ASK HERE MOC-stuck? Ask for general building advice here!

[Rykeer]

Hi everyone,

I'm working on trying to create a cart, more of a wheelbarrow actually. This is from a vendor who sells pickles at the local Renaissance Fair. I've attached the best picture I have of it. My main problem is trying to design the wheel assembly. This will need to be minifig scale and I would much prefer it to be brown, unless I can find some way to make it look similar in color. I've recently come out of my dark ages (basically the last 15 years), so I don't really know all of the parts that are available for this. I've done a lot of browsing in Bricklink's catalog, as well as in MLCad. I've also searched online, mocpages, brickshelf, and here, and found a few examples:

http://www.eurobrick...&hl=wheelbarrow

http://www.eurobrick...row#entry673157

http://www.brickshel...a2/pa015322.jpg

The biggest problem, is that I can't seem to figure out what they're using for the wheel assembly/wheel, etc. If anyone can give me some advice on how to do this, I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh, and if anyone can recommend something that I could use as a pickle, that'd be great too.

Thanks,

Rykeer

Edited December 27, 2012 by Rykeer

[Aanchir]

Hi everyone,

I'm working on trying to create a cart, more of a wheelbarrow actually. This is from a vendor who sells pickles at the local Renaissance Fair. I've attached the best picture I have of it. My main problem is trying to design the wheel assembly. This will need to be minifig scale and I would much prefer it to be brown, unless I can find some way to make it look similar in color. I've recently come out of my dark ages (basically the last 15 years), so I don't really know all of the parts that are available for this. I've done a lot of browsing in Bricklink's catalog, as well as in MLCad. I've also searched online, mocpages, brickshelf, and here, and found a few examples:

http://www.eurobrick...&hl=wheelbarrow

http://www.eurobrick...row#entry673157

http://www.brickshel...a2/pa015322.jpg

The biggest problem, is that I can't seem to figure out what they're using for the wheel assembly/wheel, etc. If anyone can give me some advice on how to do this, I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh, and if anyone can recommend something that I could use as a pickle, that'd be great too.

Thanks,

Rykeer

This one from the first link uses a pair of handcuffs from the old LEGO Batman sets as the axle, clipped around a pair of Technic pins and with a Technic half-bushing as the wheel. I'm not sure how much you'd have to stress the handcuffs for this to work; needless to say none of these connections are intended in the design of the handcuffs.

This example uses two signal paddles, stud to stud, as an axle. I cannot tell if it even has a wheel or just a tire. The paddles, if you can't tell, are attached to the wheelbarrow via Technic half-pins and minifigure neck brackets.

I can't tell how the wheelbarrow in your second link is built.

The one in the third link uses this hockey puck as a front wheel (lovely piece), and a cut piece of Technic flex cable as an axle. The axle is connected to the wheelbarrow using two of these, which are in turn connected to two 1x1 plates with clips. Very simple construction, really, although some might prefer not using cut flex tubing if possible.

I've got no specific solutions to your problem-- truth be told I encountered a similar problem one time when trying to build Teo's three-wheeled wheelchair from Avatar: The Last Airbender-- but hopefully I've at least answered your questions about how the examples you provided are built.

[sedna1000]

Are you asking how to figure out how to scale down something to 1/16 scale?

[Ralph_S]

I haven't been actively posting here in a while, but have been reading things and, I'm sorry, this thread is a bit mind-boggling. You see, I constantly work with scale when building LEGO models and enjoy doing it. I don't just want my models to look right (more-or-less), I want them to be right.

Hobbestimus and Hrw-Amen, do you guys know how big or wide a tank should be compared to, say, an SUV or a helicopter? Perhaps it's not relevant to the sort of things you build, but I do, because I looked up the numbers, with this result (all scaled 1/22):

US Army collection by Mad physicist, on Flickr

Of course there are limitations to how accurate you can be with bricks. You can't really get to within a brick's width of the proper size of something, unless you're willing to make things really complicated and, certainly when building for minifigs, some compromises are inevitable, but I think you could say that my motto is that 'if the numbers are right, it will look right'.

