The 2011 Wrap-up Topic

[captainmib]

2011 is almost over, so i thought it would be a nice idea to look back and share your thoughts!

The intention of this topic:

1) share your MOC's (in 1 picture) or praise other MOC-ers

2) share your thoughts about the 2011 sets

3) tell us what went awesome, what went wrong or your flaws while building and creating

4) give us a good/funny/awesome (lego)story (example: you come back from your dark-ages in technic-lego)

5) a sneak preview for 2012?

Please post and take your time to write something...

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I will kick-of myself!

1) I made 4 MOC's this year, two of my own design, one from Grohl (his harrier, which is by the way AWESOME) and added stuff to the 8258 B-model.

I'm really amazed by a lot of the MOC's that passed by this year. Supercars, construction equipment. Guys, i'm really amazed!

I can't wait to see what the MOC-ing in 2012 will bring...

Pic's:

My ferrari sharknose - unfinished, not satisfied with...

My wheeled excavator. Again, unfinished, but a good attempt.

(picture to big, see link My link)

2) The 2011 sets.

Well, can't tell you much about it, since i only bought the 8070 supercar.

I like this car very much, never had a nice sweet vehicle.

The 8110 unimog is amazing, but i have my doubts on buying it. Maybe when it's cheaper...

Overal, the sets are good looking, and well designed.

3 + 4) Well, this year, in june i came out of my dark-ages of technic lego. Since i had little expierence on MOC-ing and stuff.. Well, see the results above.

2 unfinished MOC's.

I really like getting back in this hobby and i think my moc-skills are getting better and better.

Right now, i'm building something big, but i will not reveal it yet. It takes a lot of time to build, since i want to do it good.

5) For 2012, i like what i've seen so far. 9394 is on its way to my house. On a sidenote, i like the rescue helicopter as well, so i can't wait to see more from it...

Have a nice 2012!

Edited December 29, 2011 by captainmib

[matias bendtsen]

sneakpeak of a small project wich needs som parts:

can anyone guess what it is?

[allanp]

Well as for me making MOCs, not happened for this year. Been working on writing and recording an album which is nearly finished so maybe next year, I have a ton of ideas.

As for the sets, in recent years the technic line has not been as good as the golden years ending in the mid/late 90's, however with sets like the 8258 and 8110, 2011 seems to continue reversing that. In my opinion 2011 saw one of the best flagships EVER.

The MOCs i've seen have got better and better this year, even more so have the instructions for which we should all be grateful. Nice one guys

2012 is looking a bit meh, continuing the trend (for me at least) of a good flagship followed by a not so good one. But there could be some new parts like new motors in the RC car so there is still hope for some really exciting stuff for next year and beyond.

[timslegos]

Great topic idea!

Well first i would like to praise Sariel's Tow Truck2. This epic machine is what inspired my to build my first realistic and fully functional rotator tow truck.

Second i would like to share my favorite MOC of all time that i have built, the walking excavator.

This was by far the most challenging MOC i have built. It was nearly impossible to fit all the functions that i wanted into such a small machine, but the finished product was an absolute blast to operate. Ultimately i would like to revisit the machine as i now have many more ideas for improvement and even better parts.

As for the future, i am currently working on a US style truck with a goosneck trailer, all to hold my other project; a snow groomer with an excavator on the back. I have stopped working on the groomer because i can not figure out how to build the cab. the truck will have r/c drive and steer with a remote controlled detachable goosneck.

I cant wait to finish building!

tim

[Kronos]

What a year!! This year saw the end of my 20+yr dark age from LEGO. Boy did I go crazy!! I have Crowkiller's Gallardo, Jovel's Black Dragon, Nico-71's Jeep and Pro-Truck, Erik Leppen's Pagani, Nathaniel Kuiper's Concept car, Jurgen Krooshoop's Little Devil and Sunbeam, and Skyliners Countach all on display. Not to mention I bought 2-8070's, 3-8081's, 3-8041's, 8071, 8069, 8068, 8048, 8051, 8052, 8262, 8272, 8273, 8282, 8289, 8291, 8445, 8465, and my favorite, 8428 Concept Car. This set was responsible for my dark age ending. I'm worknig on my first fullsize MOC right now. All of this was in addition to about 50lbs of mixed bulk LEGO I purchased for my kids.

