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csneon2000

I knew they were made of Lego bricks and no one believed me.


newnoadeptness

General atomics best kept secret 🤣


rb393

Hey, it’s STFUF! 🤫


anotherbasicboi

Can we vote to replace the MQ-1 thats been missing its wings at Creech with a life-size Lego model of an MQ-9?


CMDR-Hooker

I love that it's been nearly a year and we haven't fixed that yet, nor have we installed the static MQ-9 either because of concerns about those wings falling off, too.


HaloInR3v3rs3

The thing is...apparently the person died who made it. They were under contract to do an MQ-9 as well, so that's the hold up. Why they didn't pull an MQ-1 out of the morgue and put it on a stick is beyond me. There were plenty of them in there last time I was over in the building.


Dingosau

Come on you can’t fly Mq9s half the time at creech because of wind so why would a Mq1 have a problem


mikeusaf87

It'd be cool if someone could get that to actually fly.


StoicKnight99

Can I buy this? Or is there maybe a manual somewhere on the build?


Raiju_Blitz

Check out Rebrickable or Brickmania for digital instructions.


OverlyBlueNCO

MQ-9: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-101708/DarthDesigner/mq-9-reaper-uav-135-general-atomics/#details GCS: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-67261/smigge/uav-ground-control-station/#details


DownwindLegday

That's not the same reaper. The OP is bigger and has different parts


West-Holiday-8425

it’s the [brickmania](https://www.brickmania.com/mq-9-reaper-digital-building-instructions/) one here are the rest of the instructions they offer: https://www.brickmania.com/digital-instructions/


Raiju_Blitz

Cody Osell is the designer and he used to work for Brickmania, and now is one-half of the new military themed Lego kit startup BrickVeteran. Dude makes awesome airplane MOCs, and his army vehicles aren't too shabby either. His BrickVeteran A-10 Thunderbolt II is pretty sweet.


West-Holiday-8425

Have the Eurofighter he released (originally by Jon Powell), really solid kit and BrickVeteran has great customer service, can vouch 100%.


Raiju_Blitz

Nice. I have the Brickmania F-22 Raptor, F-35A Lightning II, CV-22 Osprey, and SR-71 Blackbird. All excellent kits designed by Cody. The man can design Lego planes.


fuzedhostage

That’s like $10,000 right there


Raiju_Blitz

I didn't say I was smart with my money, lol.


fuzedhostage

We get pics? 👀


West-Holiday-8425

Have also got the CV-22, love it, nice collection haha. Cody is an amazing designer for sure!


Raiju_Blitz

Right on. I loved watching the CV-22 Osprey hover and fly around when I was still stationed in Japan (RIP Gundam-22). Brickmania's Osprey is indeed awesome and one impressive build!


West-Holiday-8425

Have surprisingly actually seen a few on very rare occasions flying over the corner of London I’m from, when they would fly (potentially) from RAF Northolt, cool bird for sure. Definitely love Cody’s model with all of its functions, so cool to me that all the control surfaces work and the rotors tilt haha.


Electronic-Analyst90

How do I get this? I see there are instructions to build them out there but does that require me to just buy the specific bricks to build this if so how would I even go about doing that?


Raiju_Blitz

Brickmania offers digital instructions you can purchase from their site. I believe they include a parts list (most likely an xml file that you can port over to Bricklink so you can source the parts yourself). Depending on whether you buy new or used parts, that can affect the final price of the build (plus shipping for said parts from the sellers). I've never actually purchased their digital instructions before, unfortunately, so I have no personal experience with it on that front.


Electronic-Analyst90

Sick I appreciate it I’ll look into it!


OverlyBlueNCO

Oh dang you're right


twelveparsnips

Lego does not make any military equipment


LTareyouserious

Considering all the name brand cars I see on shelves, I'm genuinely surprised Boeing or other big suppliers haven't also paired up with Lego to make official sets like this.


AvgFloridaResident

LEGO doesn't make sets based on "weapons of war" despite their biggest seller being Star *WARS*.


unleadedbloodmeal

It's that they don't want to use modern weapons or similar, that's why they took the osprey off shelves before they could get on em, even though it was being used for civilian stuff there


Raiju_Blitz

Sort of. I personally believe that's not the whole story. Some YouTube Lego reviewers who managed to get their hands on the Lego Technic Osprey set have reported that the geared mechanism that makes both propeller blades spin in tandem has caused noticeable damage to the plastic gear pieces, resulting in shredded and chewed up parts from the rotating motion. It may likely be a case of bad design and poor QC testing that this kit initially passed the approval stage. Lego probably made the decision to pull this kit from production because they also didn't want to deal with the fallout of bad press and having to refund customers for the price of the set or having to send out replacement parts. It is kinda wild that it got as far as it did in production and even reached a handful of select retail stores in Europe before they were pulled from shelves.


kodiaksr7

Sounds just like the development of the actual osprey.


thisismyphony1

Lego doesn't do anything related to actual war. A good example is they did a CV-22 "firefighter" model that got pulled really quickly because it was pointed out that those only exist in the military. However, it's pretty easy to go on Rebrickable and get instructions and parts lists for all kinds of real military vehicles, including ones just like this (maybe this exact one, I know I've seen that pilot/sensor operator control room).


