Comrade Rocks

Courtesy Soyuz R-a11 MARAUDER by nate_decastro

Kuiper Belt- (BiS) When in space, there are two things one has to look out for- enemy lasers, and space debris. While the tattered remains of spacecraft and the like can often appear, the most common form of debris is space rocks. This craft, the Soyuz R-a11 MARAUDER, has not only made peace with the rocks, it has been quite utilitarian in its design, and incorporated them! Not only would this craft be something formidable to run (physically) into, a skirmish with it would also be ill-advised. From the impressive panel-mounted turrets, to the hidden bombs on the underside, and the well-camouflaged radar dish/laser.

Project HAVE SHIVER

Justin Vaughn aka Mainman has created Project HAVE SHIVER for the "Real World Starfighter" contest occurring in the Starfighters group on Flickr. This industrial monstrosity is about as real world as it gets. Who needs aerodynamic and sleek spacecraft when there is no atmosphere to be aerodynamic in? Who needs wings at all? The copious use of flex tubing, lightsaber handles and droid arms makes for a more believable support structure than any prefab pieces could. Buffing the printing off the Naboo planet from set #9674 makes those pieces more universally usable than if they were left printed. Justin also has a few pictures of the loadout and descriptions of the different areas of the ship. I especially enjoy the back view as well. There's also a quite detailed description for the photo to match the details of the ship. I would definitely have to give this one of the top votes in the contest so far.

Yellow River

Courtesy ISA Yangtze Partol Frigate by Hawk

Titan- (BiS) While sleek, sporty, eye catching starfighters and curvaceous command ships may be what we envision of the future, the current reality is that satelites have gone the furthest distance from Earth while still being in the realm of current feasibility. This great satellite, the Yangtze, seems to be an attack drone, programmed to fight off threats to the Earth from above the skies. With an elegant half-stud offset between the dark grey cheese slopes near the back of the ship to the excelent forward section, this craft makes an amazing Lego spacecraft!

Boeing C-15 "Strike Eagle" lunar starfighter

The "Real World Starfighter" Contest is really heating up lately. This offering by Shannon Sproule is rooted heavily in early NASA design aesthetic. Complete with a moon rover, the contest entry is visually nostalgic and functional, with just enough stickers to make the markings blend into the built. As with some other recent MOCs, this also incorporates the Death Star elements in a clean and efficient manner.

Pegasus XL

Earth - (BiS) Apojove has built this faithful representation of a Pegasus XL rocket, an unmanned. winged space launch vehicle. The integration of the wings are done particularly well, and he has included a stand to go along with it, making it a nice display for any NASA executive's desk. The icing on the cake however, is the payload of the rocket itself, set off in gold and blue, and using the new 1x1 round tiles. A detailed view of the real-life rockets sections can be seen here.

In Soviet Space...

Earth- (BiS) Coming directly from one of the contributing authors of this blog, brickmack brings us a hyper-realistic starfighter. Designed in the vein of the Soyuz spacecraft of the 60's and 70's, this one brings us to the current time, when starfighters are needed to solidify orbital claims, and is not so far removed from probability as to need hundreds of years to have a remote possibility of existence.