LL-444.

Posted by Doctor Sinister on March 4th, 2009 filed in Brickish, Creations, Events, LEGO, Space

LL-444 is my contribution to the Neo-Classic Space project masterminded by fellow Brickish Association members Peter Reid and James Shields as mentioned here. In order to swiftly facilitate copies of the design, I have rendered the ship in a virtual format as well as building a physical model.

I built this thing in November – you have no idea how hard it has been for me to keep this project under wraps!

The full set of images can be found on the webpage, but these are my favourites.

The LL-444 Interceptor is suited for both planetary and capital ship deployment.  Able to scramble very quickly to defend strategic resources, the LL-444 is intended as a fast attack craft – zipping into range with a hard-hitting strafe of its weapons systems against enemy targets, before breaking off out of range, ready to come in again with additional strikes, moving faster than many enemy guns can target.

The LL-444 was initially intended mainly as an anti-fighter starfighter, however its weapons are powerful enough, when enough craft are present, to penetrate the shields and hulls of small capital ships.  But capital ships are more normally left to dedicated strikefighters, heavy fighters, or other capital ships.

The LL-444 mounts two heavy laser cannon on the wingtips and also has two medium Gauss Cannons in the tubes at the front.  It would be theoretically possible to strip out the lasers and mount a single Graser or X-Ray laser, either of which would be much more powerful individually, but then the rate of fire would be drastically reduced and the entire rationale behind the design would be lost as the ship would have to slow to allow the larger weapons the time to inflict the damage necessary.

Grasers or X-Ray lasers require massive capacitors for rapid recharging – the sort of equipment that would only be available on a large strikefighter, heavy fighter or a capital ship.  In order to keep down the weight and the profile, the powerplant on board the LL-444 is tiny and so a Graser/X-Ray laser would only be able to manage a few shots before it needed charging, and the rate of fire whilst they were engaging the target would be much much slower than the existing lasers.  Although the heavy lasers aren’t as powerful, they allow the LL-444 design to punch above its weight and are more than adequate for its intended design.

LL-444s are not intended for long deployment and are unsuited for escort duties as their duration per sortie is limited.  They are best used in a CSP (Combat Space Patrol) function – brief two-hour patrols around friendly facilities – or maintained in a “ready” status on landing pads or in launch tubes for immediate action if hostile ships come into range.

Thanks to Peter Reid for the backdrop in the following image:

Having once owned a large Moonbase made from early 1980’s LEGO Space sets as a child, I wanted to recreate the wonder and joy of being able to swoosh a LEGO spaceship in the classic livery around my living room.

The brief I gave myself was to create a small one-man fighter craft that would pay homage to both LL 918 (my favourite set as a child) and the larger LL 928.  There’s a small resemblance to LL 928 in the general shape of the craft and the upright winglets on either side of the cockpit.

In addition, I was greatly inspired by the work of Peter Reid – and I wanted to build something to a similar style – and you’ll find a couple of touches on LL-444 that are a reference to the work of the Master.

I’ve stuck rigidly to the rules of Neo-Classic Space, although I took a small liberty with the yellow and black “bumblebee stripes” which I’ve tried to make a little more functional in appearance.  Luckily I seem to have gotten away with it without Admiral Shields putting me before a firing squad.

The landing gear is, as far as I’m aware, a unique design that I’m quite pleased with and the addition of “cheese” slopes which weren’t available in 1979 adds a really sleek finish to the model which I like.

For anyone wishing to build their own LL-444, you can download the .ldr file here.

Forum Discussion.

Dr. S.

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