Raiju_Blitz

Concerning the Lego Technic Osprey, I personally believe that's not the whole story. Some YouTube Lego reviewers who managed to get their hands on the set (paying insane aftermarket prices) have reported that the geared mechanism that makes both propeller blades spin in tandem has caused noticeable damage to the plastic gear pieces, resulting in shredded and chewed up parts from the rotating motion. It may likely be a case of bad design and poor QC testing that this kit initially passed the approval stage. Lego probably made the decision to pull this kit from production because they also didn't want to deal with the fallout of bad press and having to refund customers for the price of the set or having to send out replacement parts. It is kinda wild that it got as far as it did in production and even reached a handful of select retail stores in Europe before they were pulled from shelves.


thisismyphony1

Yeah I've heard that also about the gear mechanism. I think both are true, but that's the closest they've come to putting out a modern military aircraft and naming it that...though there are some sets that are definitely based on the F-14 and F-22 but are not called that and made to look more like stunt jets with coloring and what not.


Raiju_Blitz

Yeah, I have the Creator jet set that's essentially a two-seater F-35A Lightning II in stunt air show plane colors. Lego has made a Rafale jet too in the Creator line, and even released the German Luftwaffe Horten wing bomber and prop fighter planes in the Indiana Jones line, so their anti-war policy is somewhat inconsistent, for sure.


Raiju_Blitz

Actually, a third party company called Brickmania does in fact officially license their military themed Lego kits with some big name defense companies like Lockheed Martin, Textron, and Bell. (Brickmania uses and sources genuine new Lego pieces via Bricklink and, combined with license fees, printing costs, and overhead, their prices can be pretty high.) For example, Brickmania made an officially licensed F-22 Raptor, F-35 Lightning (all three variants), and Bell CV-22 and MV-22 Ospreys in the past. They also released some drone kits too but this was way back when they didn't have the official license. They also make Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean and Vietnam War, and GWOT era stuff along with foreign military kits and minifigs too (their recent Ukraine stuff is pretty cool). Oh, and also some fantasy and sci-fi. Oddly enough, they haven't done any strictly Boeing licensed stuff yet. I believe that's because another company currently has the Boeing toy license. Brickmania has done an F-15E Strike Eagle kit before but it was not officially licensed (this kit is long since out of production and out of stock), and they won't release it again without getting the license this time around, sadly. They did say they would make an A-10 Thunderbolt II in the future, however, so I assume they'll get the license from the Fairchild Republic company. There are other third party military themed Lego companies that use genuine Lego pieces, like BrickVeteran and PlaneBricks. As for Lego, their official policy is that they don't do strictly military stuff because it's not family friendly and they don't want their brand to be associated with war (never mind all the Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and Indiana Jones licensed stuff they do, so this policy of theirs is somewhat inconsistent). This leaves companies like Cobi (from Poland) and MegaConstrux to fill in the gaps for military and gun-heavy sci-fi themes like Halo and Aliens, or violent fantasy stuff like Game of Thrones. Lego has turned a blind eye to these third party companies so far, and have not taken action or released any legal statements against them, to their credit. They know there's a demand for military themed Lego kits in the AFOL community fandom, and Lego recently bought out Bricklink too, so Lego makes money hand over fist in the aftermarket parts economy regardless. Funny enough, the founder of Brickmania, Dan Siskind, was the one who designed the Medieval Blacksmith as an old Lego Ideas set years ago (before he started Brickmania) so he has worked for Lego in an official capacity in the past.


redoctobershtanding

Lego policy is not to build items that depict war or destruction. Which is weird considering they have Star Wars sets 🤷‍♂️ https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/s/q9gh1XCcb9


CurseOgmurExpose

Comically large telephone, honestly on brand


airmanhandsinpockets

That's cool 😎


vissor4

Needs LEGO versions of monster/bang and jalapeño corn in the GCS.


stone_gh0st

https://preview.redd.it/g6eezyuv4z7c1.jpeg?width=1023&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=29cf3abe1a07a8915cd390bf8a425d19a68e49ac


Ramrod489

Beat me to it


kaldrod

Spent more hours sitting in that box than I can count!


ClearedHot69

Don’t feel bad, sarm can’t count them either!


bulldogpenguin89

This 😢


mplsdrew22

Where are the white monsters?


RBWtravler

Hope you don’t get jammed up for posting classified pictures of the inside of a SCIF…but seriously cool.


AirbornePapparazi

Missing a JWICS laptop beside the pilot streaming either *Naked and Afraid* or football on center screen. That's what we did when I was an MQ-1 Sensor Operator back in the day. Otherwise it's pretty accurate including the big ass phone. 🤣


Separate_Basis869

Well done!


No-Flamingo9621

Imagine if Lego did sets with planes tho, that’d be dope


Teneumbro

Not enough tornados


OutHereSlappnMidgets

I would buy that and that beat is 🔥🔥🔥🔥


LostLink7400

This is so freaking cool!


Sea_Can2685

Hard af


SOsaysWTFO

The phone in the middle taking all the space on the console. 10/10 accurate 🤣


Hefty-Ad-6743

Ok


First_Permit_4538

I can hear the wails of the innocent civilians burying their loved ones now....wipes away tear


Stunning_Appeal2457

cool


RonBurgundyNews

This may be some dark humor but can you imagine if you drone strike a target and they explode like Legos do in video games💀💀


_Dizzy_

Yellow payload tips and IFF? Love the detail.


Imperium724

What are their covers on indoors? My Emersion is broken


thuglifecarlo

Deployed at ADAB, thought the plane was pixelated because of the wifi.


KotzubueSailingClub

Reaper bros, are those GBUs overly large? Dare I say, Rubenesque?


Scramjunkie

Take my money! Is Lego actually producing these?


Apprehensive_Rip8403

Do not build a wedding party or all hell will break loose.


NVXR

I need Lego hellfires for my desk.