Neo Classic Space

Keeping Federation borders secure is the job of patrol craft like Mark Sandlin's LL-300. Often it's a matter of just having a visible presence. However, when that presence needs to be more than just visible, it's improortant to have a craft that's up to the job.

The LL-300 Patrol Craft was designed to patrol the edge of explored space. Its broad wing shape provides ample lift in the thin atmospheres of gas giants and terraforming planets. Equipped with two large drive engines as well as two smaller intra-atmospheric engines, the LL-300 is able to move quickly along the frontier to perform its mission duties. The small onboard rover provides the crew with mobility when they must venture onto a planet's surface.

Next on our road trip through the Neo Classic Space Federation is LL-138, Tim Goddard's scanning craft.

Outfitted with a bewildering array of scanning technology, the LL138 is one of the first ships to arrive in newly discovered systems. It features spectrophotometers, gravimeters, atmospheric and climate sensors, to name but a few. It also has a cockpit designed to allow great views of new planetary surfaces and carries equipment for some more direct measurement of local geology such as the scorpion autonomous scanning robot and a rock penetrator sonic drill.

We really love the unique and distinctive shape of the ship, and the up-sude-down construction to give the pilot/surveyor a clear view of everything below. Here he is doing a close-up inspection on an alien world.

Returning to their own universe, the Classic Space Federation are proud to present the LL-444 Interceptor from Doctor Sinister.

Dr Sinister says: 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.

Larger ships can have a tendency to look ugly, often taking on the appearance of a skyscraper with pointy bit attached. Not so with Chris Giddins' LL-72 Centaur.

The smooth lines and beautiful curves are exquisite, and check out all the detailing. The fact it has a well worked out interior is a bonus.

We look forward to seeing future work from Chris.

An interesting twist on the Classic Space theme is T.Oechsner's Classic Space Borg Cube. He's captured the effect of the Borg cube beautifully, while cramming in lots of Legoland Space influence in.

I've certainly been assimilated.