Your Technic MOC toolkits and MOC process

[Kostq]

I'm curious - What stuff do you use in/for MOC-ing besides Lego?

I feel it's a bit like fishing - you can do with just the bare minimum - a stick, a string and a bait, but a folding chair, a good fishing rod and a beer makes it a lot better as an experience.

So, let's summarize a MOC builder's starter toolkit :)

My toolkit for MOCs is the following:

0. Lego pieces - no way of skipping those
0. Organizers or big plastic trays to have the parts accessible and visible

1. Scale model car/truck/tank/thing for referencing and proportions - I've used a VW camper van 1/32 toy for real-life measuring - saved me a lot of time. /optional/
2. Bunch of google images and youtube videos of the MOC's topic - to get a feel of the proportions and/or mechanisms inside.
3. For C-models - always open tab with the set's inventory - helps fight over-committing pieces in non-essential places.
4. PDF instructions of other MOCs or official Lego models if I need to borrow a mechanism or technique idea.
5. Sariel's toolkit - http://tools.sariel.pl/ - very good tools, honestly. The scale tool and the thumbnail generator do wonders. I'm not that advanced in Technic building to use the gears tool yet.
6. LDD/ Stud.io / LDcad / Mecabricks - if/when you go digital / or create instructions later/
7. Empty table, two A2 posters converted to a white backdrop, a tripod and my phone / cheap camera / for some glory shots to be shared later.
8. 4x the time I think it should take... /Then add 2x time again for all the glory shots/videos of the mechanisms/*

*Yes, time is a tool too ;)

Environmentally - what helps you MOC? Separate desk? Wall of organizers?
Any kind of music that helps you work better? Or podcasts?

I've made my best MOCs during the night listening to Joe Rogan's podcasts. I don't feel sleepy if a podcast is running.
Living on a boulevard makes day moc-ing a bit harder - night time's quietness makes me work better.
I build on my work desk at home - a wireless keyboard does wonders for your space :)

What software do you use?

1. For digital building
2. PDF editting
3. Image editting
4. Video editting

For me it's Stud.io for digital building and PDF generation. The flex tool is terrible, but the other stuff in it has a flow.
I've tried LDcad but I'm lost there. LDD is clunky too, maybe they need more time to get the results I want. Mecabricks is enigma to me - I mainly use it on work pcs as a 3D model viewer.
For images and video - the embedded Photos app + Paint 3D /Windows 10/ are sufficient. You can crop and adjust lighting. Not great, not terrible. The video editor is very basic but to the point.
Paint 3D is actually quite capable while still being not very rich in functionality.

You can copy paste the below text for your entries in this topic if you wish :)
Thank you for your time

Quote

What stuff do you use in/for MOC-ing besides Lego?

My toolkit for MOCs is the following:

Environmentally - what helps you MOC? Separate desk? Wall of organizers?
Any kind of music that helps you work better? Or podcasts?

What software do you use?

    For digital building
    PDF editting
    Image editting
    Video editting

 

Quote

 

Also next batch of BIG questions -

1. Do you get in the ZONE while making MOCs?
2. What is the average DURATION of your MOC sessions?
3. Do you keep more than one MOC in progress at all times?
4. Do you have MOCs that you like but just don't feel like finishing - you know how much work is LEFT to do?
5. Leonardo said Art is never finished only abandoned. Do you see it apply to MOCs?
6. Do you get anxious if you don't finish a MOC on time?
7. Original MOCs vs C-models?
8. How much time do you keep them for display later? Without modifying ANYTHING on them...
9. How is your SO dealing with your MOC spirit?
10. How much GB of data /photos, videos, schematics, renders, PDFs/ do you gather after each MOC?
11. Do you delete your WIP footages once the thing is done?

 

1.  

Edited February 18, 2021 by GTS

[MinusAndy]

I live in a one room converted stable so space is at a premium. I have an old writing bureau, all drawers filled with stack pack trays with parts in. I tend to group them quite roughly, ie all 3,5,7 lift arms in one box, 9,11 in another etc.

I often group parts like connectors by colour, so for example, I’m using mainly dbg on my moc at the moment so I clump all my dbg connectors together. 
a couple of decent lights are essential, I also have a brick separator and a small screwdriver that I have ground the end into a smooth shape that fits inside pins.

for scaling etc, sariels scaler to get things in the right ballpark, then I draw it full size using the scaler and stick the plan to the desk part. 
sometimes I get the scale roughly right then draw the template basically freehand.

I didn’t know about sariels scaler when I built this one so I just went from freehand drawings based on Ford blueprints etc.

lego models are always a sort of charicature of the real thing so I quite like to just see where it takes me.

