Topsy Cret

First MOC I've posted on these forums, so bear with me. Last year I saw, as I'm sure most of you did, Red Spacecat's USS Saratoga. Link: https://www.flickr.c...cat/8491654079/ Not having built LEGO for some time, I was inspired to build a similar version. I started working on it late August when I found out instructions had been released, thus making my life a lot easier. His inner structure has thus been completely plagiarized in my version, as has the bridge, but the rest is my own imagination. Enjoy! For those of you that like stats, the build took me somewhere in the region of four months to complete, and cost approximately $400 in Bricklink orders before I was satisfied. The element count is, if I recall correctly, just above 4000 pieces. Luckily, most of these are extremely cheap and readily available, meaning I don't have much incentive to disassemble her. I'm quite happy to keep her displayed for years to come.

A quick Flickr search for 'lego saratoga' should yield appropriate results.

Very nice review and analysis! In the photo where you show a part of your Ninja collection, I was wondering where you got that minifigure that's second to the left?

Thanks for the review, though a few more detailed shots would be appreciated. There's no doubt that I intend on getting this set: it's only a matter of finance.

Cool ship, and I'm impressed at how you were able to use that large cockpit piece in such a small vehicle without making it look like a submarine.

YESYESYES! I was waiting and waiting for the review on this one! Thanks for the post, I look forward to the rest of it.

"What if Nazi Germany had won World War II?" From a realistic standpoint, and not delving into detail, the Allied countries in Europe would belong to the Reich, save Britain. Countries such as Sweden and Switzerland would not be occupied by Germany, but would quickly turn into Fascist states. The Russian Steppes would also belong to Germany, but not the rest of Russia. Possibly some parts of Northern Africa would be occupied as well. Japan would be occupied by the United States. The reasons for these are the following: The Allied countries linked to the main continental mass had already easily fallen. Taking Britain would serve no purpose, and would take a massive amount of supplies and troops to hold. Neutral countries, and eventually Britain as well, would lean to the German Reich and its ways, soon becoming Fascist. Germany occupying all of Russia is about the most insane thing I've ever heard. The Soviet Union was enormous, and could have won the war even without US supplies. As it stands, Germany would have had to satisfy itself with the puppet states as well as the Steppes. Anything more is close to impossible to hold. In order for Germany to have won the war, America could not have stepped in directly. Knowing this, the majority of the US forces left for the Pacific for the already planned invasion of Japan. Japan, seeing how well its ally Germany was doing, did not surrender as it would have. Thus, America occupying all of it. After the war ending, several things would not have happened. The United Nations would never have been founded, at least not with the same founding members. The Cold War would not have happened the way it did, and could have become a three-sided arms race instead. With Hitler at the lead, Germany would have advanced extremely quickly in ways of technology, possibly being the first to send a living organism into space. There most likely hundreds of other things to discuss when on this topic, but I merely divulged the primary things.

Unbelievably awesome! I've been waiting for a review for this for such a long time. Too bad they don't ship the set to Sweden. Thanks for the review!

This seems to be a much better calendar than the previous ones. Thanks for the review!

- Part name: 2x4 plate (in dark green) - Part description: --> A regular 2x4 plate, but in a much-needed color; dark green. - Part usage: --> Just hear me out. Currently, a plate does not exist in dark green that is smaller that 4x8. Having a 2x4 plate would greatly help matters in this department.

Oh my god... Boy, am I glad I stored some money away for this one! Amazing set! Unfortunately, the price will probably be 200kr (about $20) higher than in, say, America. Nevertheless, I am sooo getting this.

Wow, very cool, with a bundle of great techniques. However, I would recommend replacing the collectible figure heads with plain yellow heads.

Wow, I think this set is pure fantastic! The scale is great (for those of you complaining, good luck with raising the funds you'd need to buy a minifig rendition of this), and the detail looks great. I can imagine there's a bundle of techniques in there as well. The problem is, I don't know when, or if, I can get this beauty.

At first I was skeptical about this set, but now I'm not too sure. If it wasn't for the price, I would definitely get it. Maybe I'll just wait till it's on sale.

Ah, yes...I remember getting this all those years ago. I had been planning to get it on lego.com, but when I finally got the money, the set had retired only a few days before. Thus, I was forced to get mine on eBay while prices were still low.

Thanks for the review on this one!

Wow, that's pretty impressive! Would you mind if I used the ring technique?

Well, as much as I hate to say it, I need help. Recently, I took it upon myself to construct some sort of vehicle powered only with the aid of rubberbands. Naturally, I turned to LEGO to use a medium. But, my skills do not exceed to rubberbands and Technic. So, anybody got any ideas? The vehicle could be anything, from a small car to a giant helicopter to a miniature boat. But, it may only be powered by rubberbands, and should run as long as physically possible.

Thanks for the quick replies. I had a feeling that there might've been a model of this in the 8888 idea book, but Peeron's images weren't showing when I browsed it earlier today. And, yes, I know LEGO made a number of rubberband sets, but I'd rather not steal their work.

Very nice! The furniture looks very familiar... I seem to recall seeing it on MOCpages.

Thanks for the review! I really do like those pneumatics, though I've already got a bunch of the old ones. Here's hoping for an air tank as well.

Ah yes... Building a LEGO set inside its bag. Do you know what I did last Christmas? I built EVERY SINGLE sub-model of the two 2009 advent calenders... Inside its bag. Unfortunately, I neglected to take pictures, as I merely built the models that way as a morning exercise... I own you all. Just thought I should get that out there.

Holy god... That... Is... Awesome. Thanks for noticing this and getting it to us, CopMike! Ooh... Colors.

Most impressive! I can imagine the mess beneath the keyboard! The curving and general shape remind me a lot of a minifig-scale piano I saw on The Brothers Brick in their 2006 archive, merely a few days ago.

Have any of you included actual steam (or some other slightly visible gas) in your steam trains? I've been pondering over the idea for a while now, and I'm positive it can work. Note: I will be using the Emerald Night as the example in all the suggestions below. Real steam might be rather difficult to pull off. You'd probably have to install some sort of heater in the Emerald Night (possibly powered by the Power Functions or the wheel movements?). Even if one was able to pull that off, next you'd need to install a water supply. You could either use the limited space below the funnel, empty out all the gears, or attach tubes from the heater to the water supply which would be in the tender. The great thing about it running on Power Functions is that you wouldn't unnecessarily waste all the water overnight... Literally. My other suggestion is dry ice/hot ice. Dry ice, when mixed with water, carries the wonderful ability of evaporation. So, if you put a small package of dry ice with water underneath the funnel, it may give off a nice illusion. From what I'm aware, you can purchase small, "directors", so that the dry ice doesn't get all over the place in any local hardware store. Although it shouldn't be much of a problem, since the Emerald will most likely be moving. My third, final and slightly unrealistic suggestion is actual smoke. I'm not entirely sure how this one would work, but hey-why not? So, what are your thoughts/ideas on this subject? Bad idea or good idea? Why? Do you have any other suggestions/solutions? I'd love to hear them.