AirborneAFOL Posted January 9, 2015 (edited) Inspired by your work, I took on this classic set... And modernized it into this... Given that its literally the first vehicle MOD/MOC I've ever attempted, I'm not terribly unhappy with the result. Edited January 9, 2015 by AirborneAFOL Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
voorstag Posted January 9, 2015 Move to see those old sets from my own childhoof come back in another form . Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wodanis Posted January 9, 2015 Loving your take on these updated classics L@go. Have you thought about taking the concept further and redesigning them completely? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
greg3 Posted January 9, 2015 I love these!! They bring back many happy memories of owning the originals as a kid. Your updates are spot on... Modern but still instantly recognizable (I like the auto service truck especially) Looking forward to more!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carrera124 Posted January 10, 2015 To be honest, I prefer the old ones. The updated ones look like they've been put on anabolic steroids or something like that (also applies to the standard city sets/cars from today... most of them appeal "blown up" to me). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Captain Braunsfeld Posted January 11, 2015 I like all of the new ones! Brick on! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Jersey Brick Guy Posted January 11, 2015 These are awesome looking! Great job! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
snaillad Posted January 11, 2015 Excellent work. That Jeep is an awesome update, but my favourite would be the police cruiser as it has a great memories for me as it was one of the first sets I ever got. Really cool update! Looking forward to seeing the rest in the future. Top marks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
L@go Posted January 14, 2015 (edited) Thanks again, guys, I really appreciate all the kind words. And then there are some harsher ones in between which I honestly don't see the point with - if you don't have anything constructive to add, why comment? Anyway, to those of you who have praised my work and added suggestions, thanks! I'll answer some specifically: I am glad that your Flickr album only has 5 pages, because I really have to go back to work! Hahaha :) I'm glad you enjoyed it - it's about to get bigger... Purists may cry foul, but sometimes you have to work around the limitations of the medium in your own way. I think we can all agree that TLG needs a better selection of 6-wide windshields, and what you have created is exactly what I've been looking for. There's certainly a lack of parts in that area. I did what I felt I needed to do - cutting pieces is absolutely not for everybody, but if the end result is nice I'm all for it. After all, LEGO's own designers do that, too, when working on new sets. Nice, I dig the concept of reimagined sets. Some of the sets of the 80/90's were awesome, at least, I've got good memories of them... Rebel Roadster 9 by L@go, on Flickr Inspired by your work, I took on this classic set... (snip) Given that its literally the first vehicle MOD/MOC I've ever attempted, I'm not terribly unhappy with the result. I certainly wouldn't be! That's pretty nice, especially for a first MOC! And as I keep saying: There's a ton of sets out there to update, and I can't do them all... :) Loving your take on these updated classics L@go. Have you thought about taking the concept further and redesigning them completely? Thanks! Not sure I get what you mean there - if I 'redesigned them completely' they would just be regular MOCs, wouldn't they? Anyway - in between a short trip to London and some work I've been able to get some more photos done, so here's number five, six, seven and eight! 5. Family Car, a modern interpretation of set #6633, with the same name, from 1985. Source material: According to Brickset, this was a US only set, which makes sense, because it certainly didn't feature in any of the Norwegian LEGO catalogues I had back when I was a kid. But it does have a very iconic colour design, which was a natural thing to preserve for the update. I eventually ended up with this: Family Car 1 by L@go, on Flickr Family Car 3 by L@go, on Flickr The one obvious major flaw of the original 1985 set is...? Anyone? The name! Family Car? And it holds one minifig? Weird. So I knew that was something I wanted to fix for my update - which now offers seating for the smallest family one could possibly have: Two people. I've kept the iconic yellow and red stripes going from front to back, and the white roof. Ideally, the wheels should have been white, too, and I originally built the car using the traditional, bulky City wheels that LEGO