Lego Homebuilts: Creating Value Out of Spare Bricks

Homebuilts, historically speaking, is an aviation term. But, by now you should know that Lego and Aviation go together for me, so this is naturally how I would describe them.

A homebuilt, as defined in Lego Fan terms, is a ship or aircraft that is built out of extra parts. True to the Homebuilt dictionary definition, this is literally built-at-home, using only spare parts in the goal of making something that is actually useful. These designs require the same kind of ingenuity that Alternate Builds do, which is one reason why I post them. Another reason being that I really like what I have made, and I wish to share these designs.

Finding the Perfect Size

Lego Homebuilts have the unique opportunity to be sized however the creator wants them. Unlike most official sets, there is no max size for what can be made out of the parts. Additionally, they only need to be useful, and don't necessarily have to look good; you're only using them for your own games and setups, anyway.

These ideas combine to make the Homebuilt. And this is where the Lego definition and the Aircraft definition coincide: The plane is built for you, you are probably not selling it, it can be braced up all you want, and it's the perfect size for what you want out of it.

Let me give some examples from my personal designs:

Gozanti-Class Cruiser

I have watched many epsiodes of Star Wars Rebels, and always appreciated the multipurpose uses of the Gozanti-class cruiser that appears repeatedly in the show (I'm referring to the cruiser that carries 4 Tie Fighters underneath its main delta wing). Because of its apparent usefulness, I wanted to make some models of it, too, for my use.

Again, I decided to create value out of my extra parts. But because they are so useful, I decided to make two of them (only one is here pictured).

It is a very useful design, with a door that opens in the floor to allow troops to exit like is seen in the TV Show. Additionally, there is landing gear here that retracts into the wing. The rear landing gear is also retractable to nestle up against the back main engine.

Imperial Gozanti-Class Cruiser

U-Wing (3 Seater)

The U-Wing of Rogue One was a very impressive ship. I decided that I wanted to make a version that I could use in my own personal games. It had to not be too big, but it had to carry more than the pilot.

A bit dusty, I see...

What I ended up with was a design that started around the cockpit that I found. Thankfully, this design can fit 3 figures with helmets (although some extreme helmet shapes may not work so well).

Apologies for the blurry Photo...

Additionally, the wings can sweep back for fast travel in the atmosphere (it's still debatable whether or not the swing-back wing helps provide lift, but it sure is cool).

Rebel U-Wing

This design uses some tires for the engines, just as the Gozanti Cruiser also used some for its engines. The reason is because that happened to be the spare pieces that I had on-hand. I think they look very nice, though.

A-Wing Microfighter

I haven't only built multi-pilot ships out of spare pieces, but I have also built Microfighters. An example here is the rebel A-wing custom microfighter. Again, this design used some of the tire hubs pieces previously mentioned before as engines. Again, I think it looks very good.

Rebel A-Wing

It fits a pilot rather comfortably, and works well with the other microfighters I have. The fortunate thing in all of this is that I had a spare part with a rebel sticker on it. That's what really makes this fighter a lot prettier to look at.

Functional Uses

But wait, I haven't only used spare parts for ships. I have also used them to make functional devices, including crane systems that mount on shelves (more on that in a later post, but pictures are still provided below). 

A crane system that grips the shelf.

A large roatable handle is off the edge of the shelf for ease of access.

Note the red lock behind the winch, which stops the winch from rotating as it retracts the rope. Additionally, the winch is held in place by a technic rod which runs through to its center.

Above, a different style of crane.

This one again grips the shelf, yet can hold a whole ship under its rope.

The second crane pictured above only uses the default Lego rope. But, these ropes are surprisingly strong, carrying a few pounds at least. Above it is shown carrying a ship that might be recognized as the Twilight from Star Wars: The Clone Wars (this one is also a spare part build shown in greater detail below).

Twilight Light Freighter in Grey-Black color scheme 

The standard receptacle for lego rope hooks is only a 2x2 stud plate. How then could it carry a whole ship, yet still mainain grip? 

The answer lies in placing technic bars above the outside of the plate, and only hanging weight from the Technic bars. The technic bars can then have attachments, as shown in the Twighlight ship picture, which shows the Twighlight being held aloft by two studded technic bars that combined have a 10-stud grip on the underside, thus maintaining a very strong grip on the object in question. 

Note how the black plate only contains one stud on each side to hold the white beams in place

The whole while, the 2x2 hook receptacle studs are merely holding the plate that holds the beams in place, while the full weight of the object is borne by the beams, which weigh on the top of the recetacle's skirting plate, placing their full weight there. Powerful, isn't it?

Conclusion

Some homebuilt designs may end up being in the perfect colors. The examples shown here that fit those criteria will be featured in their own posts. Those, I am proud to display. They were built to be the most useable size, while still featuring all the shapes and functionality wanted of a spare-piece "homebuilt" design.

Extra parts can be more useful than you might realize. They can create a great deal of variety to otherwise barren or bland collections and setups. One does not need to be proud of their looks, but they can be proud of the ingenuity harnessed in creating them. The variety added, in any case, is worth the effort.