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Hi everyone I'd like to share with you my second MOC which I have been working on over the past few weeks. For this project I decided to tackle a subject very close to my heart - the Great British Pub! So without further ado... Grab yourself a pint and join me for a guided tour of The Queen Bricktoria! As you can see this is a modular style corner building with 3 floors built on a 32x32 base plate. The design is intended to be reminiscent of British town centre pubs or more specifically the style of pubs we'd see in London. The Minifigures There are 7 minifigs with the model. The 3 characters below are the pub workers. From left to right we have the Owner/Landlord and his daughter the barmaid. The guy with the guitar is a local singer who has been booked to play a gig at the pub. The 4 figures below are the pub regulars. The guy with the beard is the typical sort of old gent we find in many pubs propping up the bar and boring everyone to death with their stories of the good old days. The guy in the green top and the girl are boyfriend and girlfriend. Level 1 - The Bar Outside the building we have a busy street corner. I've included an iconic British red phone box and an outside covered seating area. There is also a sign board advertising events etc at the pub. The main entrance leads us in to the bar/lounge area. Inside we have a well stocked bar and a cozy fireplace. There are also tables and bar stool for the minifigs to sit and enjoy their drinks. Brown carrots make pretty good beer pump handles. At the back of the bar is a staircase leading us up to level 2. Level 2 - Pool and Darts Room On the second level is a games room featuring a Pool table and Dart board. There is also a pool cue rack and a shelf with trophies won by the resident darts team. At the back of the room is another staircase that leads to level 3. Level 3 - Live Music Room Level 3 has a stage for Live Music gigs and Karaoke. On the stage we have a keyboard, guitar, amps and microphone. Also on this level is more seating for the minifigs and a door that leads to a small balcony seating area. Oh dear!!! The singer seems to be a bit of a hit with the ladies. The Finished Model Here is a picture of the Queen Bricktoria next to my first MOC design, The Convenience store, as you can see my new MOC is much much bigger. Another picture below shows the pub next to one of the official modulars, to help give a sense of the size of the model. Thanks very much for reading and I hope you like my newest MOC. There are more pictures of it on my Flickr page so feel free to check them out and let me know what you think.

Hello All, This is an attempt to model a cool, nostalgic car from Eastern Germany, the last model of the Trabant factory in Zwickau. I have created this model as a birthday gift to my best friend who used to drive us around in a car like this in his early twenties. If you like this MOC, you can suppport it on the Lego Ideas site - thanks! https://ideas.lego.com/projects/a4bbe629-6520-44f3-ba50-318457e26255 Lego Trabant Universal 1.1 by Dan Falussy, on Flickr Backview by Dan Falussy, on Flickr Openall by Dan Falussy, on Flickr Interior by Dan Falussy, on Flickr

Here is my first lego ideas project, i have created a new band of fruits characters. Hope you like it ! you can see the project here : https://ideas.lego.com/projects/2f2e4b8d-cb4d-41b3-afc7-d24b5e48c039 friendly & fruity :D

i suprised myself with a new version, with opening bonnet (hood) and boot (trunk), and of course doors, as per prev models roof can be hard top or soft top and fits 2 mini fig in front and one in back, 2 at a push if roof is down, comments thoughts welcome, is a work in progress as would like to enhance the engine/roof etc etc

Hi Everyone I'd like to share my first MOC design which I've been working on over the past few weeks. I decided to set myself a challenge to see if I could create a Modular building using just the parts taken from 3 of my existing sets. All the parts I used were taken from the 3 Creator sets above, 31036, 31050 and 31065. The only extra thing I added was a green 16 x 32 baseplate but apart from that, everything else is taken from those 3 sets. So here is my very first MOC - The Modular Convenience Store As you can see the model is 16 studs wide and is designed to fit in with the Modular building series. There are 3 levels and although it's essentially one building, I wanted to give the impression from the outside that it consists of 2 narrow buildings side by side with the main shop on the left and the tall blue section to the right. Level 1 - The Convenience Store The first level of the building is the Convenience Store itself. Outside on the front we have a bench, street lamp, flower display and a fire hydrant. The main door at at the base of the blue tower gives access to the inside of the store. Inside the store there is a cash desk, fruit and vegetables and shelves with various items for sale. I also built a small shooping trolley for the minifigs to use with their shopping. A door at the back of the store gives access to the rear of the building. At the back is a staircase leading to the second level. Level 2 - Apartment On the middle level is an apartment / studio flat. On the outside is a large Bay window and a door with a Juliet balcony looking out on to the street below. The inside of the apartment is pretty small but I have managed to squeeze in a kithcen, TV, bed, lamp, shelves, table and stool. Level 3 and Roof Outside again the only way for the minifigs to reach the next level is via a ladder on the back of the building. The top level consists of a small building and a roof top garden. The roof top building is extremely small (6 x 4 studs) but the roof can be removed and inside is a table with binoculars, a lamp and a brick built sweeping brush hanging on the wall. A door from this small building leads out in to the roof top garden. Here we have a BBQ, seat, plants and a glass covered vegetable patch. Displaying the Model Here are a selection of pics showing the model on display alongside Parisian Restaurant and Assembly Square. Thanks for reading and I hope you like the model, feel free to let me know what you think. If you want to see more pics then head over to my Flickr page where I've added loads more. https://www.flickr.com/photos/140122416@N02/albums

My version of the famous bug, Wip, as never satisfied, so keep on updating This is based on my real build beetle moc, all comments welcome, old rear end. rally version (i believe this is Gulf oil racing colours) classic version

