Walter Kovacs

I have to say that I love the doorway. Overall the canteen is very good. The interior walls need a little something. Maybe some light fixtures? It'd be tough to do with the panel pieces, but it should be easy to add a little something to the brick built walls. Didn't you know? 76 means "The Stagger Inn" in Nantooinese.

While both are good, I think there is room for improvement. On the desert base, you definitely need some architectural elements. Something to break up the blockiness. Overall I like the color scheme. Oh, and an overall shot would have helped a lot. With the pictures you've given us, we have to use several photos to piece together what the overall base looks like. The second base looks much better. That landing platform is made of win! I like the colors, but the small portion of yellow on the top level is kind of off-putting to me. It would have been better to carry those yellow stripes all the way around, like you did on the lower level. The lower level has some nice architectural elements, but again the upper levels are very blocky. The bridge across to the landing platform is very nice. And again, an overall photo would have helped. Overall they are pretty good. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

I have to agree with lightningtiger here. Something about that Separatist's Shuttle set is bringing out the best in MOCers. This is another excellent entry into the contest. I love the engines. And the little wings. And the nose. Heck, the entire model is great.

I saw this one over on FBTB. Excellent work, Pete. I love the fact that you used Nute's headpiece for the nose of the speeder. Very clever.

Wait, you're not happy with the sides? I think they look incredible. Things are really coming along well, cavegod. I love the back end. I can't wait to see the finished product.

I like the improvement. Much more movie accurate. The only problem I can foresee is that Ackbar isn't fastened in in any way. It looks like he might slip out relatively easily.

Nice little tank you have there, Kirill. Were the pieces just from the Rebel battle pack, or did you add some pieces from your collection?

Thanks for the suggestions, gentlemen. I really like Tim's solution, except that I don't se an easy way to attach a tank head to it. Here's the design I think I'm going to go with. It's sort of a hybrid between two methods: The ring of 2 x 2 slopes is there for supporting the tank. It will hang by that ring through a floor. Hinckley has quite a nice micro-brewery there. But I'm thinking on a larger scale. Instead of micro-brewery, think AB-Inbev or Miller size. Should be quite the project.

You know, it never occured to me that someone might think military tank. I'm an engineer, so when someone says tank, I think vessel. Sorry for any confusion. I am planning a MOC on a truly huge scale: a minifig scale brewery, from grains receiving through packaging and warehousing. The tanks I am referring to are for the brewing process. A lot of the ideas I've already put down on paper*, but more than 75% of it is still rattling around in my head. I need to get the equipment designed first, so that I can layout the floorplans that much better. * I do all of my designing in MLCad. Technically, it's not paper, but it is recorded somewhere.

Ah, I see it now. My mistake.

I think I understand what he's asking for. Most people use a clear 4 x 4 dish and a 1 x 8 bar for their MINIs. If you need a physical attachment, a technic 1/2 pin is fairly unobtrusive, though not clear. While you can't see the dish, this photo shows the rest of the setup: Depending on the size of the model, a stack of clear 2 x 2 round bricks will also work well. It just depends on whether or not you have an area to atach the bricks to on your model. In general, I only use a stand when photographing my MINIs. Otherwise, they just lay on the shelf.

Thanks for your help, guys. Looks like the new tanker is coming in white. I was hoping for Light gray (stainless steel), but white wouldn't be too bad. Unfortunately, the 3 x 1 curved slopes end up in a 8 stud diameter cylinder (and a very nice looking one at that). Looks like the 3 x 6 x 5 cylinder you are thinking of only comes in purple for now (your link points back to the 3 x 1 curved slope, by the way). Although looking at the Curved slopes on Bricklink, I spy this 2 x 4 x 2/3 slope. It comes in Light gray, and looks like it makes a really good 6 stud diameter cylinder, if I can get the internal supports set up correctly. Thanks for your help. If it weren't for you, I would have forgotten about that piece forever.

Going off of the pictures only, I'd go with Cad Bane. Though Boba looks excellent.

You might want to do a little research yourself. Look at the average used selling price for both sets on Bricklink.com, and compare that to the average selling price of each minifig. I would suspect that selling the complete set is worth more than the price of the minifigs, but I could be wrong. Of course, this assumes that the sets are indeed complete. Otherwise, minifigs only will be your best bet. Another consideration is whether or not you could use the bricks for your own MOCs. If you can, then selling the minifigs alone would make much more sense. I know I could always use a few hundred spare bricks in my collection.

My first train set was 4708 - The Hogwort's Express. I've since modded it to run on the 9V track I got with 10132 (also the Hogwort's Express). Seems my Mother-in-Law knew I liked Harry Potter.

A very nice scene, indeed. I love the effect with the green flame. It really makes the scene, in my opinion. If you end up doing an aftermath scen, the CIS has to win. They had to win some battles, or else the wouldn't have lasted 3 years.