Green Castle, working out the size of a scale model really isn't that hard. I don't know whether you maths teachers in school scared you or what, but a scale of 1/16 means that, on your model, every length should be 1/16th of what it is in real life. That's all. It's not at all complicated. How about an example? Let's say the roof on a real building is about 8 ft. (or a little more than 2.4 m) off the ground, which is fairly typical. On a scale of 1/16 it should be 1/16th as far off the ground. Since 8/16=0.5, that makes it half a foot or 6 inches tall (a little more than 15 cm). Since a brick is 0.96 cm tall, this equates to a stack that is approximately 16 bricks tall. Hopefully this is a good starting point.

Cheers,

Ralph

[Hobbestimus]

Of course there are limitations to how accurate you can be with bricks.

This is all I meant.

[Klintrin]

Whoa! That's an amazing MOC!

[commodore_legolas]

I remember that movie. I still have the music CD somewhere. What scale are you trying to build it?

Minifigure scale. I am glad I'm not the only EB fan of that movie!

I think I have figured it out now though:

I may mod it a bit, but that is pretty much what it will look like.

Edited January 14, 2013 by commodore_legolas

[Chorduroy]

Hey all. I am trying to achieve horizontal striping by laying bricks on their side, stacking them, and clipping them to bars or whatever. The problem is that the "phone" piece is the only element that gives me the perfect height for the first row (laid on a tile), then I can use a brick and 1 x 1 tile with clip to get the second row to align perfectly. See pics below.

My problem is that I have only 4 of the phone pieces and they don't allow me a ton of room to slide the layers side to side to align them perfectly .... are there any other elements that give me the same height exactly as the phone piece? Ideally, something like the second row where I have ample room left to right to align the layers.

Hopefully the photos convey what I'm trying to accomplish ....

horizontal5 by Chorduroy, on Flickr

horizontal4 by Chorduroy, on Flickr

horizontal2 by Chorduroy, on Flickr

Edited January 15, 2013 by Chorduroy

[-zenn]

How about that one eyed mind controller aliem from invasion lego set? Might be good "slimer type" ghost.

Agreed.

[Bioslayer]

No way I can afford the price Rotta is selling for :)

The arms account for about $10 of the total value. you can get just the body for around $3

[Peppermint_M]

There are a number of rubber parts from Bionicle that come in shades and even glow-in-the-dark that would work as ghosties. For nauticle busts, Agents had a octopus that glowed!

[hachiroku]

This wheels

Could it be used in a car?

I can´t find a way to fit it.

Just after I wrote the topic, I has made this:

Edited February 10, 2013 by hachiroku

[Fugazi]

Moved this to the building advice thread!

[Luke_likes_Lego]

I'm working on trying to create a cart, more of a wheelbarrow actually. ...... prefer it to be brown, un

The biggest problem, is that I can't seem to figure out what they're using for the wheel assembly/wheel, etc. If anyone can give me some advice on how to do this, I would greatly appreciate it.

Oh, and if anyone can recommend something that I could use as a pickle, that'd be great too.

Hi Rykeer,

Here are a couple of other ideas....but I don't think all the parts come in brown/reddish brown

and pickles...hmmm ...the ice cream scoops come in green...not overly close to pickles though....from a distance you'd have a cart of green round looking things!!

Cheers,

LLL

[dren0ma]

im now stuck in a house moc for 2 days, what is the best way (something that wont fall over because of lack of connection) to attach sideways built walls to a normal baseplate?

Edited March 25, 2013 by dren0ma

[Luke_likes_Lego]

Any of these would be a good start.

Good luck.

