Building the Enterprise D Out of LEGOs. 295
CleverNickName writes "A self-proclaimed "dork" has built one of the best models of Enterprise D I have ever seen (and I think I speak with some authority)...entirely out of LEGOs.
I can see my house from here!"
Poor Bastard (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Poor Bastard (Score:2, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Hey! Right now Fark.com has pictures of girls... (Score:4, Funny)
All we got is Bill Gates in Borg drag....
*I feel so small*
Re:Poor Bastard (Score:2)
That would be pretty interesting to know.
-Bill
Slick (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Slick (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Slick (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Slick (Score:2, Insightful)
Eh, I've worked with architects. Any details they add aren't usually worth the graphite they were drawn with. Architects don't actually know how to build things, and thus rarely have any concept of appropriate materials/dimensions/cost, etc. All they care about is how it looks.
It's the engineers/builders who have to transform the architect's crack-pipe hallucination into something that obeys the laws of physics, human ergonomics, and modern economics.
The guy who built this was not an architect, he's an engineer.
Re:Slick (Score:2)
Please tell me you're not an architect.
No, no, he must have been talking about archetects, which could be construed as 'model builders', if one takes arche- as in archetype [reference.com] and -tect, as in, well, architect [reference.com].
Of course, I just might be overestimating his cleverness.
Re:Slick (Score:2)
Ya'think?
Why bother starting from scratch (Score:2, Informative)
when there are lots of kits and plans to choose from http://www.starshipmodeler.com/trek/trekship.htm [starshipmodeler.com]
Re:Why bother starting from scratch (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Why bother starting from scratch (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah I don't understand Lego people either. Why they build anything besides what's already planned out for them is beyond me.
Re:Why bother starting from scratch (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Why bother starting from scratch (Score:4, Interesting)
Why do it?
First off, a little background: I built (played?) with legos well into my teen years. When I moved on to computers I passed all my Legos on to my little brother, who added them to his already large collection. He continues to build today (at age 22), but they are much more complex models involving the Mindstorms robot system. He's really delved into the programming on those, and has 2 mindstorm "brains" that he uses. This last fall, he got an award at the Oregon State Fair for his "Dinner Plate Transporter".
Anyway, the reason that I built was because I wanted to create my own toys. My brother and I would setup environments consisting of Legos, pillows, blankets, chairs, tables, etc etc, then build vehicles and buildings to populate those environments. Then we would play. :) The beauty of it was the flexibility of the Lego blocks. If something wasn't working out or didn't look right, we could tear it down and rebuild it.
Those were the days. :)
Mindstorms are OK (Score:3, Interesting)
I have a collection of science fiction that started with my dad in the 1940's and has been growing ever since. But that's Science Fiction, with capital SF, not sci-fi or space opera. It's the kind of stories that make you think "hey, that had never occurred to me, what if it happens that way?". On the other hand, the only thing that comes into anyone's mind when seeing Star Trek, or any other space opera, is "wow".
Re:Why bother starting from scratch (Score:3, Interesting)
Here's an interesting thought: Replace "LEGO blocks" with "open source software" and read the sentence again.
Might be interesting to do a statistical analysis on how many avid LEGO builders/collectors became code hackers and programmers later in life (put me down as one of those)
Re:Why bother starting from scratch (Score:2)
It's the same mentality of the X-Box Linux Project.
Sorry, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Features (Score:4, Funny)
Translation: I dropped it. It broke.
Re: Features list is short (Score:4, Funny)
Except I can add:
"..more than once."
Translation: I'm a clutz, what do you expect from a dork anyhow?
Re:Features (Score:3, Insightful)
I deserve a beating for saying this, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I deserve a beating for saying this, but... (Score:2)
Re:I deserve a beating for saying this, but... (Score:5, Funny)
pfft (Score:5, Funny)
Now I just sit back and wonder: Wow...Macs are good! I'm gonna get myself a duallie G4 and see if it can make me a Borg Cube!
Re:pfft (Score:2)
NewsFlash: Lego Starship NOT exact scale!!! (Score:5, Informative)
Bet it's the tallest one in four counties, though!
Re:NewsFlash: Lego Starship NOT exact scale!!! (Score:2)
Re:NewsFlash: Lego Starship NOT exact scale!!! (Score:3, Funny)
Lifeboats? (Score:2)
Re:Lifeboats? (Score:2)
Re:Lifeboats? (Score:2)
I know this for Star Trek was my life in 4th grade.
