Neo Classic Space

Many of us have dabbled in virtual building. It can be very useful for prototyping as well as creating instructions for completed models, or just building large models without having to buy all the bricks first. LEGO's official Lego Digital Designer is an excellent tool, but does suffer from being limited to current and recent parts, so most virtual builders eventually turn to the LDraw family of programs which includes MLCad and LeoCad, LDView for visualisation and LPub for producing instructions. It can even be integrated with PovRay for rendering photo-realistic images. And best of all it's all free.

If you've used these programs for Classic Space building, you will almost certainly have used parts designed by Willy Tschager without even realising it. Willy has designed a number of very useful Classic Space space parts, including many bearing the classic space logo. Here's a quick virtual build I did of the moonbase from the 928 Galaxy Explorer, featuring several of Willie's parts, most notably his 5000 polygon crater plate, the most complex LDraw part ever produced:

Willy has produced some great models using the parts, and provided instructions for them. Although they might not be considered Neo Classic Space, they are still a worthy tribute to the Classic Space sets.

So whether you're picking up LDraw tools for the first time or a seasoned user, please spare a thought for designers like Willie who provide the parts us spacers cherish.

Willie's article on authoring LDraw parts appears in the current issue of BrickJournal.