It's been a while, sorry for that, but I can finally present you with the interview I had last year during the LEGO Fan Media Days 2017 with Micheal (Mike) Psiaki, LEGO Creator and Creator Expert Designer at TLG. (sorry for typo's and spelling mistakes, it's not 100% checked and verified) INTERVIEW You are Creator Expert designer. Are you involved in modular buildings? So far my involvement with modular buildings has been more like doing some of the small details and not the building itself but in the future you can probably expect to see some module built by me...we'll see *laughs* I'm asking because we do have a lot of questions about modular buildings, but we'll just ask and see if you can answer them. One of the questions is; how do you determine the next modular building? You'll probably have a long list of potential buildings. Normally when we're developing a new model we actually kind of go through a lot of different...uhh...not necessarily committees, but a lot of different people at LEGO are involved in choosing what the new product will be. We've been pretty fortunate with the modular buildings. They've been quite successful, so all those different...stakeholders we call them ...are quite trusting of us. And they pretty much let us do what we want. So normally when you're making a new model you're coming up with a lot of different proposals and showing ideas to a lot of different people and they're giving their input and then you're narrowing it down, but with modular buildings we can essentially choose what we want to do, just as a design team. And then you just do it. So for the last, for the last.... forever, Jamie (Jamie Berard, https://www.lego.com/en-us/themes/creatorexpert/explore/designer-bios/jamie) has essentially been in charge of that and he will just make the make model that he and maybe one or two other people agree on should be the next one. As to how that will go in the future...uhhh...I'm sure Jamie will still be involved. But yeah we do have a list of buildings that we have kind of made our dream list of...eventually we need these things. We'd like to do these things in City. But then also sometimes we just have a more generic idea, like, hey, let's do a restaurant. Uhmm...trying to think what the first modular building was, that I was involved with...was the Parisian Restaurant. In that one, the idea had just started out that it would be a restaurant and then it kind of took on a Parisian style throughout the development and ended up as it was. So it's usually a very loose idea like that, that the model with start with...like the brick bank was just a bank. That's the only idea and then however that evolves was like, adding things later on, like, let's have this laundromat on this side and all that stuff is just kind of what we just add in as we please. The building style you choose is obviously depending on the model you choose. But like you said you chose a restaurant and then it turned into a Parisian restaurant. How does a process like this go? This all comes down to like, traditionally it's just been Jamie working on these models and what we do a is we just kind of build all year long, we've just seen what new elements are coming in. We're just building kind of little funny things like...uhmm...on the Parisian restaurant, there's this detail with the feathers that go along the top. You know, I think Jamie had that sitting on his desk for like six years or something. One day he got some of those and made this thing into something that could be a funny detail in a building eventually. And then those are just kind of start getting pulled together and you start to see a style emerge. It's almost just letting it happen. So taking some choice details that we want to put in and the style kind of emerges from that and then other things will change to fit that style. So I don't know that we've ever really made a conscious decision of this. You know, when we start from the beginning that this building will be this style and we'll kind of work towards that style. It's more we're going to we're going to make something that we think is cool and nice. And when sthe style kind of come in, then we'll go back and kind of refine things to match the style, if we feel the need to do that. Some generic Questions about the Creator Expert series. When is a set considered expert in the Creator series? What are your goals? So Creator and Creator Expert are two totally separate product lines at this point. So it's not like we start with an idea and then we develop it and then we decide, is this Expert or is this regular Creator? So for Creator Expert we're already thinking; this is the portfolio that we want to make for the next year and in Expert we want to make models that are for higher age fans. Adults, older kids, we are calling everything 16 plus, I think for the most part. The Winter Village ones are a little more down in age, so we start with that idea that we're building a model for more hardcore LEGO fan. What is it we do then that will make it appealing to them? It's a lot about how the model is built. It's kind of different techniques we use, but it's also about what parts we use. So we want to use fun kind of new different building techniques or just really crazy things building techniques in really wild ways. We also want to use parts that are fun or that are either in new colors or new shapes or just not seen before. Like on this one (10257 Carousel) where we're using a dinosaur tail in a City wheel arch to make the shape. It's doing things like that, that really kind of is the DNA of what makes something Creator Expert. Is it Creator Expert because it's hard to build or the use of different parts? I think it's more that it's harder to build because it's Creator Expert. Because we know we're making an Expert model, we say, whatever we have to do to make this look cool, we'll do that. It doesn't necessarily have to be super complicated but we have a way that we want things to look and generally you have to build things in a complicated way in order to get these results. Like on this car, you know, in order to get the wheel arch so smooth you have to do a lot of weird things to get stuff in it. We never do things intentionally just to make it difficult, but we find ways to make the models as appealing as possible. What are the key components in choosing a Creator Expert set for next year? For example, which percentage is driven by data? So, previous sales or simply 'that would be good to do next'? Well that's a tough one to answer. I think we are taking a lot into account of the market research that we do. It's not so much based on previous sales, but it's also that we have a lot of check ins throughout the year with different leaders in LEGO and so they're the ones that are deciding ultimately what will sell or not. We can come with an idea like, all we know about this is that we think it's cool. And then it's up to them to determine, will this sell? Do we believe that we can sell enough of these? We ourselves, we don't have to do a ton of market research, but eventually that gets done by people to determine if the idea will be getting out. For us it's a lot of thinking about what we would like. Me, I love airplanes and I love helicopters, so I'm always trying to say, hey we've got to do this, we've got to do this *laughs* For example; let's say you know there was a carousel not too long ago and there will be a carousel now. Do you come up with the idea to build a new carousel? Because it hasn't been so long before the other one was released. So a carousel sells? Well, that's part of it. But also we knew that we wanted to make this a new fairground, or another ride for the fairground, so we had the mixer and we had the Ferris wheel and we knew we wanted to do another ride. And we actually built four different models, four different concepts. And there was one of them that needed more development (red. Roller Coaster). It was too early. We didn't have the parts we needed to make it into reality and some that were a little more obscure. The carousel was the one that was the most promising to do that year. But the other part of it was that the carousel before this we actually had some stability issues. So after 11 months we pulled it off of the market. So it was a very short run. And so we saw that it was a really sought after set. So because of that we thought, if it had had its run and been on the market for two or three years then that's fine, you know, let it go, give it some time before we do it again. But then it was only around for 11 months and it had stability issues, but we still saw people were asking about it