Plastemaurer

Great walker design, CptMugwash. All the details, like the steamtank, gearwheels, levers, indicators etc. make it look very mechanical. One can imagine the gearwheels spinning back and forth at ever step it takes, clattering through the streets of 19th century London. The use of brown and gold also add a nice wood-and-brass touch to the machine. Nice work, PM

Very nice work, Legostein. I really like how you managed to implement every important aspect of the MCM: the big cockpit, crane function, containers, even the loading bay for the small vehicles. Great work. PM

Hello Legoless, welcome to Eurobricks. (can't believe I'm the first to greet you after almost 24h) I think, owning or buying Lego is no prerequisite to be out of the Dark Ages. They end the very moment you realize that you still love those bricks. Anyway, welcome to the forum, and have fun. PM

Seeing a M-Tron MOC in this day and age brings back some memories. Thank you very much for that timura. This outpost is very well designed and has everything M-Tron needs: the black-red-trans-neon-green-color-scheme of course, lots of cargo crates and a magnet crane. The heavy armament makes it a bit too belligerent for my taste, but then, they have to defend against those Blacktrons after all, I really like the control tower and the shuttle has an interesting mixture of M-Tron and Blacktron II designs. The speeder bikes are also very nice and quite obviously Star Wars inspired, but they still fit well into the M-Tron scheme. Great work, timura. Thanks for sharing. PM

Very good review Dunjohn. This is one of the best MM sets, in my opinion. The dropship is well designed and has some nice features, like the rotable cannons and that simple, yet very effective grabbing mechanism for the drill vehicle. The landing struts are an interessing idea, too, and I used the concept in one my MOCs. The drill vehicle is nothing outstanding, but does it's job quite well. The set could be better if it wasn't for the aliens, but that applies to the whole Mars Mission theme. If they had omitted them completely and concentrated more on exploration and a bit of mining, MM could have been a nice continuation of the classic Lego Space lines. That also would have avoided the morally questionable tendency of the humans to abduct aliens to do "research" on them. Just locking them into these pods isn't enough, they do worse things in other sets ... Another thing that bugged me with MM was that there was not one single female character in all of the 17 or so sets. It's almost as if there were no women allowed on mars. PM

Very good review, Dunjohn, I really enjoyed reading it. Then, I must admit, I actually quite like Mars Mission, although it is not my favourite theme. It has some really nice sets, especially on the humans side, i.e. Ultra Drill Walker, Armored Drilling Unit, Recon Dropship, etc, but also terrible ones, mostly everything on the aliens side. This particular one is on the average level. When I first built it, I was a bit disapointed. It's not really bad, but somehow didn't fulfill my expectations. It does, you have to expose the jelly to a bright light for several minutes first, to "charge" it. After that, there is a small glowing area in its abdominal area. It's rather dim, though. PM

Just started "Europe reborn. A history. 1914-2000" (Geschichte Europas im 20. Jahrhundert - Fall und Aufstieg) by Harold James. About 480 pages and a rather small font, so this will take a while.

This is one awesome MOC you've made there Laureano! The design, the size, the details and most of all the interior are really great. And a very nice use of the power functions. And now I have this song in my head "Uchuuuu Sennkann Yaamaatooo..." PM

Thanks for your comments. At first I wanted to shape the body just with panels and plates, but nothing I tried really worked and looked bad. Then, somehow, my Neptune Carrier caught my eye and I thought "What, if..." I always try to add a little play-feature to my MOCs. The colors, as well as the whole ship, was inspired by a certain space theme from twenty years ago. A lady for a lady.

