ScottishDave

Yes, the hinge finger plates can be replaced. The one on the bottom - as I just stated - with a 1x3 plate if you use the new-style jumper plates. The ones on the internal frame can be replaced by 1x2 plates with clips and 1x2 plates with handles: but you will have to modify the frame to do so. The ones holding on the engine are hardest to replace as they are forming a 1-plate thick 180-degrees SNOT system. Up to you how you solve this one :-). -- David.

Ah, yes. That's the ones. I'd forgotten about the blue version. Not if you're going to swap the passenger and cargo modules around, I'm not . Seriously: I have one of these somewhere. If I want any more, I might follow your example and build one out of Lego.

Indeed he should. I see that the Tennis Ace collectible minifig has this hair in tan. That's probably close enough: and if it isn't, I can paint it . Good suggestion. I almost used that hair, but then I realised that it fitted the 8th Doctor much better. I didn't want to use the same hair on both... they don't really look the same to my eyes. The hair I used on ol' "Teeth & Curls" is the Disco Diva hair - I thought that this was appropriate, given that he is a Prima Donna from the '70s. Thanks! I have detailed the parts I used for each minifig in their descriptions on flickr, with links to bricklink: so if you want to have a go at making them, the info is all there.

I built an Eagle back in 1988 . It was my last MOC before my Dark Ages. It had yellow landing pods, a blue cockpit, a grey "spine" (made out of space Lego plates) and probably other colours which I have mercifully forgotten. (Sorry, no pics. It's been 27 years, people!) I blame the Dinky die-cast toys, which had green cockpit and landing pods, red engine nozzles and thrusters. Eagles in "accurate" grey and white look wrong to me. I also blame black and white TV. We didn't get a colour one until 1980. I used to think the TARDIS was red, just like the actual police boxes in Glasgow. So this is pretty cool IMHO Yeah, the landing pods could do with beefing up, but that's about all. You did a good job on the shape of the cockpit, and I love the split module!

I have seen your flickr page - excellent thirteen doctors! I love the torso on the War Doctor - is that a custom, or a regular lego piece? Looking forward to seeing your 12th.

Hi Admonisher, Thank you for the full and informative reply. As an aside: I just realised that, if you replace the jumper plates at the front of the lower city with the new style jumper plates with "interior stud holder", you can then replace the 3-finger hinge with a regular 1 x 3 plate. The only reason I used the hinge plate at all was because I needed something about three studs long which had hollow studs - to attach to the bottom of the old-style jumper plates

1. 500 grams, 56 centimetres long. 2. That depends upon how rough your 8-year-old is: but it isn't exactly as sturdy as Lego would have made it. My nephews kept theirs together for a few months before breaking it up for parts. 3. As GuyDudeMan27 says: www.bricklink.com. Run the LXF file from post #63 of this thread through LDD Manager to get a "wanted list" which you can upload to Bricklink. Good luck!

Oh, I am looking forward to this. Thank you very much indeed.

I'm guessing you mean this? This is the design I used before getting stuck in - so to speak - with the clear vinyl. You got the parts I used correct. The technic gear is this one. I used an octagonal frame - this or this, either will do - to hold the 90 degree mechanical arms in place. The bar through the entire lot was a 4L "lightsaber blade" in lbg. I copied elements of the design, along with the dish stand, from Mike Psiaki's Falcon. Good luck with your mods!

Absolutely: and this is also a good tip for anyone using the thicker vinyl stickers with an inkjet printer: I smudged several of my stickers before working this out. Then again, I was using the soapy-water technique to position the stickers properly. Will do. I'll try to post some nice side-by-side photos!

Jay, That is an excellent answer: thank you once again. I think I have all the info I need to try this for myself. Thanks for the offer of a completed decal, but I think I can spring for the cost of a few sheets of inkjet decal paper myself. I have some other, non-lego projects which are suddenly looking like they need decals, so it's all good :-). Go for it. The basic UCS Falcon clone was my first project out of my dark ages (started March 2009) so I know it can be done. I wish I'd had bmerigan's blog posts in front of me when I started it all those years ago. Thank you! I was attempting to replicate the detail on the 32" studio model, so I'm pleased by your reaction. I'm afraid that there are no full-on step-by-step guides for the rest of my mods. The closest I have are the pictures in my flickr album, which ought to get you started. I do fully intend to take the time one of these days to pull the entire thing apart and photograph it to death - right after I've done the 101 urgent DIY projects I keep getting presented with...

Hi Jay, Many thanks for the answer - that all sounds good, and when I get my hands on a spare dish, decal paper and free time, I'll give it a go. By the way, did you use any additional products, like decal softeners, fixatives or protective sprays? The rigidity of the engine mod is quite good. Mine is strong enough to withstand the most destructive force it is ever likely to meet: a seven-year-old boy . If you are looking for a clean and simple modification of the UCS design, I suggest that you take a look at bmerigan's excellent blog. At an educated guess, I'd say that his design is as rigid as the original.

JayCal, that looks awesome. Well done! It takes a lot of time and effort to get the parts and to build this beast, so I'm impressed at you getting it all done in a single month. Your radar dish looks impressive - very neat and clean. I created my own earlier this year on clear vinyl. The biggest frustration I had with the thicker vinyl is that it did not follow the curve of the dish very well, so I had to cut around each printed element, making a star shape. The resulting lines are clearly visible. Did the decal film stretch to follow the curve of the dish? Did it wrinkle or tear? Did you have to cut around the elements? Thanks in advance for any answers.

