Some of my MOCs that will (probably) never see the light of day

[gheneli]

I could barely sleep last night, because of all the frustration. 
To start from the beginning, I've spent 2 years learning how to design Technic, studying the techniques from official sets, learning about structure, how to make sturdy builds. All that while having a creative day job that consumed almost all my mental energy.
Sure, knowing all the design rules, knowing how things should flow and having all the experience from working with designing stuff on my day job actually helps me come up with even better designs, at least in theory.

That was my initial thought, so I've managed to put some money aside and stop taking any paid projects for almost a year, and decided I'm gonna focus on designing Technic full-time. I thought if I design something that stands out, I could maybe get enough money to at least pay the bills, if not to cover what I've spent on buying parts for my MOCs.
In almost 12 months, I managed to finalize my Nascar Camaro, which was an incredibly complicated design and building the 500-page instructions PDF took 3 months, because I also had to figure out how to work with Studio instruction maker, edit almost all the pages in Photoshop, add as many arrows as possible (maybe even more than official instructions), secondary views etc.

Then another 2 months spent on designing the Harley chopper, which is a very dear project to me, I consider it absolutely flawless, within the limitations of Lego, of course. Looking at it now, there's absolutely nothing I would change, or want to improve. I absolutely love how it looks on my shelf. I imagine this is pretty much the quality of an official Lego set when it reaches production stage.




Tried to promote these everywhere, Facebook groups, Reddit, here on the forums, told everyone about it, even tried to boost posts on Instagram.
And after all this work, after carefully considered the tiniest of details, my reward is around 20 bucks, in 2 months.

I really wish I could pay my bills with 20$.

So yeah, this pretty much feels pointless, all the effort, all the time spent, all the frustrations that come with working in Bricklink Studio, the lost files, the starting over, the limitations of the Lego parts, the money spent on buying parts to test the builds.
Everyone is like "oh, that looks really cool, but I'm not interested" Great!

So without further ado, I've decided I'm gonna dump here all the current work-in-progress projects I have, that will probably never be finalized, or they'll take a few more years, because I don't have a passive income to be able to focus all my energy into building Lego everyday, even thought I'd love to.

I hope you enjoy!

 

Lancia Delta S4 - 1:12 scale

 

Kamov Ka-50 Attack Helicopter
- 2 motorized functions, landing gear and coaxial rotor.
- manual functions include a lever for moving the machinegun up-down / left-right, and a lever for turning the rudder

 

 

BMW S1000R (naked version) 1:5 scale

 

 

Mercedes DTM (2014) 1:10 scale - probably my favorite
Would've probably been the first MOC released, but I had a very frustrating time trying to design the cantilever suspensions at this scale. Also tried using the big shock absorbers from the P1 and they're simply too strong for such a compact mechanism.

 

 

AMG GT Black Series - 1:8 scale

 

 

[Berthil]

Apply for a job in Billund if you want to make money from designing, I'm designing and building for fun. Hence all my GBCs are for free with detailed building  instructions. Or you chose the wrong theme and design castle and pirates for the BL designer program, or some kind of main stream trending social media subject for LEGO Ideas.

Edited February 2 by Berthil

[Thirdwigg]

Some interesting things here. I love the landing gear for the Kamov. I hope you are able to finish some of these. 

[1980SomethingSpaceGuy]

I feel the frustration and I'm sorry your job project did not come to fruition. Dropping everything else for it was a bold move that deserve respect.

Outside being an actual TLG designer, earning decent money from designing Lego is really hard: selling MOC instructions on the mainstream platforms usually does not even pay for the bricks.
Also, working as a designer at Lego comes with a lot of constraints; most of the time you'll be far off free building.

Out of TLG, the happy few people that I know manage to make money from their builds are mostly famous designers that get contracted by companies for specific builds.

Your WIP all look very good though; maybe focus on one car (popular theme) and try to optimize parts to maximize marketability and achieve good sales. This could help getting better referenced for the following builds.

[Timorzelorzworz]

5 hours ago, gheneli said:

So yeah, this pretty much feels pointless, all the effort, all the time spent, all the frustrations that come with working in Bricklink Studio, the lost files, the starting over, the limitations of the Lego parts...

