necessary pieces and spray painted them multiple times until all parts of them were as blue as can be.

The end result is very good. It’s not perfect but it’s pretty darn close. Close enough to make it hard to see the difference unless you look closely.

In any case it’s much much better than the blue I’d use for the space suits. 

So there we have it. 

I now have all the pieces I need in the colours that I require.

Next time, I’ll reveal something new :)

Until then,

Captain out.

Waiting for the pieces to be shipped for my internal redesign has given me an opportunity to implement a change I wanted to do for some time. It’s just I couldn’t find the right pieces.

I was on the lookout for small window frames, the smaller the better, complete with window panes.

I thought I’d found just the ideal part, the Wall Element 1x2x2 (part number 60032)… it’s the kind of small window with rounded edges that wouldn’t look out of place in planes, trains, or in this case, a space station.

Except that part isn’t really available in medium standard grey. It’s such a rare piece in that colour that currently, BrickLink only has four of them, worldwide!

There are other colours it’s available in, and although I‘m not against spray painting the odd LEGO piece as you know, I would always prefer to get the right colour from the get go. Saves a lot of time, and potential hassle.

Thankfully, there was a slightly older alternative: another very similar wall element piece, part number 2377. Although still rare, and not used in any LEGO set since 2014, it was available in the right colour, and in the right quantities. I didn’t waste any time and ordered them along with the matching trans. blue panes… and they arrived a few days ago.

So what are those windows for? I know that realistically, when it comes to bases in outer space, the fewer windows the better to protect the crew from the harshness of the deadly freezing vacuum and cosmic radiation. However this is sci-fi, and although I strive to create something that could conceivably exist, I also know that not being able to see inside the building would be a real bore. Hence the huge windows I used for the corridor and the configurable rooms.

This small window piece is destined for the airlocks. Two of the three airlocks have the space to benefit from such an upgrade, but it did necessitate changing the layout of the connector pegs for all of them. The reason for that is, not only do those pegs have to interlock with the removable airlocks, but also with potentially other Planetary Outpost modules. However, there’s only specific connections I can allow otherwise the way the walls open to play inside wouldn’t work, hence the necessity to alter all three airlocks even though only two will be getting those windows.

Once this was done, the crew can now enjoy looking at the vastness of the planet they are exploring, while waiting for the compression or the decompression of the airlock to occur.

I also took the opportunity to alter the plates at the top of the airlocks. 

Until now there were two separate plates, one 2x4 on the airlock side and a 1x4 on the base itself, making it easy to disconnect them when you need to. However although this feature was designed to hook up multiple modules together, I came to think that this may not happen very often.

Therefore I replaced the two pieces with a single 3×4 plate which can easily be removed while adding more rigidity to the connection.

But this 3x4 plate won’t fit when you do wish to connect multiple modules together, so in addition to it, this proposed set would also include a couple of 1x3 tiles in preparation for that eventuality.

Hope you like the new outlook

“We interrupt this programme to bring you a special report”
 
It was really exciting to see that Planetary Outpost is featured in issue 42 of Blocks Magazine, alongside four other Classic Space LEGO Ideas proposals:

- Classic Space Mobile Laboratory

- Playing in Space since 1978

- LL960 Supernova

- Space Pod

My crew found a copy not too far from the base and enjoyed reading the interviews and checking out the photos.

So if you find yourself in a store that stocks this magazine, make sure you grab yourself a copy. You’ll find the relevant article on page 80.

Together, we could have a chance to bring Classic Space back.

Until the next time,

Captain out

As Classic Space’s Engineering Corps awaits delivery of the equipment they need to rebuild the various interiors of Planetary Outpost, I thought I’d take a look at the roof.

I like the dark grey colour as it adds a nice contrast to the medium grey and white walls, and also helps gather heat from the faraway sun. There’s a lot of little greebling touches throughout, but my decision to have that greebling dark grey may not have been the best option since it’s not easy to discern it amid the rest of the roof’s structure.

The change may well be subtle at first glance. Think of it is a tryout as I’m replacing dark grey elements with medium grey ones.

I’m presenting you with three options; let me know what you think in the comments, and which version you prefer!

Until the next time, 

Captain out.

I’m planning a really big update.

Over the last few weeks I’ve made various changes and improvements to the outside of Planetary Outpost.

Since Christmas of last year, I’ve strengthened the pivoting wall that grants you access to the base’s corridor, altered how the airlocks connect to the main building so they don’t fall apart when you try to remove them, improved the playability of the excavation areas, remodelled, streamlined and strengthened the underside of the base, added a recharge station, modified the buggies so they could take advantage of it, and finally, made full use of a newly created LEGO piece to make the curved underside of the base sturdier.

It’s been a busy few months. But I’m not stopping there.

While I was working on my Moments in Space entry, I stumbled across a printed piece I never knew existed. It came from another Classic Space era, beyond the grey/blue/trans.yellow palette I was familiar with. It didn’t take much research to find a slew of other pieces LEGO had printed over the years for its various space-related themes - and beyond. I used most of those in The Bridge, while I toyed with (for me) new design ideas to create angles with LEGO bricks.

But it got me thinking. What better way to make a proper homage to Classic Space than to use these printed pieces as control Panels throughout Planetary Outpost itself? When I originally designed this project, I relied on the pieces available in LDD, and old printed pieces aren’t actually present. I (wrongly) assumed they weren’t available, and settled for average-looking control panels. I wasn’t aware then of the awesome power of the BrickLink marketplace. 