Hi mentalmike, That looks about the right number of parts to me. You may want to have a few more 3022 to hand - I count 78 on mine. You do need a few extra parts, to join the new engines onto the existing framework. I did this in three places: - at the middle, where I replaced two of the 3022 with 2x10 plate 3832. I also joined the engine block at the sides. To do this, I shortened the existing blocks on either side of the new engines - the originals are shown here. I removed the 1x8 technic beams and replaced the grey plates with some shorter ones (1x4) Finally, I joined the engine to the sides using a combination of 1 x 2 technic bricks and technic locking hinge pins You don't have to do exactly as I did: bmerigan came up with his own solution, which he has posted detailed pictures of on his blog. I hope this helps!

No problem. If I'd had a post like this for reference, it'd have saved me a lot of hassle. BTW, you may also want to check out the LDD and LDraw forum here on Eurobricks. They have a lot of useful info indexed, especially the LPub guide One thing I ought to mention: In the end, I found it easiest to export the Groups from LDD as seperate files, then work on them in MLCad individually. It made it quicker to sort the parts into the desired steps. Then I imported all the seperate files into one LDraw file and shuffled them into the correct physical position. I started on 15 August and finished right before Christmas, I can see that much from the file dates. ... but looking in more detail at all the working files, I may, just possibly, have goofed off for three months then gotten serious about mid-November. -- David.

I used LDD and LDraw to produce instructions for Pellaeon's midi-scale Executor. Here are a few pointers: I built the model first in LDD: it was a lot easier to use than Ldraw. I scaffolded bricks into place where they had illegal connections, and left them floating at as close to the correct spot as possible To set up LDraw: I found my way to Ldraw's beginner's guide. I ended up using two programs: MLCad (Windows) and LPub (OSX or Windows). MLCad is fiddly and looks dated, but it is very powerful. I used it to do the bulk of the work of sorting the parts into the steps I wanted. I also used it to move the floating parts around and get them into the "correct" spots. LPub then let me add all the rest of the stuff - part lists, step numbers, page layout and formatting. There is a complete guide to working with LPub here. There is a special file, "ldraw.xml", bundled with Lego Digital Designer, which theoretically fixes LDD parts so that they export correctly to LDraw. The built-in Lego one does not fix many parts. I found and downloaded a much better third party ldraw.xml from Gallagher's Art. This gave me a perfect LDraw file. For this two-foot-long 761 brick model, it took five months to make the instructions, from start to finish, on a steep learning curve, with a self-imposed deadline of Christmas 2013. Never again! Good luck with your project, Smitty500, and I hope this has helped.

Good luck with your build!

That has made my morning! You are the first person I've heard from who has followed my instructions and completed one of these (apart from my nephews, who had my help). I know it's been a few months since you built it, but did you have any problems with the instructions or the parts list? I'm always looking for feedback. I might have a go at that myself, to see how it looks. Out of curiosity, which part needed to be dark grey? You are very welcome: and congratulations on the awesome build.

Excellent stickers - really well done. The dish in particular is excellent. I also had problems getting my dish sticker (available to download here) properly centered. In the end, I added a square the same size as the central piece on the lego dish: by carefully cutting around this with a sharp knife, I was able to center my dish pretty well. I also sprayed my completed sticker with ink jet fixative before applying. This allowed me to use the soapy water trickfor easier application. I see you updated your blog also - that is one good looking Falcon. Congratulations!

Could be. It's looking great. I may need to have a go at this myself! Thanks!

Wow! Nice revisions I see that the curved 4 x 1 slope is available in dark red - so the rear of the cockpit could have even less studs on the dark red model. I'd never heard of that incredibly handy round tile with the hole before - I clearly haven't been buying enough sets this year. You've reminded me that I've been meaning to put up photos of the landing leg on my B-Wing for a while now.

Congratulations! That is an excellent blog entry. I wish I'd had that level of information available when I bricklinked my 10179. Do let me know if you need any more photos or information about my engine mod. This is the exact tool I have been looking for. Thank you for sharing info about that. I printed my own radar dish sticker at home on inkjet decal paper and sprayed it with inkjet sealer. YMMV, but I think it looks quite good.

Your interior looks great. The computer really looks the part, and the seats make a huge difference. I'm also impressed with the way you attached the windows: it looks great and saves a lot of space inside. Did you drop the floor by a plate to fit all the figures in? What about the rear of the car - did you lengthen the floor, or remove one of the brackets? How did you attach the steering wheel? It doesn't seem to be attached to the normal steering wheel post! Is it attached to this piece or something similar? Finally: I just saw your engine mod. Wow. .

Yes, and it was definitely cheaper. I added the numbers up once... I built a non-accurate-coloured clone of the 10179 for about £350 £392.45. It was my first project out of my Dark Ages, and I only discovered Bricklink half-way through: so I might have saved more money if I'd known what I was doing. Light and dark gray pieces (as opposed to the more modern blueish-gray) look really good, and really add to the feeling of it being a beat-up old ship. Substituting greeblies is not a problem either, in terms of the overall look. I also have quite a few black technic angled beams in my model, and the frame is a hodge-podge of colours. However... I then I got carried away accurising it, and it all got expensive again . That aside: you might find my radar dish decal template useful - it should save you a few euros on the expensive printed piece.

I spent almost exactly $100. However, I built about half the model from existing bricks - mostly the technic frame and internals - then started buying when I needed particular bricks to finish the model. Also, I built it in dark red which helped a lot. Sand blue is expensive, at least in the UK. May I ask, which bricks are causing the expense for you?