Re:Lifeboats? (Score:2)
Re:Lifeboats? (Score:2)
I must be a bigger geek to nitpick but... (Score:2, Interesting)
However, he has a picture labeled 'the troublesome deflector dish' which he just used some brown and white blocks instead of the gray. Its been a while since I played with legos, but weren't there some parabolic dish type things that would have made a reasonable deflector shield?
Modifying the Troublesome Deflector Dish (Score:5, Funny)
See, the thing is, if you made it out of those parabolic dish-thingies, it'd be really, really tough to modify the deflector dish to interface with the sensor array, and emit a neutrino pulse into the heart of the anomaly.
Re:Modifying the Troublesome Deflector Dish (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Modifying the Troublesome Deflector Dish (Score:2)
IIRC, whenever the brave crew of the Enterprise modifies the deflector dish to interface with the sensor array and emits a neutrino pulse into the heart the anomaly, it never works as intended.
Name one episode where using the deflector dish actually helped the crisis. I can't recall any.
Re:Modifying the Troublesome Deflector Dish (Score:5, Funny)
You've obviously forgotten the episode "Protocols." Data modified the deflector dish to support Subspace TCP/IP (RFC #31,415,926) and ran an IRC server through it until Picard booted him off and changed the root password.
The best moment was during the final court martial scene, when Riker uttered the immortal words, "Data wants to be free."
Re:Modifying the Troublesome Deflector Dish (Score:5, Funny)
This is only a short-term benefit--the new Enterprise version (NCC-1701F) will be DRM-enabled, and such modifications will be prohibited under the DMCA. Resistance is futile, so do what you can with impedance.
In another vein, I seem to recall that Marina Sirtis wore a reproduction of the Heart of the Anomaly (Le Coeur de l'Anomalie) to last year's Oscars, and it looked quite tachyon her.
Re:Modifying the Troublesome Deflector Dish (Score:2)
If you just stayed in Starfleet Academy another year they would have taught you about the virtues of model airplace glue.
Re:Modifying the Troublesome Deflector Dish (Score:5, Funny)
Point of order, Mr Weaton.
You are officially cheating, using your knowledge of technobabble to gain karma.
That's dirty pool in my book, insider.
The submitter.... (Score:2)
On a related note, the orginal models - are there any still around (that haven't been blown up). IIRC the models used for TNG were 6 feet long (I could be way off).
Re:The submitter.... (Score:2, Interesting)
Archivists all over paramount were running screaming when they couldn't find it anywhere.
more than a year later, it shows up in some back office reception area in horrible condition...all dinged up, holes drilled into it for display hanging, nacelles busted, and several years worth of grease layers.
explanation: 'someone' loaned it out to a local restaurant for display and it never really got returned. It is now safely sequestered in the giant room of boxes you see at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Easy lego models... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:More Easy lego models... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:More Easy lego models... (Score:3, Informative)
Get the "Statue of Liberty" model, or the similarly sized Yoda. Then you're flush with light green parts.
A testatment to civilization (Score:2, Insightful)
In today's society, it's only slightly unusual to report on an individual who apparently has enough free time to obsessivbely recreate a fictional spacecraft in exacting detail with intentionally poor tools.
The screwed up thing is, the majority of people in the world are STILL mainly concerned with finding enough food on a daily basis to stay alive.
I'm not trying to pull a guilt/ego/trippy trip on anyone; it's just odd to think that some of us are lucky enough to have to go out of our way to waste time.
Re:A testament to civilization (Score:4, Insightful)
Look at it this way--any time spent creating the spacecraft was not spent in procreation, though that may not have been entirely due to a proactive decision on his part. Consider the long-term resource savings!
Re:A testament to civilization (Score:3, Funny)
BTW, our Uncle Willie should be able to add another geek notch on his phaser rifle butt now - Slashdot submitter/writer/actor that he is. ;-)
Re:A testatment to civilization (Score:2)
Why should we feel guilty because we are simply better than most everyone else at making a living for ourselves?
I feel sorry for the children in places where they don't have the benefit of making a good life for themselves, but beyond that, sorry. I don't care.
The adage that states, "Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day, but teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime." holds true.
We earn our daily bread and more. That we have spare time to do things other than looking for food is the result of many generations working harder than the one before so the one following will have a better standard of life.
Re:A testatment to civilization (Score:3, Insightful)
Boll, and further, ocks.
