GHOST TOWN emerges from the darkness !!!

[Brick Miner]

I just looked through your pictures again, and had to say how much it makes me miss the good old days... X-D

:-$ cool. honestly that is why i try to mimick the good ole days... its my homage to the classic styles gone past *wub*

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now coming back to double o...

I think that there is a little too much playabiliy here which sacrifices a good design, I like the stairs and the bed in the hotel but the strange looking floor of the merchantile that moves I think might be a little too much.

yes, the mercantile looks a little "sloppy" from the back. i agree. but the mechanism works and looks so wonderful from the front side.... so i justified the techinique and application. see, LEGO seemed to design with the face of the set as the main perspective. and all other sides were inferior. therefore, i went with the frontal-friendly design, and felt justified doing so.

And did I understand this right, there is a second Ghost Rider head in a barrel in the Mercantile?

yes, there is... i was really going for an "infested" type of haunted. like everything is haunted, including the buildings themselves. this is why the hotel and mercantile resemble faces... they are part of the haunting... the extra head in the barrel (actually attached to the top 2x2 plate cover) represents that the haunting is all around... and that the Ghost Miner's spirt is everywhere *skull* it is attached to the covering, that way, when the minifigs "open" the barrel to look for supplies, there is a hidden surprise that comes with the lid !!!

if the head was just inside the barrel (resting, not attached), it would be more like a severed head... and that is what i was NOT going for... attaching it to the lid represents it "floating" out. like the spirits are released.

this goes back to the scary = fun thing that jinzo brought up... having scary face in buildings, and haunted barrels is fun.

And how did you achieve those windows, is it a standard window with a custom sticker on it?

the windows have clear stickers on them... even though the stickers were kinda hazy so they ended up being not too transparent :-D however, a nice side effect of that was that it made the windows appear misty... or scary.

in my last MOC, GUNSLINGERS SALOON Norro had suggested that i use 1x4x5 windows and stickers if i was to truely replicate an official LEGO western building style. it was a point well taken, and i made sure to definietely apply it in GHOST TOWN'S HAUNTED PASS.

Nice Signs too, but if Legoredo and Brick Miners Gulch are both further down one side of the road what is down the other? *skull*

ya, i just made the sign point the same direction because it looked better graphically speaking. i try to include the words "Brick Miners Gulch" into each MOC, it's my little way of "branding" the image... much like a cowboy "brands" their cattle :-D plus it didn't make sense to have Shiversdale lay between Legoredo and Brick Miners Gulch... as Shiversdale is on the outskirts of reality ;-)

So where did you get that last new ghost shroud anyway?

a seller on BL parted out exactely one 10176... so i nabbed it up quick. i only have two though, and am waiting for more to be listed. and a super thanks 007, for offering a potential trade. much appriciated. if you do get one, and decided you don't like the new colored shroud,... i will still take it.

The Precarious Bridge MOC will definietely need one *skull*

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and thanks again for leaving feedback. this goes to everyone i might not have responeded to individually. i have listened to each comment and taken it constructively. much appriciated X-D

- BrickMiner

[BaronSat]

so, actualy no BaronSat... im not selling these at 170 USD. that is how much the parts would cost me from BL !!! so, in a realistic retail world, a seller wants to get a 600% markup. well, you do the math... i would never sell one of these at that price :-D

600%... ok, so I'm not in a realistic world when I sale my models, but as you wrote it would be impossible to sale sets at that price.

i did create building instructions for GUNSLIGNERS SALOON 6758.

Thanks for the link, your instructions are sweet. Did you use LPub and it generated automatically images, steps and pages or did you make them yourself?

but the problem with HAUNTED PASS is that a lot of the pieces i used are not in the inventory of pieces in Ldraw. im currently browesing the "unofficial" pieces to see if i can find the missing elements.

Yes, that's a big problem when you don't know how to make .dat parts, like me. Sometimes it's possible to find people on Lugnet that can make parts for you, these guys are very kind, but sometimes not, so you'll have to do-it-yourself with 2D pictures (as I wrote in another tread in that forum). And that takes more of the precious time...

[snefroe]

this is fantastic! 8-

[Asuka]

Your work is really a wonderful piece of art. The quality of your pictures make me start dreaming.

The clever design of your buildings let my brain start ticking. But i can

[Mister Phes]

gylman notice some people on the BrickLink message boards are talking about Ghost Town...

thought that was cool :-$ this gives me some motivation to continue working in the sub-theme... maybe i WILL do the water tower next...

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this reminds me... if any of you have extra time, go to my MOCpages.com page and rate/review (an honest one) this MOC !!!

