Futuron: 6885 Crater Crawler Alternate~4

And we come to the end of 6885's alternates... It isn't very good...

behold the misshapen monstrosity!

I really don't like this spacecraft, its foundation is a big plate which pushes all the design upward and creates a very squared off flat footed shape.  It makes me think of a snail with its eyes on the fences, its big shell in back...and some cannons on the side?

This isn't bad, the windscreen assembly hinge and attachments seem proper, if under powered.

The whole main body is flat and empty inside the fenced in area.  This design may be focused on showing kids what can be done with the big plate outside of the base alternate but it doesn't work.  

Looking through the windscreen is optimal, but apparently reclining and reading your dials is an optional feature.  

So, thoroughly unimpressed as I am, I'm going to break off what I like about this model and make something better with the leftovers.

I really like the guns, and the cockpit /rear has potential, so I left those alone.  I pulled the nose and shifted some bits around, and made a central light on the front.

In space, there's no friction to steer against, so I added on some side thrusters for adjusting the ships angle of approach and trajectory.  I followed up with a few more blue highlights to keep the design reasonably consistent; if not with Futuron, then with the model itself.

The cockpit is much smaller and close feeling.  It isn't as open to the elements.

And the pilot can see out into that nebulous vastness of space.  Back to work you.  Go bag some Blacktron baddies.

Which Crater Crawler alternate is your favorite?

Scooter Base

Racecar

Transport

Spaceship

Sound off in the comments.

Until Next time,

Cure-all Pill

Futuron: 6885 Crater Crawler ~alternate 3

This is the third alternate in the Crater Crawler box art gallery.

As with last time it is a truck, making three trucks out of 5 offered options... and so far my favorite was last time's amazing Racecar inspired moon buggy.  But don't worry this isn't the last alternate on the box...no sir, I've saved the worst for last... shudder~~~~~

And what a nice truck it is.  It's not the best model on this box but it's still a great alternate; challenging to deduce, and fun to look at.  It even has shades of 6990's train in the headlamps.

The truck is driven by a central joystick handle directed toward the driver.  In the other seat a robot GPS rides along and gives dirctions in any accent you'd like; bulgarian, kenyan, or french.  

Thank you for your purchase of this state of the art navigational robot, more accent options are made available with DLC, only 300 credits per accent; a real stea~~~~~~l!

"Highway robbery!"  I thought you came pre installed with yodel ay hi man!"

What it doesn't have are any of the prefab walls, and that's just fine.  I love the prefab walls, and some of that is due to them being cool but a lot of it has to do with their uncommon nature.  They're like a high end supercar, really cool, and rarer than a live steer.  

The tyres taper inward from front to back, smaller to larger; I really like this effect.  Some of it may be my favorable prejudice toward the larger vintage technic tyres.  

The rear rack holds the tools and blends into the front bumper design.  It flows over the rear tyres like a half wheel well and trails off ahead of the rear tail light cluster. 

 Finally, the inside hinge plate looks like it could be a really cool futuristic exhaust port.  I fitted the other hinge plate, but that one got in the way of construction.  That is how I determined the appropriate element for the rear.

I hope you've been enjoying these in depth looks at Futuron's various alternates, and I look forward to your next visit.

Until next time,

The Cure-all Pill

Futuron 6885 Crater Crawler ~ Alternate 2

This alternate was an insane challenge as I managed to finish it in about a dozen ways, until I found one I was happy with.  I kept going until the chassis was secure and proportions looked correct.

I don't promise to have gotten it exact, but in a picture like this that may not be possible.  The point made is not that this must be done one way, but that I found many roads which lead to something approaching the finished product.  When I realized how many variations I could do with just 98 pieces I began to realize how much thought must have been put into this one design.

What can I say about the car?  Dang son, it looks good!

From a company product point of view it's easy to feel why this vehicle didn't become a set in Futuron's lineup. It has precious few grip points, and the window tips up at slight hand pressure, the wheels easily lose traction when the hand pressure is too feathery.  The window can be a grip point, but then you will have fingerprints all over it, and slight lift will open the cockpit.  Best bet...find a slope and let it roll away.

Given my difficulty finessing this thing I'll reveal the secrets behind those tyres.  I utilized zoom in my picture viewer...but even that wasn't able to get me much of a view of anything.   Ready? grab your megaphones and woila!

I puzzled this out for over an hour and had a few other methods which went to the cutting room floor because things like the upper headlight cluster had incorrect proportions.

Even so, the chassis is the one area I'm feeling dicey on...but everything's secured...car's not crumbling.  I can't see it anyway, so I selected to let it be and added the tapered plate for aesthetic bulking up and sleekness.

Drivers start your engines! Today marks the beginning of this rotation's galaxy famous Saturn 5000 Titan Dakar.

It looks like a crater crashing formula inspired dune buggy.

Check out this boss exhaust system as it drives away... Man I just love the transparent canopy in this set...my younger self wanted corner space windows so bad...the older self obliged.  Younger self was NOT wrong!  

So far this is the coolest box derived alternate I've had the pleasure of deducing from a Futuron set, but there are many more waiting to be challenged; with that I end this second alternative review of 6885 Crater Crawler.

Until next time,

The Cure-all Pill

Futuron 6885: Crater Crawler~Alternate

We put the Saturn in Main Base.

I ran into a special 'problem' with 6885's alternates.  The designers apparently had the spare bits on hand and they used them... guess what I didn't get when I imported this thing?  And no one's inventoried the spare bits 6885 comes with...so I almost don't trust that I won't miss something making these alternates.

After my initial confusion I peeroned the list of space sets with the tiny blue dot and pulled from the one set I had readily available to provide the spare bit.  harumph!

Did you know this blue dot was only released in one set each year from 1987-1991?  It was a pretty special bit until '92.

1987

1988

1989 spare obtained here

1990

1991

From 92 onward the blue dot received a more regular appearance... and now it's downright common, but by gum that was an itty bitty bother.

First off the box alternate line is this scooter launch base.

This is a small sample of what Crater Crawler can offer the collection...prefab corner walls and prefab rounded windows, it's a mini base wrapped over a truck bed.

The robot seems to be waiting for something...

Monotonous robot voice--Weee!--  Take over?  Pfft, more like, cause minor inconveniences.  

"I knew I shouldn't have set it to fun mode!"

monotonous robot voice--Silly astronaut... pursuit is futile... Ha ha. Ha ha.--

"I'll reprogram this little guy to be boring and boom bodda bing.  That oughta resolve our differences."

Monotonous Robot--01 11 00, access command line interface...press any button to continue.








Scooters come in multiple flavors and colors...Each scooter has one hand operated booster.  Not the most balanced design, but for short trips they seem acceptable.

Longer trips are better aboard this little speeder.

That sums it up.  I like this little base.  It has a fair bit of play value to it on its own and the idea can easily be expanded upon.

Until next time

The Cure-all Pill