In addition to that, there’s an advanced building technique called SNOT I would like to explore further (for the uninitiated, SNOT refers to Studs Not On Top; it’s a technique that places LEGO elements on their sides or even upside down to achieve a specific shape or structure).

Currently, Planetary Outpost hardly takes advantage of this method aside from attaching a handful of tiles to walls, and I think it’s all the poorer for it, especially since you can create shapes that would be impossible to achieve using regular construction techniques. Back in October 2017, this was the best my skills would allow. I think I’m ready to enter the next phase of LEGO construction.

Which is why I decided to gut all the base’s rooms - each of the five configurations - and start again. The basic design will remain the same: I’ll still have a command centre, galley, crew quarters, sick bay and workshop, and the features within these rooms will mostly remain the same, but they will all be designed in a substantially different way, which I think will improve both the building experience, the look of the finished product, and the playability.

I’ve already spent a few weeks in LDD and have ordered the required parts (most haven’t arrived yet), but there may be a need for tinkering once I assemble everything with real bricks. So it might take a few more weeks still before I’m ready to unveil anything.

I’ll keep you posted as I progress through my redesign.

Wish me luck!

Until the next time,

Captain out

The underside of Planetary Outpost is curved, and is made up of a myriad (well, 80 actually) Plate W/Half Bow Inverted 1x2x2/3 pieces (part 24201). Although it gives my project the desired look, a long row of one-stud wide pieces doesn’t contribute to the design’s overall strength.

A few weeks back, on Christmas Eve, I mentioned how I was very keen to add a piece to Planetary Outpost that LEGO had just created:

“A future minor update will actually involve a brand new piece introduced with The Joker™ Manor (70922): Plate W/Half Bow Inverted 2x2x2/3 (part 32803).

It’s currently only available in Medium Standard Grey, and although I’ve not been shy of spray painting pieces in the past, I thought I’d wait a little to see if LEGO will soon produce it in black as well. I feel that such a piece would greatly improve my model’s underside rigidity, but also reduce the piece count: I currently need 80 1x2x2/3 pieces. The new part would mean I could use both pieces to a combined total of just 40.”

It didn’t take long for LEGO to start producing that piece in black for other sets like the A-Wing™ vs. TIE Silencer™ Microfighters (set 75196) and the S.O.G. Headquarters (set 70640), which means no spray painting will be necessary this time round!

It was time to make this minor update, so I promptly ordered those pieces. This is not an exercise in merely reducing the piece count as I mentioned in that update: wider pieces that overlap two studs will lead to a sturdier build compared to a row of pieces only one stud wide. It will also help with playability as parts won’t fall off as easily!

Planetary Outpost now has an improved curved underside, which also extends to the airlocks’ design as well.

I hope you’ll find that a sleeker, sturdier finish is just what the Doctor ordered

Until the next time,

Captain out. 

PS: yes, The Doctor did come to visit. That’s the beauty of mix and matching LEGO.

As we explored previously, the buggies have their own small solar panel, but nothing can beat the fast recharge rate of plugging the vehicle directly to Planetary Outpost… except as originally designed, there’s no way to do that - and that’s a pretty big shortcoming, not to mention a missing play feature.

Having added a power connection to the base last time, all I had to do was redesign the buggies to make them compatible with it.

This involved altering the back of the buggies - not too much of a big deal as I wanted to add rear mudguards anyway. So after a little jiggery pokery, the redesigned buggies were unleashed. It’s always fun to see how just a handful of additional pieces can improve a design.

This version is perfectly suited to recharging both by solar power as before, or directly from the hook up to the base.

Will the fun never cease in Planetary Outpost? Well it will, if you don’t get behind this project. So don’t delay, and click on ‘Support’ today!

Until the next time,

Captain out.

Planetary Outpost is powered by the sun, thanks to its two huge solar panels. All this energy keeps the life support system humming, the lights buzzing, and the coffee pipping hot.

They’re designed to be rotated and titled (to follow the sun and harvest as much energy as possible), or taken off the roof should a better location be found nearby. I’ve actually had to move their position a little, as building Planetary Outpost with real LEGO bricks revealed a slight hiccup: they kept bumping into one another. But thankfully, moving one of them a stud further away from the other resolved the issue.

So that’s the base sorted out for energy, but what about the external devices? How is AI5ORTS powered for instance?

I have a confession to make: I always wanted to add a recharging station to Planetary Outpost, but couldn’t figure out how to implement it. Then looking at the Death Star recently, I was reminded that LEGO make strings that can be easily attached as they have studs on either end.

A quick search on BrickLink for “string with studs” revealed 5 such pieces, and “String with End Studs 11L Overall” seemed perfect for my needs.

Ideally I would’ve liked a white version but those are rare and expensive, so I settled on a black one.

I changed a few bricks around on one side of the building (which was surprisingly harder to do than altering the whole underside!), and presto! One flexible power cable, ready for duty.

I’ve made it so it connects round the corner when not in use. Why round the corner? To make it still usable when you join another module on that side.

So now, you don’t have to worry about AI5ORTS ever running out of energy: he can just hook up and power up whenever he feels like it, and will always operate at peak efficiency.

But what about the buggies? Just like Planetary Outpost, they too are charged by the sun, but sometimes they may need that extra bit of power to get them through the day.

This will involve modifying them, and this is a story for another update.

Until the next time,

Captain out.

It was very exciting that NinjaBrick reached out and interviewed me about the design process behind Planetary Outpost. There was even time to touch on my Moments in Space entry, The Bridge.

Check it out!