The majority of humans on earth can find enough food quite easily. The exceptions are visible and pitiful, but they are exceptions.
The problem (depending on your point of view) is that for many of them there's little point in doing more work than is necessary to eat, because they don't have access to markets that provide the juicy consumer goods or expensive treat-the-symptoms pharmaceticals that we're lucky enough to have access to.
In other words, if you take a Yanomami and her 4 hour work / 20 hour leisure day in the rainforest, and transplant her to the city then she has to work 10 or 12 hours a day to pay for her apartment and refridgerator and save up for a TV. I'm not saying that's inherently bad, just that you shouldn't confuse lack of possessions with being on the verge of starvation.
Captain, we have a breach in the Warp Core! (Score:5, Funny)
(Data, On the Bridge)
Captain, I believe if we fire a controlled burst of tachyon radiation at the bridge of the 'Slashdot', Cmdr Taco will forget that he has attacked us. That should give us enough time to reroute the power from the impulse engines to the warp core containment field. If I can run a holodeck carrier beam with the tachyon radiation, I believe I can create a 'virtual wormhole', and give us an hour before Cmdr Taco will repost this story. I mean, uh, attack us again.
(Captain)
Make it so. (To engineering) Jordi, you have an hour. Number One, in my ready room.
(Number One)
Someone turn off that damn alarm!
Re:Captain, we have a breach in the Warp Core! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Captain, we have a breach in the Warp Core! (Score:5, Funny)
I guess that's better than Number Two in my ready room...
Re:Captain, we have a breach in the Warp Core! (Score:5, Funny)
It appears that Enterprise D is trying to flood us with tachyon radiation using their holodeck.
(CmdrTaco)
Take us out of reposting the story, and prepare to fire Trolls and Flamers, full spread, maximum yield. Take aim at the technical writers quarters.
(Timothy)
But that will disable their ability to speak technobabble
(CmdrTaco)
Precisely. And when their technical writers are destroyed, their ability to do technobabble will be disabled, and they'll be left defenseless.
(CleverNickName)
I won't let you do this. If you destroy them, they won't let me be cameo on Enterprise.
(CmdrTaco)
Shut up Wheaton! And get off my bridge!
Does this really count? (Score:5, Funny)
Really, now, does this model truly qualify as an authentic Lego creation? Sure, his deviations seem minor, but it's a slippery slope friends.
Where does it end. Is it acceptable to glue Lego bricks alongside one another to achieve the desired effect? Is it acceptable to airbrush cool color schemes on a model when the colored brick motif just isn't cutting it? What about incorporating non-lego pieces like balsa wood or erector set parts?
I'm sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, this should be categorized more as just another plastic model kit of the Enterprise than a true Lego creation. Better luck next time.
Re:Does this really count? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Does this really count? (Score:5, Interesting)
Painting is a different story - if there were "standards" in lego model building, painting would usually be against the rules. Though in reality, is it really much different than buying 4000 2x3 flat bricks for a project? It's not like you had them laying around.
I'm sorry, but as far as I'm concerned, this should be categorized more as just another plastic model kit of the Enterprise than a true Lego creation.
I'm going to have to disagree with you there - he not only built it, he designed the plans, researched the specs and size, and gathered the parts. As in depth as any boxed model is, all the work (besides putting it together) is already done for you. This Enterprise really is a neat accomplishment.
Re:Does this really count? (Score:3, Informative)
In some models that's the reason (expecially large structures that are mostly shell with no interior details, such as replications of skyscapers). In other cases, the glue is used so the model will stand up to being moved from place to place, and so that it can withstand the elements or abuse by tourists, depending on where it is set up.
Using glue to hold parts together is not considered to be "cheating" in constructing a model if you're simply gluing them together in the same positions that they would normally go together without the glue.
As an aside, what consistently amazes me about LEGO products these days is quality. The parts are molded to a very high degree of accuracy to insure they will fit together, and the colors used in today's LEGO plastics take a very, very long time to fade. And in all the years that I have been collecting them, I have never had a set with a missing piece. I've had some with extra pieces, but never missing.
The only problem I have with LEGO sets today is that they're damned expensive. It's quality, all right, but you definitely pay for it.
The answer is obvious (Score:5, Funny)
Most lego doesn't have to stand up to the destructive forces created by extreme acceleration of a disproportionate and brittle design. Just think of this as the lego version of a conveniently available structural integrity field that redefines previously understood boundaries.
