Aeronautic Primates and Other Delights

I've spent the last two weeks working studiously on an ambitious project. I found a digital model file for a 2'4"-foot-long LEGO replica of the Normandy SR-2 from Mass Effect 2. I've been completely stoked about this ever since I found the file online several months ago.

I spent a couple hundred dollars on parts, building what I could while I waited for my orders to come in. I dealt with the frustrations of working with the LEGO Digital Designer's auto-generated instructions that would occasionally hang pieces in mid-air at step 100 only to come back to the connecting pieces at step 700.

However, the whole thing became a lesson in not jumping into the deep end of the pool without checking that it's filled with water first.

Throughout the building process, I ran into little idiosyncrasies that indicated to me that perhaps the designer had only put the model together conceptually and never practically. I was convinced of this when I put together the super-cool looking model stand and found it collapsed under any sort of weight.

I soldiered on, figuring I could design a sturdier stand later. After a lot of hard work and some ingenuity, I managed to create all of the individual elements of the ship. However, I was unable to connect them together. There were two or three major structural flaws in the backend of the ship that fed into each other. The designer had created a working (hollow) shuttle bay with hangar door. He'd also hinged the back part of the roof so you could see the little model bridge. Further, two of the key pieces that helped attach the front, bottom, and rear sides did so by a bare thread, disrupted by the slightest pressure (like, say, the pressure of attaching Lego bricks to each other).

I found the page where I acquired the digital model file again and found that, yes, the design was entirely theoretical, he knew of the issues with the model stand, and he'd never practically put the whole thing together because the pieces cost too much. I'd somehow missed all of this when reading through the first time.

To say that this has been a frustrating experience is... understatement. One of the joys of LEGO is watching strangely attached pieces somehow become something recognizable and whole. Here I got as far as recognizable.

I've stowed everything I've built into drawers for the time being. I'm going to refocus on my vidding until I don't have any further deadlines to worry about. Then I'll review and revise the design, eliminate some of the structural weak points, and complete the model. Maybe. I'm not actually terribly confident in my ability to do so.