I want to say thanks to all the designers out there, Crowkillers, Jurgen, Kuipers, Grazi, Jovel, Erik Leppen, Nico-71, Sheepo, Blakbird, and any others that inspired me, and made available their designs throughout the year. I look foward to many more years of LEGO and Eurobricks. Thanks to everyone, Mike

[PlaneCrazy]

Well 2011 saw my return to Technic Lego with avengance.

I got all my childhood Technic sets back togeather and added a large number of sets from various years of which included the following from 2011: 8070 Super car, 8110 Uni Mog, 8069 Backhoe and 8109 Flatbed truck. The Flatbed and backhoe have not been finished yet.

I have been vey impressed with the sets this year considering my long absence.

I was very surprised with 8070 as I originally never intended to get it as not overly interested in that sort of styling; however was thrilled once built as I found the mechanics fantstic.

The Uni mog was a bit of a mixed bag. I really enjoyed the build, but found it to be just a upgraded version of the Air Tech Claw rig; which I got the opertunity to build when a friend of mine asked if I could get a couple of his sets back togeather for him.

I have since obtained most of the parts for the B-Model and intend to display with the plow and crane fitted.

All in all I liked what was on offer for 2011.

Thoughts for 2012, bit disapointed really as it looks a lot like re-vamps of what has come before. Nothing really jumps out and says buy me. What were they thinking with the aeroplane. Sorry I work in the Aviation industry and some of the MOCs displayed by members of this forum appear to be of a lot higher quality. It has been a long time coming and the plane they came up with is all they could do with the talent on hand. Interested to see the chopper in the second half of the year though.

I do not as yet build MOCs as I enjoy having my sets on display. I am blown away by the creativity of some of the people who post their creations (love the Mini Copper).

Anyway these are just my thoughts and I in no way wish to disagree with the expressions of others as I think this forum is a great place to foster creativity and to be able to provide and recieve constructive critisism.

What can I say, I have enjoyed my return to Lego.

Finally to the moderators of the forum, keep up the great work.

Jamie

P.S had to come back and edit as she who must be obeyed indicated the BBQ was not going to cook its self (Summer afternoon BBQ's 34 degrees Celcius forcasting 41 degrees celcius tommorow).

Edited December 30, 2011 by PlaneCrazy

[captainmib]

So, 345 views and only 5 replies...

Kinda makes me think two things:

1) You guys are to lazy to respond

2) You are all writing an epic post and need time to think it out. In that case, you are all AWESOME!

Come on fellas, there are a lot of great builders in this forum section. You all have an opinion.

It's that time of year - looking back, making lists, listen to the top2000 - so, post your thoughts!

[olaf9198]

2) You are all writing an epic post and need time to think it out. In that case, you are all AWESOME!

thats for me

firts the unimog of Ctb

and the truck of Henk-lier

and the moc's of starbager1

but also my own truck where a new version is in W.i.p.

and a new mod of the 8043 (no pics)

Edited December 31, 2011 by olaf9198

[Robert M]

1) There have been some amazing MOC's this year, with all the talent floating around, I can't wait to see what 2012 brings to the table.

2) I think 2011 saw one of the best Technic models ever made - The Unimog. But then the other models were also to a high standard. Especially the Backhoe and the Flatbed Truck.

3) I completely flawed on building the Unimog, I put the front differential on the wrong way, and spent 30 mins solving it. Then I tried something I thought would work to solve the steering on the Unimog, and the front fell apart, and must of spend en evening rebuilding. On the whole, it worked out quite well.

4) Build a moving sheep, it could walk and move it's mouth to eat grass. Didn't take an picture though because it wasn't worthy.

5) Disappointing, but looking forward to the Logging Truck.

Robert.

[Cypr-21]

I built a lot of MOCs this year : 2 road grader (one which is a One Set Moc from 8052), supercar, trial truck (one by myself, and Unimog V4 from Nico71), crawler crane, 8071 reverse enginnering, wheel loader from Nico71, Unimog 8110 attachments, garbage truck, Bugatti type 21, tow truck, tractor, and my last MOC : studless adaptation from #8460 pneumatic crane truck.

I own all 2011 sets, and my faourite is probably the 8071. But all are very good

Happy new year guys !

This time, I'm waiting for summer 2012 sets

[Alasdair Ryan]

Well to sum up this year for me i love the unimog and 8109 tow truck,next year looks quite poor i hope i get the log loader truck that looks the best for me so far.

In terms of mocs and mods:

[dikkie klijn]

All my mocs of this year:

The only lego set of 2011 that I own is the Unimog, but it's an awesome one! Lego really did its best on this one.

