Guide to the .JPG Files Concerning the Armed Merchant Vessel that Has no Name Well, here it is. My (somewhat) complete first attempt at building a massive space vessel. I believe someone said recently that no labor of love is ever really complete, and there are a lot of things I can see that I could have added or modified as these pictures were being posted. First off, the vessel is intended to be an armed merchant ship; essentially a deep-space cargo vessel with 8 medium lasers strapped on. A similar comparison would be the 20-mm guns that started to appear on Liberty cargo ships in late 1943 Atlantic convoys during WWII (although German air was never the threat to convoys that the U-boats were). A word about the hull number, LL270. You can read more about it in the caption for 08hullnm.jpg below, but for introductory purposes, it had long bothered me that LEGO came up with just a few hull numbers for their vessels: LL928 for the Galaxy Explorer, LL924 for the Space Cruiser, and a few others. I saw a lot of different hull numbers in my brief US Navy service, and I thought the concept should apply to LEGO ships, at least those in the classic space LEGOLand fleet. So since this was my first attempt, a rather boxy affair, I decided that this was also a rather older class, being slowly phased out across the galaxy (hence its earlier-sequence hull number) but nonetheless reliable and more cost-effective for deep penetration cargo runs where the sleeker fighters could not cover against potential pirate attacks. My assessment is that this class is some fifteen to twenty years old if not older. I tried to organize the pictures into some sort of logical sequence, beginning with the "hook" picture that is meant to grab you, and followed by a kind of tour of the craft. Overall, the vessel consists of five parts when all the covers are removed: - The main vessel - The bridge cover - The crew quarters cover - The engine cover - The crew quarters themselves, which also serve as a cover to the cargo bay. I have also included a picture of a Galaxy Explorer alongside for basis of comparison. This should put the model at slightly less than 30 inches in length. I estimate its total loaded weight at around 40 lbs. Thanks to the following individuals: - To Kyle Keppler, who gave me a lot of early support via email and who, like me, became a LUGNET member on the January 1, 2001. He probably saved the entire project when he suggested using long LEGO Technic beams to strengthen the central structure. Before this, I couldn't even attempt to lift it without serious risk of cracking the vessel in half. Thanks, Kyle. We'll meet in person one day. - To Kevin Loch and BrickShelf.com for allowing me to host these images. - To my friends, George Eisinger and Joe Casas, who saw the vessel in the final phases and who offered advice for finishing touches. - To all the space-LEGO folks on the LUGNET Space Newsgroup who offered support and encouragement. - To Todd S. Lehman and Suzanne D. Rich for the LUGNET website. - To the LEGO Company for coming up with the greatest invention since the Italian car. GUIDE TO THE PICS 01_main.jpg -- This is the "hook" picture to get folks to look further. It shows the vessel in the middle of another long haul. 02_main.jpg -- Looking at the vessel from the forepart, upper angle. If you were floating in space at that moment, it would pass underneath you. Also, the favorite view of my friends. 03_main.jpg -- Similar to above, but at a different angle and slightly panned back. 04_port.jpg -- Vessel's portside. You'll find that I doted on the portside throughout most of these pics, simply because the starboard side was situated away from the table's edge during the majority of the project. For all landlubbers, the portside is also called "left" and thus the front or "fore" of the vessel is also to your left. Neat, huh? Uhhhh...yeah. 05_fore.jpg -- Similar to 01_main.jpg but no stars. 06_top.jpg -- Vessel topside. The eight blue domes amidships are probably escape pod hatches, since they're hinged. Like a lot of elements on this ship, I stuck them on because they looked cool, not for any particular purpose. 07_top.jpg -- Similar to above, but now portside cargo doors are secured. 08hullnm.jpg -- You know most of the story behind the hullnumber already from above. I got the idea while in a Mom n' Pop hobby store where my father was drooling over the model train stuff. I went and found some white decals meant for detailing rail cars and decided the font was close enough. Hey, this could lend support to the notion that the vessel is an older class. The hull number is duplicated on the starboard side. Just slapped 'em onto a 1x4 blue brick. 09solarp.jpg -- Another example of something I thought would look cool but has no specific purpose in concrete form anyway. Originally I thought "solar panel" (hence the filename) but then "what vessel needs solar power when it has a three -reactor fusion engine?" Oops!! For now, I guess they're just some extra hull plating the engineer tacked on to protect the bridge and cargo areas. Plus they DO serve to hold the port and starboard transponders. 