A Spaceship Holiday Special

I haven't built an M:Tron Moc all year... 

I like the theme, but whenever I'm building, I tend to gravitate toward builds that use trans red, trans blue, or trans yellow...

poor M:Tron.

So earlier in the year as summer began I built a Futuron cough... but I'm getting ahead of myself... I built a Classic Space A-Wing... 

The Classic Space color scheme was borrowed from 6820 Starfire 1 

which in my opinion looks similar to the above water color scheme of the Seatron development theme I based my modular shapeshifting MOC on.

At this point it was not pure A-Wing design, it was the idea of an A-Wing in service to my own Lego Space idea.  I added lots of rockets.

Variant 2 became the first of my 3 takes on a Futuron A-Wing.  For this version I kept the base model the same, swapped in or added some trans blue or tastefully selected trans red, and used the 6990 extended cockpit for my cockpit choice.  I also swapped out the classic blue astronaut for a blue futuron astronaut.

I replaced the Starfire 1 V print with the Classic Space moon print that had some distribution on regular slopes in Futuron... I've always thought it was a good Futuron print, by themselves the stripes don't say quite as much as a good moon print does.  In my opinion, this still didn't capture the A-Wing flavor.

Enter Futuron variant 2  As you can see, I shortened the cockpit and completely redid the nose to get the A-Wing nose with the central split in the front. I changed the armaments to a more Starwars esque build style, less emphasis on transparent elements, more emphasis on a heavy firepower look.  I also removed the rockets and revisited the tailfins which had been part of the initial design.

In place of the rockets I went for more obvious A-Wing styling in the rear.

Here's a topdown view... I think the shaping was quite perfect at this point, and a forum viewer asked if I'd change the window to the blue one matching the red one... soo

I revised the design further... maybe he just wanted the window changed... but I took the opportunity to make further improvements.  I brought in more slopes, and returned some of the rockets to simulate the A-Wing's flattened football curvature.  I think the design really flows from this angle.

I haven't really shown off the interior up to now, here's the one photo I took for it.

So, you might be asking... why show off a Futuron A-Wing if you led with I haven't built an M:Tron MOC...

Well, I decided to build a B-Wing, and what got me on that mental track was that I'd built an A-Wing and I liked the result.

So, to get back to my longwinded story.  

Here's an M:Tron B-Wing and the still assembled A-Wing.  I built the B-Wing on Christmas Eve... to answer the call I kept giving myself... Build again, build again!

The design is vaguely like the very first 2000 B-Wing, but I only looked at it as I was wrapping up to see if the extending foils should have more lasers on them.  Otherwise I was building off memory of catalogue photos, and the Jangbricks review for it, that I watched recently.  

So, before I show it off I wanna brag on my solution... see, the cockpit swivels as a solid body front and back unobstructed by the arm leading into the main craft... and for a while I was trying to use the Particle Ionizer cockpit for my design, but with the efforts to get the rotating body, and the limited attachment points for the window I was looking at the bottom of the cockpit falling off with each rotation.  And the window was too long, which meant the body either had to be bigger than reasonable relative to the wing assembly, or featherlight, with only a few pieces to it.  After about an hour I changed the window choice for the prefab half octagon piece from Vector Detector.  It's a bit too open by Star Wars standards... but for Legoland Space, I think it's perfect.  

And that brings me to my solid rotating cockpit solution.  Since the Legoland Space theme didn't have 1x2 bricks with axleholes for easy front and back stiff attachments, I didn't use them here.  Instead the front and rear have plates pressed onto the side of the technic bush that can receive studs.  Then I built up the space around the plate with standard bricks.  I did this in the front and left it exposed to slot in the lowered cockpit, and it's buried inside in the back.  You can also see I've left a wrench for our astronaut to use on those necessary repairs.

I had a grand scheme to have magnets hold the foils out in the extended formation, and it dragged out the design troubles for 2 hours.  I eventually realized the magnets didn't fit, made the wings too heavy, and... the hinges had enough strength to hold position without the magnets.  So I ditched the magnets for the foils.  I still think it would have been cool if I could have made it work... but I think I'd need to make the model bigger, and I wanted it to be close to the first B-Wing's scale.

I did get M:Tron magnetized boxes on the ship though... and then I thought... but where will the engines go?  Soo, I pulled out the grey cups from Particle Ionizer... and I think they look really splendid.

For accent I added a few turntables to give the impression of a partially exposed mechanism turning the cockpit.

I had made a design decision early in the main body that gave me a SNOT opportunity, soo... I have an M:Tron logo slipped in on the bottom? of the fuselage.  Still using Legoland era parts.  You can see the fence inside attached to an eyelet plate... and I originally had a fence on either side of the eyelet plate, 

To get it positioned for the upside down studs I stepped the eyelet plate on a 1x1 plate into the back of these headlight bricks.  you can see the placement because it's the spot where I mounted my spare astronauts wrench

And tada... one upside down M:Tron printed slop tucked away... so the B-Wing has an M on the central fuselage no matter which way is up.

I was wondering how I would photograph the fully deployed engineering, but... cue 1 monorail stanchion to the rescue!  Sweet B-Wing posturing, and I'll see myself out.

Merry happy Holichrismakwanzonukah to all a ya.  

Sincerely the Cure-all Pill.