I feel your words. Things only start to get complicated when you get too caught up in them. When I started in 2020 with (B-)models, I still managed to do it alongside my full-time job and everything was perfect. The design and work on the model was done alongside other activities and yet the models were very successful. Later, this required more and more time and effort to make more complex and bigger models to satisfy oneself. At the end, I made my biggest car with more than 3600 pieces and 900 pages of instructions in only 15 weeks in a non-stop workcrunch, which was a healthy and mental wreckfest. Don't do that to yourself. As someone said before, you should focus on one passionated project to finish.

[2GodBDGlory]

That does sound disappointing! If you do decide to stop trying to make Rebrickable work as a business, I hope you're at least able to pivot to a building model that you find fun as a hobby, even if it means building your MOCs a little less optimized, or simplifying/eliminating the instructions. Whatever's fun for you! I know I wouldn't find that extreme level of optimization and instruction work to be a fun hobby, but it looks like you've got some great stuff in progress, so I hope you're able to finish it in whatever format works best for you

[Brickend]

You have a great eye for lines and form so the business failure is not a skills issue.

If there is a business to be made, I think it primarily lies in the volume market. B-models of sets that people already own. If you had spent 12 months making 6-8 simpler B-models rather than going all-in on 2 projects, do you think your financials would looks different?

Nascar and choppers are declining in interest generally. The market to then go out and spend €300+ is limited, made worse by people who are cash-rich, but time poor. I personally I not going to hunt out the parts for a project I am not passionate about, but I might buy a B-model knowing the parts are already sat at home. I think these projects were not the best ones to launch a commercial or even semi-commercial enterprise.

 

 

[gheneli]

4 hours ago, Thirdwigg said:

Some interesting things here. I love the landing gear for the Kamov. I hope you are able to finish some of these. 

Thanks! Yeah, that was a project I actually wanted to see displayed on my desk. Maybe I'll finish it as a passion project.

 

8 hours ago, Berthil said:

Apply for a job in Billund if you want to make money from designing, I'm designing and building for fun. Hence all my GBCs are for free with detailed building  instructions. Or you chose the wrong theme and design castle and pirates for the BL designer program, or some kind of main stream trending social media subject for LEGO Ideas.

Yeah, something tells me it's not that easy. Also, the limitations the official designers work with are pretty scary.

 

4 hours ago, 1980SomethingSpaceGuy said:

I feel the frustration and I'm sorry your job project did not come to fruition. Dropping everything else for it was a bold move that deserve respect.

Outside being an actual TLG designer, earning decent money from designing Lego is really hard: selling MOC instructions on the mainstream platforms usually does not even pay for the bricks.
Also, working as a designer at Lego comes with a lot of constraints; most of the time you'll be far off free building.

Out of TLG, the happy few people that I know manage to make money from their builds are mostly famous designers that get contracted by companies for specific builds.

Your WIP all look very good though; maybe focus on one car (popular theme) and try to optimize parts to maximize marketability and achieve good sales. This could help getting better referenced for the following builds.

Yeah, I didn't imagine I'd make crazy money, but I didn't think it would be pennies either.
I don't know anyone working for Lego, but I imagine it's pretty sad, after all, it's a corporation that doesn't care what customers think (see how many people ask for wider rear tires and they simply ignore it and keep doing what they do) 
Now they said people asked for an orange cat (allegedly, because I'm not exactly sure who they're asking) and they're re-releasing the same tuxedo cat set but in orange. If that's not disrespecting the customers, I don't know what is. Someone commented on a post saying "I'd be ashamed to come in and have to do a presentation for that"

Anyway, thanks for your feedback, I'll probably go back to doing my job thing, forget about getting any revenue from Lego, and just do it for myself. I'd probably be fine with the outcome I got if I didn't need to pay bills.

 

2 hours ago, Timorzelorzworz said:

I feel your words. Things only start to get complicated when you get too caught up in them. When I started in 2020 with (B-)models, I still managed to do it alongside my full-time job and everything was perfect. The design and work on the model was done alongside other activities and yet the models were very successful. Later, this required more and more time and effort to make more complex and bigger models to satisfy oneself. At the end, I made my biggest car with more than 3600 pieces and 900 pages of instructions in only 15 weeks in a non-stop workcrunch, which was a healthy and mental wreckfest. Don't do that to yourself. As someone said before, you should focus on one passionated project to finish.