so much that we thought OK why not make one that is stable, that is good and that we can relaunch. The stability issues they had something to do with the animals going up and down? No the issue was actually that the old carousel was built on a 48x48 base plate. so it was fine when it was sitting there. But then if you picked it up from the plate and tried to move it, it would actually break apart. That's the reason you don't use baseplate now?. On this one we didn't use a baseplate. On the original carousel everything except the baseplate essentially is moving. On this one we have a ground level. This level is also stable to create a nice solid base that you can then actually, you know, lift the model up from that base. You shouldn't have any issues. That was the idea. And what was the reason for omitting up and down movement because that was pretty cool. No this has that. Oh, I was misinformed. This one is not going up and down. The other four going up and down (points at the animals on the carousel). The reason that we thought, you usually see it on the carousel where one animal is stable. So maybe that's for the grandmother or child and the other thing is, that there's also a mechanical reason for that. I wanted to have the stairs here. To sort of balance out the load of the function. It made sense to have no load on the other side as well. And actually the frog is a funny one because the frog had only the leg hopping. Are there also test groups for expert adults? We do both, that is, we were testing with adults, but also with kids. Eventhough you know it is for adults, we still want the kids to be able to play with it and have fun with it. Because ultimately when you buy it on the box then it says 16 plus, but as soon as you take it home and you build it in your home and it's there sitting on the counter, it's a LEGO model and to kids a LEGO model is for them. Are certain Creator Expert sets more popular in certain countries? And do you take that into consideration? When we make products, our goal is that we can have appeal everywhere. I don't know the data on which ones perform best in which countries. I don't actually know any of that off the top of my head. How long does it take to bring and initial concept to store shelves? From the initial concept it's about a year and a half and about eight months of that time is spent actually from the initial concept until the time we say the model is finished. And then from there it's eight months for production to get everything ready and actually have the final product ready for the shelves. So it's not like we're just one person sitting working on this for eight months but it's that we start out when we have the idea of a fairground, and then it's, ok, let's build a bunch of different concepts. Select the one that's best and do some development on that. Is that in line with a City set, for example? Yes. Everything has essentially the same development time frame. But when we choose, for example, when you're doing this one, that you're not working on another product as well. But if you're working in City you may be doing three models at the same time. Is that the reason that there's only one Modular released every year? It's not so much about that we don't have the resources to do it. It's more that we just don't know that there's that much demand for modular buildings, that people need to be bind to more than one every year. And we see it as a collection thing, that people want to collect the whole series so that if you start to release multiples every year then that's starting to be a really big.... it's a lot then to buy the whole series. So we feel right now, and it could change in future, that one modular building per year that's a good amount to have a collectible series and to build up anticipation and that is something that people could feasibly collect. So as soon as you start to put out two hundred and sixty dollar models a year all of a sudden everyone just had to double their budget in order to collect the whole series. How many Creator Expert sets are being released per year? In 2016 we had the Brick Bank, we had the Beetle, Big Ben and the Holiday Train. So traditionally we do four models a year. You might see that change. You might see it go up or down. Let's see...laughs. I can't say any numbers for this year. There will be others this year. I won't say any more than that. Do you also interact with other themes, because we also went to the Friends theme. There's a roller coaster in Friends. Is something like that possible in the Creator Theme? We all were in one big building, all the designers. I like to wander around and see what other people are working on. I don't know how well this fits with the Friends roller coaster but it is a similar theme. That one was actually being developed almost a year before this (Carousel) so it's very much different wavelengths. Our team, the Creator Expert team, we actually sit right with the regular Creator theme in one team so we interact with them quite a bit. The Friends Theme has roller coaster now yeah it's been pretty cool for the Expert team. Maybe one day we could do something like that. The release of the Caterham set, does that influence a potential release over another car in Expert series? While we won't do a Caterham, I'll tell you that, it doesn't make any changes to our plans. What we're trying to work out that we don't do cars that are too similar, so we kind of try to work together with them (LEGO Ideas) to make sure that we're not overlapping too much on the cars that we do. But it is a bit of a delicate relationship between us and ideas, what products can we do and what products are getting suggested on their site. There's quite some overlap in potential sets? Yes. Actually, the Saturn 5 rocket I've been proposing that as a Lego set five years and no one is listening to me. And then when I saw it on on Ideas I was like oh please, let it go through. I was actually really frustrated when I saw it go through because I thought that means they've already chosen the designer and they've started development on it. So what I did, is we have a digital system where we have all our models. And so I thought, okay, well let's see if they did anything good and when I looked in there to see if I could find it and there was nothing. So I immediately called up the project and I said; who's doing that model? I want to be part of it. We don't have anyone yet. So that was really cool to get to be involved in it. What was your role in the development of the Saturn? Myself and Carl (Merriam) were the two designers working on that model together. We started with the fan design and then we just turning that into something of an official LEGO set. Actually the first thing that we did was we build it that size to show how look at how cool this is so big. We actually changed the diameter of the original submission. They started to base their model on a section that covers the lunar lander and the diameter of the rocket was actually way too big for that. So we actually scaled down the main diameter, but we also found a way to build it so it's really round. So we didn't stay very true to the original model, which we don't talk a lot about. Essentially we just said we're going to make the model we want and we'll do your idea of a one meter tall Saturn V. But still I think the lunar lander and the little details are quite similar. The way that I see LEGO Ideas is that it's it's just an idea, it's just to say, to me the idea is a 1 meter tall Saturn 5 rocket built of LEGO. The specific details of how they built the engine it's not important. We do that however we find it's best to do. That's my view of it. Some people see it differently. And what do you think the reason was for not listening to you when you proposed the Saturn V? I didn't have any data to back it up. So it's just my opinion of saying this thing is cool. So in that sense I actually really appreciate LEGO Ideas that someone could say, hey this is cool and a lot of other people agree with you. And do you think it would have made a difference if you would have built a sample rocket to show them, like here's what we can do. I don't think so. I wish you could come in and see our office it's just full of so many cool models. We can go there now *laughs* Another question which may be hard to answer but it's been asked like it's been a while since there's been a Creator Expert Train, not counting the Holiday Train. Can you shed a light? You won't say yes or no but I mean; people seem to like the Expert Trains. The problem we the trains is that people don't like them that much. When we make our