Jump to content

J.A.F. Team

  • entries
    1,631
  • comments
    5,572
  • views
    563,735

Large Aquanaut Sub Plans


xccj

501 views

Okay, first of all, I must give credit to CF for inspiring my to do this because he was building such a cool ship and I wanted one of my own. :P My theme is Aquanauts, and while I am far lacking of the pieces to construct this in reality, using a Lego CAD program let me work on my designs. Of course, this is still a WIP, and I would like any opinions on it. (Not that I'll listen to all of them... after all, I do want to keep some of the tacky portions that appeared in the set line back then... but I'm keeping an opened mind here)

 

sub-complete-5.jpg

 

This is made up of 7 different sections; 5 main ones and two connecting slots.

 

Overall, it is 101 studs long, normally 8 studs wide with a max of 40 studs at the tail, and a max of 19 bricks high.

 

The Sections

 

1: The Ship's Bridge. I really want the three-way blue bulbs, but I admit it is a bit of a weird shape.

 

2: Storage Unit. The bulk of this design was based around the hinge doors that came with the original sets. This is designed for it to open up and have space for hanging magnetic boxes that store the crystals. It turned out to be much taller than all the other pieces, so the two connecting sections are on both ends of it to increase the flow of the design. Also, there's a ball-joint socket for an arm; more details on that below.

 

3: Dome. So far, this is just a body design meant to support the big glass dome. Ideally, I will be able to fit a smaller vehicle inside; possibly an underwater mech. I like how this design worked out.

 

4: Living Quarters. This is mostly a boxed in portion with the side windows. But I think it turned out alright.

 

5: The Tail. This is the one that's given me the most trouble. Ideally, I want the two tail points with compartments underneath the glass for people to hang out. I like that portion and then the tail wings with the propellers on them. But the problem is to get the two tail tips to converge back into the single body. I had some plates that work wonderfully for that. BUT I'm having trouble bulking up the plates. I have two basic designs: here and here. I'm not quite pleased with either, although I'm leaning towards the latter. (And FYI, those green bricks are supposed to represent a bent octagonal bricks that the CAD program doesn't include, so I made them stand out a bit to remind me when I do the parts count)

 

Any advice on how to improve the tail would be greatly appreciated.

 

To Be Added

 

Arms: The original Aquanaut sets came with these flimsy hinge arms. As I went to rebuild my set, I found most of those pieces were broken. So with this size increase, I also plan to revamp the arms with a more modern technique; YES, ball and socket joints. Specifically, I'm thinking about Hero Factory joints with lots of Evo yellow armor. There will be two arms; one will end with a basic magnet connection, and the other will be a claw of some sort. I'm still working on that design.

 

Mech: I need some basic vehicle to fit under the doom. Since I have limited space lengthwise but lots of room vertically, I am thinking about some sort of mini-deep-sea-walker. This design will probably come after everything else.

 

Trans orange antennas: the original sets had a ton of these, and I plan to add plenty to this sub. However, I've only really added them in on the tail piece, so expect more trans orange to appear elsewhere

 

More tubes: Again on the tail, you might see some yellow and black octagonal bricks underneath the main plates. I will be adding these to the bottoms of all the main sections, but I just haven't bothered yet on the program. ;)

 

Minifigs: there's plenty of space for them. However, all my old Aquanaut figs have been worn out. (Like, I didn't know a torso piece could split in half like that!) I have one that I purchased last year, but I'd need a bunch more if I want this ship to be run smoothly, so that's another thing to put on my list.

 

The Parts: I have not bothered to try and organize the parts list and see what I have and what I need to get. I will have to buy a lot of the window pieces for sure, as well as the specialized side panels and octagonal tube bricks. And then I will have a bunch of little things, likes spears, knives, and antennas, and goodness knows how many black and yellow plates, bricks, and slopes. I don't think this would be an impossible project for me to undertake, but with the amount that I'll need to purchase, I can certainly not afford it now. Maybe in the summer after I've gotten a couple of pay checks. ;)

 

 

But for now, I'm still finalizing the design. Comments and suggestions for improvement would be appreciated. :)

:music:

3 Comments


Recommended Comments

101 studs, you say? Hmm, I'll need to make sure mine is 102. :P

 

What CAD program? Want to switch LDraw files?

 

I like the bridge with the three domes. The mech sounds good, but maybe an underwater hardsuit would be even cooler.

 

My only suggestion would be to ignore the desire to hearken the engine/tail design back to the flimsy kind of two decades ago. With something of this size, you don't want a noticeable flaw to be how unrealistic the back looks when you obviously could have revamped it ten-times better than the LEGO sets.

 

-CF

Link to comment
Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...