Re:Does this really count? (Score:2)
Look at the X-wing lego kits or the "Quidditch Practice" kits on the Lego website... I think we've gone beyond the days of yore and the rules of lego. When shapes become difficult and are molded out of convenience, that's when the rules went out the window (MS claims to the name aside).
I was pretty happy the day long ago when I got something other than a rectangular white, blue, red, or yellow piece. Now there's quidditch rings... I think that paint and glue are more than acceptable here. At least he didn't just mold an enterprise out of plastic with lego buds on it...
Re:Does this really count? (Score:2, Funny)
I don't get it. (Score:2)
It also is a good learning tool to develop volumetric relationship (in an architectural sense).
What I just don't understand is people trying to make it do something it's not made for: duplicating the volumetry and appearance of arbitrarly-shaped objects.
Why don't you use clay or plaster? They are shapable to a great degree of likeness, far more than what you'll be able to achieve with legos.
Digital vs. Analogue (Score:4, Interesting)
But as you say, the price you pay is not being able to shape so minutely or copy precisely, i.e., you have to live with a square wave approximation of the real thing. It's all about tradeoffs. Artsies use analogue media, techies use digital :).
czth
Re:I don't get it. (Score:2)
A Lot of Free Time (Score:2, Funny)
"One at a time, I downloaded the deck plans from the Web, resized them in Photoshop, and printed them out onto graph paper."
With 42 decks, this is no small amount of time. Wonder what I could do if I stopped reading slash dot so much?
Nice mesh... (Score:4, Funny)
Slashdot earned it's tagline on this one (Score:2)
Of course Taco does punctuate each so I guess it can be an either/or deal.
Millennium Falcon (Score:4, Informative)
PC Legos (Score:2)
I dont need things like facial animations and plot. Also, fun things to add would be stress testing. Oh, almost forgot. I have to be able to put some peices on in almost strange ways. I did that a lot and I always thought that was part of the sheer genuis that is Lego. Oh, if this has not been done and someone gets the idea to do this then consider it started and GPL'd, but lets try to get official Lego support. I dont want it to be "Supar Bloqs!" or some dumb shit.
I hope to see a slashback in a week or two.... (Score:2, Funny)
here we go again... (Score:2)
Looking at the model with a magnifying glass... (Score:4, Funny)
The small print "Model not capable of warp drive travel"
But one things for sure, it'd probably survive a dense popcorn armada..
With some authority... (Score:5, Interesting)
see http://www.wilwheaton.net/ for details.
See if you can find him amongst the trolls and flames.
--
Sam Kennedy
Dear Wil (Score:3, Funny)
I would like formally to apply for the role of "low level drone" in the Cult of Wheaton. I struggled against it, but to no avail. You epitomise all that is great and good in geekness. Please, let me join your Army of Dorkness, that I may contribute in a small way to your elevation to Spod Emperor. What is thy bidding, my master?
And the scary bit is... I'm not joking. Wil is one seriously self aware guy, and I'm prepared to do a bit of chanting and genuflecting in his cause.
Hey, his logo (and site) are called 'Happy Waffle' (Score:2)
LEGO his Eggo...
sorry.
ALERT (Score:4, Funny)
A self-proclaimed "dork" has built one of the best..
ALERT TO: self-proclaimed "dork"
FROM: The Ghost of Jon Postel
MSG BODY:Your dorkness has gone well past the levels allowed by all RFC standards. You are now in the "nerd" category, please refer to yourself with this label from now on.
Thank you,
postel, watching you from afar..
(NB: no disrespectintended in the least)
Fun Facts (Score:3, Funny)
1) In 1995, Blizzard released Warcraft II. The Goblin Zeppelin unit, when repeatedly clicked, had a set of silly phrases it would say. "I can see my house from here!" was born.
2) For a long time, nothing.
3) September, 2001. The series premiere of Star Trek: Enterprise, a few Klingons are invited to view a Holodeck for the first time. Presented with a recreation of the Klingon homeworld, one of them utters the phrase, "I can see my house from here!" in a guttural Klingon accent. Fans of the phrase are delighted.
4) July, 2002. The incredible Mr. Krol takes over the voice of the Goblin Zeppelin for the new Warcraft III. Although the phrase "I can see my house from here!" is absent from the game, early reviews of "What what what?!?" are positive.
5) November, 2002. Wil Wheaton uses the phrase in a Slashdot Posting, although we do not have an audio file of him saying it. Fans of the phrase are delighted and hopeful.
