My First MOC - Lego Mad Dog/Vulture

Just a quick one today, because I'm STILL WORKING on my lengthy coverage of the New York International Auto Show.

Unfortunately my employment status still hangs in limbo, I'll save the details for another post because I might not be able to express myself without the use of expletives and lots of head banging, or possibly writing something that will get us thrown out of the country, because we're a little upset. I mention this it has ensured a need for something creative/productive/takes me to a happier place.

Like many adult fans of Lego, (AFOL) Lego was a part of your life as you were young, then you grew up and started to pursue things that are (possibly) more meaningful. Real fans will always find themselves coming back, and if it amounts to nothing more than therapy, a warm blanket on a cold day, that's more than enough.

Since I didn't have the sense to bring my Lego with me over to NYC, what better excuse to start anew! I bought the Creator Sets - 31006 Highway Speedster, and 31007 Power Mech. After the ritual construction of the actual sets, they were deconstructed and combined for this venture. My initial attempt was actually to make an ED-209 from Robocop, but it was too difficult because my selection of pieces was not complete enough. Nothing to do with my skills not being up to scratch... ahem.

 Yeah, because THAT would be easy with lego...

Delusions of grandeur before I had even picked up a piece, so naturally I turned to something a little more blocky with more flat surfaces, how about Mechwarrior? Always you turn to the iconic first, to be sure the Timber Wolf was a consideration, but the same problems as ED-209 arose, how to model the curves of the cockpit.

 This photo's here just because it looks so cool...

Can you tell that I'm new to this, picking an appropriate object to model thing? Eventually I came back down to planet earth, figuratively speaking. Another Battlemech I was always very fond when playing the Mechwarrior games was the Raven, and I thought long flat slopes while being possible, would also provide a little bit of a learning curve.

We'll have to make do with this slightly less awesome photo of a Mad Dog.

So I jumped straight into it, and as any young builder of Lego will tell you, odd angles are also difficult, but I eventually figured it out and it slowly came together.

 There's a Lego creation hiding in here somewhere...

I hit a few stumbling blocks on the way, namely how to model the rocket pack casing, but I think I found a neat solution. If I'm honest with myself it doesn't really stand up to close scrutiny, but why don't I just let the photos tell the story.

Hi, I'm the new guy!

I did my best to colour co-ordinate, but I still have alot to learn, look closely and you can see a few spots that aren't so cohesive, but overall I'm quite happy wth it.

Up High!

Down Low!

As you can see it's clearly "inspired by" rather than a faithful representation of. The colour scheme reminds me a little of Lego Police and a Snowtrooper's helmet,

You know the one I'm talking about... the one with the gimpy arm?

As I said, there was a limited amount of hinge pieces, so the opposite arm became asymmetrical, sporting a bulkier, heavier, look. Overall I'm also a little mixed when it comes to the armaments, still some work to do.

All that exhaust needs to go somewhere...

You can probably see most easily here where I ran out of creativity when it came to the legs. I admit they're also a little out of proportion when compared to an "actual" example, but I'd argue they were a little too spindly to start with, so oversizing a little was probably the subconscious aim.

You have 20 seconds to comply

Surprisingly those ankle joints are quite stiff lending it some degree of poseability, I'm aware also that they would probably wear pretty quickly though so I won't throw it to the kids just yet.

I wouldn't be a Mechwarrior if I didn't describe the fantasy loadout of this 'mech, so indulge me, (skip to next paragraph for non-geeks)

2x Streak SRM-2
2x LRM err... 6
Ultra Autocannon/5 - right arm
ER PPC - left arm
2x Small Pulse Laser - nose mounted
(I've done my best to make sure this fitout is "realistic", please don't write in telling me this configuration is impossible. This is MY fantasy battle mech, I'd be happy to hear it if I could fit more armament though)

A few lessons to take away;
Don't be in too much of a rush, losing studs in the "sort of" dark while your wife is sleeping is hazardous to your lego collection.
I have lots to learn when it comes to greebling.
You may wish for more sets, and "just that piece", but another good aspect of creating with Lego is learning to make the most of what you have. Overall I used a good half to two thirds of the amalgamated set.

Overall, for my first MOC, I think it turned out far better than I was expecting. Then again I haven't picked up a Lego set with the aim of creating for a very long time, so I wasn't expecting much. I still have a lot to learn as an AFOL MOC'iser but this serves to remind me of the happiness and sense of fulfilment these little plastic bricks can bring.

The media that is not my own property came from these sources.

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs48/f/2009/186/5/0/ED_209_by_nathy_d.jpg

http://ppc.warhawkenterprises.com/intshots/badasstimby.jpg

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/21/26772430906236176677211.jpg