Yeah, I think you're talking about your Corvette ZR1, I've seen that one. I can't imagine working on such a big model while also being limited by the existing parts of a certain Lego set. That's crazy to me and you have my respect for that.
I'll never be able to design something I'm not passionate about, because I go all in with all the details and research, and I think you truly need to see it differently in order to perfectly capture the essence of the subject.

 

1 hour ago, 2GodBDGlory said:

That does sound disappointing! If you do decide to stop trying to make Rebrickable work as a business, I hope you're at least able to pivot to a building model that you find fun as a hobby, even if it means building your MOCs a little less optimized, or simplifying/eliminating the instructions. Whatever's fun for you! I know I wouldn't find that extreme level of optimization and instruction work to be a fun hobby, but it looks like you've got some great stuff in progress, so I hope you're able to finish it in whatever format works best for you

Yeah, I've always asked myself what would I build if I had a passive income and didn't need to worry about getting some money out of these. Because most of these models I'm building mainly because I think they'd be popular. I think maybe the Chopper was the most balanced project: simple, not too many parts, not too much time spent on it, looks good, has some cool functions and it feels very nice on display.
We'll see, maybe I'll manage to properly answer that question one day, because "why am I doing this?" seems to be something I often ask myself. The only answer I can think of right now is I want to introduce some quality models to the community, raise the bar if possible. But if people are not interested, my goal is suddenly pointless.

 

 

59 minutes ago, Brickend said:

You have a great eye for lines and form so the business failure is not a skills issue.

If there is a business to be made, I think it primarily lies in the volume market. B-models of sets that people already own. If you had spent 12 months making 6-8 simpler B-models rather than going all-in on 2 projects, do you think your financials would looks different?

Nascar and choppers are declining in interest generally. The market to then go out and spend €300+ is limited, made worse by people who are cash-rich, but time poor. I personally I not going to hunt out the parts for a project I am not passionate about, but I might buy a B-model knowing the parts are already sat at home. I think these projects were not the best ones to launch a commercial or even semi-commercial enterprise.

 

 

Oh yeah, I totally hate B models, I'd hate myself constantly if I had to design any of those. Lego itself has a ton of limitations, I can't imagine adding to those limitations even more by having to use just some specific parts, and, basically, doing it only because people find it too difficult to order some parts online.
I also feel like many of the B models are just parts slapped in randomly just to create yet another build from the same set. Very few of them look decent, even fewer are exceptional models that are at least the same quality as the main set and that I'd actually want to build.
So, do I think we need more quantity of building material? No. As I said above, my goal was to bring some more quality to the community, try to raise the bar, and I think it's really hard to do that if you limit yourself further by sticking to the specific set parts.

I totally get that people don't want to make an effort to acquire the parts when they're not passionate about a certain model or they don't find it appealing (I mean, I'd feel the same), but saying you'd rather build an average or even ugly B-model, rather than building a full-fledged and carefully designed stand-alone model, just because you already have the parts at home and you don't have to spend the time ordering parts is quite hard for me to understand.
So I'm thinking maybe some people are simply happy to build a model just for the action of putting parts together, it seems it doesn't matter what comes out of it. At least that's my impression. Probably why B models in general are more popular.

Edited February 2 by gheneli

[langko]

I respect the attempt to create an income out of this hobby, it's something I would never be brave enough to do. An even bolder move to try and do it when you don't have much of a following to begin with. I feel like most of the people that make somewhat decent money of rebrickable were doing it for years alongside their regular job first, many are probably still doing a regular job as well. Looking at your threads for the Nascar and the Bike, you clearly have the skill. I'm sorry it hasn't worked out as you hoped. 
 

8 hours ago, gheneli said:

Oh yeah, I totally hate B models, I'd hate myself constantly if I had to design any of those. Lego itself has a ton of limitations, I can't imagine adding to those limitations even more by having to use just some specific parts, and, basically, doing it only because people find it too difficult to order some parts online.
I also feel like many of the B models are just parts slapped in randomly just to create yet another build from the same set. Very few of them look decent, even fewer are exceptional models that are at least the same quality as the main set and that I'd actually want to build.
So, do I think we need more quantity of building material? No. As I said above, my goal was to bring some more quality to the community, try to raise the bar, and I think it's really hard to do that if you limit yourself further by sticking to the specific set parts.

