Vampire GT

[Paul Boratko]

The Ebay Auction just hit $1,000 USD... That was my anticipated projection for Make-A-Wish before the auction started... I hope that is enough to at least send a child to Legoland...

[DLuders]

Bless you, Paul, for your GENEROUS donation! The bidding is up to $1,125 (with ~8 hours to go). That can definitely fulfill the last big wish of a child with a terminal illness. You're a good man!

Edited May 26, 2012 by DLuders

[Meatman]

Yes, this certainly is a wonderful thing that he is doing. This is also great exposure for The Lego Group. This auction may gain some media coverage after it is over since it is pretty unique. Is this the first Lego technic charity auction?

[DLuders]

I don't recall another Lego Technic charity auction held during the last few years. The Vampire GT is now up to USD $1,425 (38 bids), with ~5 hours to go! That's equivalent to 1,138.41 Euros! Do I see $1,500?

[DLuders]

...SOLD for USD $1,626.00 ( = 1,298.98 EUR)! What a huge fundraising success! Many wishes came true today (for a child, Paul, and the winning bidder)!

[dhc6twinotter]

Awesome!

[Matt The Tuba Guy]

nice job with the charity auction!

I have made up the Vampire myself now (red with a black spoiler and grey/black seats), and it is spectacular!

I really should consider getting a couple of system sets though, the only parts I DIDN'T have were plates and tiles!

once I get my latest lego orders (mostly the 2012 sets), I should be able to make the black version with a few alterations (no 19 long flexi axles in black)

I do have to say, those instructions were certainly a challenge! nothing wrong with that, I do like a good challenge, but some of those steps really were quite confusing.

Making instructions must be bloody hard, LEGO must spend a LOT of time making the final instructions for official sets, so you did a pretty good job!

regarding the set itself, I think it would have been cool with damped suspension springs to open the doors rather than gears, like 8448 and 8466, although I do like how the doors lock closed.

Overall, it is a great set, and I look forward to when it is officially released by LEGO!

[Paul Boratko]

The man who won the Auction is from the United Kingdom and he has a rather sad story dealing with his own physical ailments... I have received the money and will be contributing the $1,626.00 to Make-A-Wish as promised...

Paypal took $65.98 in fees, but I am going to add that amount out of my own personal account to stay true to my word that every cent of the final bid will go to Make-A-Wish...

[Darth Dino]

@Paul

thank you for the great car and great auction. Gratulations "you" got such a high value, and even found a real bidder, instead of "fun bidder".

You may aks eBay and or Paypal if they cancel their fees while this is a charity auction. I know at least ebay did that. Offer them a copy of the bank transfer to M a W that shows the full auction value.

Good luck!

Dino

[Meatman]

I am a little surprised that no other Lego based sites are mentioning this other than Technicbricks. This was something pretty special that was accomplished for not only Technic, but Lego in general.

[DLuders]

@ Meatman: It was featured in The Lego Car Blog on May 5th.

[Meatman]

@ Meatman: It was featured in The Lego Car Blog on May 5th.

I am talking about the money that was raised for the Charity Auction. That auction had almost 2,800 unique views and was great promotion for The Lego Company as well as Make-A-Wish and Paul himself.

The accomplishment that was reached in that auction seems like it would be a great way to get exposure for the Technic theme since many people don't seem to care about it.

[Studio Draven]

I've just finished building the red Vampire GT, so I thought I'd put up a couple of shots. I didn't have enough grey to build the chassis, so I went with black:

I used black & light grey for the seats, and dark grey for the dash. I didn't have any plain white tiles to use for the license plates so I had to use the ones from 8448. I also used the silver parts from 8448 for the Vampire's exhaust pipes.

For the bodywork I used red, but went with 2 rows of black round the bottom edge:

I also put a couple of black panels in front of the dash, just to close the gap up. The HOG steering still works fine:

SUCH a fun build. I estimate it took about 9 hours (in evenings and a longer session on Friday), and worth every second. Great work, Paul!

Edited June 19, 2012 by Studio Draven

[Bob Kojima]

I finished Paul's Vampire yesterday. and thought i would post a few pics.

I hung out with Paul last weekend at BrickFair and he hooked me up with a set of the red chrome wheels. They look amazing on the car!

I started with set 8070 and set 9395 and needed to pull about 775 parts from my collection. of those 775 i was missing about 40 parts mostly the new black panels. i also cheated on the black flex axles. i took some red ones and sprayed them black. not sure how long they will last. when i bent them into the curves they started to crack and peel. i need to find some plastic paint that has more flex in it.

i also got a set of wheels to finish off my 8448 while i was at BrickFair from Randy Britton. now i have 7 super cars done.

more photos here after moderation.