has offered for years - but it really looks so much better with these, probably not least because the car is quite long and narrow. I would have liked the wheelbase to be one stud shorter, but that's not possible using the classic vehicle base, and if I didn't use that, the car would have to be taller - which I didn't want. So it's a compromise. The driver has also been updated slightly. For some reason he felt British, so I gave him a Team GB shirt, a British hair colour (I won't use the ) and trousers a slightly darker shade of blue. I also, obviously, gave him a wife... Family Car 6 by L@go, on Flickr ...which he's very happy about. But he's got difficulties showing his emotions. Family Car 7 by L@go, on Flickr This, on the other hand, is a look of terror. Seems he didn't see that coming. (Baby by Citizen Brick - the colour match with the father's clothes was a happy coincidence!) Family Car 8 by L@go, on Flickr Here's the original set for a comparison shot. 6. F1 Transporter, a modern interpretation of set #1253, Shell Race Car Transporter, from 1999. Source material: This is one of the newer sets I've done in this series, but I wanted to have a go at this for one particular reason: The Rescue Flatbed I built a few years back. So that was my starting point - I had to do some colour changes to make it look more like the '99 set, and I had to build a modern-looking F1 car, which I ended up being very happy with - but then that was too wide for the flatbed, so I had to redesign the whole rear end. Which I happily did, because it eventually turned out better than I'd dared to hope for: F1 Transporter 1 by L@go, on Flickr F1 Transporter 3 by L@go, on Flickr The detail I'm arguably most happy with is the unloading feature. I used two ladder holders for the rear tailgate, and into the floor section of the flatbed I built two ladders which can be removed by sliding them rearwards. They can then be mounted onto the holders to make an extended gate which makes the unloading angle for the F1 car less critical: F1 Transporter 8 by L@go, on Flickr F1 Transporter 9 by L@go, on Flickr F1 Transporter 10 by L@go, on Flickr F1 Transporter 14 by L@go, on Flickr Time for the group shot, with the original set and driver. I kept the colour combo for the truck driver, but added a racing driver for the F1 car, because that felt more realistic. Note that all stickers used in this build are official LEGO stickers - quite a lot of them come from a couple of spare #1253 sheets that I bought, but there's also quite a few from various other Ferrari sets. Ferrari 4 by L@go, on Flickr Here's a shot of just the F1 car. I based it on the Ferrari F14 T - the 2014 car - but obviously it did eventually end up being quite generic, that's pretty unavoidable on this scale. The nose, for example, should have been a bit uglier :) but apart from that I think it's quite good. The biggest flaw is the cockpit, which is too open, and ideally the driver should sit one plate lower. But that's not possible without either mangling the minifig or raising the profile of the cockpit, which ruins the sleek shape. So this is a compromise I'm happy with. F1 Transporter 15 by L@go, on Flickr And suddenly, from out of nowhere, appeared a prancing horse! How convenient... Ferrari 5 by L@go, on Flickr ...but working with live animals has its challenges. 7. & 8. Sauber C33, a modern interpretation of set #1528, the awkwardly-named Dragster, from 1986, and Williams FW36, a modern interpretation of set #1990, Octan F1 Race Car, from 1993. Source material: OK, I have to admit that these two updates came about in quite a different manner than my other ones. After I finished the Ferrari, I thought it would probably look even better if I built a couple of extra cars to go with it. I knew that LEGO has produced a lot of those small F1-style race cars, so I went through the Brickset archives looking for some with colour schemes vaguely reminiscent of those of 2014 F1 teams. And then I ended up with the black Dragster (which clearly is not a dragster!) and the white Octan F1 Race Car. When updated, they look like this: Sauber & Williams 1 by L@go, on Flickr Sauber & Williams 7 by L@go, on Flickr Again, all stickers are official LEGO stickers - which explains the lack of proper Williams or Sauber logos on the cars. The stickering and colour choices are also compromises between the actual look of the 2014 F1 cars and the old sets my updates are based on, or, let's say "based on" in this case :) As you can see, I built two different versions of those notorious 2014 noses, which will be gone by the time this year's season starts, hopefully never to be seen again. In the case of the Williams, there's some nifty clip-and-bar stuff going on to keep it all connected, but it's still reasonably sturdy. In the top