6830 Space Patroller Alternate 3

Wow, time sure flies, I've been unnable to post for the past, what is it, almost three weeks to the day? But here's the kicker.  You have all been taking the pageviews to new heights despite my absence, not because of my efforts...is this the tipping point?

And so we come to today's post.  Nothing groundbreaking, just the last 6830 Space Patroller alternate.

This was the hardest one, the challenge was figuring out what the design behind the trans blue canopy was.  I think my new landlord and I figured it out.  We tried three or four ideas before it smacked us in the noggins that we were making much ado over a little thing.

The design pushes the envelope in small ways to train kids on ways to use the parts, and to judge depth perception.  Here we have studs tipped at a 90 degree angle, creating a wide windscreen.  It's a simple, but effective example of SNOT (Studs Not On Top).  I like this ship's eyestalk lasers...it's a nifty hover platform, and a sizeable reconstruction of the model.

The console makes a handy spaceship tail and gives the rear some character.  Underneath the robot arms add a simple smidgen of greebling for some technical flavor in the landing gear.

From the top you can see the oval shape, it's very exposed and open, but the use of parts is exceptional, given what we have to work with.  Not a bad set, this one.  The engines are humble, and most important...recognizable.

In this image you can see the tube pressed down between the studs.  The spacing of the window requires the offset, otherwise the shape is uneven.  It's not a common feature in official sets, but clearly the designers wanted to demonstrate methods available by which one could push the envelope of possi-build-ities.

All that said this was more interesting to look at than the Alternate image suggested.  I hope you enjoyed this 3 part study of 6830's back of the box.

Sincerely, The Cure-all Pill

6830 Space Patroller Alternate 2

When last we met, I assembled a 6830 Space Patroller alternate, and due to budget cuts in the creativity department I'm doing it again.

Actually, I quite like this alternates fiddling, and as it gets more challenging... maybe I'll be able to, have to? share the frustrations of failure.

I plan to do the series as I go through and update the Futuron set posts with better photography.  This, since I'm a few pieces shy of the Space Police series, for reasons previously outlined by Jang (My response)

So; here we have a Hoverchair.

And a robot dog.

Overall, it's a very simple build, but beyond that...We have the technology!

The future is now.

6830 Space Patroller Alternate

This is an alternate from 6830 Space Patroller.

I used the picture on the back of the box and built the radar tower. In other news, the blog post for 6830 Space Patroller was my first review, and I have given it the old 2.0 improvements.  Better camera + better background + better pictures = better post.

See ya later; this message has been delivered from another time.

The Cure-all Pill

Futuron 6830 Space Patroller

For our first entry I give you Space Patroller.  I recently had the pleasure of building this set and was taken aback in a good way by its austere design.  When the wings fold forward it's just white; barely any details to speak of.  It gets extra plain when the robots come off. 

Despite the simple design there's some real complexity in the construction and movement.  For one thing the swing wing's angle is counter intuitive, as I discovered when I tried to mimic it in another spaceship I made.  

Second, the robots as engines are a genius move that allow children to choose if the engines or the robots are more important to play; and you get two of of these droids.

I can think of only two other Lego space sets that were equally generous with brick built robots: 6925 Interplanetary Rover, which was a significantly bigger toy.

6702 minifig pack, which lacked the clever trickery of 6830, though the design influence is clearly visible in the taller robot.  

The structure of the model is very spare and recalls to mind an egret with its vast swaths of white and its swept back wings.  Note that the wings can swing forward to make the front of the model look fatter at the expense of the back.  The robot engines give the rear a lot of character, but when they're detached, the  engine rack becomes very spare in detail.  

It's quite an accomplishment that despite having 48 pieces the Space Patroller looks like it has fewer, and feels like one more piece, or one less piece, would have ruined its clean economy of parts usage.  

Among the Futuron sets Space Patroller is the most spare looking model, despite not being the smallest.  It is a most elegant spaceship; comparable to 6932 Stardefender 200 the flagship of Futuron. 

The main component draw for 6830 comes from the prefab wall element, used here as a canopy.

I suppose when it came out the canopy would have been a big deal since it was new in 1988 and the set was cheap and mass produced, but given the model's increasing rarity and occasionally hefty price I can't recommend it for parts as it lacks any unique pieces.  To put it in perspective 6875 Hovercraft has two canopy windows and commands a similar price despite being a bigger toy.  

The Yellow Spaceman is the most common figure within the Futuron subtheme and I'm not as fond of it as I am of the other colors.  Therefore I personally feel 6830 is best left to the overzealous collectors if it goes north of 8 dollars.

6830 is the only  Futuron set with this bracket chassis in white, 

I must add an addendum... somehow I overlooked this piece, ubiquitous though it may be... Futuron only has two cylinder bricks in white... both of them here.

Other than that, it can be easily parted together from the existing collection.

If you like the looks of this model, it might make more sense to part it together from your collection depending on the number available and price at any given time.

It is all in all a very nice set.

Here is an example of 6830's creative potential

I envisioned building a robot, but got something more akin to a salvage/repair pod.  Stunning, I honestly didn't expect results this good, and this was my first attempt.

In hindsight as I'm updating and improving this post; I'm still blown away by how good this Space Patroller alternate was.  Even rebuilding it for the reshoot, it's a very basic, but surprisingly detailed build.

Final Decision: A-
Pros: Excellent main model, Great part selection
Cons: High secondary market price, insufficient selection of unique or rare pieces, Yellow Space Man