Futuron: 6953 Cosmic Laser Launcher Alternate 1: Space Saucer

Due to connector wear and tear I've run into a hitch getting more than 5 photographs off my phone every other day... it's been a bother, especially since I keep forgetting and I have to make sure I don't upload the same photo twice.  So that's my unhelpful excuse for the long and languishing Battrax Review.

How about something fun? a long awaited post for another Futuron Alternate.

This time I'm tackling Cosmic Laser Launcher's Alternates,  If you follow that link you'll notice that my photography skills and camera have improved considerably since those halcyon days of my first wave of reviews.  I should update this one when I have time.

The first model out the gate is a fancy low slung fighter with a massive footprint.

I chose this example to start off with for two reasons.
First: It's my favorite idea on the back of the box, I'm drawn to the use of the giant window, the reaching mandibles, and the burly engines.  Lots to like at a glance.
And the second reason is that it's a spaceship, and I felt like building such a wonder tonight.

The structure and image presented a few quandaries.  Firstly, I cannot see the bottom, nor can I see the astronauts seating.  So I assembled what I could see and did improvise after getting a glimpse at the remaining part palette,  I opted for the rounds as landing gear even though I couldn't see them.  I felt they were needed for substructure support alongside the inverse slopes and the hopefully correct 1x3 bricks. A second glance at the box made me think the 1x3's should be 2x2 inverted slopes... whoops.

The first surprise with this model was related to its size, I knew it would be long, but the image is presented to look slender, and lest we all forget how wide those angle plates are... it is not a slender ship.  With a few adjustments this could be a competent saucer.

The plate laden construction doesn't inspire confidence in the craft's rigidity, and the lightness of the frame suggests the ship is frail, though it does hold together well.  It is a bit thin looking to my tastes, more undercarriage would be a good addition, but the parts for such an embellishment are not contained within the main model.  From this angle it looks rather good, the illusion of depth does wonders for the presentation.

I'm reminded that this is not a new toy by the yellowing of certain white elements, and the occasional dent or marred surface... that aside and more to the point, I really like the inclusion of the red spacemen here, I'm at a loss why TLG didn't include them in more sets... The cockpit here doesn't help to allay concerns about the craft's spindly construction, but it does offer an excellent grip point for swooshing; this is a very important play feature in a toy spaceship... especially one as wide as this model is.

I'm rather less pleased with this alternate in my hands than I am with its vision of loveliness upon the box, it's tempting, but wholly underwhelming almost entirely on account of the flat nature of the main body, there's a certain, this could never have been an official model, feel to it that bothers me.

I just noticed the 1x2 slope missing on the left mandible.  I'm not going to fix it... I'm not, but... pfft, I thought I caught that yesterday?  Anyways... I've made a handful of mistakes in assembling this, but I'm letting them go... fixing them with my current camera setup will be a 2 day bother, and I'm not willing to make the adjustments.  But I'm telling you so you don't accidentally take my iteration as the end all be all on the matter.

Here's a competent saucer composed by rotating the two big plates, and pulling the mandibles back, Since the mandibles aren't an exact match I removed one 1x4 plate from the back wing of the model to keep things balanced.  The grille prints look to be decent heat dispersal points ahead of those engine lasers.  I think the main design has great potential for a more built up rehash, but I'm really pleased at how simple it is to make flying saucers from this set.

You may have noticed the new background color... I saved some matte black... well it's not construction paper... thicker... I saved sheets of unknown material from going to the garbage at work. I figured the Futuron sets might look better on a nonwhite background and it was free 99.  On that note it's time to end this installment; until next time ~The 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 6884 AERO-Module --- alternate 3

I have built a spaceship, out of a spaceship... This is another design effort from 6884 AERO-Module.

Overall I've been having a hard time getting enthused about this one, it's what happens when an A-Wing has all the interesting ideas stripped away...in exchange for mounted Artillery on the bow.

So what are the designers attempting here, well... the design is tapering toward the front, and there is an effort to do some shaping.

Wait a minute...I've seen that mug before... those laser eye stalks...

Gasp... It's it's...

YOU!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

where was I?

Oh yeah... hightailing it out of here at lightspeed!

Futuron: 6884 AERO-Module -- alternate 2

This post is another Alternate from AERO-Module; the Volkswagen Beetle of Futuron...

This model comes from the top right corner of the back of the box.

By Futuron standards, it is a very dark alternate.  It's a space rover with a dump truck bed in the back, albeit...not very dump-able as currently built.

The robot has an odd leg assembly, possibly meant to inspire movement of a sort.

Overall the model is a simple quick build featuring move-able antenna since getting your favorite radio station in a crater can be a bit of a trick, and propulsion is provided by the two rockets alongside.

But it does have a few bright ideas in the headlight construction.

By gum, it's an offset construction...nifty!

The empty space in the bed begs to be filled, and to that end I built a small scooter to place in the back using some additional elements from AERO-Module.

Ner---room---

But I said dump truck...gotta throw away those broken space ship bits somehow... Robot will do it :)

Aye, It were a beautiful ship once, but now its stuck in with the rest of the garbage.

Two changes were made to the undercarriage with three elements added and two taken away.

And that's a wrap, I hope you've enjoyed...wait a minute...Uh oh! Black-tron's ace cell breaker escaped again, and...there's an unattended parked rover...

Hehe, I've got a Meteor Monitor with just these colors...how fortuitous, those silly Space Police won't  realize it isn't mine!  Muaha-hick-cough!

1875 Meteor Monitor

This car is rocking awesome, I only work in black, and more black... mostly.

Me and my robot pal will be the toast of the auto show!

Well, all's well that ends?

Where is my car?
In Danish--- Hvor er min bil?

The Cure-all Pill

Beacon Tracer + Pulsar Charger = Asymmetry Equalizer

I kept thinking this would be a fun, small mashup, so since I've got the time, here's a new MOC created using two small sets from M-Tron

Pulsar Charger

+

Beacon Tracer

=

Asymmetry Equalizer

There are a total of 66 pieces available, and after completion 8 pieces were left, I kept attempting fairly banal designs until I thought back to one of the Beacon Tracer box alts and tried this downward facing look.  Upon adding a scooter to the side I went from nope, nope, nope, to oh my gosh, this!

It's a small one off, but the only limitation I faced was in my brain, once I stopped thinking symmetrically the design hit me in the face and I was done in no time.  

On their own neither of these vehicles is impressive, but when they can attach and detach, now we're onto something.  I certainly want to do something like this again...only bigger!

Don't let small sets fool you, limitations can force you to develop new tactics in your modeling, as you return to the main collection you can take that new idea and incorporate it into something else.

Sincerely, 

The Cure-all Pill

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

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