K'nex Starcraft 2 AH/G-24 Banshee

This is my Starcraft 2 AH/G-24 Banshee K'nex build. It is by far the most complex and difficult build for me yet both structurally and ascetically. I used the high quality model version of the banshee seen in the cinematics for the game rather than the in game unit model which when you look at the pictures(at the end above) you will see there is a large difference between the 2, so I went with the more geometric and higher resolution version for this build. All of the reference pictures I used to make this are above, I used nothing else(I couldn't find anything else).

In this project I pushed the limits of K'nex pieces many times to get angles and shapes that the standard K'nex angles (45, 90, 135, 180, 225, 270, 315, 360 degrees) don't support. The biggest challenge for me (structurally wise) in this project was how to get the main body to support the very large twin turbofans without breaking or sagging. One idea I considered was using gears to raise and lower the turbofan arms like it does in game ( as I could in this build but did not have enough pieces in the right color or certain pieces only had a few select colors. (instead of gray with blue accenting I went with red/orange like you would see playing the game with your team being red.)

I hope you enjoy this build.

It will likely be awhile(years possibly) before I complete the next project and I thank you followers for your patience.

The next few next project idea I have right now are:

- finally finish working on the halo reach needle rifle I started awhile ago

- a starcraft 2 siege tank that transforms

- the Rancor Space Engineer vehicle made by W4stedspace on youtube for his survival series

- or something completely different.

Let me know what ideas you have or what next project you would like to see me work on in the comments section.

Total piece count: 3531 (if this were a real set it would cost about $250 USD)

Connectors:

1 gray: 281

2 gray: 50

2 brown: 18

2 orange: 56

3 gray: 51

3 red: 120

4 green: 80

4 silver: 110

5 gold: 112

5 gray: 19

5 orange: 4

5 yellow: 140

8 black: 16

8 white: 1

C 4 gray: 88

C 4 purple: 79

C 7 blue: 109

C 7 silver: 16

connector-clip blue: 8

connector-clip gray: 12

connector-clip tan: 70

full hinge: 22

1/2 hinge: 2

rod-connector black: 92

rod-connector gray: 27

rod-connector orange: 7

rod-connector red: 7

Rods:

0.75 inch black: 199

0.75 inch green: 264

1.3125 inch black: 161

1.3125 inch silver: 148

1.3125 inch white: 71

2.25 inch blue: 275

2.25 inch silver: 55

3.4375 inch gold: 89

3.4375 inch gray: 2

3.4375 inch yellow: 16

5.125 inch orange: 16

5.125 inch red: 57

5.125 inch tan: 2

7.5 inch gray: 16

flexi 1.3125 inch purple: 2

flexi 7.5 inch purple: 14

Panels:

square large black: 1

square mini silver: 8

square small black: 4

square small silver: 6

triangle large orange: 6

triangle mini black: 14

triangle mini orange: 6

triangle mini red: 6

triangle mini silver: 14

triangle small black: 6

triangle small orange: 12

triangle small silver: 6

Special pieces:

gear 1 inch gray: 4

ball joint: 65

ball socket: 49

cone red: 2

headtop black: 6

pulley-tire insert 1.5 inch: 8

pulley-tire insert 2 inch: 14

snap-on hub-wheel 1.5 inch: 4

spacer blue: 252

spacer silver: 48

tire 3.5 inch black: 6

Everything about the fantail rotor is pretty basic, just a circular shape (3 layers) with a spinning rotor in the center. After getting the shaping of the mid-section of the build done, this was the 1st thing I completed.

I created the rotor blades by using the purple flexi rods and 2 8 sided connectors(the black ones) which where separated using the spacers. The flexible rods then would off set the 2nd 8 sided connector to the position that sat the most comfortably for them, which is about 22.5 degrees of offset from the top one. I created the rotor cages using a similar but more advanced technique of that used for the fantail rotor. You can not get away with a solid structure here if you don't use spacers or pieces to act as spacers.

When set on the ground the rotor blades don't spin freely, but when the whole banshee is lifted up, the way the weight works out, the blades can then spin freely without hitting its walls.

And yes those are 2 wheels and tires on the bottom.

I had an old version of the cockpit that I made originally but it was awful and bugged me to no end. So I decided to figure out how to make this cockpit that has 4 different angles(none of which K'nex like) and actually are achieved by putting a bit of stress and slightly bending some of the rods. Just pushing the pieces to their limits. Despite the amount of hinge pieces used here, the cockpit as a separate piece is pretty structurally solid and will only slightly deform under pressure.

The main body of the banshee, where the cockpit is attached to and the missile pods connect, is basically 2 structures with one built around the other. The inner structure comes off of the main arm and tail section of the ship and is rectangular while the outer structure is rounder and gives the main body its shape.

These parts are only details, they contributed to the structural support of the build in no substantial way.

I have the question mark because depending on which game model you look at for the Banshee, these are either the Backlash rocket tubes or jet engines for forward movement. If you watch the youtube video showing a banshee in the hanger from starcraft 2, you can clearly see spinning blades in the missile pods yet images of the unit attacking shows missiles coming from that same location(I don't know \(T_T)/ ). I put a lot of strain on the pieces for these to get the gradient of diameter throughout their length. These are probably the simplest parts to build for the whole project.

The most important part of this whole build is the arm structure. This holds the tail, the main body and the twin turbofans together and allow for the whole Banshee to be picked up, hung or put on a stand without breaking or the the twin turbofans sagging the arms and breaking off. This was structurally the most difficult part of this build and was one of the 1st major things I completed.