The Nightstar Zoo

Hey all,

Inspired by the photos from Philcon, I've done an MLCAD version of the Serial Peacemaker. The design file lists the 204 pieces used as well as assembly instructions - absent those minitanks, unfortunately, which were just too small and intricate for me to find a way to rebuild.

Quick pic of the final result -

I've managed to piece everything for the minitank together. Unfortunately, MLCad doesn't have all of the part files for it.

2 x 4733, white, http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=4733
3 x 49668, white, http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=49668
2 x 3070, white, http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=3070
1 x 4073, transparent blue, http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=4073
1 x 50746, white, http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=50746
1 x 3062b, gray, http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=3062b
1 x 38, silver, http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItemPic.asp?P=38

_________________
Lomgren - avid Schlock reader

It's too bad they don't make those transparent blue pieces in an opaque cyan-ish colour. I guess that's what paint is for.

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"The problem with mercenaries is that they need to be paid to start fighting. And, unless you are very lucky, you end up paying them even more to stop." -Havelock Vetinari

Nice model. Here's a quick render:


Also, with your permission, I'd like to post the .ldr file on my site for easier access - while free, the site you posted to is somewhat difficult to download stuff from.

- nickersonm

If you guys will send me the necessary files, I'll host it at SchlockMercenary.com, and give the ship a permanent "Fan Art" post in the blog.

--Howard

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Creator and Cartoonist, Schlock Mercenary

And here's a wings3d model based on the lego model of the Serial Peacemaker.



I'm pleased how it came out, although some areas are still too flat and devoid of detail. Still, the lego pieces make for far better greebling than I can manage on my own.

Once unusual thing I noticed while making it was that despite it's streamlined appearance it's a lot bulkier than I expected.

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"Spyware includes dark glasses, Macintosh coats, Trilby hats and a briefcase. Spyware is often worn by people hanging around in parks during the cold war."

Free reposting of the .ldr file is absolutely permitted, as far as I'm concerned. Original credit goes to Howard and whichever PhilCon attendee first thought of doing the work in Lego - I'm just playing in a very small corner of the sandbox.

i think the tanks have one of the old 'camera' peices as a core.

they were very common in old old (early 90's) space sets.

a 2 peg brick, with pegs on all sides save the bottom, and one face. the bottom had the normal stuff, the one side had a 'cup' shaped part that looked like an old camera lens assembly. the whole thing was only about 2 sheets thick.

i don't recognize the other parts, but i haven't bought a new set in years.

Wouldn't work. The lens mount would stick out too far in one direction or the other.

_________________
main(i,_){for(!_||(--i,main(i+2,i["FHhhTBFHdhTBFBQT\2TBF&]zRF$hh*:FHhh+&FBIsbDF"]));i&&_>1;
printf("%s",_-70?_&1?"[]":" ": (_^=_,"\n")),_/=2);} /*- Mark -*/

i'm not so sure we're thinking of the same peice then.

i get the feeling they no longer have the peice i'm thinking of.

the outer hull of the tanks look to be 1x1 white teeth, with a grey lightsword rod for a barrel.

the core looks to be a 2x1 block, with pegs on all sides save the bottom, and a 'lens assembly'.

stick the rod into the 'lens', and white teeth around it on the sides.

In that case,

http://www.nickersonm.com/misc/serialpeacemaker.ldr

I hope this encourages more people to download and play with your very nice model .

- nickersonm

Look again. The "lens mount" is visible at the front. The teeth come about flush with it. It's the light grey circle the rod is sticking out of.

_________________
… there is a minority of intellectual pacifists, whose real though unacknowledged motive appears to be hatred of western democracy and admiration for totalitarianism. Pacifist propaganda usually boils down to saying that one side is as bad as the other, but if one looks closely at the writings of the younger intellectual pacifists, one finds that they do not by any means express impartial disapproval but are directed almost entirely against Britain and the United States…
-- George Orwell

I couldn't find the piece I was thinking of for it, so what I did for the parts list that I posted earlier was a bit different. 1 gray 1 x 1 cylinder with the hole in the top stud and 1 harpoon. Put the harpoon through the hole in the bottom, it'll fit, and the harpoon will go all the way up to the top. It's not quite the same, I'm afraid, but it will work.

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Lomgren - avid Schlock reader

Would it be possible to build the ship in this:
http://ldd.lego.com/
so that you could order a kit of it?

For some reason, whenever i try to open this, i get all sorts of messages saying that FILE #####.DAT Could not be found. Continue Loading?


...it's endless. It's parts that aren't in the main library. D`oh. Disregard everything above here.

Pretty good model, i'll try and get it in LDD and get a kit ordered.

Edit: Alright, i'm working on the Minitanks in MLCad now. BTW, the parts in LDraw are the Standard, Admin-Approved parts. you can find unofficial parts by doing a lookup at the LDraw website. the plate 1 x 1 with tooth is proving hard to get, because there are dependant files i need to get.

Alright, Got it! now to find a harpoon.

Edit2: I Can't find a harpoon in LDraw, is there any other part that would work?

I'm pretty sure those referenced '.dat' files are the texture image files

Ah, ok. Fixed that, and found a harpoon! the Tank is complete!

Zipping all files that you'll need and then i'll e-mail em to Howard or something. (Would you so kindly host them howard?)

3D MLCad render:


Zipped and E-mailed to Howard

This link is a basic import into Lego Digital Designer (LDD) of the bits in the Serial Peacemaker design which have a shape that LDD knows about (it has a much smaller library than LDraw)... The design can't be ordered though since there are still some parts included which are not available through Lego Factory.

http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=LFH002& ... d87ff0555e

I did try to straighten out some inconsistencies where the import by LDD went wrong (pieces overlapping in the same space), but found it pointless to waste much time on it when so many of the pieces couldn't be ordered anyway. It is better to stick to LDraw format.

Here is the result if restricted to pieces and colors that would make it available to order in a Lego Factory custom model kit:
http://shop.lego.com/Product/?p=LFH002& ... bf303a8e5c

Great. I can't get that other CAD program to work, only Lego's official one. And apparently the offical one can't build a good version of this thing.

Is there any chance someone might put some of these up for sale unofficially, outside of Lego's site? I'm talking about the better version that can't be built in the official program.

To get the CAD program to work, download it AND the LDraw files (They're on Howard's Blog), and then try and open it.

as for making it, doubt it, because there's so many different kits you'd have to get...

www.ldraw.org offers a nice unified download with everything you'll need. Also, Vikedal, if you send me your file, I'd be happy to host it for you (and tack it onto the Serial Peacemaker and render it).

- nickersonm

Yet another minitank design, this time restricted to parts which can be ordered as a custom kit. USD 1.65 (+ shipping) from the Lego Shop.
http://shop.lego.com/Product/Default.as ... 16af692c18

Due to missing the correct parts in LDD it didn't work to build it in the same scale as the previous one, so it might be too big to fit together with the original Serial Peacemaker model. Since I was making it bigger anyway, I took the opportunity to add some more details like the side cannons seen in http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20031019.html

Need an email to do that

Oops, forgot about that. nickersonm@nickersonm.com

Edit: file received, Vikedal. http://www.nickersonm.com/misc/schlock_minitank.zip

I'll post a render when I have some free time to glue it on to the Peacemaker.