product line for the year we can only do four, maybe sometimes five, products in that year and then we look at what are going to be the most popular things. That's what we want to do. And every time we've done a train we always hear that people are really excited. But then every train that we've made will never perform as well as the other models that we make. And so it seems like there are two explanations. Either trains aren't as popular as people say they are or we just haven't been able to figure out how to make the right train. I think that it's more the second one that we haven't figured it out. I think the challenge with trains is that they're very kind of regional. There's very few world famous trains. Whereas with cars, everyone knows the Volkswagen Beetle and probably everyone has even driven one. But when you talk about trains; if you're from France you want a TGV. If you're from Denmark you want the Danish train. If you're from the US you want probably the Santa Fe. It's hard to pick what is the one that will have that universal appeal. We can definitely make a train. We can make a train that will be popular in France. We can make a train that will be popular in the US. We struggled to find what is an icon of a train that has universal appeal. And surprisingly the Winter Village train, that one has been quite a hit. So I think we can learn from that to figure out how could we do a train in the future. Do you think it could be option 3 that people won't buy a train because they think; well I don't have a train set. I don't have the tracks, so it's useless to me? That could be an option yeah. Generally when someone's buying an Expert model they've already bought a lot of other LEGO. So if they're buying an Expert train they probably already have tracks from other City trains that they bought. But it's a fair comment to say. I mean to your point, our holiday train, it does include track. And I think from my personal opinion the Winter Holiday Train is something you will buy because you collect the Winter Village sets. We will buy it. Not because we like trains that much or we want the tracks. So the thing is figuring out how can you get people, other than train fans, to get excited about this and that's what works at the Winter Holiday Train. You get everyone that's into the Winter Holiday sets and into trains, so maybe some train people will buy it. And everyone that's buying the Winter Holiday sets they will also be interested in that. So maybe we need a Modular Building with a train. Train Station maybe? *laughs* Some questions about miscellaneous themes that aren't released anymore or aren't released at all. I'm referring to, for example, Classic Space or Western themes, castles stuff like that. There are loads of things that aren't in current themes which could be released in Creator Expert. Do you consider making a castle or some Classic Space set in Expert? We definitely considered it. And it's similar to trains. For example, the Modular Buildings are actually part of the idea that they appeal to castle fans even though it's not a castle. It's a great way to get a lot of the parts that you would need to build a castle. Maybe more so with the older ones than with the newer ones where it got a little bit more wild with the colors, but I definitely wouldn't rule out Classic LEGO Themes. One of the questions that we have though with those is like with Classic Space is, was it so popular because there was no Star Wars? I mean when that was released there was no LEGO Star Wars. So that was the best LEGO spaceship that you could have. But now you could have the UCS Snow Speeder. So then how can we sell a classic spaceship. Will it live on nostalgia alone?Actually we begun some research to try to figure out just how powerful LEGO nostalgia is. There's some hesitation to just put a lot of faith in that, but it's not out of the question. So basically the Star Wars theme is one of the reasons that we don't have another space theme? Probably, we don't know exactly. It's not it's not 100 percent the reason that we don't do it in Creator Expert. There's other reasons as well, but having Star Wars is a reason that we don't necessarily do a second full space line line like that. And again that may change. There haven't been much Western's themes...at all. We used to have some sets, but aren't Western themes popular? I don't know about any of the market research on Western themes uhmm we'll see, I don't know...laughs. I love the old western theme actually. You know the LEGO Ideas projects made by Marshall Banana? Yeah the LEGO Western modular. I was looking at that and thinking, yes please do that. Like with the Saturn V. Please do that. I think it's the difficulty with something like that, of course they're really amazing models and they would definitely be really cool. But how do those fit in when we have the regular Modular Building line. If we introduce something like that, are we taking people away from the regular Modular Buildings. We can't just assume that when we introduce a product then people don't replace something else you know like, okay, now there's a new space theme. Now I don't need Star Wars anymore, so now all of a sudden Star Wars is nonexistent because I want to buy this new space theme. It's about striking the right balance of, we can only produce so many LEGO sets. And people only have room in their houses for so much LEGO. So when we think about making stuff for the AFOLs then it's just as much about are we giving them the elements, the bricks, in order to do what they want to do, instead of just give you exactly every model what you want just because we can only produce so many models. But we can we can make a dinosaur tale in blue. And I don't know what people are going to do with that but that's easy. You know we could make a whole car out of the weird Azure Blue color and then people can take that and they can build something really amazing with it. So for me I'm much more interested in trying to get fun and exciting elements into people's hands than just to make every single cool idea because there's an infinite number of cool ideas. you can see that on LEGO Ideas. there are so many cool projects but we will never be able to make all of them. Makes sense. Good explanation and I think you maybe right that classic feeling or that nostalgia is more of a feeling. Do you have any idea, like Bennys spaceship, did it sell well? Well I don't know the sales performance of this set. I'm really excited about the Saturn V combined with Benny's spaceship we're starting to see some real nostalgia for kind of this thing. I guess it's like the space race of the 1960s kind of nostalgia for that first journey into space. And I think that could mean a lot for LEGO in terms of what we make for products. Nowadays you hear more and more news about going to Mars in 10 or 20 years or so. Is that something that LEGO is looking into as well? Like maybe we can do Mars exploration? I shouldn't say anything about that. We're paying attention to a lot of things. How long have you been working for LEGO? In August I have been here for five years and I started on the Creator line in 2009. For the 2015 year I made the Ferrari F40 for Creator Expert and so from then until now I've been kind working half time on each and now I'm a full time only working on Creator Expert. Of course I did the Saturn V for Ideas and stuff like that. Interesting you bring up the Ferrari F40. One thing I noticed was it has different type of instruction booklet, outlining the parts you need to put on the model. I haven't seen that in the UCS Snow Speeder. Is that something that will be standard in newer instructions? I may be wrong on this but I believe we've implemented that for all Creator Expert products. Maybe not the Winter Village sets but I think all the others we now do, we outline the bricks in the right colors and that was an idea that the building construction team had when we were doing the Ferrari, because there was so much of the same color, they wanted to think of a way to highlight the parts. So did it work? Yeah because as you start building and then you don't notice it. And after a couple of pages you think; something's different. I didn't know what, so I was looking and thinking, they are outlining the parts! It's great! So I think you should do that for other sets as well. Some personal questions. How many sets have you designed? Somewhere around 20. What's your favorite? I'm really proud of the Saturn V rocket. But there's also a jet that I made for Creator. I think that's still my favorite because I love airplanes so much. Ok, thanks for your time.

