ARMT-M01X-SR Dash Baron

A heavily modified version of the Baron Prototype, the DASH Baron was made purely to compete in the Mecha Racing League. Designed to withstand a beating during races while still maintaining high top speeds, the DASH is definitely something you should watch out for in MRL.

Build Notes:

This actually started as the previous Baron Prototype mech. I had been wanting to either scrap or revise some of the older builds I have from 2015 and the orange version of the Baron was something I made as a filler mech back when I was first making the 2015 Mech Wars primer.

I’ve actually been wanting to make an MRL mech for the longest time but one thing that prevented me from contributing something to it was the pilot requirement inside the mech. With the recent changes and improvements to the reFrame base though, I figured now was a good time to really test the cockpit assembly and finally make a racer fit to compete in the Mecha Racing League 😀

P.S. I’m also starting to post 360 videos of my builds starting from this mech (and maybe a few backlog mechs with the new pilot reFrames) so please do bear with me if the initial videos aren’t so good yet 😮

WIP Process:

The idea for the new version of the Baron was to strip down plating to just the bare necessities of the machine, namely the inner chest assembly, some of the aesthetics of the shoulders (vents) and thighs (curved plating), and beef up the whole wheeled heel feet idea. I also wanted to make these stabilizer / heatsinks as a back attachment under where the pilot cavity would be.

After the strip down of the old design, I started with the head and initially thought of making this design bunny themed (in the idea that bunnies = fast) and I had these orange lifesavers / floaters that was ideal for the bunny ear shape. I also wanted this head design to be an circular eye + visor look which could have been a subconscious tribute to the Xenogears X Skell mech look.

Part of the upgrade plan was to also change the reFrame to the newer 2.0 model that allows for a cockpit in the backpack. In this picture, I’m testing the head fit while using a simple plated version of the cockpit area and the Baron Prototype’s original lower body assembly.

Here I’m testing the balance of the build so far. I actually had stability issues at this point with the back being so heavy with the 3 heatsink stabilizers (each weighed a bit) and had the early version of the foot design with the heavy wheels (from those small Chima sets?). At this point, the build would often fall backwards so eventually removed the top heatsink.

This was the version I left the DASH in while I proceeded with another build (PARAGON) since at the time, I felt happy with the design but not 100% satisfied yet. Figured I’d let this version sink in a bit for the time being. This was more of the normal speed version.

Eventually I would beef up the shoulders sideways with extra boosters, change the crotch assembly into something wider and distinct, and clean up the leg plating since I felt that it was TOO orange and didn’t really offer any sort of interesting  color blocking. The last part I added were the arm guards / shields that really gave it this heavy yet mobile look.

For those interested in LEGO mech building, I put out an eBook over at Amazon Kindle a while back called Mech Wars Instructional Primer. If you’re looking for a resource that could help you start or even improve your mech building skills, you might find this eBook useful