[LDD/DbM] 'Swoosher' starfighter

[vynsane]

DbM Swoosher by vynsane, on Flickr

Taking a break from the Modular Starfighter System, I wanted to really give DbM a try before they closed shop.The only time I really worked with the DbM palette was when I first discovered LDD and I quickly learned about Universe Mode and never looked back.

I figured a small 'swoosher'-style starfighter would fit the bill and not break the bank - boy was I wrong! All 185 pieces here can be yours for the modest sum of $50.66! Yikes! Maybe I'll go with a Rover instead! Seriously, I'm perfectly prepared to pay a modest premium for the convenience of having all the pieces I need packed up and shipped to me, but that's a bit ridiculous.


I tried coming up with a clever alternate starfightery meaning for the DbM acronym, but I'm home sick from work today with a 48-hour flu courtesy of my wife and daughter and the DayQuil is just not helping my thought process.

Anyway, as I got more into the design I realized I could probably build this thing out of the actual physical bricks in my collection, thus fully negating the need for DbM in the first place, and if I find the time I may do so.

If you want to play with it in the virtual world, download the DbM Swoosher LXF file.

[vynsane]

DbM Swoosher ver. 2.0 adds a few pieces to the interior of each engine (including a 1x2x2 bracket, a 2x2 brick, a 1x2 plate and 2x2 plate), adding a level of stability to the construction. It also pushes the 'exhaust' out by a brick and two plates, which looks cooler.

[unclephn]

I like this, especially the design of the engines, and the use of two diffenent sized tails as wings. It almost looks like a Transformer in vehicle mode (especially with the use of the sloped grills. very Starscream-esque lol). It definitely looks swooshable, but would it rest level if you put it down to display? Seems like it needs landing gear, or at least a few pieces to function as landing 'points' (for lack of a better term).

[vynsane]

Thanks, unclephn! You're right, I totally see the Transformers influence (Transformers, G.I. Joe, He-Man and LEGO were the four pillars of my childhood). It does actually rest completely level on the rear red curved bricks and the two 'lamp holder' 1x1 plates in the front - I built this in real bricks from my collection yesterday and will hopefully get around to posting pics today.

I ended up making some running changes during the construction, like using a white 4-stud wide curved brick on the engines instead of four individual curved bricks. I thought I had a lot more of those in white than I actually do. This, unfortunately, got rid of the red stripe between the wings, so I pushed the larger wing back one stud and placed the red grill tile directly behind the intake and made those bricks red... You'll see what I mean when I post the pics.

It is incredibly swooshable.

[sadowsk1]

Looks pretty sharp!

[unclephn]

Transformers, G.I. Joe, He-Man and LEGO were the four pillars of my childhood.

You and me both, lol. I'm pretty sure I still have my original Castle Greyskull in my basement somewhere!

Looking forward to seeing the pics!

[GalaxyCommander]

Downloaded the file and tried to open it on a Mac with LDD but it wouldn't open. I there another program that I can use on a Mac to open the file?

[vynsane]

Odd... I DL'd both of them just now and they opened fine on my Mac. What error, if any, are you getting? I have brick outlines on, which is a highly graphics-intensive process, so maybe that's the issue?

[GalaxyCommander]

First error message says that I'm trying to import a model that is using an older format and that "some bricks may not be loaded." If I click import, I receive a second error message that says "unable to import" I'm using LDD 2.3.20 on a PowerMac G5. I guess I could try it on my MacBook Pro if it's an OS issue (PowerPC vs Intel). Do you know what's the latest version of LDD?

[vynsane]

Oh, yeah, that would be the issue - this was designed in LDD 4.1.x using 'Extended Mode' which doesn't exist in LDD 2.x. I don't know why the error states that the model is using an older format, as that's absolutely not the case. Perhaps it's not able to determine it as a newer format and so assumes it's an older format?

I don't know what most recent version of LDD supports the PowerPC architecture, but I would strongly suggest installing LDD 4.1 on the MacBook Pro, and unlocking 'Extended Mode' via the instructions over at Eurobricks.

[GalaxyCommander]

That did the trick. I don't come across too many lxf files that cause problems for my old G5. Thanks for the help. It's much appreciated. Swoosher is a pretty cool little fighter and I look forward to playing around with it a bit. Just exported it to an html file and converted that to a pdf (I find this a much easier to format to deal with while building).

[vynsane]

I ended up building this in real bricks a long time ago, but never had the opportunity to take pics of it. Well, I was taking pics of some other stuff the other day and threw this into the mix:


DbM Swoosher in the plastic by vynsane, on Flickr


DbM Swoosher in the plastic by vynsane, on Flickr


DbM Swoosher in the plastic by vynsane, on Flickr

[vynsane]

So, I finally got the incredible LDD to POVRay Converter tool installed and working and did a "quick" (14hr, 40min) render of this little guy.


DbM Swoosher (Rendered) by vynsane, on Flickr