100% agree with everything you said here, and I am glad I'm not the only one who thinks this. But I think its very hard to compete if there is a B-model already out there of the model you are trying to design. EG: the wip renders of that 1:8 AMG black look amazing, I especially like the creative use of all the mudguard panels in the rear. But there is already this very popular B-model, the even better improved version, this other similar model, as well as CaDA's offical set that you have to compete with. Even if your model is the best of the lot, it still might be a poor subject choice if you are trying to make a living out of it. I feel like it is also harder to compete with all the clone companies now to... I can see why a lot of people won't bother collecting parts for a MOC if they can buy a cheaper/bigger complete model elsewhere. 

All that said, I hope you can find a way to still enjoy this hobby and building. Everything you've shown in this thread is looking great, I hope you can finish them. 
I personally just let work be work and hobbies be hobbies. I don't have to waste countless hours in studio making instructions for things and can just focus on enjoying building. If I don't feel like building for a month or 2, that's ok as well. Apart from the occasional reddit post, or updating my workbench on rebrickable, I hardly even show off my models now. I have a personal satisfaction and sense of achievement from what I build and that's enough for me at this point. I hope one day I can display some of work at some lego conventions/exhibitions and that will be the icing on the cake.

[thekoRngear]

You are Gold and these are the Gems! Period.

Edited February 3 by thekoRngear

[Timorzelorzworz]

11 hours ago, gheneli said:

after all, it's a corporation that doesn't care what customers think

LEGO and LEGO Technic have lost its entitlement to perfectionism. Every day LEGO teaches us anew that it is moving further away from perfectionism. There are mistakes in literally every set that could be fixed very easily with just 10 minutes more of review. Moccer's wants to be perfectionistic and that's exactly where the problem lies. In the end, one get stuck in the own perfectionism.

[gheneli]

6 hours ago, langko said:

I respect the attempt to create an income out of this hobby, it's something I would never be brave enough to do. An even bolder move to try and do it when you don't have much of a following to begin with. I feel like most of the people that make somewhat decent money of rebrickable were doing it for years alongside their regular job first, many are probably still doing a regular job as well. Looking at your threads for the Nascar and the Bike, you clearly have the skill. I'm sorry it hasn't worked out as you hoped. 

Yes, I know it was a bold decision to take this risk, but it was based on the stuff I saw around, being built by the community. And I saw a huge room for improvement.
Even some official sets lack the proper design quality, like the Technic Bugatti Bolide or the Toyota Supra, two of the worst sets in existence, in my opinion. I've actually built the Bolide and the building process is also pretty bad, especially when you want to take it apart.

And yes, I know that AMG GTR MOC is a very popular build, I believe even stolen and sold on Chinese websites. But you can't possibly say that design is the best Lego can offer. No offense to the designer, but that's average at best. Even the CaDA GT3 is too busy for my tastes, too many parts cluttered in the front end design, for example.
If I can give credit to TLG for something, it's for designing (most of the times) very clean shapes and good flow between parts / panels. You rarely see clutter in TLG designs. The goal is to recreate the required shapes with as few parts as possible, not stack 100 parts just to make sure your shape is 100% accurate. So, if you design stuff for a living, you can definitely recognize that TLG actually know what they're doing. Compared to a lot of the MOCs out there, which are a clutter fest. 

I realized that for me, it's pretty pointless if I don't show my designs. And not only show, but get people to experience building them. I think the building process represents more than half of the whole experience and it's a pity if people don't get the opportunity to build it and just see it in a picture.

 

5 hours ago, thekoRngear said:

You are Gold and these are the Gems! Period.

Thank you! I'd be super happy if people would understand the building techniques used, and why everything works, for example the Harley chopper frame, because everything lines up perfectly, it's not forcing any parts together like I've seen in so many MOCs.