Here I have the scaler plan and a scaled up hand drawn version stuck to the desk, plus the all important Haynes manual!

[chlego]

• A desk or sometimes even the floor
• Google images of the MOC if it is a car
• Sariel's Unit Converter
• Sometimes Music or a Podcast

I use Stud.io for digital building

 

Edited February 4, 2021 by chlego
typo

[Maaboo the Witch]

When I was building the PuppyTrack compact dumper, there wasn't much planning or theoretical structure - I pretty much designed the mechanism, made sure it worked, and then delved into my bucket of spares to build the model around it. While I didn't base it on a specific real-world example, there was still the matter of making it resemble the real thing and it does take cues from actual machines - the lime colour scheme, for example, was inspired by the Hooka mobile lift platform, and the main inspiration came from a photo of a Canycom gas barrow in Earthmovers magazine.

The crux of MOCing is, in my experience, deciding what to build, and whether or not I can build it with what I have lying around.

[1gor]

A desk or something similar, online images of real vehicles, Sariel's scaler and paper and pencil (and smartphone as you can see from lots of Autocorrect issues in my posts)

 

Edited February 18, 2021 by I_Igor

[nerdsforprez]

11 hours ago, GTS said:

What stuff do you use in/for MOC-ing besides Lego?

Environmentally - what helps you MOC? Separate desk? Wall of organizers?
Any kind of music that helps you work better? Or podcasts?
 

What software do you use?

1. For digital building
2. PDF editting
3. Image editting
4. Video editting

 

 

What stuff do you use in/for MOC-ing besides Lego?

I actually started a thread years ago for instruments or tools I use as I build.  I find they are very useful.  @shadow_elenter also created one.  

I also created a video years ago about using a spark gauge feeler.  I find it another of my favorite tools for building.    

Search "tools" in the searchbox (titles only) and there are at least one or two more threads regarding tools.  

 

Environmentally - what helps you MOC? Separate desk? Wall of organizers?
Any kind of music that helps you work better? Or podcasts?

I have actually thought of this quite a bit.  I used to always have something in the background.  Music, a show, podcast...etc. But now, I find I just enjoy the peace and quiet.  Especially if I am involved in something that is really complex and needs all my brain power.  But for organizing or simply building someone elses MOC or an official set I always have on a show, documentary or talk.  For organizing there is also alcohol.  I detest organizing... and need as much music and etoh as possible to get me through it 

What software do you use?

1. For digital building
2. PDF editting
3. Image editting
4. Video editting

Probably not worth much of a response from me here.  I work at a computer nearly all day with limited contact with others or the outside so I try to limit time on software to help with my building as much as possible.  I understand this slows the process for me (haven't even produced anything for several years... mostly due to other factors but still) but I enjoy working with actual bricks so much more.  Still, if I can't wrap my head around something without a digital image, or don't have the visual memory to remember everything as I tear something down to rebuild better, then I just use our simple LDD.  

Image editing I use GIMP.  Nothing much for video editing ....

Edited February 4, 2021 by nerdsforprez

[Andman]

My tools:

• https://tiresize.com/calculator/
• https://www.geogebra.org/m/MHuCmJ4O
• http://tkelcreations.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_24.html
• https://www.cailliau.org/en/Alphabetical/L/Lego/Gears/Dimensions/
• https://www.nico71.fr/otherpages/ttools.html
• https://philohome.com/motors/motorcomp.htm
• http://gears.sariel.pl/
• http://studs.sariel.pl/
• http://scaler.sariel.pl/
• https://www.gimp.org/downloads/
• Studio to build a first concept
• In the best case orthogonal drawings of the model to create scaled images like this:

[Gray Gear]

Most importantly I need a source  of inspiration. For example footage like this finally pushed me to start building the Nissan 180SX Type X. 

I never build digital, I hate it. I only do it to make instructions, otherwhise I like the Bricks in my Hands. Additionally I need:

- My desk (there is is always a mess of bricks on top)

-Sariel's Model scaler and a nice blueprint

- Videos of the real car, closeup pics of the engine bay and other reference material

- A ton of Anime and YT Videos to keep me company, and Harry Potter/Lotr Audiobooks for when I need to do building instructions.

[suffocation]

Lots of alcohol.

[2GodBDGlory]

I always have some needle-nose pliers on hand, as well as a short metal shaft (from a screwdriver from a fake Meccano set), which is great for poking axles out of holes or simply prying in small spaces. Of course, I also have the obvious blueprints, desk, chair, calculator, and audio.