And my next model wich I will hopefully finish next year :

[basbase]

My creations:

The camera robot was a bit of a pain to get working properly. At it's first public performance it would become unresponsive after it's first movement. The second time it worked slightly better. After that I did a complete rewrite of the code and it worked like a charm. I used it for a college project and received a 10/10 for it .

This year I came out of my dark age. I've bought a bunch of sets like 8421, 8258, 8868, 8275, 8455, 8466, 8043, 8297 and 8110. But I have only build 8455, 8297, 8466 and 8043, so I have some work to do.

Sneak preview:

[allanp]

Oh, and favorite MOC of the year is the bluetooth controlled h135 excavator!

[Meisseli]

Okay, this topic finally got me to register, so far I've only been reading but maybe now is time to write some thoughts.

For me, year 2011 has been the end of the dark ages. At my younger years I was really into lego. Then as usual, I forgot them for many years to come (shame on me), roughly years 1995-2009. In 2009 I got 8262 Quad bike as a birthday present. It was not because of my interest in lego, but mainly because I ride ATV on my freetime. Little did the buyer of this gift (or even myself at that time) know what she started.

That was the first touch to modern lego for me. Almost a year went and I didn't buy another set, but I became a regular reader of Technicbricks blog and later also this forum. Then one day I was buying a Duplo set as a birthday present... and before I noticed, I had walked out of store with not only the Duplo set, but also the 8069 Backhoe for myself. Then came year 2011 and there was no turning back... Next set was 8052 Container truck, because I wanted to get my hands onto power functions and linear actuators. Then I spotted a 8265 Front loader, second hand but in new and unopened box, with decent price...

But now I had the urge to obtain a FLAGSHIP, something I hadn't been building in more than ten years. Unimog was just hitting the stores, so I had a difficult choice between 8258, 8043 and 8110. My choice was 8043 Excavator, only because I had to get those remote controls for use in some MOC. At some point I also rescued my old sets from my parents house, where they had been gathering dust for ages. All have to be disassembled and cleaned brick by brick... So far I've only done one, the mighty 8880 which is now shining like a new.

At the end of 2011 I still got more sets, 8071 Bucket truck as christmas present and... right after christmas I decided that it's now or never for 8258 Crane truck. I found a shop that was still selling it and bought right away. Just finished building it and boy, did I have fun! I was also surprised to see that it was not a very old set, it had new type of LA:s, new type of 16T clutch gears, new type of engine cylinder molds... So it hadn't been just lying on shelf all this time.

I believe I can't resist very long the calling of 8110... But I think I'll try to hold on a little longer, just so I won't run out of building.

It was also kinda sad to realize that I won't be building any MOCs anytime soon. This studless building is SO much different from what I was used to in yearly 90's! But maybe someday... Must also say that it was a little shock to build 8880, after I got used to these new instructions where you only add a few parts on each step. But I managed, so not all skills are gone.

That was my story, or should I say, the beginning of my story, I don't think that end will come anytime soon.

[captainmib]

Okay, this topic finally got me to register

Yay!

Nice story. You will get the hand in building with studless lego.

I found that a good practice is taking a small set and try to make something nice out of it.

Having limited parts and an idea to achieve is really challinging...

Good luck!

[allanp]

Some things to consider when building studless lego is that whilst the old studded system was usually an even number of bricks in width, the studless system preferes to be built an odd number of bricks wide. Also with the old system, that's usually build from the ground up, layering bricks and plates on top of each other and bracing them with vertical supports. With studless you don't build this way. Instead it's more from the inside out. So these differences do not by themselves make studless any harder that studded construction. What makes studless more challenging is that you have to think five steps ahead and it's also inherently less rigid, so you have to account for that and aim to make your MOCs much stronger from the beginning. It may also help you to get into the free CAD softwares that are available like LDraw. These are great when trying to figure things out five steps ahead and so on. If all else fails you can always ask us, just remember to post clear pictures. There are many people on here who are glad to help and just love jumping into challenges others are facing.

Hope this helps!

Edited January 3, 2012 by allanp

[PlaneCrazy]

For me, year 2011 has been the end of the dark ages. At my younger years I was really into lego. Then as usual, I forgot them for many years to come (shame on me), roughly years 1995-2009. In 2009 I got 8262 Quad bike as a birthday present.

This stoy sounds so familiar

My story was much the same and have now returned to Lego.

Same deal with the studless construction, all new to me to.

Welcome back

Jamie