[SW] Death Star Docking Bay 327 for UCS Falcon

[jmfbtb]

Making good progress on the back wall. Using hinge bricks to support the protruding lower sloped wall sections worked out well. It was just a little tricky to install. Leaving gaps in the lower part of the back wall hidden behind the sloped sections to reduce brick count did not work due to light leakage. I used old bricks of various colors to fill in gaps.

Putting some Storm Troopers to work:

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Jeff

[Claw]

Awesome.. I just bought some a crapload of bricks hoping to duplicate this effort.

K2s of 2x2, 2x4, and 2x6 bricks in dark grey.

[jmfbtb]

Claw,

Don't buy too many bricks. I will be posting the Lego Digital Designer file as soon as the build is finished so you can get an accurate count. I am still making some tweaks...

Jeff

[jmfbtb]

Most of the back wall is finished. I was shipped 6 slopes of the wrong size, so it will have to wait. I guess that is to be expected with over 7,000 Brick Linked parts. There were too many to check on arrival. I am also missing a few other items around the tank and couple of other spots. I still have plenty of work to complete the gate and the floor in the mean time.... Jeff


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[piaknowguy]

Wow! This is looking amazing! I'm looking forward to seeing it with the Falcon!

BTW Who is the musician in the family?

[jmfbtb]

piaknowguy, Thanks. When I have time I am working on learning piano.

Back gate progress:

Styrofoam temporary support.

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Finished gate. There is barely any detectable sag looking down the length of the gate. I haven't decided if more gizmos are needed or not.


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[jmfbtb]

For the Obi-won Vader Duel area, the simulated wall hallway lighting was done with 1x2 and 1x3 white plates. 2x2-2x2 90 degree black brackets were used to hold the sideways walls in place. DBG 2x3 plates protrude from the wall and attach to the bracket. The wall and flooring was raised up one plate height to create a small elevation change at the front door.

I am really glad that I decided to wait on posting the LDD model file. I had to make several internal changes to properly support bricks and tile in a few spots...


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Construction progress:

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Completed back view:

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Completed front view. Decided to use only one truss column and placed the antenna on top of it:

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Refueling Station:

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The missing parts shipment came in and I was able to complete the back wall:

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On to the floor tile and elevator next....

[Claw]

That's awesome, can't wait to see it finished (and the LDD file, so I can get started on my own!)

Maybe you can try doubling up some Technic pieces on the upper gate to prevent the sagging effect.

[jmfbtb]

Claw,

Initially I was concerned about gate sagging. Once all of the pieces were in place, it is only just detectable looking down lengthwise. Viewing from the front, I cannot see it sagging. So I am happy with it.

Once I get past the elevator, I do not expect any additional changes other then cleanup to the LDD file. I used black bricks in the wall that were not visible to buy used, but forgot that the Obi-won and Vader hallway has visible black bricks. I need to change the non-visible black bricks to another color.

When you make changes in LDD, you can delete a brick and others connected to it will remain in place as if there is no gravity. This can cause a problem in hidden areas. I found several places where I had made changes and missed that a supporting brick was accidentally deleted.

Unless something else pulls me away, I plan to get it wrapped up next week.

Jeff

[Andi]

That looks so awesome. Wished I had the space to build something so big.

[aemil]

Indeed it looks awesome and I guess it needs a lot of courage to start ordering and building it!

That looks so awesome. Wished I had the space to build something so big.

Wish I had the money, space can always be found

[Inzane]

Indeed it looks awesome and I guess it needs a lot of courage to start ordering and building it!

That looks so awesome. Wished I had the space to build something so big.

Wish I had the money, space can always be found

Unless you're married... Wives don't always take kindly to their husband's hobbies taking over more and more of the house.

[Andi]

Indeed it looks awesome and I guess it needs a lot of courage to start ordering and building it!

That looks so awesome. Wished I had the space to build something so big.

Wish I had the money, space can always be found

Unless you're married... Wives don't always take kindly to their husband's hobbies taking over more and more of the house.

Or living in the same house as your parents

[jmfbtb]

I am very lucky that my wife has caught the Lego bug too! We plan to use space under the table for storage.

We made a big push this weekend and nearly finished the set. I am missing a few parts due to an ordering error on my part, but it looks great! I will post pictures when it is 100% complete.

In the mean time, I am working on cleaning up the LDD model file in preparation for release. I need to add in the "purist" sloped version of the gate (i.e. no painting of the inverted arch) into the final version of the model as an alternate.

My goal is to have everything complete and posted by next weekend if the parts arrive.

Jeff

[boomers]

Great job so far, looking forward to seeing the finished product.

[jmfbtb]

My missing parts came in and the set is done. I am almost finished with the building guide. I plan to upload the final pictures, model files, and Brick Link parts lists tomorrow.

In the mean time, here are the two versions of the gate. I will have both files available.

To Paint (Inside gate bottom inverted arch requires paint, top is available in white):

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Or Not to Paint (Slopes for inside gate top and bottom):

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If you do not have or want to learn how to use an air brush, then I think the slope version would look just fine...

[jmfbtb]

Lego Docking Bay 327 set is finally done! All I have remaining is to find a low cost Plexiglass cover (black tile shows the dust!) and add some LED lighting (Light Sabers and one for the Falcon ramp). I have learned a lot and had fun building a scene from one of my all time favorite movies. Hopefully others will take the Lego Digital Designer (LDD) file and make it even better!

Acknowledgements:

- As mentioned at the beginning of the thread, I used photos from Dave's awesome scratch built Docking Bay 327 as inspiration for my design. His set has 10.5k parts with a working elevator. I wanted to keep the cost down, so my version has a static elevator and unfinished back wall from behind came in with a total of 7,780 parts for the arch and 7805 for the sloped gate versions. Pictures of Dave's set can be found at his MOC Page.

- 3D Renderings were done using LDD2POVRay

- UCS Falcon LDD model used for test renderings is by Dan Jansen and available for download at Eurobricks

- Parts list was created using LDD Manager

Model Files:

- The LDD model files for both versions of the Lego DB327 (Gate inside radius with arch or slopes) with Brick Link parts lists is available for download

- PDF Build Guide using screen snapshots is available for download

The project is now posted at Rebrickable, with the sloped gate version loaded into their system and the rest of the files linked.

Pictures:

Final LDD render. I made a few minor substitutions for parts that were not in LDD (i.e. antenna on roof of the support building)

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Finished Docking Bay 327. I made some small changes to the elevator in later pictures:

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Finished Docking Bay 327 with the Falcon and nothing stored below yet...

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Finished Docking Bay 327 with the Falcon using dark sheets as a "screen" to make editing the background out easier in PhotoShop:

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"Blast the door kid!":

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Regards,
Jeff

[aemil]

Well Jeff, Well done! That's something every SW fan would like to have in his living room, or his bedroom, or his bed to sleep in that docking bay

Thanks for sharing the LDD files and instructions as well!

[Andi]

It looks really awesome!
Thanks for sharing.
Enjoy your docking bay

[dljbae]

Wow this is amazing! Nicely done! Thx for sharing!