picture you can also see how the drivers are sat slightly too high, but as I said, I think this is the best compromise. Sauber & Williams 8 by L@go, on Flickr Here's a picture of the modern F1 cars with their old counterparts. The two old cars differ quite a lot in design, but they are interesting together as they make up the extremes of the basic classic LEGO race car style. Other good examples are 6604 Formula 1 Racer, 6503 Sprint Racer and 6509 Red Devil Racer. Sauber & Williams 9 by L@go, on Flickr And finally the money shot of all three F1 cars together. I have to admit that I'm quite happy with how they all turned out - especially as they're all built before the pictures of this year's Speed Champions sets leaked, and those look pretty similar to mine, which is no bad thing :) That's all for now, but there's still more updates to come - four vehicles and no less than four buildings... and as always: More pictures in this album on Flickr :) Edited February 1, 2015 by L@go Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lightningtiger Posted January 14, 2015 More AWESOMENESS from your L@go....keep them coming and Brick On Race On 'L@go' ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ElCrab Posted January 14, 2015 Love the "family" car, and especially the F1 cars. You should do an offshoot of some of the Formula Un cars throughout the years, your black one looks a lot like a late 70s F1 car, with the wider body. Looks great. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alexb420 Posted January 15, 2015 The family car is my favorite here. :) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
L@go Posted February 1, 2015 (edited) Thanks again for your positive comments! I've managed to get three more vehicles photographed and edited. 9. Canadian Mail Van, a modern interpretation of set #105, Mail Van, from 1984. Source material: Not surprisingly, given the van's livery, this was released in Canada only, so I didn't know about it until after I rediscovered LEGO in general. It's one of those intriguing limited edition models that I immediately wanted to own, and when I discovered that MiniStickers.nl sold reproduction stickers for it, I knew I needed to try to build an update. Here's the result: Canadian Mail Van 6 by L@go, on Flickr Canadian Mail Van 7 by L@go, on Flickr The proud Canadian driver (he does look a little Canadian, doesn't he?), Canada Post employee Gordon, ready to get that mail on its way to those ever-waiting Canadian customers. I've kept the colour scheme - obviously, it needed to still be a Canada Post van - but decided on red for the roof because I liked it better. Ideally, the doors should be red, like the original, but they don't exist in that size/colour combination, so I camouflaged the flaw a bit by adding those hazard stripes. Canadian Mail Van 8 by L@go, on Flickr As you can see when the old set is placed next to the update, something has happened to the scale of LEGO City over the past 31 years... I've also updated the driver - the old one has a generic Town torso, and I wanted to use the newer LEGO mail one, but needed to keep the blue legs to tie it in with the original. And I felt Gordon should let his beautiful ging... ah, , red hair out, so I skipped the classic police hat :)10. Ambulance, a modern interpretation of set #6680, by the same name, from 1981. Source material: This was the only ambulance I had when I was a child, so it was a regular feature in all my Classic Town layouts - therefore it was just a matter of time before I came around to updating it. It's 34 years old by now, which means those decorated panels - one of which only came in two sets, both from 1981 - are nearly impossible to find in pristine condition, and modern LEGO City sets don't feature Red Cross symbols anymore, so I went for a different solution. I had some stickers left on a MiniStickers.nl sheet that I'd ordered for another build (coming up!), among which some read 'AMBULANCE', so that was a no-brainer. Here's the update: Ambulance 1 by L@go, on Flickr Ambulance 8 by L@go, on Flickr The updated ambulance features two minifigs, more modern than the original ones, but the same colour combination. I added a pair of side doors because that felt more realistic - the red stripe along the bottom is cutoff stickers from a LEGO sticker sheet. The rear doors should ideally be bigger, but again, that's a part that doesn't exist, so I covered the gap with a red hinged gate. The biggest difference between the old set and my version, though, is probably the fact that mine has a full interior: Ambulance 9 by L@go, on Flickr Ambulance 10 by L@go, on Flickr Inside, there's a chair for the medic, various monitors and gauges - I have no idea what they do, but they're undoubtedly vital when it comes to saving lives - a fire