What can I say. This is simply incredible. All I know is that if I tried to make anything remotely similar, it'd look like crap. The walls next tot he hanger bay door are phenomenal. Really great job.

Irony at its best, I think I'm going to clear out my target and then help out some EB members and sell them at actual cost plus shipping, because my target had a bunch. Crisis averted. I found both sets at the second Target I visited this morning. They had plenty of the X-Wings, but I had to hunt to find this one.

Ask and you shall receive: Top View Side View Looking at them side by side, it's pretty clear that 30051 is a great improvement. The original (this one happens to be set #6963) does have the printed tiles, which is a plus. And I like the clear 1 x 2 plate for the windscreen better than the smoke colored cheese slope. Aside from that, the newer version is beyond excellent. R2 is in a more correct location, the wings have that slope along the back edge, the engines look better, there is some greebling on the back and the nose cone is better defined. The wings stay in place better, thanks to the dual clip piece used. As for a color shift, the original versions (6963 & 4484) both used dark red parts.

Hello all. I have been working on this model off and on for the better part of 3 years now. I have finally finished the design phase, and am almost ready to go into parts acquisition (at least, I will once finances allow me to start that phase ). I know MLCad models generally get poor reception on these boards, and believe me, if I had the pieces to build this in real bricks, I would. In a heartbeat. Alas, the virtual world is all I can afford at the moment. It is a far sight better than my first attempt at the Nebulon B-2, the Technicolor Yawn. In fact, I started designing this version shortly after building the first version and seeing the problems. First of all, I wanted the connection joint between the "wings" and the foreward hull to be much cleaner. Revision 1 was very awkward at this point, and I knew I could improve it a lot. The second thing I wanted to improve was the engine section. I wanted them to look more like this image, with the engines staggered in levels. I didn't like the way the foreward section or the wings looked on the Wookiepedia page, so I kept the very greeb-friendly Nebulon B wing design, and tried to keep the foreward section somewhat curved like a non-modified Neb B. I did, however, keep that small superstructure the sits on top of the bridge section between the engines and the foreward section. I have no idea what it's there for, but it helps break up some of the monotany. The one thing I do like about that wookiepedia image is the big, open hanger bay on the foreward section. That was a must on my design. 3/4 View Side View Front View Top View Back View Engines Close-Up Wing Close-Up 1 Wing Close-Up 2 Hanger I used yellow for any part that isn't color specific, so if you see it peeking out through gaps in one of the sections, that's what it is. Most likely, those parts will end up black (almost all are technic liftarms or bricks, and black is usually the cheapest and most plentiful option). There are still a few things that bother me about the design. I really, REALLY struggled getting the curvature on the foreward section, while still maintaining an open hanger. That portion is what took me most of the 3 years to get right. It's still not great, but it is good enough for now. And honestly, I don't think I can get it much better. The greebling around the engines looks really good, at least to me. But it makes the rest of the model look a little plain. I could greeble the engines section, but the foreward section is mostly slopes, so there isn't much chance for greebs there, and I felt the contrast would be too great. I have fallen in love with the hanger. I don't think it could have come out better. As much as I want to build it in real bricks, it is very cost prohibitive for me right now. It came i at 4180 pieces, only 40% of which I actually own. A Bricklink order of ~$300 is just too much for my budget to handle right now. Now if someone wanted to donate the pieces to me... Just kidding. Sorta. Comments and Criticisms are begged for. View the entire Gallery here.

I usually upload my instructions as .pdf files to the approporiate Brickshelf folder. For some reason I haven't been able to do that this time around. The files, while large, are smaller than previous instruction files, so I don't think that's it.

If you look closely, you can see a ball near the feet of the row of five stormies. It's brown. Perhaps it's a basketball or possibly a zamor sphere? There's only one more thing to say: ME WANTS!

That tank is fantastic looking. And I for one like the clown. Yes, it's not very Star Warsy (OK, not at all). But it still looks like a clown. The snowspeeder looks good, but that spoiler bothers me a little. Still, an excellent build from such a limited pallet.

Thanks, legolandia. I'm glad you like it. And as tempting as selling the instructions is, I could never in good conscience sell my instructions. I've made all previous ones free to use, and I would like to keep that tradition going. Besides, better MOCers than I have produced instructions and they are free for use. The big problem right now is how to make them available.

Personally, I'd never buy a set just for the minifigures. Then again, I'm a collector, so I try to get one of every set anyway. As for the Venator, I think it is one of the weakest sets from last August's wave. The minifigs are probably the best part of the set. The good news is that if you do buy it just for the minifigs, the rest of the set should make a nice parts pack. Lots of pieces to use in your MOCs, assuming you like to make some (and really, who here doesn't).