LEGO Southern Cross Spartas

[Mazinger]

I was thinking about the Spartas (RT: Dana Sterling's Hovertank) recently. It's the one Matchbox Robotech toy that eludes me mostly because I'm too cheap to cough up the $100+ for the ones that languish on eBay. But I have a ton of LEGO thanks to my wife who years ago robbed some teens blind at a garage sale.

I decided to give this a try knowing that it's transformation is really one of the easier ones out there for transforming mech. This is my version 1, took me roughly 8 hours of dedicated work. It helps that I've had practice trying to build LEGO mechs with the standard system, bionicle, and the newer hero factory lines.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/18239022@N00/22445795997/in/dateposted-public/

I posed it next to a Matchbox Bioroid for reference. Sadly the Matchbox Southern Cross toys are way out of scale with each other. My transformation is not completely accurate. The curvy part, or hood of the tank, should actually hang down like a skirt from the waist in battroid mode. I might try to fix it, but really I'm more eager to the bottom of the legs in white, so I'll probably be placing a Bricklink order soon.

Edited November 8, 2015 by Mazinger

[Mazinger]

I also took a second pass at my Tomahawk destroid that I slapped together a couple of weeks ago. Took spanner76's suggestion and added more articulation than the first version. Still doesn't have hip joints, but it's lot closer to the actual look. Waiting on some bricklink parts to get the coloring more accurate.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/18239022@N00/22864261165/in/dateposted-public/

...versus version 1:

The challenge with LEGO modeling is always the tradeoff between trying to get the look right at the scale you want and what parts you have at your disposal. The smaller the scale the harder it is to be true to the original. The larger the scale the sooner you start running out of parts. The beauty of LEGO is that given a large enough scale, there is nothing preventing a really accurate copy of just about anything.

[M'Kyuun]

Your version two of the Tomahawk is a nice improvement, good progression towards capturing the look more faithfully at a pretty small scale. To add hip articulation, I'd remove the current slopes, use technic 1x2 bricks with the hole in the center along with technic pins to allow for a bit of walking motion. A 1x2 slope in tan would allow for the same basic slope at the hip. The new ball joint parts would work well at this scale, but they're more difficult to hide, as there's always a gap where the two parts join. Anyway, it's instantly recognizable, even without the reference toy, which is a victory in and of itself.

[Mazinger]

Your version two of the Tomahawk is a nice improvement, good progression towards capturing the look more faithfully at a pretty small scale. To add hip articulation, I'd remove the current slopes, use technic 1x2 bricks with the hole in the center along with technic pins to allow for a bit of walking motion. A 1x2 slope in tan would allow for the same basic slope at the hip. The new ball joint parts would work well at this scale, but they're more difficult to hide, as there's always a gap where the two parts join. Anyway, it's instantly recognizable, even without the reference toy, which is a victory in and of itself.

Huh, not sure why I didn't think of that. I have a bunch of the new Mixel style small tow ball joints and gave it a try with those, but it threw off the appearance. Thanks for the tip.

[Lorindor]

I love your Spartas! Would you be able to make an instruction?

[Mazinger]

Maybe, in a bit. It's still a work-in-progress. I'm still making tweaks to it.

I don't have much experience using LEGO Digital Designer. Not sure if that's what you meant, but for now I'm might just put a picture collage together.

[Mazinger]

@lorindor, I added some tear down pics of the Spartas to my Flickr page with descriptions of some of the tricks used. Hope that helps.

[Lorindor]

Thanks! That will help.

[Mazinger]

A friend to play with the Spartas. Still a work in progress. I'll say this after trying to get the sled to scale with the bioroid, knowing that the enforcer dudes in the show also piloted them, there is A LOT of anime magic going on there. The enforcers were supposed to be just a tad taller than your average human, and yet they should be able to fit in the head of the bioroid! Meanwhile, the bioroid is the same size as the spartas through the series! WTFunk!?!