 

3 hours ago, Timorzelorzworz said:

LEGO and LEGO Technic have lost its entitlement to perfectionism. Every day LEGO teaches us anew that it is moving further away from perfectionism. There are mistakes in literally every set that could be fixed very easily with just 10 minutes more of review. Moccer's wants to be perfectionistic and that's exactly where the problem lies. In the end, one get stuck in the own perfectionism.

What I find funny is that even reviewers like RacingBrick on YT are now EXPECTING MOC-ers to FIX the problems that the sets might arrive with. Wouldn't it be better for TLG to do their job properly?

But I think the most annoying issue for me is the plastic quality, which has dropped significantly. I'm literally scared of manipulating some of the parts because I fear they could break at any moment, especially the half-beams with axle holes on each end. Those constantly break and become unusable, yet I haven't seen TLG come up with any sort of redesign / reinforcement solution. I've even had sets built and left on the shelf for display, and a few months later when I tried to disassemble them, the parts literally came out broken, so they actually break while being connected on the model, which is absolutely insane to me.

[Timorzelorzworz]

19 minutes ago, gheneli said:

Wouldn't it be better for TLG to do their job properly?

But I think the most annoying issue for me is the plastic quality

They don't care. For them, it's more important to celebrate themselves on social media than to deliver proper work. It's also understandable that the fans are disappointed, as they would have liked a clean job. 

I am sorry to hear that your parts plastic quality is bad. I haven't experienced that myself yet. For me, the quality of the parts was always the final touch what stands for Lego.

 

[2GodBDGlory]

46 minutes ago, gheneli said:

But I think the most annoying issue for me is the plastic quality, which has dropped significantly. I'm literally scared of manipulating some of the parts because I fear they could break at any moment, especially the half-beams with axle holes on each end. Those constantly break and become unusable, yet I haven't seen TLG come up with any sort of redesign / reinforcement solution. I've even had sets built and left on the shelf for display, and a few months later when I tried to disassemble them, the parts literally came out broken, so they actually break while being connected on the model, which is absolutely insane to me.

I too have had terrible experience with half-beams with axle holes. I have so, so many broken ones. I haven't sorted them out, so I regularly pull out and reject 4+ broken ones before finding a good one to use. (Broken ones are fine for non-critical applications, at least)

[captainmib]

Would love to build that Kamov one day, looks amazing. 

The motorcycle is brilliant too.

 

I think it's a tough choice to make money out of your hobby.

You could lose a hobby.

And lego technic is a niche market. 

[Timorzelorzworz]

6 minutes ago, captainmib said:

You could lose a hobby.

You will. Thats the price to be payed.

[Time77]

"Woe is me; I don't get to make a living making lego models!" Yeah, and? Welcome to the club of people who have to work 'real' jobs. Did you expect some cosmic force to come down from the heavens to grant you what you think you're owed? 

This post just comes off as whiney self promotion.

[1980SomethingSpaceGuy]

Chill, @Time77; no one felt obliged to buy anything...

[Lipko]

Even the most popular MOC builders with 200+ sold instructions per model cannot make a living of it. I recall a thread a few months ago, and they said that they could make a living in the covid era, but it's gone now.

Maybe you can try to apply/appeal to alternative brands, I don't know if it's enough to make a living.

I consider myself a strong medicore designer, I made I think 7 dollars, and won an Unimog once here on Eurobricks. I can feel your frustration, my job is not that demanding but my family is. So (after 5 years of nothing), I design one model per year. A model costs me about 150-200 hours (rushed, not polished, not even digitized these). So yup, that's 150-250 hours per year I can spend on modelling, plus a few weekends participating in exhibitions. I even come to the idea that I will take my Lego parts to the exhibition and just continue to designe there. Either in the easier periods with a few/no visitors, or even as a show elemet: people can join me, help me, or just build something for themselves from the parts as an informal workshop activity.

Edited February 4 by Lipko

[Timorzelorzworz]

12 minutes ago, Lipko said:

with 200+ sold instructions per model

1000 more to 200 is possible over longer time, even without covid. Most people don't want to spend a lot of money buying parts, without knowing what to expect with the final build and in what quality. Unfortunately, many people just put their models on the shelf these days. Very few people take their sets apart or buy them again as a parts donor.