LLL

[Ajax]

Hi everyone, I have a building question. I am about to start putting together my city layout, It is going to be pretty big. I want to know if I should be building the city on ply wood and then putting it on the tables or what is the best way? Building straight onto tables? What if the tables are slightly uneven? I try and look at what others have done but you can't always see under the base plates. Thanks for any help or advice you can give me.

[Peppermint_M]

Well, nice firm plywood allows easier moving around of segments of the layout. If you build it all on the table you'll have a difficult time re-arranging things or changing MOCs if it is particularly big. Another thing to keep in mind with any big layout: The clutch on studs as bricks and plates are joined is only micrometers in a small MOC but the larger the area the bigger the loss, I can't recall the exact ratio but it is certainly a couple of studs over a meter.

If you are worried about the surface being un-even, use large sheets of flexible "padding" like flexi-foam or certain types of sheeting used in insulation. It allows a malleable layer between baseplates and table with enough give to let them settle evenly.

[Mr_Malfoy]

Hi,

I've been planning to expand the Colby City Showdown set with several other buildings. I've already added a town hall, but I also plan to add a general store, a saloon, and a hanging contraption. What type of design makes a building "western"? What features set them apart? Thanks in advance for any tips!

[Spitfire2865]

Hi,

I've been planning to expand the Colby City Showdown set with several other buildings. I've already added a town hall, but I also plan to add a general store, a saloon, and a hanging contraption. What type of design makes a building "western"? What features set them apart? Thanks in advance for any tips!

Mostly wood, foundation stone. Porches and many windows. Thats pretty much it. :)

[Wolfolo]

I don't know if this is the right topic, but I'll try :P

I purchased a bunch of LEGO Creator sets (from 31000 to 31008, some of them twice) which I keep at my work place to enjoy during the lunch break.

This time I'm building a Vic Viper -> Brickshelf gallery

I'm stuck on the side wings and I'm not sure about the tail wing too.

I already made the bottom (which is missing from the gallery, I'll add it tomorrow).

I was planning to build the side wings with moving flaps, but I always end up with a fragile design or too thick design, or misaligned wing plans.

I don't have many right coloured pieces now, so I'm a little limited, these are the pieces I remember I used to build the thickest version of the wings (maybe I have some more 1x2/3 plates but don't rely on them)

I just want a strong design which is not really thick, but I'm running out of ideas, maybe some of you could suggest something nice :P

[Battlegorilla]

Something I'm curious about regarding this piece and this piece: If you build them into a MOC using SNOT techniques so that the open ends of the arches touch, do they form an actual circle, or just a general roundish shape? I'd like to know for sure before placing my next Bricklink order.

Thanks for any and all help!

[Luke_likes_Lego]

Hi there Wolfolo,

I couldn't access your Brickshelf pic...says "...folder is not yet public"

Cheers,

LLL

[Aanchir]

Something I'm curious about regarding this piece and this piece: If you build them into a MOC using SNOT techniques so that the open ends of the arches touch, do they form an actual circle, or just a general roundish shape? I'd like to know for sure before placing my next Bricklink order.

Thanks for any and all help!

No, they do not. The first would form a sort of an oval shape, because it is a perfect semicircle plus one extra plate height. The second is not a perfect circular curve in any way. It would form a different, more elliptical sort of oval shape.

These sorts of questions are the kind that are easily answered by opening LEGO Digital Designer or another digital building application. They're great material for checking this kind of question regarding part geometries for parts you don't own.

Edited May 5, 2013 by Aanchir

[Cara]

Hi,

I've been planning to expand the Colby City Showdown set with several other buildings. I've already added a town hall, but I also plan to add a general store, a saloon, and a hanging contraption. What type of design makes a building "western"? What features set them apart? Thanks in advance for any tips!

Around here (California gold trail) they also have false facades that extend higher than the top story of the building, they can be crenellated or make it appear that the building has an apex roof whereas really they have flat rooves. The other thing I would suggest is the wooden decking that extends on the ground floor of the building over the muddy road.