Blacktron: A grandiloquent history

The Dark is Rising, the era of exploration ended... they come from the shadows, recesses and crevasses of the distant unknown edge of space.  Those strangers to peace imparted the end to the happy joyful times when scooping up a sample for analysis led to no greater conflict than who got to do the analysis; red or white.  Now there is no red and white.

Now there is only fear.

1987 was marked by a swift departure from the white, blue, and grey of Legoland Space.  A few Classics struggled across the threshold in January, but Blacktron was at the door and knocking.  Harbingers of the end.














They came in waves, first the advance guard: Invading Renegades struck swift like Bats making traks outta hell.

Then they planted their towers, building a dark fortress upon Futuron's Cosmic Laser Launch site. Their colonies towered over the lunar surface like sorcerous strongholds, privy to the knowledge of others divined by crystal radio.

The once bustling moonscapes grew desolate and quiet.  Alienating ruins of a bygone time lay forgotten.  New discoveries were just around the next star system but no longer; now only darkness stalks the craters.

In that twilit hour, a new dawn emerged, in an era of rising conflicts, new alliances formed amid the wreckage of the old galaxies.  The peaceful explorers joined hands with a defense force and mechanics squad to withstand their own untimely doom.

To face off against this combined advance of shadow new roles were devised...

Rebuild the civilian facilities better, faster, and stronger.

defend the planets from those who would destroy the new outposts.

Whatever Blacktron breaks must be restored, so their grip of fear will break like chaff on the threshing floor.

The forces who fought for our future came together to survive, but never grasped peace for long.  The names change, but the conflict never dies.

Ideas 21109 ExoSuit Alternatives

This is the back of the LEGO Ideas Exo Suit 21109box

It gives the basic info about the Ideas program, shows off the platform and barrels, and names the green spacefarers.  But it lacks any alternates of any kind.

A good mark of any product from the Danish toymaker is its long term play prospects,  Will this product continue to entertain and delight with its possi-build-ities long into the night.  Does it offer something more?

Here to throw some light on that question, are a few alternates I've dug out of this particular mecha.

First up: Space Corridor, I must profess no skill in the art of Space Corridors, but I know when I see a good one.  ExoSuit seems to provide a good assortment of parts for the task, and in case you missed it, the rims are from SpeedRacer, they look like they've got some good options, and with Speed Racer being neither a new theme, nor a prolific one, this is the only current set to offer the rims at this time.

2nd up: Grand Prix
There are lots of round pieces in ExoSuit, and only a few ways to make them spin freely.  Feeling the challenge coming on I proceeded to build my racer and checkered flag.

Many of the bits, such as binoculars, and mostly the binoculars keep wanting to fall off my sculpted racer.  I've built an engine, free spinning friction-less wheels, headlights, cool steering levers, and a rad spoiler.  The checkered flag is the printed tile from the robot's underside.

Of course, there are other ways to make wheels spin in this model.  My attempt at a scooter didn't turn out so well...Oh wow, inspiration!

Gotta handle hazardous material?  Use these gyroscopically stabilized servo arms.

So I took what I learned and created this reactor leak playset.  Ugh, what a mess...

Finally, I took a page from the Classics and made this callback to Surface Hopper.

And that is Exosuit,  Unlike most of what I review ExoSuit is still easy to find.  If you like it and you want one keep in mind that it is retired and when it sells out its gone...insofar as they aren't making any more.  Nothing's ever truly gone when the Internet is here to help.

Until next time
The Cure-all Pill

Classic Space Shenanigans

Here's a curiousity for ya.  This is a Danish catalog from 1983.

I was on Dave's Lego Space Collection when I saw this little gem.
(Clicking through Dave's site I found nothing but broken links.  I don't know why this was still available.)


Holy smokes...6843...6873...What and how?  What do the small asterisks mean?

Raketskib is Danish for Rocket Ship, and Mineral fartøj is Danish for Mineral Vessel.

I consider myself to be well read in the topic of old Lego Space sets...I know all of them...  I even know about this unreleased model; 1526.

If you frequent Brickset, I assume you may have seen it as well.

So I did some investigating...because if these exist...

After snooping around I found this Eurobricks forum post and came to the disappointing realization that I had dug up a decade and some years old Lugnet Prank.

Still; well played Dave.

I'm pretty sure that Classic Space Sets from 1982 and 83 will complete the Mystery models in that fake pamphlet.  To that end I've compiled a small list for my guess as to where those pieces came from.
If you want to try building Dave's Classic Space deception, I suggest starting with these three models.

Cosmic Cruiser


Galaxy Commander


Supply Station


So...that was a pleasant diversion, I hope you enjoyed not sifting through the internets looking for things that don't exist.  That's all for now folks.

Classic Space Fly in at Brickfest 2007

Hey all, I'm taking a long time on this last Futuron set, so while I'm busy with that, look what I found.

Lego Space on display.  This is everything for Space through 1998 excluding the Aquazone sets  If you're not sure why I mentioned Aquazone in the same breath as space, you will have to wait for me to explain myself, or google it now. Aside from that this thing is incredible.

Here's most of Futuron and Space police and M-Tron, but you can follow the link and prepare to be distracted for ten minutes...at least.




I'm beginning to realize how herculean this blog could be in the long term.

I'm slow on this last Futuron set, because I'm not yet prepared to tackle another full theme and 6990 is big.  So please be patient, and enjoy this little diversion.

Sincerely, Cureallpill