10rocket.jpg -- The rocket assembly. Pretty straightforward. Yes, those are gray space wings you see behind each of the upper and lower rocket packages. 11_comp.jpg -- Comparison of the vessel with a Galaxy Explorer. 12airlck.jpg -- Ship's airlock, which leads into the crew quarters (see the other side in 26galley.jpg). 13_pods.jpg -- Escape pod covers. Well, really, just eight octagonal domes strapped onto the top because it looked naked. Underneath each I've stuck a round 2x2 black brick. Finally I just decided "Escape pods...sure, why not?" 14aftgun.jpg -- Really a picture of the two portside aftguns, the engine cover, and the rocket assembly. This is the only picture, however, where the underside port aft turret can be seen clearly. The ship has eight point-defense dual- laser batteries. With the exception of the aft, any surface area of the ship is covered by at least two turrets. Besides, most pirates don't attack the aft portion anyway, because they don't want to eat white-hot fusion burn. 15_vent.jpg -- Oddly enough, this had a purpose before it was tacked on, but the name is misplaced. It's meant to protect the crew quarters from danger in the event of plant meltdown, given the quarters' proximity to the engine. Maybe I should have called it "heat-dampers" or something. 16_engn1.jpg -- First view of the powerplant, showing the partly-removed cover. 17_engn2.jpg -- Much better view of the powerplant. 18_brdg1.jpg -- Top view of the bridge, showing removed cover. 19_brdg2.jpg -- Close-up shot of the bridge, showing all five personnel stationed there and the door to the cargo area. 20brgprt.jpg -- View of the bridge from portside. If you look closely to the right of Captain Kratur, you will see a small folding viewscreen which hides two blasters in the event of boarding! 21brgstb.jpg -- View of the bridge from starboard. Two emergency airtanks stored here. 22_qrtrs.jpg -- Crew quarters with cover removed. With the cover on, you'd see the escape pod hatches. CargoMaster (Chief) Viktor Dropspek is seated at his duty station while underway. Normally, he would be in the cargo bay during loading or unloading operations. Behind him, a ladder descends to the cargo deck. Boatswain (1st) Johnny Swift (in blue) mans the main long-range communications terminals. A good shot of the arms/gear locker is at lower left. To the right, the crew shower is behind and to the right of Boatswain Swift. Far to the right are seven bunks and lockers. 23qtraft.jpg -- Crew quarters, aft. Showing the seven bunks and lockers, the shower area, and the head (toilet). 24qtfore.jpg -- Crew quarters, forepart. Better shot of the arms/gear locker and one of Boatswain Swift's two large comm-screens. 25_qrtrs.jpg -- Different angle on the entire crew quarter's deck. 26galley.jpg -- This shot actually shows three signifigant ship's elements: the crew galley (with storage, sink and oven), a good interior shot of the arms/gear locker complete with six blasters stored at the rear, and the airlock controls. 27_cargo.jpg -- The cargo deck with its cover, the crew quarters, removed. Use the ladder at upper left for reference. CargoMaster (Chief) Viktor Dropspek is busy getting newly loaded cargo stored for the next drop. Captain Kratur super- -vises from the bridge deck to the left. 28_cargo.jpg -- Different angle for the same deck. Note the metallic door behind Chief Dropseck, towards upper left. This is discussed in the next caption. 29danger.jpg -- Confession: these five metallic bricks are the only Mega Bloks I own. But dammit, until LEGO comes out with metallic bricks... anyway, this door should NEVER open at anytime during normal ship's operations. It is an emergency door to access the engine area in time of dire need. It can only be opened from the bridge, and all within the cargo area have thirty seconds to leave before the compartment is sealed off due to radiation contamination. 30uncovd.jpg -- The entire vessel with all covers removed. 31_portdr.jpg -- Extra shot showing the portside cargo doors open. The starboard doors open too, I just never got a shot of them. 32cargdr.jpg -- Extra shot showing Chief Dropspek moving freshly loaded cargo just before the doors close. 33prtype.jpg -- Landing Gear, prototype. You can see how the gear will retract and lower. I used six of these on the vessel in the middle of construction when it weighed but twenty pounds, and they still folded up; I was lucky not to lose any pieces. Yes, I have tried it using opposing angles (instead of all just facing one way) but this is very unstable. I'll have to increase the overall strength of the individual assemblies or not use them at all. Perhaps the ship is meant to stay in orbit between cargo drops? Thanks for looking!! Comments and civil criticism always welcome at: houghpt@usa.net phough@cisco.com LEGO and all LEGO trademarks mentioned on this page, including but not limited to LEGO Classic Space, are the property of LEGO Company. Mega Bloks are a trademark of Ritvik Holdings Inc. All other names are property of their respective owners.