M Industries (a 100% subsidiary of Tron Corp.) introduces the latest member of their PSI-family of combat support vessels: The PSI 2000 (click the pics for hires images) Our lovable chief test pilot Frederika Szopin presents our latest creation. As you can see, the PSI 2000 is equipped with two large separate multi purpose tanks, which can hold almost any kind of liquid or gas. The PSI's jump drive (the big wheel in the back), developed by Fold Engines, is probably the fastest one available today. It powers up from 0% to 100% in less than 5 seconds, providing excellent escape abilities. The rotor on top houses the astrogation sensors, as well as electronic counter measure equipment. It also looks really cool. Frederika demonstrates the remote controlled cargo tray. It can hold almost anything that fits inside the cargo bay. The goods are fixed by a new and unique technology called "clutch" which makes tie down straps obsolete. The cargo bay closed. Also visible are two of the four lift jets and parts of the jet/rocket combo engine. More pics on my Brickshelf. Some technical data: dimensions (in studs): length: 41 (~330mm) width: 16 (~168mm) height: 35 (~114mm) weight: 488g 463 parts. And finally, theres also a LDD file: (click on the picture) Hope you like it. Comments and critiques welcome.

Very .. colorful, maybe a bit too much. But I like the overall shape of the ship. Looks a bit like a flower to me. Hmm, Flower Power... PM

Just finished "Imperium der Zukunft - Warum Europa Weltmacht werden muss" (Empire of the Future - Why Europe must become a Great Power, don't know if it has been translated yet) by Alan Posener. Very interesting read. Now reading "Goldfinger" by Ian Fleming. PM

Spent some money today and got me: 7976 Ocean Speeder 2x 7977 Seabed Strider 7978 Angler Attack 850150 Santa Clause Classic Key Chain 852774 Shark Warrior Key Chain 852775 Manta Warrior Key Chain 852775 Diver Key Chain and a whole box of Series 3 Minifigures

Nice plane you have created there, Fire-storm. Good use of the technic panels for the rear wings and the big wheel (or whatever it is called) for the radial engine. Very well done I, too, have never heard the term dieselpunk before, but I understand it is some kind of retro-futurism and alternate history (basicaly what "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" is all about), so this fits in here perfectly. PM

Great idea for an index. And so I'd like to draw your attention to an older MOC of mine: The Dragonfly, of which I made a LXF a while ago.

I have to admit I don't know what Super Robot Wars is (I suppose something about giant mecha fighting each other) but this MOC is very impressive. I really like the colors of the robot and the details. The Hangar is also very well done. Great work Btw. "Alteizen Riese" sounds in german like "scrap iron giant" or "giant made of scrap iron".

Some Classic Space sets 6809 - XT-5 And Droid Download Unavailable 2433 Hinge Bar with 3 Fingers and End Stud (Control Lever) has been replaced. Old hinge plates replaced by new hinge plates. 6880 - Surface Explorer Download Unavailable parts 792c02 Arm Holder Brick 2 x 2 with Hole and 1 Arm, 3612 Arm Piece Straight with 2 and 3 Fingers, 4220 Arm Grab Jaw Holder, 4221 Arm Grab Jaw, 3613 Arm Piece with Towball Socket, 3 Fingers and 4089 Slope, Inverted 33 3 x 2 Hollow with Towball (Arm Piece) have been replaced. In both cases no printings/decorations, as always.

Not today, but yesterday (saturday) I finally bought the 8078 Portal of Atlantis to complete my 2010 Atlantis collection. Waiting for the next wave...

A few more Futurons: 6830 - Space Patroller Download One of the space robot arms cannot be placed. 6884 - AERO Module Download 3933 Wedge, Plate 8 x 4 Wing Left replaced by 50305 Wedge, Plate 8 x 3 Left. 3934 Wedge, Plate 8 x 4 Wing Right replaced by 50304 Wedge, Plate 8 x 3 Right. And a M:Tron: 6833 - Beacon Tracer Download The balloon tyres could not be fitted onto the Wheel 8mm D. x 6mm. In all three of them there are no decorations/printings, as usual.

