<p>
Take a look at this beauty from <a href="/builder/james-shields">James Shields.</a> We've been following the
secret progress of this model for many months. Now that it's finished,
it doesn't disappoint.<img />
</p>
<p align="center">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lostcarpark/3391895268/"><img src="/sites/neoclassicspace/files/u3/ll-451-front-med.jpg" alt="LL-451 Front" width="500" height="249" /></a>
</p>
<p>
<i>Nobody knows quite why the Ugokin war started, but all attempts at
finding a diplomatic resolution met with disaster. The war was proving
long and bloody, and with the Ugokin almost never retreating, and
self-destructing rather than surrendering, any victories came at a
heavy price.</i>
</p>
<p align="center">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lostcarpark/3391895512/"><img src="/sites/neoclassicspace/files/u3/ll-451-side-med.jpg" alt="LL-451 Side" width="500" height="442" /></a>
</p>
<p>
<i>The
first major break for the Federation came at the battle of Solice IV.
Although hardly more than a skirmish in militaristic terms, it was the
capture of a Ugokin "Hunter" class starfighter intact that allowed
Federation scientists to decode secrets about the Ugokin spacecraft
that are still classified today.</i>
</p>
<p align="center">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lostcarpark/3391895104/"><img src="/sites/neoclassicspace/files/u3/ll-451-back-med.jpg" alt="LL-451 Back" width="500" height="253" /></a>
</p>
<p>
<i><a href="/registry/ll-451-manta">LL-451 "Manta" </a>class carriers
played a vital role in the battle, deploying their LL-109 "Mosquito"
fighters to isolate and overcome a Hunter. It was LL-451 that carried
the captured Ugokin ship back to Federation scientists for analysis.
And what did they discover about them? We'll have to wait for the files
to be declassified to find out!</i>
</p>
<p align="center">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lostcarpark/3391085785/"><img src="/sites/neoclassicspace/files/u3/ll-451-battle-med.jpg" alt="LL-451 in Battle" width="500" height="307" /></a>
</p>
<p>
James notes: I'd had the
basic shape of the LL-451 in my head for a while, but it wasn't till I
happened to get hold of a big batch of old grey bricks that I was able
to realise it. It relies on stressing elements, using short bricks in
the two "wings" with crossbeams at different points to pull them both
into curves. I built a back wall out of plates, though there are gaps.
For the "command deck" I wanted as smooth a shape as I could manage, so
used lots of different curved slopes. The windscreen is an X-Pod,
tilted back at an angle.
</p>
<p align="center">
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lostcarpark/3391896278/"><img src="/sites/neoclassicspace/files/u3/ll-451-ugokin-med.jpg" alt="LL-451 with Ugokin Prisoner" width="500" height="307" /></a>
</p>
<p>
This is an astonishingly cool build from James. The wing technique is quite outrageous, and utterly lovely.
</p>
<p>
Nice work James!
</p>