dmaclego
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Everything posted by dmaclego
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The reason I used the inverted tapered slope on the top of the nose is quite simple: I absolutely hate and avoid all kinds of LEGO wedges with toothed lower edges. Which means pretty much ALL wedges ;) . (You can probably imagine, how painful it is for me to look at the rear edges of wings with all those 2x4 wedge plates ;) . ) In my opinion toothed edges are just aesthetically unacceptable; I use them only if I have absolutely no choice. Of course I'm not in love with studholes on top of the nose, either, but consider them a lesser evil ;) . About the wings mechanism: yes, the L-shaped Technc liftarms are the key. The problem is, in such a tiny space you cannot attach a 20-tooth double bevel gears to them firmly (no X holes in the liftarms) . That's why, If you look closely at the picture some 16 posts earlier, you will notice tiny little pieces of flex tube crammed inside the 20-tooth gear wheel. They serve just this purpose: to hold the gears and liftarms together. You turn the gears in opposite directions - the liftarms turn as well. Now you know one of hundreds of reasons why this model could never be issued by the LEGO Group - they just don't do such things ;) .
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Dziękuję :) . Yeah, the cannons are at least something really original. I'm proud of the hockey masks as supressors and of the way the cannons are attached to the wings (with three tiny supports). Realistic enough, I think :) .
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Thank you all very much. And I'm glad that things I paid special attention to are so generously appreciated: the colors, the long forgotten details, the lights. Very satisfying indeed :) . The lights in my model are custom made. All you need are LEDs (you can have 50 of them for a dollar, in various colors), very thin wire (even cheaper) and small coin-batteries (I used model CR2025 - they last several hours of powering 3 or 4 LEDs each). Plus a soldering iron and lots of patience. But if you want it quick and easy (plus you have plenty of cash ;) ), try your luck at Brickstuff.com, for instance. I never tried, but myy friends are happy with their products.
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Initially, front landing gear was folding inside the hull. Then I realized that if I want to show the engine guts that are visible on the inside of the wings, I will have extremaly little space for the rear landing gear By the way, the whole idea of landing gear inside engines is quite silly (but that's not my fault; the X-wing was conceived that way). When I realized that, it became obvious that removable landing gear is the way to go, especially that it could be made much more faithful to the original, than the folding prototype. And that's what I did. Currently, you need to remove landing hear (which is very easy - you just pull a bar from a clip (front) and a pin from a Technic hole (rear) and that's it. Flaps covering the landing gear bays, though, are another story. In the front you just replace panels 1x4 with tiles 1x4, not too bad. But rear part is a royal pain, because you need to remove the flaps with hinges, then reposition all the wires inside (which is the trickiest part) and only then add the half cylinders (identical with the ones on upper wings). It takes some 30 minutes but is well worth the while - there's nice greebling when the wings are open and there is almost perfect landing gear when the wings are folded. Sorry for being so talkative ;) .
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[Model MOC] T-47 Airspeeder (Snowspeeder)
dmaclego replied to LiLmeFromDaFuture's topic in LEGO Star Wars
I'd say it's the best among the small ones I've seen so far (minifig scale). Remarkable! Somehow I totally overlooked the existence of that fine windscreen you used in the front. Great choice. Now, all you need is to finish that AT-AT to stomp on it properly ;) . -
Haha, that's interesting! "High noon: duel of the X-wings" ;) Well, it's hard not to compare our creations, isn't it? Yours is much more... LEGO, I think. Visible studs are considered - by many fans - a necessity. As far as I can see, there are no illegal techniques (stud jammed in Technic hole used to be legal, so no problem here ;) ). Also, it is white, like all the recent official LEGO renditions of X-wing. And it's a very elegant design - clean form, no questionable solutions. As I said - very, very LEGO, in the best meaning of this word. Also, proportions are very good - using a custom-built cockpit allowed that, which is nice. All in all - a great, great effort. Congratulations! P.S. But I like mine a bit more :D . Should I feel bad about it? ;) I hope you feel the same about your baby... I mean: model!
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Now this looks like a perfect introduction duriing the first meeting of Anonymous Legoholics Club :D . But seriously, your model looks great already. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you - keep up the fine work and avoid crash-landings ;) . My question is: what do you plan to do with such a huge model? I know, for instance, that ISD "Chimaera" model built by my friend Jerac tours the commercial LEGO exhibitions constantly. I also know that my Endor Project will spend most of its life in the boxes (with occasional fan convent visits), until I have a separate room for it. And what do you intend to do?
