Thunderbirds Are Go

My classic Thunderbird 2 had clip on legs, which was not ideal. Here is my first prototype of how fold out extendable legs could work. I will work on a short video, but in case I don't make it in time as 10K is fast approaching below are some photos.

The legs comprise of Bar 6L with Stop Ring inserted into a Friction element cylinder but enters through the other end. (This seems to work fine, but LEGO may consider this an illegal connection) The stop on the bar means each leg extends the same max amount, and cannot be pulled out. This eliminates the constant tweaking to get the legs an identical length for a level model, and prevents the bar being pulled out when extended. At the end a 1x1 round with hole, and 1x1 tile comprise the feet. The friction of the 1x1 round on the bar is greater that the force required to extend the legs, so they do not come off when extending the legs. When the legs rotate the top becomes flush with above parts when it reaches 90 degrees ensuring the legs are straight. When folded in the legs are slightly angled out to allow a better grip on the legs feet to rotate them out easier. Ideally these parts would be in pearl gold.

The 9000 supporters milestone flew past pretty quick. Thank you for all your support, and sharing of this project. I am working on seeing if its possible to get the legs on classic Thunderbird 2 to fold down/up so they don't need to be clipped on.

Thanks for being FAB! and helping this project get to over 8000 supporters! Here is a video of my physical model.

54321 THUNDERBIRDS are go!

Conceptually both the new series and the original Thunderbirds are very close. I even had the Master Elevator Car in this project. This update allows the option of new, or classic Thunderbirds.

Additions include:

• 3 microfigures of IR members Virgil, and Gordon Tracy, and Brains that give a sense of scale to the model. They can be placed in the cockpit or on a 1x3 yellow, or green brick with F.A.B printed on. 
• 1 Minifigure of Virgil Tracy the main pilot of Thunderbird 2, with alternate head showing his stressed expression. I will look into wigs as an update.
• Thunderbird 2 cockpit chair that can tilt as in the show, and have Virgil seated, or in a more upright position.
• Design includes two pod 2x3 tiles. One tile printed with the number 4, for TB4 and the other 3 for the Master Elevator Car.

My next update will be a video showing the physical build.

Higher res images on my Artstation here:

While this project had microfigures that gave a sense of scale to the model and fit in the cockpit well, I and others in the comments felt it was missing a detailed minifigure of a least one of the members of International Rescue. I decided doing the main pilot of Thunderbird 2 Virgil Tracy. 

A big thanks to everyone who has commented, and supported this project and helped it get the amount of supporters it has. Time is starting to run out so if you think this would make a FAB LEGO set, please spread the word.

Thanks!