Neo Classic Space

Before you begin

There are several Classic Space colour scheme, and you are free to use any of them. These rules mainly concern the original colours as seen in set 497/928. Later sets used white with trans-blue or even grey with trans-green, so if you build to one of these schemes you'll need to tweek them accordingly. As long as a set contains classic spacemen (i.e. pre-Futuron), then it's okay for Neo Classic Space.

Study the box art of the Galaxy Explorer. It contains all the information you’ll need.

Use it as a general colour guide, with the following exceptions:

• Minifigs should be authentic skin tones (with new style helmets).
• Landing lights should be correctly oriented on wingtips (green-right, red – left).

The only other major alteration I’ve made is the addition of a hyphen in the LL registration. I know it’s not supposed to be there, but I’ve always done it and I’m attached to it now.

Colour Rules

If you use the Galaxy Explorer as your guide, you won't go far wrong, but there are a few specifics worth going into.

• Light Grey: When we started, we were aiming to bring all our models together, so we had to be consistent in the shade we picked, so we picked old grey.For our group displays it was essential that everyone was consistent, as if someone built a bley model, it would make all the old grey ones look dirty.
  We don't mind which shade you use, as long as you're consistent - in photographs it's hard to tell them apart.
  Choose carefully, however, as both shades have a different selection of unique parts. And remember, if you use lovely old grey, we'll respect you just a little bit more.
  Whatever you do, don't mix old and new greys - it will just look dirty.
• Blue: Blue should be used for space ship bodies and most building construction. Generally speaking it should be avoided in ground vehicles. Make sure you only use standard Lego blue, never dark blue, medium blue or any of the other exotic new shades Lego have added in recent years.
• Red: Only used for ground vehicle wheelhubs.
• Yellow: This only appears in one place: the "bumble-bee" stripes. These should be sized appropriately for your ship and pointing forwards.
• Black: The original sets only used black for "bumble-bee stripes", handheld devices (walkie talkies, cameras/scanners, and those weird things that might or might not have been guns), and vehicle tyres. Generally speaking try to stick to this, but we're willing to consider exceptions if they look really good.
• Dark greys: Dark grey didn't exist in 1979. However limited use of it can give a model a lift. It works well for hanger accessories and scenery. Unlike light grey, old and new dark greys can coexist.
• Trans yellow: All vehicle windscreens and any windows should be transparent yellow. The range of parts in this colour is quite restrictive, so it's tempting to try other colours. You must resist this temptation.
• Trans red and green: These should be used for wingtip lights, runway lights, and on radar dishes. Limited use of other tranparent colours can be useful, but it's easy to go overboard.
• Trans clear: Not strictly correct, but looks good for vehicle headlights. Also looks really good on helmet visors, if you can get your hands on them (they're not easy to get hold of).
• Other colours: Generally speaking, other colours should be avoided, but if you've a really good reason, exceptions may be permitted. Small amounts of "pearl" grey can work well, for example.

Building Rules

• The aim is for maximum realism (well, as realistic as science fiction space ships can ever be), so try to consider what function every detail of your ship would perform.
• Control those studs: Studs aren't good for aerodynamics, so try to keep exposed studs to a minimum.

Minifig Rules

• Space suits should be red or white (we're keeping to the 497/928 colour scheme for now - we may expand it to include the more exotic uniforms later).
• Use only the best figures you can get hold of. No faded logos or yellowed pieces, please. Good ones are expensive, but so worth it. For some reason quality white suits are much harder to get hold of than red ones.
• Watch the air tanks. Because they're made of a different kind of plastic, air tanks age slightly differently to the rest of the figure, which can lead to some unsightly colour differences. I've seen ones that were almost dark red.
• Replace old style helmets with new ones (the ones with the thick chinstrap).
• Some people hate us for this, but give those figs nice fleshy heads.
• If you can get your hands on some trans-clear visors, use them. If you're stuck, trans-black ones will do, but don't look as nice.

Ship Building Rules

• There's no fixed shape for ships, so feel free to draw inspiration from any source that grabs you.
• Wings should be grey. Remember to include bumble-bee stripes.
• Crew compartment should be blue. Try to fit the classic space logo somewhere, but it's not a requirement.
• Cockpit windows should be trans-yellow.
  Some people have got good results by painting clear parts yellow. If you're happy to try this go ahead, but bear in mind this is a bit of an easy way out. You'll get much more respect for using Lego produced parts.
• Engines should be grey, and should be appropriate for the size of the vehicle. If in doubt always go bigger. Engines are a fantastic place to have fun with shapes and add detail.
• Custom engraved bricks for ship registration numbers are allowed.
• Custom stickers and decals are frowned upon by some, but look good when used well. Just don't think you can turn an ordinary model into a great one by covering it in pretty stickers.

Ground Vehicle Rules

• Ground vehicles should be mostly grey.
• Wheels should be red, with black tyres - or black tank tracks.
• Windscreens should be trans yellow if you have them (some prefer leaving them out entirely).
• Larger vehicles may have bumble-bee stripes, but they're not required.
• If the cockpit or cabin is fully enclosed you could consider making it blue or part-blue, but again it's not a requirement. Some vehicles are more of a command base on wheels, so the rules blur a little.

Bases and Command Centres

• Command bases should be blue with trans-yellow windows.
• Support legs may be blue or grey.
• Radar dishes and other attachments on top should be grey.
• Bases may be fully enclosed or may have a wall missing - we assume the spacemen use a force field to keep it airtight.
• Look at the early moonbase sets, then look at all the great blue parts we have now and consider how to make it better. There's lots of scope for adding curves and slopes.

Alternative Colour Schemes

• These rules only concern models built to the original Classic Space colour scheme. While we feel not all of the later schemes were a success, it would be wrong for Neo Classic Space to ignore them. If you would like to build to one of the later colour schemes, go ahead, but remember you're going to have to raise the bar a bit higher to get our attention.