The 8070 is the only car built from a purchased set. The 853, 8880, and 8448 were all built from parts I collected.

Paul thank you so much for creating and sharing these very cool cars, and thank you to Eric for making such beautiful and easy to follow instructions! Looking forward to the Porsche instructions.

bob

[dhc6twinotter]

I finished Paul's Vampire yesterday. and thought i would post a few pics.

I hung out with Paul last weekend at BrickFair and he hooked me up with a set of the red chrome wheels. They look amazing on the car!

I started with set 8070 and set 9395 and needed to pull about 775 parts from my collection. of those 775 i was missing about 40 parts mostly the new black panels. i also cheated on the black flex axles. i took some red ones and sprayed them black. not sure how long they will last. when i bent them into the curves they started to crack and peel. i need to find some plastic paint that has more flex in it.

i also got a set of wheels to finish off my 8448 while i was at BrickFair from Randy Britton. now i have 7 super cars done.

The 8070 is the only car built from a purchased set. The 853, 8880, and 8448 were all built from parts I collected.

Paul thank you so much for creating and sharing these very cool cars, and thank you to Eric for making such beautiful and easy to follow instructions! Looking forward to the Porsche instructions.

bob

Oh, man! Another Technic builder at Brickfair! Bummer I missed it this year; it would have been great to meet another Technic builder. Maybe we'll get to meet next year. Welcome to the forum!

Edited August 9, 2012 by dhc6twinotter

[Bob Kojima]

Oh, man! Another Technic builder at Brickfair! Bummer I missed it this year; it would have been great to meet another Technic builder. Maybe we'll get to meet next year. Welcome to the forum!

Yeah, there are not many of us Technic builders in the US. were you at BrickCon last year? thought i saw your backhoe there. i'll be at BrickCon this year too. i'm the BrickShirts guy selling T-shirts.

bob

[Meatman]

I check Cuusoo just about everyday to see how the Vampire is doing and noticed some new pictures Paul must have uploaded recently. I really like this new spoiler.

[Vernon Bauer]

Finished building the black Vamp about a month ago. I think the new spoiler is also a great upgrade.

Here's my latest addition-a dashboard.

[Bob Kojima]

I made the latest spoiler changes to my Vampire GT and took some photos to share. More photos here after moderation.

bob

[Meatman]

That is really nice Bob, the pics are crisp. Your spoiler looks like it is angled forward a little too much. Paul sent me an upgrade file with building pics to make the new spoiler level like it should be instead of at an angle with the rear hatch part. He posted up some new pics at Cuusoo and I must say, it looks much better. By the way, what kind of paint did you use for your flex axles? I don't see them peeling or cracking.

[Bob Kojima]

That is really nice Bob, the pics are crisp. Your spoiler looks like it is angled forward a little too much. Paul sent me an upgrade file with building pics to make the new spoiler level like it should be instead of at an angle with the rear hatch part. He posted up some new pics at Cuusoo and I must say, it looks much better. By the way, what kind of paint did you use for your flex axles? I don't see them peeling or cracking.

Paul sent me new spoiler instructions last week. i like the tilt in the spoiler guess i did not follow the instructions corretly.

The paint totally flaked off my painted flex axles. so painting them did not work. Santa's elfs sent me a set of real black flex axles. Thank you Santa! these photos were done with the real black flex axles.

I took the time to take really nice high quality shots and also took the time to edit them correctly. i think the photos turned out nice too.

bob

bob

[skyhawk]

Finally got all the parts in and put this together. Absolutely amazing and a joy to build.

Progress pictures can be seen here: http://imgur.com/a/XoELI

My only complaint to Paul would be step 21 should probably be rethought. It's damn near impossible without some disassembly first.

[skyhawk]

Girlfriend was nice enough to take some much better shots (I've added them to the above album)

[Paul Boratko]

Looks like you need a couple black friction pins for the mirrors and a few black bushings... Shoot me an e-mail...

[mo_]

Nice work there skyhawk! It is looking good.

I too just finished my Black Vampire GT and I must say WOW what a build. Thank you Paul for sharing this with us also a big thank you to all involved with the creation of the instructions! It made building my 9398 really boring.

Here are some pics from my brickshelf - enjoy:

Now for those looking for a substitute for the black 19L some pneumatic piping works well (15cm in length):

I intend to do the spoiler change at a later date - I need to acquire the parts.

Edited September 8, 2012 by mo_