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Once again: thank you all for overhelmingly positive reactions. Smitty500: I think I would break down if I had to break down this model once again ;) . I mean, it is now so packed with wires inside it's a wonder the walls don't bulge. Right now, only a hard crash-landing on the floor could make me peek inside this model again ;) . But they say time is a healer, so maybe one day... But let me tell you this: the key part of the hull are ball joints (the small ones from Mixels). They enabled me to taper the walls toward the nose. Initially there were four joints, now there are only two. Now, let the reverse engineering fiesta begin! :)
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Thank you, gentlemen. Jannik: sorry to cause you trouble :) . But keep building, by all means; the progress (in SW model building) seems to be constant, why don't just take the lead! :) The parts you're asking about: the white half-circles are helmet visors from Hockey player collectable minifig, then the thinniest parts of the barrels are metal LEGO train axles. Bbafett: I believe these pics (and pic descriptions) may explain to you how the wings work: bottom mech by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr top mech by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr
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Well, I don't share your fondness for this particular view :) . The camera either focuses on the very nose of the ship or the rear part (engines). So there is always half of it out of focus. But here you go: Frontal by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr
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[MOC][WIP][LDD] Minifig Scale Rebels Ghost Build
dmaclego replied to IcarusBuilds's topic in LEGO Star Wars
Beautiful work, my friend: a daring and well executed project. I'd love to see the interior but even more than that, I'd love to see how it looks in real bricks. Do you plan to actually build it? Or perhaps you've already checked the crucial sections of the ship in real bricks to see if they hold together? And what about color availability? -
What're your favorite and least favorite Star Wars minifigures?
dmaclego replied to Darthking623's topic in LEGO Star Wars
I bet that's the one who smashed his fighter against Executor's bridge. The low hanging guts on his knees gave him away ;) . Personally, I adore the recent snowspeeder pilot with printed legs. I hope we'll get similar print with new T-65 X-wing fighter (coming out eventually, considering how often they re-build this vessel) plus super-cool new X-wing pilot helmet with visor, a'la T-70. -
Hi, Having built my own X-wing (and waiting for the last BL order before publishing it), I'm quite familiar with this vessel at the moment and I noticed something about your model. I hope you don't mind - I copied one of your photos and modified it to illustrate my point. Please, take a look. In your model, H1 more or less equals H2 (even if the white cockpit outline I drew is a little exaggerated). In real X-wing (if there is such a thing ;) ) it is not so: section H2 is twice as tall as H1. It won't be easy for you correct this mistake, considering the technique you've chosen but I think it would improve your model tremendously. Good luck!
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[MOC] [WIP] The Command of the AT-AT
dmaclego replied to LiLmeFromDaFuture's topic in LEGO Star Wars
Real bricks-built leg looks very nice. Makes me want to improve certain details in my design but I'll wait until you finish your model - to see if under real strain your ideas WORK as good as they LOOK :D . (Oh, naughty me ;) ). Also, as you put more and more effort into designing the legs, I keep wondering whether the head isn't too small. But you won't know that until you finish so... once again: good luck! Well, it's NOT supported in my model :) . -
[MOC] NEW UCS Nebulon B - Medical Frigate 'Redemption'
dmaclego replied to mortesv's topic in LEGO Star Wars
Very impressive model. I like the attention to detail, especially color-wise. Congratulations and keep up the great work! -
[MOC] [WIP] The Command of the AT-AT
dmaclego replied to LiLmeFromDaFuture's topic in LEGO Star Wars
Indeed! Unless both body and head of your model will be ultra-light, which is, well, impossible. Also, about accurate details: the 10x10 dishes just shouldn't be there :) . I know you need to hide the mechanism somehow but the 2 studs wide "tears" are already too thick as it is (just the same as in my my model, so I don't blame you here ;) ) and adding a 10x10 dish on the inside will make it hard for you to squeeze the "jet engines" between them (or whatever they are, the tubular parts between legs, usually represented by large LEGO wheels). -
Excellent model. I particularly admire details of legs. It will make updating my own AT-ST's - quite a bit obsolete by today's building standards - much more difficult, since I'm trying to avoid any influences, even (or: especially) from the greatest designs, like yours. :)
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A massive, fat, Technic-bricks-and-pins display stand, I'd say. And that only to improve durability of legs. Overall stability of such a tall construct, very heavy at the top, is a whole another story. But I agree that if LEGO is about to issue a UCS AT-AT, it will come with a display stand.
