If the Turret is the head, then the Propulsion Module is certainly the heart of the Total Security Platform. It comprises the engine systems, individual cell monitoring stations, 2 escort ships, and a smaller turret to provide defense when the two escort ships are already engaged.
What's inside? Let's see. . .
Bathed in the red glow of righteousness, Space Police officers do their duty.
The main reason I like tiled flooring is that the mirrored effect can really enhance your photography.
There are six stations for random monitoring of cells while the two stations in back provide access to each felon's fact sheet.
A close-up shot of two monitoring stations.
I ended up with an odd tile length at the back and finally figured out that I could use that to my advantage and add a numeric distinction for the hatches leading to the escort ships. The numbers aren't aligned perfectly, but I think that they look better where they are in terms of their spacing between all the chairs.
I tried to design the escort hatches the same as the other two, but I ran into height problems. The stairs required the ceiling to be a bit higher so that officers would not repeatedly dent their helmets on the way out!
Here's the view from outside the hatch looking in from the escort station.
I've always loved the swoopy design of Star Trek warp engines and this was my first try at a Lego homage. I'm really happy with them as I was able to add flashing lights to the front and back!
I knew that there was a reason I was saving all those funky, 1x4 trans-antifreeze Jack Stone parts. Their slight inverse ends just happen to seal perfectly when attached to neighboring sides of a 1x1 5-stud brick.
Getting those last two shots took AWHILE. It was quite surprising how much trial and error it took just to get a shot where you could see the lights AND the background. The rear lights were much easier, but first, the escorts!
Because it's a Space Police I themed-MOC, I wanted to have two small escorts just like the # 6986 Mission Commander. It's a darned good thing it took me this long to start photography because I did a lot of last-minute design work on them. They're stowed on the engines, but when trouble starts. . .
The ship comes off and the wings fold down. . .
READY TO ENFORCE!!
As with all my MOC's now, the roof assembly is easily removed for close inspection of the interior.
My original concept for the roof assembly was a detachable ship, but that was negated by the escort ships I added. I decided to just make the roof a removable section with no stand-alone function. However, I did want it to echo something from the Turret so I thought another linked gunnery-chair-with-big-nasty-gun assembly would be appropriate.
I wish that I could've got better pictures of this detail as I really like it and it was another thing I changed at the last minute.
As much of a challenge as the Turret was, fitting the necessary parts into an even smaller place was very challenging and this section also had a lot of last minute changes, especially with the computer displays. Once I settled on the displays in the Turret, I wanted this section to echo that design. Luckily, I had exactly the right number of decorated yellow inverse slopes from # 7047 Coast Watch HQ to finish.
I had hoped to capture some video of the engines because although the rear lights don't flash (train lights can't be set to flash, waah!) they DO fluctuate slightly because they're part of the same circuit as the front lights. When activated they had a very subtle pulsating effect. However, I didn't have my new movie-capable camera so I'll just have to remember this particular electrical variation for next time!
Each engine contains two train lights stacked with trans-antifreeze 1x1 cylinders topped with trans-red jewels. They're bordered by 1x1 trans-orange headlight bricks with trans-light blue lightsabers.
I think that the graceful and elegant backward sweep of the warp engines on the Enterprise-A is captured in this shot and the final shot.
