Another Curved Cliff - Part 1

Here is the last cliff hole.  Because the module on the right also extended well beyond the back, it had to be rebuilt.  That is what this post and the ones that follow are all about.  Another curved cliff needs to be built.  This one though will not have a 45 degree turn in it.  It will use the the set of wedge plates that are 3 x 2 (p/n 43722/437323) and those that are compatible with this angle (6 x 3 p/n 54383/54384 and 8 x 3 p/n 50304/50305).  Lining these up is a challenge, especially across multiple modules. 

This is the new base for the cliff sections.  I have lowered the backside to make it easier to connect the hanger areas.  This was raised to allow for the old style controllers that did not fit in the base. Now that all modules are converted to self contained controllers, I dont need this space and connecting up the hangers is now the priority. On the left you can see the angle connection.

Here it is in place.  This is still a prototype build.  I need to understand where all the "crash points" are and any that might be potential "crash points".

Another view from the front.

A more complete cliff base.  This has the cliff base supports for the flooring that will come later.  Also the left side is connected.  This side is not permanently attached, but uses a technic brick and pins to hold it in place.  This is required so the module will fit in the transport container.

Here it is in place. 

A view from the front.

Next is to build the cliff base that is to the right of this.

First Module Rebuild - Part 5

I am adding a new 4 barrel gun.  This new addition will replace the transparent blue flashing rock on top of the center section.  

Here is the back side as it sits on the top of the building.  Unlike the unit in the front in this post, the wire had to come out the back.  

Here is the LED in this area.  If you look carefully you can see a tower of round 1 x 1 bricks.  All the wiring goes down the center of these bricks.

So I had to drill a hole here to get the wires through.  I needed one power, one ground for the area LEDs and then two control wires for the four barrel gun on the top. 

There is an LED on the bottom that lights up the motor compartment.  Then a 1 x 2 modified plate with pin hole, is used to guide the wiring.

Even though I used modular building techniques to be able to access this area, the wiring is restricting the removal.  I need to think this through a little more.

More Couches

  

In this post, I showed the completed couches on the build table.   Here they are in place in the recreation room.  I shortened some of the 3 seat couches into single seat ones.  Like arranging furniture in any space, some though needs to go into it.  You can see there are two conversation areas, one seating area and then the space in front of the large TV.

I have not decided on what will be on the TV yet.  Since the vinyl transfer material is expensive, I prefer to print as close to full sheets as possible.  My first thought was some Star Wars picture.  It might be the "in a galaxy far, far away" opening.  But I need to think on it for a bit.

Loose Ends #2

 

Things have been quite busy the last week.  It started with a trip to a used brick store near Roseville CA.  You can see the results above.  This was a 250mile round trip, but worth it.  Including gas money, it would have cost a lot more to purchase this quantity of parts on Bricklink.

But I have been buying on Bricklink.  With Brick Days in Omaha only 6 weeks away, I needed to focus on determining what parts I need to finish the right side curved wall.  The planing cycle is 2-3 days to determine which parts are needed.  Then at least a day trying to find the optimal purchase of parts and shipping costs.  Then waiting up to a week for the parts to arrive, especially this time of year since I am dependent on whims of the Sierra Nevada passes.  So one cycle can easily take 10 days.  That leaves me with maybe 4 cycles.  Planning is paramount.  So I have spend the last week prototyping the cliff and hanger areas in this last area  Now that is done, I can move on.

Finally got around to finishing building out the last five Brick Buddy 3 controllers.  

First Module Rebuild - Part 4

 

The next step in this process was to redo the four barrel defense gun on the lower right.  

The outer form of the build was not changed.  It is four Bar 1 x 8 with Brick 1 x 2 Curved Top End (p/n 30359).  Two are trans clear and two are trans neon orange.  

 To do the wiring on one pair I used this setup.  A large plate for stability.  Two 2 x 2 plates to hold the two 1 x 8 Bars together.

In the previous build, the controller LED channels were capable of greater than 250mA.  The new controller has a 25mA limit.  The previous build was set to 20mA per LED.  Even though I have 10 LED channels in the new controller (vs four for the original controller), with a plan for 12 barrels in the overall build, something has to change.  Looking carefully at the setup in the picture, you can see four limiting resistors, one for each LED, and three wires connecting the LEDs.  The two trans clear 1 x 8 Bars will be on one LED channel and the two trans neon orange 1 x 8 Bars will be on another LED channel.  Having the bottom and top on slightly offset patterns, might produce an interesting effect. 

The wires go down though the plate (unfortunately I had to drill a hole here), through the turntable and out through a 1 x 2 Technic brick.  Then I use two Slope, Curved 4 x 1 x 2/3 Double (p/n 93273) parts to cover the wire before it goes down underneath. 

This picture shows the wire going down by the gear.  I will need to pull the wire back and secure it so that it does not get caught up in the gear.  Because the wire descends through the center of the turntable, there does not need to be any service loop for the wire.  As the gun carriage turns the wire does  not follow.

The final covering.  As the build is finished, the color choices may change a little as I try to balance out where the tiles are Sand Green or Tan.

Couches

 

Space Outpost ONE is on a desolate and mostly barren rock/planet (this is very vague and intentional).  Thus from the outside it mostly a sand/dirt color with the Sand Green topping.  But inside in the living areas and the hangers, I have tried to add some color.  Above is the beginning of the recreation room with a seating area.  

There is some space here that needs to be filled.  So I went through the parts to find what colors would support this couch design.  

And this is what I have.  I will need to build some more tables, some with food or drinks.  Then arrange this in the area.  Will probably build a large screen TV also for the area.  The final addition might be some sort of table game, pool, air hockey, shuffle board, etc.  Right now the build table has the Main Defense module in pieces on it.  I need to finish it first.

 

First Module Rebuild - Part 3

 

The next step here is to put the LED lighting in the section I just finished.

I placed two LED modules (2500mcd) in the space.  You can see the two LEDs in the above photo.  The wire connecting the two LEDs runs in the groove next to the TUBES.  My normal 30 gauge wire.  I used a 1 x 2 modified plate with door rail (p/n 32028) to keep the wire in place.

The I used to two conductor 28 gauge wire to power this.  This wire will run down the back right hand corner.  Being black and in the far corner, it is very hard to see.  This wire the runs along the far left wall of the module.  A 2 x 2 brick with pin plugs into this and attached underneath is a 2 x 2 modified plate with pin hole.  The wire runs through the pin hole, which will keep it tight against the wall and away from the yellow gear you can wee in the picture.  The wire then plugs into the power port for this module. There are also two 1 x 2 modified plates with pin hole on top, and these are used to take up the slack in the wire and keep it taught.  When these pieces are not install, there is sufficient service loop in the wire to be able to work on the LED installation.

This is what it looks like.  Placement of these LEDs is not ideal.  But there are limited choices.  This seems to give the best overall lighting.  It might be better with more front lighting, but there is nothing to connect to. That would leave lighting from below, but somehow that would not look right.  

The original module did not have lighting, so this is far better that what was there before.