(Before I had the pliers I used a pair of scissors as pliers, leading to small slits on my axles. Not my best idea, but it worked!)

Edited February 4, 2021 by 2GodBDGlory

[Thirdwigg]

I use a computer almost never for my building. Like @nerdsforprez, I am behind a computer too much, so my building is all IRL. But bricklink is always close at hand to check available parts.

I use Pinterest to keep track of ideas that I would like to build. Once I decide, I use a notebook to organize my and plan the specifics of my builds. I use a calculator a lot during this stage. I'll print blueprints if I am modeling something, and make notes on the sheet with my trusty Pentel P205.

I'll listen to music sometimes while building, but often the quiet is relaxing to me. 

I never build for more than 2 hours at a time.

All of my building is done at the kitchen table, and I put everything away when I am done.

[1gor]

18 hours ago, suffocation said:

Lots of alcohol.

[XenoRad]

First of all we all know lots of alcohol helps with everything, even if only in one's mind so +1 from me on that.

Then, I'm kinda new to this stuff so my work protocol is still a work in progress. I only started out with Lego last year (Speed Champions) and with Technic I have even less than 11 months experience, but that's the one that really stuck for me, especially since I needed a new "stay-at-home-but-don't-use-the-PC" hobby during the pandemic and for me Technic cars were just that bit more interesting and functional than the metal die casts I was used to.

So finding out that Lego had evolved to such a degree as to be able to have relatively accurate vehicles based on real life cars and that I could actually tinker with them to improve things? Forget about it! In my original youth Lego allowed me to build tractors and something resembling tractors and that was it and I'm still young.

Then I have a big box full of smaller boxes full of zip bags full of Technic and some System parts. I have quite a few pieces but not every part and not every color. As such and considering I don't have experience with the 3D software I just go with a physical build based on what I have.

For a building surface I have my old pre 1989 solid wood desk which has a good surface area and I have a white sheet over it to help with having a nice and neat building area offering a good contrast against the Lego pieces.  To think that I wanted to get rid of that desk at one point but it proved to continue being useful.

I'm currently on my first MOC. I started based on the TG Rally Car 42109 because I wanted something simple with a motor for steering and another for drive and to also use the already made app for control. Initially I wanted to make a Gaz 66 vehicle. For that I printed out a 2D blueprint and used Sariel's Model Scaler but I gave it up once I knew I didn't have the parts (or the skill) to properly build the front to the accuracy I wanted.

So I switched tracks and decided building the chassis for a 4x2 truck with a lockable differential at the rear, pendulum suspension as well as at least a 2 speed manual gearbox.

Something like this thing below (Red Flag - Bucegi truck), which is a very rare truck nowadays but has a good legacy on building up my country during CCCP & friends days.



I'm currently struggling with packing in the gearbox on the chassis so I've put it on hold as I get more experience building other official Lego sets. Then the challenge would be building up the body in a color I will decide based on what parts I have.

But let me tell you about the greatest thing in Lego Technic and MOCs. Everyone passionate about cars has that one halo car, the one they keep dreaming of, the one they hope to once own and enjoy. If they're lucky they get to own the real thing once they have the proper money and situation. If they're not so lucky maybe they can buy a small scale model, like 1:24 or even 1:18 but that just comes already made and will mostly just sit on a shelf. But nowadays, with this available - if they have enough skill and parts they can actually just build it to a scale they desire and to an accuracy level that's up to them. They can then either motorize it or leave it raw, mechanical, manual. And it's "theirs", they built it, out of nothing, if you will. That is something that wasn't possible a few years ago. But the sophistication to which Lego has evolved in makes it  a possibility today - and tomorrow as for sure there will be new parts coming up in the next years.

So for me this is the biggest take-away. It doesn't really matter what you use, if the way you use it leads to the result you want.

 

[Kostq]

Bumping the thread for the others to chime in.

On 2/5/2021 at 8:51 PM, XenoRad said:

Something like this thing below (Red Flag - Bucegi truck), which is a very rare truck nowadays but has a good legacy on building up my country during CCCP & friends days.

This truck /Roman SR131 Bucegi/ looks like the russian GAZ 53 and ZIL 130 trucks but with a different front. And it probably is with some tweaks.

 

On 2/5/2021 at 12:18 AM, suffocation said:

Lots of alcohol.

I laughed a lot about this. I've never mocced whilst drinking.
HOWEVER I've mocced in like 5AM long past before I should've gone sleeping. Sometimes the tiredness feels the same and brings LOTS of clarity.

