TMOH: Crab Mecha 2015

Another year and another update to my venerable Crab Mecha design.  This one came about because over on the Hangar, Blorf asked me if I'd ever tried a different leg design for my Crab Mecha.  This is the result of that question.

Blorf 1

Blorf 2

Blorf 3

As you can see, I've used all three of the 1x Studless Slopes in these versions, and the extra articulation in the leg adds a bit of character to the design.  I'm not sure if this is the last modification I'll make to the design but I'm interested in seeing where the future takes it.

TMOH: Crab Mecha 2.0

After a request for not-so-parts-intensive-frames on the Hangar, and my rebuild of my Centauroid Mecha, I got a little inspired to add the new ball joints to my Crab Mecha design.

I figured you can do this in a couple of ways.  For parts we have the 2x2 Modified Plate w/Tow Ball, the 1x2 Modified Plate w/Tow Ball, and the 1x2 Modified Plate w/Tow Ball Receptacle on side.  The smaller Towball Plate only comes in Dark Bley and the Receptacle Plate only comes in Light Bley so you're probably going to end up with a three colors to a build a minimum.

I've got two new builds to share with you.  The first uses the 1x2 Modified plate w/Towball and 1x2 Modified Plate w/Towball Receptacle on side as the base combination to attach the legs.

Brickshelf gallery.







The second uses the 2x2 Modified Plate w/Towball and the Receptacle Plate as the base combination to attach the legs.  This also features another change, the addition of small arms in the form of a Bar Holder w/Clip.  I'll have to go back and see how well they attach to the older versions of my Crab Mecha.

Brickshelf gallery.

As you can see, both builds use three colors as I mentioned earlier.  I hope these inspire people a little bit.

Tablescrap 5

Another partial build for you to ruminate on.

Another variant on my faithful Crab Mecha.  This time I'm thinking of using a different piece as the head and making the usual head piece into some sort of underslung "stinger".

Toys'n'Bricks discussion thread.

Purity 3: TMOH (Part 1)

I've decided to hop on the non-Lego parts bandwagon by building one of my Crab Mechs with a combination Kre-O and Lego parts.

The set I decided to buy is Ocean Attack from the Battleship line.  It has a number of printed parts that are similar to the parts I normally use for the legs on Crab Mechs.  I picked up two sets for $3.50 each at Walmart.

Well, I thought they were printed parts and they turned out to be stickers.  The color of the parts on the box differed from the color in real life as well.



Here you can see the two packages the parts came in.

As mentioned above, I built a Crab Mech.  Here's a shot of all the Lego pieces I used in the build

This is the fully assembled frame.  Here's the Brickshelf gallery.  I'm not too thrilled with the outcome.  Although it's more from lack of parts in the proper colors than anything else.  I ended up running to five separate colors instead of the three I would have preferred.  This is also the first time I've used stickers in a build.  I think they'd look better on a lighter color brick.  Which is more temptation to get more of these sets.

I also built a Chub from a mix of some of the remaining parts and Lego parts.  That'll be another post.

TMOH

In this post I'm going to "Toot My Own Horn".  Hence the acronym in the title.  There was some discussion in the Kickstarter comments section about how much mechs cost and what the price would be to assemble a team.  Well, after spending most of a morning surfing the Lego Pick-A-Brick interface, I can say that you can assemble a unit of eight of my Crab Mechs for $36 USD -- not including shipping.

That's right, eight of thesefor only $36.

Here's a link to my Brickshelf gallery of Crab Mecha.

While they're not as impressive as some of the mech designs that are out there, they're still pretty slick and look good as a team.

Not bad, eh?  They also have plenty of options for pallette swapping and alternate parts.  They can also be modified from the original design.  Like so.

Here's the part lists for Bricklink and Pick-A-Brick.

Bricklink Parts List:
(Body)

4x4 Plate (x1)

2x4 Plate (x1)

1x1 Plate (x2)

3x1 Slope (x2)

1x1x2/3 Slope (x6)

(Legs)
3x1 Slope, Curved, No Studs (x4)
1x1 Plate, Modified w/Clip Light-Thick Ring (x4)
1x2 Plate, Modified w/Arm Up (Horizontal Arm 5mm Long) (x4)
(Head)
1x2x1&1/3 Brick, Modified (x2)
(Weapon)
2x2 Tile, Round w/Lifting Ring (x1)
2x2 Plate, Round w/Axle Hole (x2)
1/2 Technic Pin w/2L Bar Extension (x1)
Technic Axle Connector (Smooth) (x1)
1x1 Brick, Round w/Open Stud (x1)
Cone 1x1 w/Top Groove (x1)

Pick-A-Brick Parts List
(Body)
Plate 4x4 (Design ID: 3031) (x1)
Plate 2x4 (Design ID: 3020) (x1)
Plate 1x1 (Design ID: 3024) (x2)
Roof Tile 1x3/25° (Design ID: 4286) (x2)
Roof Tile 1x1x2/3, Abs (Design ID: 54200) (x6)
(Legs)
Brick w/Bow 1/3 (Design ID: 50950) (x4)
Lamp Holder (Design ID: 4081) (x4)
Plate 1x2 W. Vertical Schaft (Design ID: 88072) (x4)
(Head)
Brick W. Arch 1x1x1 1/3 (Design ID: 6091) (x2)
(Weapon)
Round Plate 2x2 w/Eye (Design ID: 2376) (x2)
Plate 2x2 Round (Design ID: 4032) (x1)
3 M.Arch w/Knob And Shaft Ø3.2 (Design ID: 61184) (x1)
Cross Axle, Extension, 2M (Design ID: 59443) (x1)
Round Brick 1x1 (Design ID: 3062) (x1)
Nose Cone Small 1x1 (Design ID: 59900) (x1)

NOTE: I haven't provided any Element IDs so you can choose your own colors for your mechs.

Here's how to assemble them.

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Whaddya think?