Beacon 117
"For centuries, men and women have manned lighthouses to ensure the safe passage of ships. It is a lonely job, and a thankless one for the most part...In the 23rd century, this job has moved into outer space. A network of beacons allows ships to travel across the Milky Way at many times the speed of light. These beacons are built to be robust. They never break down. They never fail. At least, they aren't supposed to."
- Text description for the novel Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey.
This is my take on the beacons from Hugh Howey's novel Beacon 23 for the Space Habitat Category for Space Jam 2023. I wanted to go for a near-future aesthetic as I wanted it to be recognizably earth technology. I also liked the idea of anchoring the beacon to an asteroid to make it more visually interesting. While this isn't ring station that can take advantage is spin gravity to the fullest, I still imagined the asteroid as the center of spin and the two modules each side could have different levels of spin gravity for different experiments or living conditions. And once I imagined it spinning, I had to make it a reality.
One XL Powered up motor is heavily geared down to drive the rotation of 2 technic turntables at for gear points. This allows the beacon to complete a full revolution in a little over 30 seconds at full power. See the animation in the comment below. I designed this model entirely around this function and it took 4-5 iterations of the drive mechanics to get it to spin reliably. The overall model with the stand weighs 9 lbs (4 kg), and yes it's over 100 studs across (accidental SHIP!). I plan to put together a video showing off the mechanics on my Instagram sometime in the coming weeks.
A special thanks for Nick and Casey who were able to offer stylistic critiques during the final stretch and help with the photo edit.
I am not completely satisfied with all of the detailing on this project, but I am happy to get it mostly finished in time to submit for Space Jam. The plan is to make the final tweaks for it to be displayed at Brickworld Chicago in June.
Beacon 117
"For centuries, men and women have manned lighthouses to ensure the safe passage of ships. It is a lonely job, and a thankless one for the most part...In the 23rd century, this job has moved into outer space. A network of beacons allows ships to travel across the Milky Way at many times the speed of light. These beacons are built to be robust. They never break down. They never fail. At least, they aren't supposed to."
- Text description for the novel Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey.
This is my take on the beacons from Hugh Howey's novel Beacon 23 for the Space Habitat Category for Space Jam 2023. I wanted to go for a near-future aesthetic as I wanted it to be recognizably earth technology. I also liked the idea of anchoring the beacon to an asteroid to make it more visually interesting. While this isn't ring station that can take advantage is spin gravity to the fullest, I still imagined the asteroid as the center of spin and the two modules each side could have different levels of spin gravity for different experiments or living conditions. And once I imagined it spinning, I had to make it a reality.
One XL Powered up motor is heavily geared down to drive the rotation of 2 technic turntables at for gear points. This allows the beacon to complete a full revolution in a little over 30 seconds at full power. See the animation in the comment below. I designed this model entirely around this function and it took 4-5 iterations of the drive mechanics to get it to spin reliably. The overall model with the stand weighs 9 lbs (4 kg), and yes it's over 100 studs across (accidental SHIP!). I plan to put together a video showing off the mechanics on my Instagram sometime in the coming weeks.
A special thanks for Nick and Casey who were able to offer stylistic critiques during the final stretch and help with the photo edit.
I am not completely satisfied with all of the detailing on this project, but I am happy to get it mostly finished in time to submit for Space Jam. The plan is to make the final tweaks for it to be displayed at Brickworld Chicago in June.