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vonbrunk:

“And I’ll form the head!”

Size comparison of my work-in-progress LEGO NES controller, with one of my large Voltron toys as a reference point. I took a break from working on this since the past month or so whilst I was working on my TARDIS, and now I’m making the last steps of progress of this giant controller. The roof is actually kind if tricky to attach: the original primary chassis was intended to have a fixed [permanently attached roof] with doors on the front to modify the internal wires — however I decided that wouldn’t be a good idea in case of repairs, ergo I made three large tiled roof sections that slide off/on.

The problem now is with “LEGO-bowing” for the roof sections — or “The Von Brunk Effect” as I call it. Basically, when several or more long flat LEGO pieces (usually plates) are attached together as a flat object, the overall piece begins to warp in the middle due to lack of support. In this case, the roof sections of this giant controller cave in in the middle and appear distorted, which means I’ll have to put in more support. Here’s a good example of The Von Brunk Effect: if you attach let’s say 20 different 4x8 plates together in a series, the connection of parts will gradually curve in the middle and appear crooked, and the curve will be more warped depending on how long the series is in conjunction with the thinness of the pieces. This can be fixed with adding more layers of plates or bricks on top/underneath as like small beams and trusses, but unfortunately adds extra deadweight to the structure. See the last photo in this set to see the work-in-progress of the 3rd roof section — both the top and underside.

As for the wiring of this unit, I have all of the necessary electrical components, and soon I’ll solder this bad boy and get it up and running!