extinguisher, a flashlight, a cupboard and drawers for medical equipment, the obligatory stretcher, and an adjustable examining light. Ambulance 11 by L@go, on Flickr I've always been aware that the updates I build are quite a bit bigger than the originals, but I don't think the difference has ever been so obvious as this when the sets are put next to each other. That old ambulance looks absolutely tiny! 11. Santa's Truck, a modern interpretation of set #1177, by the same name, from 2000. Source material: This is, admittedly, definitely not a classic, and neither does it really belong in the Classic Town category. I never had it as a child - for two main reasons, a) it's from 2000, by which time I was 23, and b) it's a Japan-only release. But with Christmas coming up, even though the original set is plain ugly and a poor excuse for a holiday set, I couldn't help but think it might be a good one to update. Santa's Truck 1 by L@go, on Flickr Santa's Truck 4 by L@go, on Flickr I'm very happy with how this turned out - there's something about that front end that really appeals to me, the colours are right, and the rear end also works well. And the proportions are nice. Santa's Truck 6 by L@go, on Flickr The original set was a Coca-Cola promo - not surprisingly, as we all know that Coca-Cola owns Santa Claus - so the update needed to have the same reference. The stickers on the doors are LEGO stickers, albeit from a different set, but they fit the doors much better than the bigger originals, and in the passenger seat there's a couple of bottles and two Cola cans from customBRICKS. There's also a tree featured in the original set. Now, I'm so lucky that I know 'Ecclesiastes, and he built me a smaller version of his gorgeous pine trees for my Snack Bar update, so I would have been stupid not to use that again. After all, his trees are the prettiest LEGO trees I know. I'm not entirely sure this one is suitable for a livingroom, though... Santa's Truck 7 by L@go, on Flickr This guy is the lucky owner of the rugged 4x4 - let's call him Claus - and he's out in the woods (which woods? I hear you say. Well... there's a whiteout in just this spot. The rest of the trees are behind the camera) to chop down a suitable Christmas tree. He comes equipped with an axe, obviously. Santa's Truck 8 by L@go, on Flickr After having felled the tree, Claus secures it to the back of his truck using the chains attached to the rear. Now he's ready to tow it back home. Santa's Truck 9 by L@go, on Flickr An unwelcome guest decides to show up - who knows? Maybe it was his tree in the first place... but Claus comes prepared, that's what the gun is for. It doesn't take more than a couple of warning shots in the air to scare the big fluffy guy (the bear, that is) away. Santa's Truck 10 by L@go, on Flickr Here you can see how simple and ugly the original set is. It did, however, give me a few of reference points - I've been quite faithful to the colours: The dark grey front bumper has turned into the stripe across the bonnet (hood), the light grey rollbar has morphed into a light grey roof, the colour of the windscreen is the same, and the stickers have been replaced with smaller versions for the doors. The driver has also been updated, to the modern Santa, with new beard and hat. And speaking of the driver: Claus happily lends his axe to the older guy - Nick, I believe his name is - so he can get his slightly smaller tree back home. Santa's Truck 11 by L@go, on Flickr It appears the bear didn't really go away after all, he bear-ly even left the picture, and he seems to have a thing for older females. Claus and Nick wisely take cover behind the car. Santa's Truck 12 by L@go, on Flickr When the younger bear lays his Claus on the older one, Claus and Nick decide to leg it. If there's one thing every Santa knows, it's to stay away from mating polar bears. (Please bear with me on the puns, I find them funny.) That's it - as always, there's more pictures in this album on Flickr, and there's still five more updates to come - four buildings and one vehicle so long that it doesn't fit in my light tent... so it'll take a while until I can get that one photographed. The buildings, though, I can just manage to squeeze in there, so they'll follow shortly (hopefully) - but in their own separate topics, as they're so full of detail :) Edited February 3, 2015 by L@go Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
P3_Super_Bee Posted February 1, 2015 Awesome updates!!!! Really like the 6538 Rebel Roadster & 6633 Family Car... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lightningtiger Posted February 1, 2015 More AWESOME vehciles 'L@go'.........they are all too good, you have pimped the classics - what's next ? Brick On 'L@go' ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