Also next batch of BIG questions -

1. Do you get in the ZONE while making MOCs?
2. What is the average DURATION of your MOC sessions?
3. Do you keep more than one MOC in progress at all times?
4. Do you have MOCs that you like but just don't feel like finishing - you know how much work is LEFT to do?
5. Leonardo said Art is never finished only abandoned. Do you see it apply to MOCs?
6. Do you get anxious if you don't finish a MOC on time?
7. Original MOCs vs C-models?
8. How much time do you keep them for display later? Without modifying ANYTHING on them...
9. How is your SO dealing with your MOC spirit?
10. How much GB of data /photos, videos, schematics, renders, PDFs/ do you gather after each MOC?
11. Do you delete your WIP footages once the thing is done?

1-> Like poof, it's 5 hours later. Progress made, progress lost, time just blipped. For me it's like playing guitar - the world disappears, my mind relaxes a bit. Close to meditation.
2-> About 2-4 hours nightly. Daily - between work tasks - from 15m to 5hr.
3-> I've tried several times and it wasn't a huge success. Makes me feel even SLOWER as stuff is delayed by other stuff. Currently I have 6 in progress. Some finished physically, others waiting for video creation or pictures, third just being ideas I don't want to throw out YET.
4-> I'm delaying a 42096 Porsche C-model for about 3-4 months now. The parts count just scares me. Yet I want to do it. Yet I've build BIG RED - 4K is not scary, but 1.6K for creating is.
5-> Watched Adam Savage say this about projects and I felt relieved. It wasn't just my curse anymore. Honestly - look at his TESTED youtube channel - some of the questions he answers can make you feel great or just normal/sane.
6 -> I do. Life gets in the way. We gotta eat /eyeroll/. And I stay up late as it is quiet, no rush, just putting in the time. And I don't have kids or pets or anything yet. I wonder how it is after them...
7-> The limitation of the A-model's parts make me not go crazy and detail everything. You've seen the Hall of Fame here, and the TC contests. These are hard for me.
I belive it takes too much inventory time /and knowledge/ to produce something great outside of a C model. Also I'm lazy. Like a lot.
8-> That's hard on me. I only buy one copy of a set besides the 10$ small ones. If no other MOCs are in the pipeline for this set - about a month.
If I'm not happy with the final result but just want my mind to be free - I scrap it as soon as the instructions are done. Otherwise /I've tested/ - bugfixing takes me another month.
And the SO is definitely not happy seeing the same car for the second week looking the same and "DONE" until tomorrow comes.
9-> This is very interesting to me. Tips and tricks are welcome. Especially if the SO is not into LEGOs at all.
10,11-> AVG about 0.5G for each moc. Re-doing videos for changed features takes SO MUCH space... And yet I can't delete it, even after it's done. WHY?

Edited February 18, 2021 by GTS

[johncarpenter]

This is a nice set of questions, so here goes:

1. Yes, but it takes a while to get in the zone. Also, I feel like I make a huge amount of progress if I can work in a big block of time vs spending the same amount of time in smaller chunks.
2. Depends mostly on the available time, probably 10 hours a week spread over few evenings and weekends.
3. Yes. This is both good and bad for me. I tend to do two things: First, if I get stuck on a certain aspect of a moc and cannot progress further without a new idea or solution or ordered parts, I usually switch to another one where I can make progress. I do this because I hate being blocked, and this way I always have some project that I can work on. Secondly, I like to try out tricky parts of future builds early, so that I can figure some things out before committing to build a complex project as a whole. However, both these things mean that I have too many mocs in parallel in various stages of building, which makes it hard to focus sometimes. I'm trying to reduce the amount of WIP mocs at the moment, and also not start any big builds until others are done.
4. Not so far. I have some mocs that are "paused", but I will definitely restart and finish them eventually.
5. Leonardo has a point :) I would say that my focus shifts during a build. In the beginning, I'm really focused on making the model very nice, coming up with a nice design etc... Gradually, over time, I lose interest / patience and start to work more pragmatically towards the end to just finish the damn thing and move on. Sometimes, the details at the end suffer due to this.
6. I'm not a fast builder, so I don't set time limits for myself. Some of the more complicated projects would simply not be possible, or would not come out the way I want if I were to set time limits. In the end, it doesn't matter for me how long they take, because I just enjoy the process.
7. MOC's for now. I have only tried my hand at a C model using the Corvette, and it was much more difficult than I expected. I might try again in the future using a set which is a bit larger and has more generic parts. I'm thinking the 42108 crane might be good for this.
8. For me this depends on how much I like them and how many parts they tie up. If I like them I'll keep them around longer, and if they tie up many parts, I'll have to disassemble them sooner. Also depends on if I want to do a complementary build that goes with it.
9. Very well. I consider myself very lucky on this point, and I do get that it is not something that could be taken for granted. Recently, I got her to assist on a fun part of a project (coming soon) and she told me after that "I get now why you keep buying new parts".
10. Depends mostly on the video, I have had up to 2 GB per project up to now.
11. I keep all the WIP pictures, as I like the progress and story of the build as much as the finished model. I haven't really done video of WIP models, as I don't know how they could be integrated into a finished video or if anybody else would like to see it.
 