Hello everyone, a few weeks ago, i bought a random bricks by the pound and i received four of this pieces. maybe some one can tell me, what is the ID of it and from which set it is is it even LEGO???? thanks in advanced greetings Markus

Custom design alternate MOC model made using pieces from official LEGO sets. Let's start off with the 31074 Rocket Rally set. More to come!

Hey guys, I decided to create this topic and the main idea came from this and this post (so special thanks to @danth and @Digger of Bricks!). I would like to highlight three things before I start to post inspirational MOCs: I’ll post three staff picks everyday! Please feel free to post your favorite MOCs! Have fun admiring and taking inspiration from those great MOCs Top three MOC’s IMO in Baroque architecture: 1. This incredible Baroque Church by @Jellyeater! 2. This amazingly detailed MOC by @pj_bosman! 3. This greatly shaped modular by @cimddwc! Here are the three best Baroque MOC’s IMO! What do you think about them? Would you buy modulars like those if TLG made? Here are the Steampunk ones: 1. This incredible layout made together by @castor-troy and @domino39 (they also made one MOD of the PR and the MS and two MOD’s of the CC included in this layout. But they look so different that they are more MOC then MOD). EB topic here and Flickr albums with more photos here, here, here and here. 2. These great Steampunk modulars by @adde51! 3. These very interesting modulars by @Zilmrud who as well made great MOD’s of the PC and the BB! Here are the three most gorgeous Steampunk MOC’s IMO! What do you think of them? Would you buy modulars like those if TLG ever made? Every other inspirational buildings posted in this thread so far: Art Nouveau and Art Deco posted by Digger of Bricks Art Deco posted by Digger of Bricks Art Nouveau posted by LegoModularFan DC Comic themed Art Deco posted by Digger of Bricks Staff Picks of 12/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Art Deco Skyscraper posted by Digger of Bricks Some Modulars posted by Bricked1980 Staff Picks of 13/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Tower Bridge Alternative Build posted by Bricked1980 Staff Picks of 14/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Monorail Passtrough posted by Digger of Bricks Staff Picks of 15/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 16/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 17/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 18/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Victorian London Christmas posted by Digger of Bricks A Hideout For The Hunters posted by Digger of Bricks Staff Picks of 19/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan "Forced Perspective" Modulars posted by Digger of Bricks Instructions posted by LegoModularFan Flynn's Arcade posted by Digger of Bricks Staff Picks of 20/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Some Modulars posted by Bricked1980 Staff Picks of 21/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 22/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Antonio's Antiques posted by Digger of Bricks Some Useful Stuff posted by LegoModularFan A Tudor House! posted by Digger of Bricks Staff Picks of 23/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 24/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 25/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 26/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan History Museum posted by Digger of Bricks Staff Picks of 27/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Instructions posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 28/02/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 01/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Some Modulars posted by Sir Stig Some Modulars posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 02/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 03/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 04/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Wayne Manor posted by Digger of Bricks Instructions posted by LegoModularFan Brick Explorer posted by Digger of Bricks Staff Picks of 05/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Bike Shop and Cafe Alternate Builds posted by LegoModularFan Some Modulars posted by paupadros Staff Picks of 06/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 07/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 08/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 09/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 10/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Some Modulars posted by Digger of Bricks Staff Picks of 11/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Some Modulars posted by Digger of Bricks Alternative Model for 10218 Pet Shop posted by LegoModularFan Some Modulars posted by Digger of Bricks Special Edition ~ Sweet Staff Picks of 12/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 13/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Alternate Rebuild of the DD posted by Bricked1980 Staff Picks of 14/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 15/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan DDoshini posted by Digger of Bricks Staff Picks of 16/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Staff Picks of 17/03/18 and 18/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan The Brick and Stud Tavern posted by Bricked1980 Staff Picks of 19/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan Longarm V posted by Digger of Bricks Staff Picks of 20/03/18 posted by LegoModularFan