If you want your set rated at Eurobricks you can easily create a poll for your thread with the numbers 1 to 5 as choices. Ok, so it doesn't average your score but you'll get a nice visual representation of the numbers.

the orange one came from here...

http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=trgib...&itemID=5980697

and the purple one here...

http://www.bricklink.com/store.asp?p=kaylinda&itemID=5037426

I meant which sets did they originate from, this comments from the BrickLink forum has provided a useful lead:

"Definatly fan-created, but nice use of Batman and SpongeBob elements in a differant theme. -Ash"

hey a siesta sounds fun !!!

Its as fun as sleeping gets!

[Brick Miner]

If you want your set rated at Eurobricks you can easily create a poll for your thread with the numbers 1 to 5 as choices. Ok, so it doesn't average your score but you'll get a nice visual representation of the numbers.

ya, i thought about doing that... not sure why i didn't *wacko*

it would be nice to have the feedback in a more perminate resource... the MOCpage site will be around far longer than this thread. and i'll continue updating it with new MOCs as they are finished... it will (hopefully) be nice to compare comments/critisisms between MOCs all in one place. and with the rating system, it will be nice to see which MOCs are recieved better than others...

well, that is what i would hope anyway ;-)

with the MOC singled out in this thread, i wouldn't get the comparisons to my other MOCs, like i would get on MOCpages.

I meant which sets did they originate from, this comments from the BrickLink forum has provided a useful lead:"Definatly fan-created, but nice use of Batman and SpongeBob elements in a differant theme. -Ash"

i think ash was referring to the scarecrow head and the pillows on the bed ;-)

the orange torso is from a soccer set, and the dark purple is from knights kingdom... but i just buy pieces i need from BL, not aquire them from sets, so i don't know the actually set numbers.

Its as fun as sleeping gets!

:-$ i think it's quite obivous the mistake i made here... i mis-read siesta as fiesta :-D

- BrickMiner

[Mister Phes]

again, im having trouble keeping up :'-( there seem to be about 4-5 different conversations going on in this thread... so my appologies about the late reply...

All those conversations are a good sign, afterall it wouldn't be so good if there were no conversations!

BM you didnt answer my question. And come to think of it it might have been phes who said he would do graphics work in exchange for money. Were you joking before, or are you really considering this?

but to answer your second question... it might have been Phes. cause i don't rememer any conversation about creating digital backgrounds for monetary compensation. maybe Phes can clear this up when he returns to the thread ;-)

Yes, I have said I do graphics in exchange for money because that is part of my job, but everything I do for Eurobricks is FREE. Given that I've created a thread with about half a dozen digital backgrounds for anyone to use, I'd say that's a fair indication I'm not expecting any money for them.

[Brick Miner]

ok, well... i've already quoted john... so maybe you and cleese can continue this via PM ???

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All those conversations are a good sign, afterall it wouldn't be so good if there were no conversations

agreed !!!

- BrickMiner

[Hinckley]

Given that I've created a thread with about half a dozen digital backgrounds for anyone to use, I'd say that's a fair indication I'm not expecting any money for them.

Awesome! Where might one find this thread?

[Brick Miner]

AHHHHHHH !!!!!!!!!

member StarWars4J was so kind to point out this thread on MCN...

http://www.minifigcustomizationnetwork.com/forum/3484

great, right ???

well, someone pointed out that LEGO model number 6776 is already taken. damn ogles. now i officially hate them creatures :-D ;-) i twice-look so many details, but there are always some that slip through.

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oh, and i think phes is refereing to this thread for free pirate backgrounds...

http://eurobricks.hosting.ipsyn.com/eurofo...?showtopic=5880

- Brick Miner

[Mister Phes]

Ok, EBers... my second MOC, and first in the Ghost Town line

[Brick Miner]

definitely not !!!

here i explain to brickster...

yes, let me reiterate that the 170 USD is not the MSRP (or in this case "the Fan Suggested Retail Price" :-D ). if this set were released officially it would be around the price of Islander's Enchanted Island (412 pieces).

enchanted island had the same number of minifigs, and the same number of pieces (+9)

so since enchanted island retailed for arount 60 USD... and LEGO prices have pretty much stayed the same for over 10 years now... id say LEGO would have put a 60 USD retail price tag on GHOST TOWN'S HAUNTED PASS 6776.