I don't know what's scarier ... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Quote from site (Score:2)
Re:Big deal... (Score:4, Interesting)
It's actually impossible to make a perfect cube out of Lego. The ratios of lengths of the sides of the pieces are such that there is no integer multiples which are identical.
I've never found out whether this was deliberate on the part of Lego, or an accident.
Perfect? (Score:3, Informative)
When modeling or building, there's an accepted 5 to 6 ratio on stud vs height. See my dimensions guide [mindspring.com]. So a 6 studs by 6 studs by 5 bricks (or 4 bricks, 2 plates, one tile) should do the trick (within accepted Lego tolerances).
You might get a slightly different ratio if you use calipers, but wouldn't that apply to any discrete building material? Think "tolerances".
Re:Big deal... (Score:3, Informative)
Sure you can. This design is pretty damned close to being near perfect [utoronto.ca].
Re:Big deal... (Score:2)
1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 etc.
The ratio between each pair of terms is a progressively better approximation of the golden mean. Really.
If you have way too much time on your hands (as my Linear Algebra teacher once did), you can construct a non-iterative formula for the sequence out of this. Requires diagonalization, messy enough you actually have to do it by hand... but it actually works.
So, the golden ratio is pretty easy to approximate. Nature's done it for millions of years. You just haven't tried hard enough... :)
Re:el dork-o (Score:4, Funny)
I also proclaim that you're a dork..
And that makes all the difference in the world. Dorkle, the popular dork engine, is not affected by self-references of dorkdom. Only dorklinks from other dorks count toward a higher DorkRank, and the more the better.
Your post was hilarious, by the way. I laughed so hard that my pocket-protector fell out. I tried to come up with a joke about the existence of "dork matter" or maybe going over to the "dork side," but I'll have to leave that to cleverer dorks than me.
Re:Obviously new here... (Score:3, Funny)
jeez (Score:3, Insightful)
OK, if you want to be hypertechnical, according to William Shatner in that oh-so-tragic SNL episode the whole Star Trek thing is make-believe. Many of us suspect that he is still under the control of the mind-control device in Episode #37.
Re:Yeah maybe in this universe (Score:2)
I am sane
Note to other than the analog kid: If anyone else complains I made one stupid typo last night I'm gonna stick a phaser up their
Re:I may be a geek, but I'm out of touch. (Score:5, Informative)
Enterprise 1701- Main TOS ship.
Enterprise 1701 - Upgrade, refitted Enterprise. New class named: Enterprise class. Seen in ST:TMP
Enterprise 1701- A - Recommisioned Enterprise Class after Kirk destroyed the upgraded original in Star Trek 3 (Originally USS Atlantis before recommisioning)
Enterprise 1701-B - Excelsior II-class, seen in Star Trek: Generations
Enterprise 1701-C - Ambassador-Class, seen in TNG episode 'Yesterday's Enterprise'
Enterprise 1701-D - Galaxy-Class, main TNG ship
Enterprise 1701-E - Sovereign-class, newest ship, seen in every movie past Generations where 1701-D was destroyed.
God I'm sad.
Reality check (Score:2)
U.S.S. Enterprise [navy.mil]
Shuttle [nasa.gov]
Mid-sized [enterprise.com]
Re:Reality check (Score:2)
Re:Reality check (Score:2)
And there was a space station called "Enterprise" somewhere between the space shuttle and the NX-1. I think it's one of the pictures in somebody's ready room, can't remember which. Yeah, there's a list of this somewhere... maybe the techical manual?
Re:Reality check (Score:2)
The USS Ranger? The enterprise wasn't available at the time of filming
What timelines mention a nuke on the enterprise in '96? Fanfic ones, pah, they arent real
Re:Reality check (Score:2)
You may be thinking of the ship seen on the recdeck in TMP - looks a little like a surak class vulcan ship
Re:I may be a geek, but I'm out of touch. (Score:3, Funny)
Enterprises are like bra sizes; when you go up a letter they get bigger and more impressive.
Re:Grr... Internet Explorer... (Score:2)
Re:LEGO, not LEGOs (Score:5, Informative)
This is one of those topics where people who are wrong are not going to change.
Stupid is as stupid does and all that, but for what it matters, the official word from Lego is:
(Quote from: http://www.lego.com/info/pdf/presskituk.pdf [lego.com] )
So there you have it.
"This is my Lego" is wrong.
"These are my Legos" is worse.
"These are my LEGO bricks" is correct.