Interstellar Ranger

With only 1 day to go now and 'only' 459 supporters I guess it's time to throw in the towel.

But I wanted to thank you all very much for your support over the year.

If you are interested, you can see more of my stuff on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/riskjockey/

And who knows, maybe I'll try again with one of my other projects.

Cheers

-Chris

250+ Supporters! Wow.. Thank you everyone!

I've been busy tweaking the design and Interstellar has just been released on blu-ray, so I thought this would be a good time to post an update and share some more photos.

Rather than describe all the many various changes, I'll just let the images do most of the talking this time.

The roof is hinged from further back, allowing better access and also allowing me to render the top windows more accurately.

All four crew seats have been filled although Cooper and Amelia are still in a bit of a mood, possibly because TARS isn't aboard! He's around somewhere, cracking bad jokes.

As always, more photos of the Ranger can be found on my Flickr feed: https://www.flickr.com/photos/riskjockey/

Hope you like the updated model! Until next time....

-Chris

As hinted at in my last update I have now added landing gear... and also rebuilt the entire model! Ooops! It's essentially the same - the key design features are all there - but this build is a significant refinement, and I think improvement, of my initial idea.

The biggest change is in the scale/proportions: a stud has been added to either side of the fuselage, making it 2 studs wider. The front has been extended by 2 studs and the cockpit bulge has been brought back by 1 stud. Altogether this means that the proportions more closely match the film model.

Making it wider has also allowed me to solve a few design problems. Slopes now run along the top, either side of the opening roof to create a nice soft curve, and this also ties in better with top of the aft section. Furthermore, it's opened up the cockpit a bit allowing me to put an extra set of seats in for the rest of the crew. I currently don't have the mini-fig parts for these guys, but expect to see them in another update!

There are further refinements to the nose, the raised section just behind the nose and the wings. I've also managed to fill in the gap between the wings and the main body.

Finally the rear has been improved, with better shape and placement of the main engines.

Oh, and the front landing gear rotates inwards to hide behind the wings. The rear landing gear doesn't, but maybe I'll see if I can get that working at some point.

If you want to see a few larger (and possibly more) pictures I'm going to add them all to my Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/riskjockey/

Thanks for reading. and I hope you like the updated build!

Hi all! Firstly, thank you so much for all your support and feedback. There's still a long way to go to 10000, but I feel like this is a great start. You guys rock!

A couple of people have mentioned TARS needing a re-model. This update addresses that. I've had to lose a bit of functionality but I think the form is much truer to the source material. And he can still be posed into a walk. I also took the opportunity of improving Cooper. His face is better - more rugged. And I've now given both Amelia and Cooper helmets, with hooks just behind their pilot seats for them to hang on when not being worn. I like details like that :)

The Ranger has seen a few tweaks: I was never very happy with the old-style brick hinges I used for the forward canopy opening mechanism, so these have been replaced with new style plates with pin holes. It means it's more flush and the opening action is smoother. I also inverted all the bricks on the two opening canopies which allowed me to put the white brackets underneath the front windows now so they don't block any light. Ultimately there's not much visible difference to the model, but it all works just a little bit better.

Finally, instructions have been requested... one way or another instructions will be made available for this Lego set. Hopefully, inside a nice box along with numbered bagged pieces :) But otherwise, yes either way I'll make some.

OK I should really stop fiddling with it. Or maybe I should make some landing gear....

- Chris