This was a quick build – two hours, at the most – and it turned out almost exactly as I had envisioned it. (I had intended the pilot to squat lower – oh well.) There was some rebuilding as it went along, but not much. I was almost satisfied with it, but it wasn’t until I thought of making a tilting stand that it really thrilled me. It looks a lot better to me in flight than it does at rest. Attaching those flames underneath was the toughest part to figure out.
This creation started with no preconceived idea. I started playing with that piece I like so much – piece 30303 which, I’ve discovered, is officially named “Plate 6 x 6 x 2/3 Cross with Dome”. I started putting them together in different configurations, looking for inspiration. Eventually, it started looking like a spacecraft. I attached a windscreen and a couple of engines. I formed two goals as I went along: to keep the profile as low as possible, and to avoid smooth, flat sides.
With the amount of exposed elements this thing has, I realized it wouldn’t be practical for space travel. So, instead, it has become a planetskimmer: a fast and sleek hovercraft for commuting around distant planet colonies. I am fond of this build.
This started with me wanting to build a spacecraft that did not have the usual cockpit lid that lifted up. So I built a cockpit lid that slid out. Then I built a spacecraft around it. After one tear down and rebuild, I came up with this. I think it’s a bit boxy, but it has a certain charm. I am rather fond of the engines.
I showed it to Phillip, and he challenged me to build some sort of mechanism to remove that sliding cockpit lid. (“Something like The Scorpion” he suggested.) I quickly came up with the idea of what I wanted to do, but it became a challenge of physics. How could I keep the mechanism from tipping forward from the weight of the cockpit lid? After several attempts, it occurred to me that the solution was to build forward rather than add more weight to the back. It’s not pretty, but it works.
This whole build is rather fragile, however, so I don’t consider it a complete success.
The support vehicle, with a team of five, arrives.
The support vehicle is guided toward the landed spacecraft.
The arms need to be lined up.
The arms are latched to the cockpit lid.
As the support vehicle backs up, the cockpit lid is removed.
The lid is almost off.
The lid is off, and it is now safe for the crew to approach the spacecraft again.
The crew attends to the pilot as the lid is stored away.
This actually started as a turbine-powered racecar. But, as often happens with the experimental nature of my builds, it just didn’t come together to my satisfaction. I narrowed and lowered the driver’s compartment. Then it started looking more like a spacecraft. The tires came off, the turbines were scrapped, the windshield was removed, and a cockpit cover added. Once I had a spacecraft in mind, the cockpit came together quickly. The engines, however, went through two rebuilds to arrive at the shape I wanted. I love how this turned out.
This is the third in the series of small and simple spaceships. Once again, I built this one without breaking down the first two. I really ventured away from the concept of “small and simple” with this one. It is my least favorite of the three. There are elements I like – the curved engine components in the back, between the pilot and those huge engines, for instance.
Actually, when I forget that I was aiming for “small and simple”. I like this spaceship quite a bit.