Hello everyone, in the near future I would like to show you a little bit of my Lego City, which is still under construction. To begin with, here is a video about the beach area I made yesterday. What do you think? Beach Area - Bricksonville Edit: title changed, latest video added :

Discover a place where music is on the menu! Drop in at the LEGO® Creator Expert 10260 Downtown Diner, where you’ll discover a healthy portion of fun and surprises. This impressive model features removable building sections for easy access to the detailed interior, which comprises a ground-level 1950s-style diner with a large curved front window, red bar stools, jukebox, counter and an open-plan kitchen. The mid level has a gym with boxing ring, punching bag and weight training room, while on the upper-level you’ll find a recording studio, complete with vocal booth, mixing desk and a refreshments cabinet. The facade of the building features pink-and-teal Streamline Moderne styling with a large ‘DINER’ sign. Other external features include arched windows, balconies and a staircase, plus a pink convertible car and a detailed sidewalk, complete with mailbox, parking meter, flowerpots and a streetlamp. This incredible collectible toy has been designed to provide a challenging and rewarding building experience with a touch of nostalgia and charm. Includes 6 minifigures. • Includes 6 minifigures: a chef, waitress, boxer, rock star, manager and a bodybuilder. • The 3-level Downtown Diner comes with an array of brick-built details, including a detailed facade with pink-and-teal Streamline Moderne styling and a large ‘DINER’ sign, external staircase, arched windows, drainpipe, balconies, decorative roofline, opening skylight and a rooftop terrace, plus a detailed sidewalk with a mailbox, parking meter, flowerpots and an ornate streetlamp. This set also includes a pink 1950s-style convertible. • Ground level features 1950s downtown American diner styling with a large curved front window, red barstools, benches, jukebox, candy machine, counter, 2 soda dispensers, and a kitchen with a coffee machine, stove and a cooker hood. • Mid-level features a gym with a boxing ring, punching bag, weight training room, water dispenser and a wall clock. • Upper level features a recording studio complete with vocal booth, soundproofed walls, mixing desk and a refreshments cabinet. • Take a ride in the stylish convertible and head for a diner where fast food and music are on the menu. • Help the chef prepare the fastest food in town while the roller-skating waitress lines up the orders. • Drop in at the gym for a couple of rounds in the boxing ring or a good workout on the punching bag. • Open the skylight and eavesdrop on the making of a hit album. • Accessory elements include roller skates, guitar, golden record award and a buildable barbell. • Remove the building sections to access the detailed interior. • New decorated elements include a decorated door, album cover, lots of teal-colored and pink-colored elements, and a dual-face minifigure with singing and smiling expressions. • Special elements include new flower stalks and flower heads, plus 1x3 ‘jumper’ plates, 2x2 plate with 2 studs and a minifigure torso with boxing gloves. • Collect and build an entire town with the LEGO® Creator Expert Modular Building series 10243 Parisian Restaurant, 10246 Detective’s Office, 10251 Brick Bank and 10255 Assembly Square. • Measures over 13” (34cm) high, 9” (25cm) wide and 9” (25cm) deep. 10260 Downtown Diner Ages 16+. 2,480 pieces. US $169.99 - CA $219.99 - DE 149.99€ - UK £129.99 - DK 1399.00 DKK *Euro pricing varies by country. Please visit shop.LEGO.com for regional pricing. Available for sale directly through LEGO® beginning January 1, 2018 via shop.LEGO.com, LEGO® Stores or via phone: US Contact Center: 1-800-453-4652 CA (English) Contact Center 1-800-453-4652 CA (French) Contact Center: 1-877-518-5346 European Contact Center: 00-800-5346-1111 LEGO, the LEGO logo and the Minifigure are trademarks of the LEGO Group. ©2018 The LEGO Group. All rights reserved.

Is it just me, or, now that I'm getting ready to set up my Winter Village stuff, does the Friends Snow Resort line look like they're only a few alterations (and a bit of stripping out the pink) away from fitting in nicely alongside the Winter Village sets? This is more pertinent to the Chalet and Ice Rink sets than the Ski Lift and Off-Roader. What does everyone think? EDIT: And the Hot Chocolate Van! I completely forgot the Van . . which is more of a take it or leave it set for Winter Village applications, depending on what time period you picture your Village in (and how much you like hit chocolate).

My latest modular is a Surf & Ski Shop with a Travel Agency upstairs. Detail of the shop windows: First floor interior: Travel Agency on the 2nd Floor: (First time making my own decals.) Finally, next to my Kitchen Store for size comparison. Thanks for looking!