Lucky you I can only recommend that, but have to warn you of "The Extended Phenotype". This is aimed mostly at scientist and could be quite a struggle for the layperson. Almost every other sentence Dawkins refers to the work or a paper of other scientists you might never have heard about before (the work, not necessarily the scientist). That made it bit boring for me, because more often than not I didn't know what he was talking about. I highly recommend his "Unweaving the Rainbow" which is not so much about evolution but more about science in general. It also has one of the best first paragraphs of a popular science book I've read so far. Right now I 'm reading "Your Body - The Fish That Evolved" by Keith Harrison. It gives an overview of the evolution of Homo Sapiens (that's us) starting with the first bilateria and explains which parts of our bodies come from which of our ancestors: fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals. It does not go very much into details but still makes you look at your body with different eyes.

5616 - Mini Robot - Theme: Space, Mars Mission Download No printings/decorations. 5619 - Crystal Hawk - Theme: Space, Mars Mission Download Again, no printings/decorations. 6850 - Auxiliary Patroller - Theme: Space, Futuron Download 3936 Wedge, Plate 4 x 4 Wing Left and 3935 Wedge, Plate 4 x 4 Wing Right replaced by 30503 Wedge, Plate 4 x 4 Cut Corner. And once more, no printings/decorations.

Thanks. I downloaded that reference file already a while ago, but somehow forgot to take a look in it. Updated the .lxf.

7649 MT-201 Ultra Drill Walker - Theme: Space, Mars Mission Download here. Errors/Modifications: - The parts for the Mars Mission Alien Commander seem not to be avilable in LDD, so I replaced it by something else (see .lxf for details). - The decoration Minifig, Head Balaclava with Eyes Hole Stitching Trim, Nose Hump, White Pupils Pattern appears to be unavailable, so replaced by the next best deco. - The ribbed hoses for the water tank cannot be placed on the technic pins. Placed them behind the model. - The arrow/rocket for the spring powered cannon should have a black tip. - As always no decorations/stickers.

Quite unimpressive. People look for patterns everywhere. And they tend to find them, even when there actually are none. Presidential election are only in certain years, same applies for congress. Counting the lettes of names and trying to find a meaning in there makes one look like an idiot, sorry. Johnson is the second most common family name in the United States after Smith. And many people have three names, even PotUS': John Fitzgerald Kennedy, George Walker Bush, Lyndon Baines Johnson ... the list goes on. This list does not make me sit up and go hmm... It just makes me sad because there are people who take stuff like that serious

6887 - Allied Avenger - Theme: Space, Blacktron II Download here. Errors/Modifications: - 4475 Wedge, Plate 8 x 8 with 4 x 4 Cutout replaced bya custom construction. See .lxf file for details. - 4730 Brick, Modified 2 x 2 with Pin and No Axle Hole replaced by 6232 Brick, Modified 2 x 2 with Pin and Axle Hole. - 2418a Windscreen 6 x 6 Octagonal Canopy without Axle hole replaced by 2418b Windscreen 6 x 6 Octagonal Canopy with Axle hole. - 4859 Wedge, Plate 3 x 4 without Stud Notches replaced by 48183 Wedge, Plate 3 x 4 with Stud Notches. 1887 - Scout Patrol Ship - Theme: Space, Blacktron II Download here. Errors/Modifications: - 4504 Hinge Plate 1 x 6 with 2 and 3 Fingers On Ends replaced by a custom construction. See .lxf file for details. - 6069 Wedge 4 x 4 Triple without Stud Notches replaced by 48933 Wedge 4 x 4 Triple with Stud Notches 1462 - Galactic Scout - Theme: Space,Blacktron II Download here. Errors/Modifications: - 2433 Hinge Bar with 3 Fingers and End Stud (Control Lever) is not available in LDD and has no modern day equivalent, so just hinted at it with the 30561 Hinge Cylinder 1 x 2 Locking with 2 Fingers and Axle Hole On Ends. - There should be a 2412a Tile, Modified 1 x 2 Grille without Bottom Groove / Lip placed on the two 2433 Hinge bars, but I couldn't find a way to place it, so I left it out. - In all three models the old hinges were replaced by the new hinges. - And as usual, no decorations/printings. And this, together with C3POwens contributions, completes the Blacktron II line. I hope you like it.