[langko]

On 2/4/2026 at 1:23 AM, gheneli said:

And yes, I know that AMG GTR MOC is a very popular build, I believe even stolen and sold on Chinese websites. But you can't possibly say that design is the best Lego can offer. No offense to the designer, but that's average at best. Even the CaDA GT3 is too busy for my tastes, too many parts cluttered in the front end design, for example.

It's not the best Lego can offer, but my point is that for the majority of people it is more than good enough for what they want. I even built a modified LBO version for myself, and even with my high standards I found it amongst the better building experiences I've had on rebrickable. What you get for the part count is very good, I don't think there are many sub 3000 part 1:8 cars that I like as much as this one. Your version would have to be exceptional for me to consider upgrading mine, and many people might not even bother or choose to buy the stolen one for 1/4 of the price instead. In this case, if you want to design the best lego can offer, it seems you would be doing it mainly for your own satisfaction instead of a business decision. 
I feel like the type of people that chase the very best designs represent quite a small section of people interested in lego technic, and most of those that do mostly build their own MOCs instead of making others...

On 2/4/2026 at 1:23 AM, gheneli said:

I realized that for me, it's pretty pointless if I don't show my designs. And not only show, but get people to experience building them. I think the building process represents more than half of the whole experience and it's a pity if people don't get the opportunity to build it and just see it in a picture.

Seems to me there are some conflicting goals: Having as many people build and experience your models, making a living out of said models and building what you want without any limitations and red tape. Hard to do all of that at once... only way I see is to work for LEGO (or a clone company) to tick the first 2, and then build without limitation in your spare time and post them on rebrickable. Similar to what @Grohl (Milan) does. 

[Lipko]

1 hour ago, langko said:

I feel like the type of people that chase the very best designs represent quite a small section of people interested in lego technic, and most of those that do mostly build their own MOCs instead of making others...

This is my experience as well. And even as a MOC designer with machine designer background (I only ever built one MOC, it was Crowkillers' Vampire, which was THE legend of that era), one of the most important design requirement that the end result have to look good on the shelf. At the end, these models (in the best case scenario) will end up on the shelf and on exhibitions and 99% of their complete lifecycle will be sitting on the shelf. Practically nobody will be actually interested how it was biuld, nobody cares how much fun you had while designing it. Another important design aspect for me is sturdiness, because I let kids play with my models on exhibitions. But the point is: the end product matters, building experience is a matter of preference. Having no colors in a build is a terrible experience for me, because it makes the building exhausting, most other builders hate colors. Can't please everyone.

1 hour ago, langko said:

Seems to me there are some conflicting goals: Having as many people build and experience your models, making a living out of said models and building what you want without any limitations and red tape. Hard to do all of that at once... only way I see is to work for LEGO (or a clone company) to tick the first 2, and then build without limitation in your spare time and post them on rebrickable. Similar to what @Grohl (Milan) does. 

That's why I offer building instructions (if there's any) and 3D files freely. Being known is more important than making a few dollars.

Edited February 5 by Lipko

[gyenesvi]

Well, many unfortunate truths are being said in this thread.

2 hours ago, langko said:

I feel like the type of people that chase the very best designs represent quite a small section of people interested in lego technic, and most of those that do mostly build their own MOCs instead of making others...

I also have to agree to this. Unfortunately, most people don't appreciate quality designs (and this is a generic phenomenon, not just lego). Most lego buyers cannot tell the difference between good design and bad, as long as it looks good or big enough, or represents a real branded thing that they desire. This is why supercars are trending in technic; it's about looks, brands and desires. People don't care much about the details of suspension or gearbox, as long as it has some. They would not understand the differences anyways, why would they? I didn't understand that before I started designing suspension geometries myself. This is why Lego is not bothering much with good technical details and coming out with not so good quality models all the time.

So ultimately, the only people who appreciate very high quality custom models are those who can design them, but even if those people would buy other's MOCs, that's a very small group.

Another conclusion I agree with is that selling instructions for models for which you need to collect parts is hard. It is hard to collect parts, typically means ordering from multiple BL shops or Lego, carefully selecting which ones have the best prices and the least amount of shipping costs. If you just let the algorithm do it automatically for you, it can come out much more expensive. So as a conclusion, selling B models is much easier.

