Lego – DivNull Productions

Mobile Frame Experiments

May 1, 2012May 1, 2012 wordman Leave a comment

I’ve been experimenting with frames for Mobile Frame Zero. Details of the results (including LDraw files) have been posed to two threads on the Mobile Frame Hangar.

experimental mobile frames

LDraw files for Mechaton inspired by hardsuits

February 13, 2011June 14, 2017 wordman 6 Comments

Similar to my last LDraw/Mechaton post, here are some more files. These all come from the “hardsuit community”, a group of Lego enthusiasts who build minifig-in-powered-armor-looking figures. Since these “hardsuits” are built to minifig scale (to the right is a minifig shown at the same scale as the images below), they work pretty well for Mechaton, with a few alterations.

The hardsuit community (apparently) has evolved a number of “standard” body types, where the core of the model uses a particular idea, which is then embellished. I selected a number of these standard cores, but only present one example of each. I believe that I give credit below to the originator of any given standard core, but it can be hard to track this down, so I may have got it wrong. Let me know if you know better.

As before, I had to guess at some of these models, going by pictures posted to the net. In most cases, I changed the head entirely, as hardsuits typically use minifig heads, which Mechaton models usually avoid. I also sometimes added extra stuff or changed a bit here and there. I’m sure I also guessed wrong in a few places. So, if these drift from the standard, that is why.

The LDraw files use the latest part collection, but may contain unofficial parts. (Also, you may need to right-click on the .ldr files and “Save Link As…”.)

	Blacktron by pasukaru76 Source: Flickr LDraw file: pasukaru76-blacktron.ldr		Double Edge by xezav Source: Flickr LDraw file: xezav-doubleedge.ldr
	Hardersuit by Alvaro Gunawan Source: Flickr LDraw file: alvarogunawan-hardersuit.ldr		Reclean (based on “Cleanbot”) by PolarBear!! Source: Flickr LDraw file: polarbear-reclean.ldr
	Retriever by xezav Source: Flickr LDraw file: xezav-retriever.ldr		Übermann by Geoff Herndon Source: Flickr LDraw file: geoffherndon-ubermann.ldr
	W. Mk1 by W. Mark Source: MocPages LDraw file: wmark-wmk1.ldr		ZSF-AHTP by Mr. Villa Source: Flickr LDraw file: mrvilla-ZSF-AHTP-4.ldr

To view these files, you’ll need some kind of .ldr viewer, such as Bricksmith or others.

Lastly, a repeat of my earlier plea: when you come up with the next great frame, please give the world an LDraw file for it, so we can marvel at your genius from any angle we like.

Mechaton: Flex chassis

March 23, 2010May 2, 2012 wordman 2 Comments

Here’s another chassis for Mechaton. The idea behind this one was an experiment to get as many points of articulation as was manageable in a small size. The result is extremely posable, but a bit fragile, particularly in the waist.

Flex Chassis

The LDraw file is here.

Part Color Quantity Description

This parts list generated by LDView.

Part images provided by Peeron.

2429

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Hinge Plate 1 x 4 Base

2430

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Hinge Plate 1 x 4 Top

2540

72:

Dark Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 2 with Handle

2555

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Tile 1 x 1 with Clip

3023

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 2

3024

72:

Dark Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 1

3623

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 3

3623

72:

Dark Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 3

3794

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 2 with 1 Stud

4070

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Brick 1 x 1 with Headlight

4081a

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Light Type 1

4081a

72:

Dark Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Light Type 1

View on Peeron.com

4085c

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical Type 3

4590

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 4 Offset

4697b

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Technic Pneumatic T-Piece – Type 2

47905

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Two Opposite Sides

47905

72:

Dark Bluish Gray

Brick 1 x 1 with Studs on Two Opposite Sides

48336

72:

Dark Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 2 with Handle Type 2

6019

72:

Dark Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 1 with Clip Horizontal

61409

71:

Light Bluish Gray

Slope Brick 18 2 x 1 x 2/3 Grille

6141

Black

Plate 1 x 1 Round

6141

43:

Trans Very Light Blue

Plate 1 x 1 Round

6141

72:

Dark Bluish Gray

Plate 1 x 1 Round

Mechaton: Swingarm chassis

January 12, 2010May 2, 2012 wordman 4 Comments

I’ve been playing around building mechs for Mechaton, Vincent Baker‘s game of giant fighty robots made out of Legos. Compared to some, I’m not that good at it yet. So far, I’m restricting myself to Lego parts that I already have, which is a bit limiting. Still, I managed to put together a basic chassis that is fairly easy to make, doesn’t use too many freaky pieces and seems to be extremely versatile.

In its naked state, it doesn’t look like much, but the attachments fill it out nicely. The arms have two points of articulation with a wide motion range (at the shoulder and elbow), and the lower arm can be flipped around or even swapped out for different parts that use a “locking hinge”. The basic assembly is shown in the image below. In the final stage, there are two different 2×4 pieces that work for the side torso, both of which are shown. The one on the right gives a slimmer look, while the one on the left provides more options for attaching things to the front of the mech.

Swingarm Assembly

Here are some samples using both variations. Each is pictured with a plate containing an indication of how many of each type of dice the mech would use in a Mechaton game. If you’ve seen the game, this should be relatively straightforward. For the red dice, shorter ranges are closer to you, and one of the optional rules is used in some cases. Transparent pips are d6’s, solid pips are d8’s.

All of these models were built using Bricksmith, then rendered with LDView. In making these models, I took some liberties with the colors, as I don’t have all the right colors of these bricks. Bricksmith is built on top of LDraw, and uses its file format. Some of these use one or two unofficial parts (which you will need to download if you want to use the files).