Martian Fighting Machine

Martian Fighting Machine
General Information
Project ID	39738
Author	SWAT
Link	http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/39738
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Martian Fighting Machine is a project on LEGO CUUSOO created by SWAT on April 29^th, 2013. It recreates the classic "Jeff Wayne's musical, "War of the Worlds."

This message was written by the creator of the project. Do not modify the message in any way.

"No-one would have believed, in the last years of the 19th century, that human affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space. No-one could have dreamed we were being scrutinised, as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of life on other planets, and yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior to ours, regarded this Earth with envious eyes, and slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us..."

DUM DUM DAAAAAAAA!

Larger photos can be seen at...

http://swat-strachan.deviantart.com/gallery/43398893

To the best of my knowledge, no-one has ever attempted to take the iconic Martian Fighting Machine from the cover of Jeff Wayne's musical version of "The War of the Worlds", and turn it in to a Lego model.

That'll never do.

So I have sat down for the past week, and done my best to render the tripod as faithfully as possible. Now, it's not perfect, and some modifications may have to be made but dammit, I am unashamedly proud of what I have created. Now, everyone on Earth should be aware of this musical, and should by all rights know every lyric and piece of dialogue off by heart, if not your education is sorely lacking and I suggest you correct that forthwith by listening to the link below...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSifCF8k27A

This was by far the hardest part of the build, finding some way to replicate the compound "eyes" of the Martians, and to have them angled inwards. The eyes are filled with translucent green studs, to which I would have added another layer but Lego Digital Designer wouldn't allow me to.

Here is the rear of the walker, complete with it's "Dove Tail". You can see some of the linkage for the legs here. Although the legs are immobile, by swapping out a few pieces they can be made to stand completely upright, or angled as I have them in these photos.

I based the design for the feet on the re-invented tripods as used in the video effects for the live stage show, the original album art had only saucers for feet.

This walker is an image that I have grown up with, ever since I was about 5 years old, I remember the cover art and sleeve illustrations from the original vinyl LP version of the musical, and ever since then I have never been without a copy of it, either on tape, or CD, DVD, and digital. It is, without any shadow of a doubt, my favourite work of music ever, and with your support, it can become so much more.