23 hours ago, Timorzelorzworz said:

1000 more to 200 is possible over longer time, even without covid. Most people don't want to spend a lot of money buying parts, without knowing what to expect with the final build and in what quality. Unfortunately, many people just put their models on the shelf these days. Very few people take their sets apart or buy them again as a parts donor.

You mean the 1000+ for successful B models, right? Because from what I have heard (and experienced), for non B models, even a 100 can be considered a great success. Also, the distribution is very skewed. There are only a handful of models that actually sell that well, most of them sells much less.

@gheneli some nice designs up there, I like when lines flow well and there's little clutter, I agree that's more important than modelling every small detail at the cost of tons of clutter. Also, what I wanted to add about selling, is that for many designers that can sell reasonably well, it took a couple years, if not a decade to get where they are today, and they built out a follower base. You cannot expect to be able to sell well all of a sudden. Also, many started in the 2010s when technic was in one of its golden ages, and the market wasn't saturated, or during the covid era when many people got into lego and the buyer base was larger. Those times are gone, today it's more difficult, the market is saturated, and customers are going back to other hobbies.

[Timorzelorzworz]

16 minutes ago, gyenesvi said:

You mean the 1000+ for successful B models, right? Because from what I have heard (and experienced), for non B models...

Yes, that. Many builders fear the expensive purchase of parts for regular MOCs. It's not the cost of the building plans itself, but the cost of procuring the right parts. With B-models, it's very simple, as you surely know yourself. Many people buy expensive sets a second time only for building B-models. This even generates revenue for Lego. Of course, nothing comes back from them. I don't hide my numbers, there's no reason to. In my portfolio I have 4 MOCs above the 1000+. However, there are also models that weren't worth it. 

[Petr LUBAS]

I understand your frustration, but you can't pay your bills only by building of MOCs. 

I am 52 years old and have been collecting LEGO since I was about 8 years old. I have hundreds of LEGO sets, which are more of a source of pieces for my own builds. Unfortunately, the official LEGO Technic sets no longer appeal to me, the last set was #42177 Mercedes-Benz G 500, which I bought twice. From the second set, I built a great B-model #42177 Hummer H1 created by erictrax. I've bought alos a lot of sets from "fake" LEGO copycats on AliExpress in recent years, just because there are beautiful B-models that I wanted to display - #42172 P1 alternate build of Corvette ZR1 2025 by timtimgo or #42115 Sian alternate build of Lamborghini Miura Concept by timtimgo. I have no problem buying instructions for building something that interests me. I spend $100-150 per year on these building instructions. But I choose only models that interest me, I don't care whether it's LEGO, CaDA or Mouldking. Because I love truck cranes, I got myself a Mould King MK 17007 Ultimate Liebherr LTM 11200 for last Christmas for over $550. I can't imagine how much this set with 20 motors, 3 Blutooth hubs, and 8200+ parts would cost from LEGO. I spend 2000-2500 USD a year just on these sets and I also buy parts for my builds, partly LEGO parts on BrickLink and now mostly non-original parts on Wobrick because of the costs spend - at least 1000 USD a year just on parts. Building is a very expensive hobby, so I make a "Budget" for building every year, but I still exceed it every year... :-)

I also have a "work-in-progress" shelf where my own MOCs are, some already dusty :-) others in a state where I work on them in my free time. Since LEGO brick building is the biggest of my hobbies - I have my own room for building, designed just for building... (Well, in the past it was my son's room, but he is already living his own life as a father of a small child, so I found a "meaningful" use for his room)

As many others here advise, don't try to make money by building MOC. Just create what you want and share it in our community. Whether you decide to create instructions for your MOCs is up to you, I don't have time for that, so I'm just making a photo slide show for myself on my mobile phone of the construction process of my MOCs. I'll take all my MOCs apart later on anyway and use their parts for another projects. So I have just a few photos to remind me of what I built in last years.

Maybe the solution for you is to offer your projects to one of the "alternative" manufacturers. It is not a problem for them to produce parts in other colors or to create a completely specific parts - for example a great wheel hub with wheel lock and nice designed brake calipers from CaDa. The decision is up to you.