Lego SR-71 Blackbird (Video)

This is just a cool build in my opinion, because Paweł “Sariel” Kmiec has incorporated some unique features that make his Blackbird stand out, such as; motorized elevons, rotating and illuminating engines, and a motorized control mast.

A “control set” could be connected or disconnected from the mast, which consists of a joystick, a throttle and a subtractor. The joystick relied on the PF switches to provide a 3-axis control, and it also had two LEDs functioning as throttle indicators on top. It should be noted that there was no self-centering function in the joystick – instead, it was simply made symmetrical so as to stay balanced.



The throttle simply used the speed dial on a LEGO rechargeable battery to provide a proportional control for the engine cones rotation and the engine nozzles illumination. The subtractor – a small studless variant, was used to move the switches controlling the micromotors, and thus to control the elevons. Thanks to it, both elevons moved in the same direction when the model tilted forward/backward, and in opposite directions when the model tilted sideways.