Welcome to Winterfield Academy, the premier arts academy for all of your minifigs! Governed by Headmistress Elba Rieter, this academy specializes in the arts! The first floor includes a grand entrance hall with front desk and a platform for a train station (Behind the school are tracks on which the Orient Express can arrive). The first floor also contains the dining hall, a trophy room, and the grand spiral staircase that ascends three stories. The second story includes a large choir classroom, a picture-lined hallway, a store closet that I'll soon be converting into a lavatory, and Headmistress Rieter's office. And the third floor/roof contains a ballet/dance studio and classroom, as well as a large portion that I haven't decided what to do with yet. But I think it's going to end up being the dormitory. I'm also planning on possibly doing a stop motion video series set around one of my mini figures encountering mystery and murder at the school! So we'll see how that goes. This MOC is also up on LEGO Ideas gathering support! If you wish please go support it! I'm including the link here. https://ideas.lego.com/projects/c3ebdf4f-1c75-435e-b09b-3f23788b535a Any ideas for the third floor, suggestions, comments on this MOC are much appreciated, thank you! :)

This was one of my first large-scale MOCs, that came before the Orient Express Thriller or Winterfield Academy were even conceived! (back in 2014) I had watched the miniseries for "The Shining", and I've always been enamored with National Park lodges. So, the product was The Glacier Falls Lodge, the official lodge for Brickler Mountain National Park! A perfect getaway destination/luxury hotel catering to any minifig's vacation needs! This MOC went through at least six different iterations, before finally being pared down to a (very) downsized version fit for LEGO Ideas. At its prime, though, the Lodge contained an enormous lobby, full dining room and kitchen, and several guest rooms upstairs, with two bathrooms per floor (kind of in the style of Chico Hot Springs in Montana). The first iteration was built in 2014, during that summer we had a major fire that caused us to evacuate. This hotel was thrown in a box and taken with us in a car at night fleeing to Seattle. Later, when the fire season was over and we returned, the hotel sat on the desk for several months without being worked on. The Second Iteration had a change to the tower, it was more octagonal and separated from the roof. And I used the Town Hall Skylights for the Lobby. The Third Iteration sadly has no pictures, as my computer had crashed and we lost them. But it was pretty ugly. I had the idea to try and make octagonal towers on either side of the main doors, with the idea not turning out very well. That iteration was fragile, and fell apart easily. The Fourth Iteration was a HUGE model, with an upgraded, fancier porch and a sign out front! This was also when I made it into more of a Victorian style hotel, with a large wrap around porch, and the two towers on either side. These were half-octagonal towers, which made it a lot easier to stay together. (I had actually figured out how to build them, and gotten the pieces for it). The roof was a major challenge, but we made it work! This iteration also had an enormous, well thought out and beautifully built dining room, as well as a large kitchen with three to four walk in freezers! The Fifth Iteration was downsized in terms of length to make it fit through the door, lol! The basic hotel structure remained the same, however, with the exception of a large rearranging of the rooms inside. This was the first project that I submitted to LEGO Ideas, before having to downsize it again for it to be accepted. This was by far the best iteration of the six, and the only one we have interior pictures of. 5th Iteration furniture and Grand Fireplace 5th Iteration First Floor Porch Detail Lobby Facing the Dining Room Lobby picture 2 Piano Music Room Lobby Picture 3 The cool part was that the interior walls of the 5th Iteration were removable! 1st/2nd floors This was also the first iteration to have major interior decorating and fancy chandeliers! The 6th and Final Iteration of this MOC kept most of the basic structure, subtracting much of the width, in order to make the 3000 piece LEGO Ideas limit. This unfortunately was at the cost of sacrificing the entirety of the interior minus several pieces of furniture. This iteration currently, sadly does not exist anymore. It was torn down and the pieces used for Winterfield Academy (pictured below) However the 6th Iteration is still up on LEGO Ideas right now, and currently has 2036 Supporters! If you would like to give your support as well, I'll include the link here. We would really appreciate any support given! :) https://ideas.lego.com/projects/66655f37-9622-4836-a2cb-797e916f4e2b Anyways, that's the whole story on the MOC! This was by far (not counting my disastrous attempt at a county courthouse when I was 15) my first successful MOC that I thought looked relatively decent! Please tell me what you think, anything you like about it, etc., in your replies! I'll finish with a couple shots from last December and our promotional Winter Photoshoot! :) Thanks for reading! :)

Built for Sheffield LUG's Classics on the moor event. (note: not put in scale modelling as it's not a scale model of any existing vehicle)

