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Added January 8, 2015

Where no CS astronaut has gone before: There was a prototype of the “Alienator” long before the Blacktron era – The Alien Planet Explorator.

My entry to the Classic Space Pocket Money Contest 3:
The 898 Alien Planet Explorator.

BREAKING NEWS:
For a long time there have been rumours about a prototype of the famous Blacktron “Alienator” that was meant to be part of the first line of space exploration vehicles from Stardate 1979. Now a private collector who wants to remain anonymous has got his hands on the original data. And not only that, he has also found a special workshop to build a prototype. The working title of this prototype according to the data is “Alien Planet Explorator”, a possible origin of the name “Alienator”. These are the first exclusive photos…

The vehicle is a mobile sensor array for ground analysis. Every “foot” of the vehicle contains a lot of different sensors. With every step of the vehicle a new area of the ground is analysed.

The front part of the vehicle can be seperated from the main section and be used as a scooter. The rear section can analyse the ground autonomically. The operator returns when necessary to analyse data or for repairs.

The rear section can be entered via the opening roof. There is a main computer console for the further processing of the collected data.

With the roof closed a small sealed room with a controlled environment is created for the astronaut.

By moving the big cushion the working chair can be converted into a bunk.

Some additional photos…

Parts count, the easy way:

Ten rows with ten parts each = 100 parts.

And now for the alternative models:

Alternative 1
A small communication outpost with a little monorail

Alternative 2
A one man scout ship

There were some bricks left, so I added a flood light.

You never know when you need one ;-)).

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So this is my contibution to the Classic Space pocket Money Contest 3, the Lego 898 “Alien Planet Explorator”. I hope you like it as much as I do :-)).

And before I forget it: Thanks to you, David and David, for this wonderful contest! :-))

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Bonus photos:
1) My “1979” model compared to the Blacktron “Alienator”

So, which one is the original? ;-))

2) My CSPMC models

CSPMC1 (left), CSPMC2 (front) and CSPMC3 (right)

3) The LDD model

Main model + 2 alternatives

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Added December 29, 2013

My entry for this year’s Classic Space Pocket Money Contest: The 6855 Exploration Rover with an original Mars Rover “Rocker-Bogie” suspension and my new “Limeuron” colour scheme.

First of all thanks to “The Davids” for repeating this fantastic contest this year. For me there’s no better way to spend some of the free time during the Christmas Holidays :-)).

With the “New Colour Scheme” rule I had to cancel my original idea of building a later CS model in 1979 style. I’ll add that one to the “CSPM” group, later…

The basic idea was to build a rover with the original Mars Rover suspension. This special suspension has always fascinated me, so I started to do some research about it. The suspension is called a “Rocker-Bogie” suspension. When I was looking for photos with the suspension I immediately found photos of Lego models, too ;-)). The center piece is a differential. The first photos I found where from Keith Enevoldsen’s models. One version of the suspension with a differential bar is also included in the official 21104 Lego model of the Mars Rover “Curiosity”. I used a differential gearbox like the “Pathfinder” Rover “Sojourner”.

I was surprised to see that the suspension is quite sturdy. You can swoosh the rover around applying quite a pressure to the wheels without parts falling off. A simulated jump with some “airtime” wasn’t any problem, either.

The colour scheme is based on my favourite Lego colours lime and black combined with the typical white of the Futuron models. The Astronaut has a Futuron uniform with arms in lime colour and a visor in trans neon green. My name for the theme is “Limeuron” – Guess, why …! ;-))

And here it is: My 6855 “Limeuron Exploration Rover”

A little sequence of the working suspension:

Wheelie time… :-))

And here is the diffential at work:

Time for some maintenance:

One of the storage boxes:

And the obligatory alternative models built with the parts of the original model:

Alternative model #1:
A smaller rover, a scooter and an antenna for radio communication.

Alternative model #2:
Another small scooter and an analysis and storage platform.

Parts count, the easy way:
10 x 10 = 100

This is my entry for the 2013 Classic Space Pocket Money Contest, the 6855 Limeuron Exploration Rover with Rocker-Bogie suspension. I hope you like it :-))

Bonus photos:

Last minute alternative: A scooter/rover and a cargo rocket
Scooter mode with landing gear.

Rover mode with suspension and balloon tires.

CSPMC meeting:
2012 (1979) meets 2013 (1984).

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Added December 20, 2012

My entry for the Classic Space Pocket Money Contest: The 892 Surface Explorer, a surface scooter carrying a little rover for further exploration.
First of all, thanks to the Davids for the idea and the realization of The Classic Space Pocket Money Contest. When I first saw the invitation I thought that it was just like made for me :-))

I knew that I wanted to do something like the 6890 Cosmic Cruiser but with the original 1979 look. And it had to carry a rover, not a scooter. When I came home that day I immediately started the design process. This is the result:

The 892 Surface Explorer

Here you can see the rover. It glides with its mudguards on some tiles in the rear of the scooter. It is fixed on its rear end to the scooter with a single 1×2 tile.

Once the driver has taken his seat, the rover can be detached by moving the 1×2 tile.

And there it goes.

Meanwhile the other spaceman can work on the computer…

…or fix something.

He can also take his seat again…

… and go for a spin.

There…

…and back again.

Moving the rover back into its position.

There it is…

And fixed again.

You can count the parts if you want:

There should be 86. LDD counts 102 parts including 5 for each of the 2 sets of newer wheels (instead of 1) and 5 for each of the 2 spacemen (instead of 1). All of the parts should have been available in 1979. In fact, many of them are from 1979 ;-))

And now for the alternative models…
Each of the alternative models uses all of the 86 parts!

Alternative model #1:

A 2 seated scooter (similar to 442/891), a rover (similar to the one in set 483/920) and a little rocket launch pad.

3 – 2 – 1 – Ignition! – Lift off!

Let’s see what’s that over there…

Alternative model #2:
A small scooter (similar to 885), a little pick-up truck and a radio relay station.

A spaceman can go for further exploration with the truck…

…or with the scooter.

Alternative model #3:
A big 2 seated scooter and a mini rover.

Let’s see how fast this thing can go!

Any similarities in shape to certain Corellian freighters are pure coincidence ;-))

So this is my entry for the Classic Space Pocket Money Contest, the LEGO 892 Surface Explorer. I hope you like it :-))

Bonus feature #1: The LDD file with all 4 models

Feel free to download it and build your own one :-))

Bonus feature #2: Just playing around – Some more ideas for alternative models