LEGO 92176 Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V

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LEGO 92176 Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V

LEGO 92176 Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V

RRP: £99
Price: £9.9
£9.9 FREE Shipping

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Description

Yes, there are some things which I could have done differently. Some of them I have added as optional updates to the LUT instructions.

Since I bought the 21309 Saturn V, I thought about building a LUT for it. My first LUT MOC was completely without red parts, however I wasn't happy with the result. So I thought about how to get a relatively cheap LUT that looks as close as possible to the original. And since I didn´t want to buy hundreds of red fences which I couldn´t use for anything else, it was obvious to me to design the whole thing as an alternate MOC. After counting the red parts in a few Technic sets, it turned out that one needs at least three sets to get a reasonably red painted tower. I don´t have a large collection of parts such as a parts bank, I try to keep all sets strictly separated - either in assembled state or as individual parts. That´s also the reason why I didn´t focus on the details of the original LUT, but on the general concept. For example what I miss the most are the fuel pipes. Therefore I have recently released the update No.4 where I added the fuel pipes, and in my opinion this is the most important update. Other updates (No.1-3) improve the overall color scheme, such as more red parts on the tower.

Details

Concerning favourite part: I would nominate the technic panels (3x11, 5x11 and the new 3x7). On the one hand they are really robust and make structures quite stable, on the other hand they can perfectly be used as cover. This Lego Technic " Launch Umbilical Tower" for the Saturn V (21309 or 92176) was designed with the focus to have a cheap build. So I decided to make a Triple-Alternate:

I am very happy about the elevator and how smooth it works. It took me a lot of time figuring out the correct setting of the wheels and pulleys, but in the end it worked really smoothly at my preferred speed. Three nanofigures are included to represent the three-man teams that the Saturn V transported into space from 1968 and to the moon from 1969 to 1972. Perhaps a decade ago the novelty of receiving LEGO representations of the astronauts in the form of plain white nanofigures would have been enough, but the fine prints that capture a great amount of detail from their suits is remarkable and truly elevates the quality, finish and authenticity of the entire set that much further. Though, I´m not satisfied with the winch. It was a last minute decision to operate it motorized. Due to the concept of my transmission, I was forced to gear down the motor speed first, then travel all the way up into the crane, and gear up the speed again. This causes a lot of friction, and the result is a not perfect running winch. I struggled with myself a lot about removing the function, but decided to keep it because I thought an imperfect function was better than no function.

Each chapter has its own inventory. If explanations in the instructions are needed, they are written in English and German. If the set had been released a little later, in 2019 on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, it would get a lot more attention. But I'm sure it will still be on shelves at that time, perhaps even getting a new boost in production. However, other changes like for example an improved transmission with less friction would mean a significant redesign for big sections of the LUT. And this is not easily done with a simple update. A variant without Power Functions in the tower (manual operation) is being planned and will then be added to this MOC as an update.

If you want to support us with our fight against Chinese MOC-thieves, join the FB group from Stefano Mapelli: Facebook group link Overall: I'm happy with the result, and had a ton of fun and challenge getting there. TLG: please take notes. This is so much more entertaining than another car. I have bought most of my AFOL sets with the intention to make a cool MOC out of them. Because I first want to realize my own ideas, I have never even built the A model for several of my sets. If there is still some time after building some MOCs, I will (maybe ;-)) build the A-model.Holy crap, this was an intense but so satisfying build! I have to admit that I was a bit overwhelmed at first by the size, not sure I would be able to finish this. But here we are! Total build time was around 18 hours, including part of the photography.



  • Fruugo ID: 258392218-563234582
  • EAN: 764486781913
  • Sold by: Fruugo

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