[Lipko]

New batch (I don't MOC lately, so these refer to the time I was active)

1. Rarely. MOCing is usually a struggle. I envy the crap out of people who can just go with the building flow and have a proper result at he end. With other hobbies (programming, paper modelling), I got in the zone very often.
2. Usually 2 hours, on weekends a bit more, but maybe one weekend per month I have time to build.
3. No. One MOC at a time, except for contests and a very long project (this one). Partly because of my mindset (starting a new model almost feels cuckoldry). The other reason is that keeping a big space for many projects is a bit luxurious.
4. No.
5. Something is finished when you call it finished. And I can finish my models. "xxx can be never finished, only stopped" is a cliché that can be used for almost anything. "a thesis work is never finished"/"renovation can never be finished", etc.
6. Yes. Because of contest deadline or because I fear the model might get obsolete before finishing (new parts, or a novel idea is implemented by someone else).
7. Original. Usually I don't feel the desire, and when I do feel, the set is already in the bulk and I don't feel like sorting/collecting parts at all. I try to keep the bulk size at a minimum (having tons of Lego is a luxury for me in terms of space), so buying the set again is not wanted.
8. Lately I rebuilt my best models (the primary reason was an exhibition), but I think they will be assembled forever. Little contradicting to point 7, but whatever…
   I never improve a model once it's called finished. There might be some minor color or design changes, but these are due to part availability.
9. She's okay with it, she has creative hobbies too, but since we both work and obviously share housework too, she's not very happy if I don't do anything else, and wouldn't be happy if she had to gave up her hobbies in favor to mine. Obviously she doesn't like it when the hobby makes me go rampage.
   I have to add that she was the reason I got back into Lego again. If she were a tiny bit unenthusiastic about it, I wouldn't had started (or whatever is the proper tense and grammar here...).
10. I have no idea.
11. Since I can't photo and video properly, I have tons of raw material on the computers, and I don't care to tidy them up. WIP material don't take up significant space to care about it.

As you can see, I have a professional mindset about the hobby, this is probably a reason why I'm not doing it any more...
The other (referring back to the OP's point 6.), since we have a kid, I don't have time for serious MOCing. And I don't feel like doing it light-heartedly, because of point 1, so I don't MOC at all.

Edited February 18, 2021 by Lipko

[dr_spock]

1. Do you get in the ZONE while making MOCs?
No.

2. What is the average DURATION of your MOC sessions?
No idea, never really tracked the time.

3. Do you keep more than one MOC in progress at all times?
Not usually.

4. Do you have MOCs that you like but just don't feel like finishing - you know how much work is LEFT to do?
No.

5. Leonardo said Art is never finished only abandoned. Do you see it apply to MOCs?
No.

6. Do you get anxious if you don't finish a MOC on time?
No, it's a hobby to de-stress.

7. Original MOCs vs C-models?
Both. I usually tweak sets to my personal liking.

8. How much time do you keep them for display later? Without modifying ANYTHING on them...
At least for the entire LUG event season.

9. How is your SO dealing with your MOC spirit?
All LEGO® must stay inside the designated area.

10. How much GB of data /photos, videos, schematics, renders, PDFs/ do you gather after each MOC?
Probably less than a GB.

11. Do you delete your WIP footages once the thing is done?
No.

 

[Alex Ilea]

About the tools i use, mainly sariel's scaler, picsart to overlay photos and compare real car to my build, and a pair of pliers.

1. If I feel like building I will do it and if I don't feel it I don't, though I find it super easy to get into the zone after watching a video of a cool MOC.

2. Usually maybe 2-4 hours, depending if I get tilted or not =).

3. Sometimes, if I am working on a big project I will keep it as a main, but if I am building small models they can be done at the same time.

4. YESSSSSSSSS!!!!!

5. Yes, there is no such thing as a perfect MOC, everything can be improved even if it's by a pin.

6. Yes, I do but it depends on the circumstances.

7. Original MOCs all the way.

8. I have my BMW Rebrick runner up bike for 3-4 years now, this is the only one I still have.

9. Don't have one yet.

10. Not a lot I would say, can't put a number on it.

11. No