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Hello, fellow Eurobricks members, I'v recently finished another step of my ultra-long term Endor Project - a minifig scale AT-AT model. Cute little herd by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr More photos of the model: https://www.flickr.c...157659614931935 More photos of the entire Endor Project: https://www.flickr.c...157629127778577 The story is long and boring - beginning with my Lambda Shuttle model being used as prototype for UCS 10212 set - but if you have any questions, I'll gladly answer. And since the first question (about my AT-AT) has already been posed by anothergol in another thread, here is a pic with description: https://www.flickr.c...57659614931935/ Enjoy!
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[MOC] [WIP] The Command of the AT-AT
dmaclego replied to LiLmeFromDaFuture's topic in LEGO Star Wars
All true. I own it and can tell you that Type 3 is much tighter than previous turntables. While it turns very easily, there is virtually no loose space between the halves, which is most important to you, since you don't want the hips (or shoulders) to be wobbly. But... In my model legs are joined with hips with single Technic axles, because the real issue is not the way you connect the legs to hips - it's all about the legs themselves. I do not experience any problems whatsoever with the tiny, fragile axles supporting 7 kg of bricks. It's the legs that tend to break when you push or pull the model sideways. Legs in your model seem to be sturdier than in mine, so it's not really necessary for you to use turntables for structural reasons - perhaps only to enhance poseability. -
Agreed. I can even imagine a very good UCS AT-AT not much bigger than regular sets. However, a temptation of minifig scale is strong with this one :) . BigEl: my model weighs 7 kg. But it's not about the weight or clutch power of the bricks, it's about proportions: a slab of concrete would be equally unstable, being so tall and with a center of gravity placed so high.
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[MOC] [WIP] The Command of the AT-AT
dmaclego replied to LiLmeFromDaFuture's topic in LEGO Star Wars
I don't remember seeing it. This may be another case of the crucial dilemma: do we build models of machines we know from movies, or models of models used in movies :) . Because it is a well known fact that special effects techniques (namely: blue screen technique) tend to change colors of the models. That's why the Millennium Falcon seems gray in the movie, while the model used for filming was in fact off-white or light tan. -
In my opinion, the amount of parts is irrelevant. I don't know the exact numbers, but UCS Millennium Falcon sold out easily and - being basically a huge pile of fairly standard bricks and plates - it must have been great for LEGO Group in purely business terms. Durability and safety are paramount here. With all due respect to Cavegod and other builders (including me ;) ), our AT-ATs are nightmares in terms of assembly process and durability. You need four hands to assembly mine, for instance (I'm talking about attaching the legs and head to the body). This is way, way beyond LEGO standards. Then you have a plethora of "illegal" building techniques, which are just not accepted by the LEGO Group (I won't even start on that but believe me that LEGO designers must stick to very rigid rules, one of them being as ridiculous as "expose at least some studs whenever you can, because this is LEGO and LEGO is all about studs"). About stability: remember UCS Imperial Shuttle 10212 and how some builders criticized the detachable landing gear? Well, as I have proven, you can have a retractable landing gear but then the model is BARELY standing (and only if you hold your breath ;) ) . So they went for detachable landing gear and I don't blame them; it's the right thing to do if you don't want people sue you for selling a toy that won't stand on its own . But you can't do it with the AT-AT because its proportions make it simply impossible. Or you can do it but severely compromising the aesthetics and that's not what UCS series is about. I wouldn't take such risk. But then - what do I know about running a big business? ;)
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Phaelon, first of all - thank you for your interest in my model and all the kind words. There is absolutely no need for you to feel guilty of "harassment" :) . When people ask me about building instructions, I feel flattered, not harassed - because it means they actually think I've done a decent job. But it is also true, that creating instructions is a painstaking endeavor and definitely less exciting than creating new models. It's not that I don't like to share or don't like to earn ;) . It's just that it takes so much time! However, there is still hope. Sometimes I get stuck with my Endor Project (when, for instance, I can't obtain another thousand of ultra-rare bricks ;) ) and then, as I consider not-building a total waste of time, I launch my faithful MLCad and start fiddling with a behemoth like AT-AT... Or I get bribed by someone who really, really wants these instructions ;) . These things happen, but at this very moment - I'm running ahead with my Endor Project. Thanks again and good luck with your building, dmac
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[MOC] [WIP] The Command of the AT-AT
dmaclego replied to LiLmeFromDaFuture's topic in LEGO Star Wars
I admire how you got rid of the slopes 75 2x2x3 double convex. It opens new possibilities for sturdier ankle joints. Great job! (And I agree that paint is a lesser sin than glue ;) . )