The next four Minifigure Habitats that I have to show you cover a wide variety, including CMF Series 5’s Graduate, Gorrila Suit Guy from CMF Series 3, the M:Tron Theme and Benny, everyone’s favourite spaceman from the LEGO Movie.
MOC: NCS 918 Interceptor Mark II
I’ve been working on a NCS spaceship MOC for a month or so now, but it’s finally evolved into something I’m happy with. Initially I gathered together all the bley, blue and trans yellow pieces I could find and bodged this togther:
I was quite pleased with the shape of the wings and the engine, but the front was hideous. I desperately needed some better trans yellow pieces for the cockpit. The engine details were nice and greebly, and there was quite a bit of yellow around as well as blue and bley.
After “borrowing” a couple of trans yellow windscreen parts (6070) from Benny’s Spaceship outriders, I was happier with the front. But I also rebuilt the wings quite significantly. Still a lot of blue and yellow accents everywhere, which isn’t quite in the NCS canon.
Benny was the first test pilot for the craft. He gave me quite a lot of feedback on what could be changed before the ship could go into production.
Eventually after a Bricklink order or two had come through, the final model turned out like this. I’m really pleased so much of the original engines made it through – and the simpler colours in the wings are much better, I think. Plus the new wrap-around windscreen makes for much better visibility.
Here’s a comparison shot – of my new 918 Interceptor and the original 918 model from 30+ years ago. My craft is a fast, highly manoeuvrable patrol ship meant for low-planet orbit or short inter-planetary hops. I like the wing shapes seen from above here. Yes, I know the bumblebee stripes are 90° off from their “correct” NCS orientation, but changing them to face forward would require another radical wing rebuild, so it’s staying like this for the moment. Besides, the original 918 doesn’t have any stripes at all!
I hope you enjoyed seeing how my MOC evolved into the final configuration.
Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! (70816)
I haven’t yet see The LEGO Movie, but Benny’s Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! (70816) set has taken my eye because of its cool shape and Classic Space colours. So I was pleased to find a used but complete set available from eBay a while ago.
It arrived as a box of bits, all jumbled up and in none of the numbered bags big sets tend to come in straight from the factory these days:
Undaunted by the challenge, I set to and sorted the bits out into a semblance of order before building the magnificent machine. It looks rather fab with its outrigger mini-ships and an adversary in a sleek black ship to chase. It’s also remarkably swooshable for its size. Yay! The top view is definitely the best – underneath there are a few of those blocky Technic frames on show, which could do with a few inverted slopes to cover them up.
Anyway, I was very happy with my craft and so was the pilot. No wonder he goes around with that stupid grin on his face all the time!
Mooncropolis: NCS Fleet
I have big plans for my Microscale Moonbase – Mooncropolis. But in order to get some of the structures built, you first need to land on the Moon and bring in supplies. This is where my little NCS fleet comes in. So far, I have three classes of ship working the route.
Runabouts
I’ve had a word with Benny The Spaceman and he told me where to get some little runabout ships which were going cheap – in fact, they were on a BOGOF offer, so I took his advice and snapped up a couple of the 7114 LEGO Dimensions Benny Fun Pack sets.
As I don’t have any interest (or equipment) to play the Dimensions game, I had to rely on Benny giving me instructions on how to build his little craft. They turned out pretty well!
Cruisers
I also spotted a good deal on eBay for four microscale cruisers – just what I need to fill out the fleet a bit more. The polybags come with a LEGO book as part of set 11910 but didn’t include any instructions, so I had to wing it from an LDD file I found online.
I tipped out all four bags into my sorting tray and set about building them simultaneously, just so they all ended up the same.
Taking a closer look at one of them, it’s a well-equipped vessel with plenty of room for passengers up front and cargo in the back, which is stowed through the two opening doors at the rear.
These bigger ships will bring personnel and supplies to the Moon as the base is being built, while the runabouts will be good to move bits and pieces around once they are on the Moon itself.
Heavy Cargo
There were quite a few spare parts which I didn’t need from these sets, which will probably go towards making the NCS Ugly Duckling into a bit more of a believable craft! Watch this space(ship).