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however, maybe i should stop listing this information, or present it in a different manor... many think that i am suggesting would be the retail price if LEGO released this set...

but no... this is the price it would cost you phes, if you had to buy each piece individually from a pick-a-brick souce. and since BrickLink is the most extensive PaB, i used the average cost of bricks on BL to calculate the price.

and this is important !!! that price is based of the average of NEW pieces... yes, you could buy the parts for far less if you get used ones... the reason i quote NEW is because, if you were to buy this set from LEGO you would get all new bricks... so to replicate that experience with a Brick Miner model, you would need NEW pieces. and if you wanted to get the full experience out of building this set you would need all NEW pieces... and because , i would hate for my models to be built in anyway that presents them less than prefect ;-)

im not saying that anyone would want to build my models... but, as i said before, i caculate this information anyway, so that i know how much i have spent of the MOC. i just figured i would share the information since i had it...

oh, and i only buy NEW bricks from my pick-a-brick sources... so that is another reason the information is caculated in NEW brick prices...

ok, i hope that covers everything !!!

- BrickMiner

[Sir Dillon]

Very neat creation there, Brick Miner! I don't really have anything to add that hasn't already been said, but I really like this moc. :-) Your photo work is outstanding, as usual, and I really like the way you made this look like a real set.

If Lego did actaully produce this, I think it would be 50 or 60 dollers.

[Brick Miner]

thanks dillon !!!

If Lego did actaully produce this, I think it would be 50 or 60 dollers.

hmmm... many of you are saying 50 USD. you know, i feel pretty strongly that it would be more around 60 USD. 6756 gold city junction is a good comparison for this MOC... well, GHOST TOWN's HAUNTED PASS has 84 more pieces, which includes one more fig (not counting the cactus monster) and one more horse.

but the big difference is that the two buildings are two stories, compared to the one story of GCJ. not to mention that the baseplates take up double the floor space too. this MOC appears nearly twice as big when put side-by-side. it is twice as tall, and twice as deep... however, the length is the same (64 studs).

the only thing GCJ has on this MOC is the extra vehicle (money wagon). but GTHP has the cactus to substitue. i mean, minus the minifigs GCJ has two buildings a wagon, and a cannon. comparably GTHP has two buildings (twice the size), a cactus, and a horse hitching.

it might be a little obvious, but GCJ was actually my model for creating GTHP... only it's a little larger ;-)

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however, a price range of 50-60 is much closer than what most of you thought GUNSLIGNERS SALOON could fetch at retail... while the MOC had 271 pieces (the price of a 40-45 dollar set), most said they would be willing to pay 25-30 for it.

i guess i've made an improvement on making my bricks go farther ;-)

- BrickMiner

[Mister Phes]

however, maybe i should stop listing this information, or present it in a different manor... many think that i am suggesting would be the retail price if LEGO released this set...

but no... this is the price it would cost you phes, if you had to buy each piece individually from a pick-a-brick souce. and since BrickLink is the most extensive PaB, i used the average cost of bricks on BL to calculate the price.

Then why don't you make this clearer? You present this MOC as though it were an official LEGO set making it very easy for people to assume you're suggesting this would be its retail price.

[Brick Miner]

(calculation based on average Bricklink prices for NEW bricks)

i don't see how i could make it any clearer :-D

i guess not everyone knows that sellers on BrickLink part out sets that have been bought at retail prices. if BrickLink sellers parted-out and sold at the retail price they bought for, they would not make any money. so a set that costs 60 USD would have 60 dollars worth of parted-out pieces... but that is the wholesale price (for the BrickLink sellers)... a good mark up is usually 600% from wholesale to retail... so that 60 USD becomes 360 on BrickLink.

so, when i say "caculation based on average BrickLink prices" you can safely assume those pieces are at the BrickLink 600% mark up over the LEGO retail price.

well, im sure members were aware of the economics of BrickLink... but probably not in the context of my "value = X" statement.

oddly enough, my caculation above would suggest that GHOST TOWN's HAUNTED PASS would retail for around 28 USD !!! (28 USD LEGO retail at a 600% BrickLink mark up = nearly 170 USD) so maybe BrickLink sellers only mark up around 300%. i don't really know, i've never tried to part-out a new set ;-) i just used 600% as an example, and it is the "standard rule of thumb" for retailers here in the US.

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but good point about my presentation.

i guess, there is a little part of me that would like to see people buy the parts and make these models for themselves... i mean, you have to admit, that would be pretty rewarding :-$

- BrickMiner

[Mister Phes]

i don't see how i could make it any clearer :-D

so, when i say "caculation based on average BrickLink prices" you can safely assume those pieces are at the BrickLink 600% mark up over the LEGO retail price.

well, im sure members were aware of the economics of BrickLink... but probably not in the context of my "value = X" statement.

I wouldn't presume everyone realises that BrickLink has a 600% markup over retail prices. Although BrickLink seems much cheaper than the Shop @ Home Pick A Brick that just become available.

