Small Space Freighter
A week before I did this one, I included a microscale spaceship in a City-style build. When I realized the ship I built looks like no actual space set that ever was, the next project was obvious: Upscale that microscale ship to an actual minifig scale one.
This is the result. In the process of upscaling, it gained a nose and some shuttle tails. The design is optimized for unobstructed access to the cargo bay with a crane (I tried adding a crane to the ship but it went nowhere). As a result, the tail and engine have been split and moved away from the cargo bay doors. The ship has light weaponry for defense against space debris and pirates.
This is a small freighter designed to take over one or two containers from a larger freighter and stow it away in its 4x10 cargo bay to transport planetside while the larger interstellar freighter remains in space, as it is specifically built for space and incapable of landing.
The set is rather large for its piece count on account of the large plates used. Just a fun, basic shuttle.
That said, I can't stand an incomplete economic system. Next project: The interstellar space train this thing gets its cargo from. Probably not the very next, though, that space train is going to be a bigger undertaking.
July 2021
Instructions and part list available at Rebrickable