How'd you arrive at 600% anyway?

but good point about my presentation.

i guess, there is a little part of me that would like to see people buy the parts and make these models for themselves... i mean, you have to admit, that would be pretty rewarding :-$

Your models and presentation is exellent. 5 years ago (before I discovered LEGO websites on the Internet) if you'd shown me those images I would genuinely believe they had been officially produced by The LEGO Company.

[Brick Miner]

I wouldn't presume everyone realises that BrickLink has a 600% markup over retail prices.

yup, your right... 600% is just my estimate and example anyway... however, one would have to assume there is SOME kind of mark up ;-)

How'd you arrive at 600% anyway?

when i sell items at conventions, that is the golden number (however not always possible :-D )... and i have been told this number applies to other retail industries. however, within the same industry: when our distributor sells a book to the retailer they reviece a 60-65% discount. which means the retailers only gets around a 300% mark up. so again, its not a definite number. and every seller on BrickLink charges a different price anyway :-D so there is definietly not a hard-and-fast rule out there ;-)

it sounds like BrickLink sellers may only ask a 300% on their inventory (based on my HAUNTED PASS calcuation anyway :-D :-D :-D )

in any case, when i say "cacluation based on BrickLink prices for new bricks" there is definietely a mark up over the LEGO retail price.

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Your models and presentation is exellent. 5 years ago (before I discovered LEGO websites on the Internet) if you'd shown me those images I would genuinely believe they had been officially produced by The LEGO Company.

:-$ *sweet*

- BrickMiner

[Mister Phes]

yup, your right... 600% is just my estimate and example anyway... however, one would have to assume there is SOME kind of mark up ;-)

when i sell items at conventions, that is the golden number (however not always possible :-D )...

What kind of items do you sell at conventions? And which conventions do you refer to? And why is 600% the golden number? Is this based on a calcuation or research, or is it merely a memetical figure no one has bothered to question?

and i have been told this number applies to other retail industries.

Who told you this number applies to other retail industries?

however, within the same industry: when our distributor sells a book to the retailer they reviece a 60-65% discount. which means the retailers only gets around a 300% mark up. so again, its not a definite number. and every seller on BrickLink charges a different price anyway :-D so there is definietly not a hard-and-fast rule out there ;-)

I still don't understand how te retailers get a 300% markup on a book sold to them at 60-65% discount.

For conveience the book costs $100, the retailer gets it for 60% discount so therefore $60, and then sells it for $180. I don't think I've interpreted your meaning very well at all.

[BigDaddy]

Getting back to the MOC... I really like the playability in the design!

And, of course, your graphics make it look like an official set. *y* Great subtheme, too!

[Hinckley]

In the world of web-postings, sometimes everything seems literal.

http://news.lugnet.com/western/?n=830

BrickMiner, it seems your illustrator skills are on par with LEGO package design. Congratulations on not only being an excellent builder, but starting quite the discussion... ;-)

PS. Why is that price so high?<--That is just a joke! ;-) See? I winked.

[Brick Miner]

8-

[Hinckley]

yes, the discussion is quite improved since my last MOC, which only received 25 replies |-/

hinckely, why do you think the difference is... honest question ??? anyone can answer too.

i have a list of possible answers to that question:

1 - this MOC is far more interesting and better than the last.

2 - the Ghost Town sub-theme is far more interesting and better than the last.

3 - the AFOL community is a lot larger now, resulting in more discussion.

- Brick Miner

Um...yes, I do like the toy you built...

[Brick Miner]

Um...yes, I do like the toy you built...

:-D ok, sorry to put you on the spot like that...

oh, and i just thought of another reason...

4) the Ghost Town sub-theme is more contraversaly than the last. (this one would be following Norro's concerns ;-) <=== that wink is for you, Norro)

X-D

- Brick Miner

[Hinckley]

:-D ok, sorry to put you on the spot like that...

I meant to say more but forgot...(you know reading over some of my posts I realize I can come off like kind of a smart mouth...)

Anyway, I think some of the reasons that this thread is so long as compared to MOCs you've posted before are like you said: The "controversy" over the price and convincing packaging. I also think it's a very good MOC and worth discussing.

But, I also have noticed that Eurobricks forum is becoming a more talkative place. I remember back when I was a lurker I thought of this forum as a great place to get info because most threads were concise and each post related to the topic. Any given topic might have at most a page of responses all which had relevant information to the posted topic. For whatever reason, the posts are longer now and more rambling.

Don't get me wrong, I prefer this board to most others due it's freindliness, lack of drama and lack of rudeness, but it is definitely more active nowadays. Those are my two cents...