Hi, you like trains? This is the review for you. Small, cute trains. Enjoy! Overview 31015 Name: Emerald Express Theme: LEGO Creator 3 in 1 Year: 2014 Pieces: 56 pieces Minifigures: 0 Price: £4.99 / $4.99 / 4.99€ / RM19.90 31054 Name: Blue Express Theme: LEGO Creator 3 in 1 Year: 2017 Pieces: 71 pieces Minifigures: 0 Price: £4.99 / $4.99 / 4.99€ / RM24.90 Introduction 31015 and 31054 are both creator three in one trains designed at their smallest boxed sets. I came across these affordable sets and bought three sets each to complete the three designs and connect them together. The Boxes 'One does not simply buy ONLY one creator three in one sets.' The box art with borders are new designs of 2017 sets. Emerald express looked like it was set in arctic background and blue express in some green scenery. At the back of the box you can see all three designs are presented. Both with the head of the train, the carriage and the tail. Here you can compare that the 2014 set has a larger box and wheel compared to the 2017 set. Pieces count increased but the size of the pieces became smaller. Cutting cost? The Build Lets start with the older set. Emerald Express The build was overall easy. Here you can see the head of the train looked like a small cart, with a curve black roof and 2x2 trans clear brick acting as windows. I liked how the dark green rounded bricks matches with the red and trans yellow headlight and the 'chimney' is very nicely placed. The carriage. I see it as the middle part of the train. You can actually buy a lot of sets and make a lot of these carriage to elongate your train. This four wheeled carriage is very nice with curve ends on both sides, and it will be attached via the ball joint at the front and back of the carriage. This is the rear end of the train. The 'chimney' part become the tail of the train with yellow light. There is a compartment for passengers with trans clear 1x2 as window, two large wheels and one small wheel as support. This is a very nice and beautiful train when you connect them together via the ball joints I've mentioned earlier. The windows are very beautiful with those trans clear pieces, and its design of head and rear are very distinct where you can easily differentiate which direction the train is moving. Blue Express The building technique for this new 2017 set is some kind of modular. The parts are connected to each other via a red technic pin. You can actually detach and combine them with compartments from other sets in this series for more creative vehicles, and more fun! This is a classic blue train which reminds me of Thomas the train. How nice if LEGO adds a smiley face at the front of the train! The head of the train was decorated with a rather small 'chimney' and there are three pairs of small wheels. The size of the wheels are uniform towards the end. This is the center part of the train built with second set. The wheels are the same, this time added two red piece at the passenger seat area to add in to some details for this part. It is quite symmetrical if you view from any side of the compartment. This is the rear end of the train. Three pairs of small wheels, a round tile with a stud at the center without the trans clear 1x1 round plate distinguished it with the front. I like the blue dome part making it looks more curvy. The new 1x2 wedge also adds some details at the tail of the train. This is the whole 'Thomas train'! Not bad for a train and the blue and black color match is quite nice. I think LEGO can add a printed number plate at the front of the train to make it much worthy to buy. These are the extra parts from all three sets. Comparison In this picture the length of both train are almost the same. Color wise both are very nicely matched. Design wise I prefer the Emerald Express for a much detailed train compared to a 'symmetrical' looking train. Blue Express vs Emerald Express. Which one will you board? Summary review Playability: 6/10 (No play features for both sets, however kids can move the train with the wheels) Design: 9/10 (The design of the train was very nice and elegant. You can really feel like you are going to show your ticket and get into the train. But I still prefers the Emerald.) Price: 9/10 (What more do you ask for a 56/71 pcs set?) Overall: 8/10 (I think Emerald Express looks more like a real train. Blue Express looks a bit toy-ish. Both are very nice when displayed together, so I would suggest you get all six boxes for a complete train.

Hi all. This is my first time posting in the town forum. I just wanted to share a MOC I built for our local Lego show "BrickExpo" in late July 2016, which I only recently had the chance to photograph properly when it was part of a recent LUG collaborative display at the Bricks at Woden School show, and then again when I set it up at home a week or so back. I wanted to build a formal park that was in scale with the Modular buildings, with the aim of having a larger display piece that could be used in the LUG's collaborative layouts. I had already prototyped corner and side modules when LEGO announced the Fun in the Park set, and that set inspired me to proceed with it. So over the course of several months in early 2016 I built all the rest of the park modules. I realised later on in the build that I needed to provide wheelchair access for the new fig, so I turned a side entrance into a ramp and made it the focus of an "opening" scene for the new access ramp. I bought the Fun in the Park set on day one of release and had an entertaining time posing figures (I did use all of them from the set, but one is out of sight on the far side), and thought up a few more minifig scenes as well. The Park also gave me the chance to try some different techniques, especially with the trees, which I made from techniques I saw online and with some variations of my own. Jokingly I refer to it as "UCS Fun in the Park". In the following two overview shots taken at the show, one LUG member built the brick-built roads, and another built the multi-coloured row of town houses in the back. Various members contributed sets etc. Overview 1 Modular City Park Overview 1 by Magma Xenoliths, on Flickr Overview 2 Modular City Park Overview 2 by Magma Xenoliths, on Flickr The Opening of the access ramp Modular City Park 3 by Magma Xenoliths, on Flickr Close up of the Statue end of the Park - a tribute to our founders Modular City Park 4 by Magma Xenoliths, on Flickr I guess I am a romantic at heart... Modular City Park 5 by Magma Xenoliths, on Flickr Kids enjoying the park Modular City Park 6 by Magma Xenoliths, on Flickr Corner Modular City Park 7 by Magma Xenoliths, on Flickr How the park is constructed Modular City Park 8 by Magma Xenoliths, on Flickr And because the park itself is modular, it can be used in a smaller configuration if required! Modular City Park 9 by Magma Xenoliths, on Flickr Larger versions of all photos can be found in the flickr album here for the extra keen: https://www.flickr.com/photos/125221542@N03/albums/72157682377221205 Thanks for taking the time to have a look.

Hello, I've recently got the mini beetle promotional set but when I finished assembling it my children imediately noticed there is no room for a minifig in this car. My son wanted to try to put a minifig in it but it was hopeless (at least for him; he is only 3) then I came around and decided the Mini beetle will have a minifig on board ! And Voila ! here is what I managed to build without alterate too much the original design but with just enough space to fit a minifig sitting inside the car ! More pictures on my Flickr account Any comments or criticisms are welcome. Thanks !

This is my project of K.I.T.T.: 250 pieces, 2 minifigures can sit inside, De Lorean (CUUSO/Ideas) scale. Now I must place the orders of pieces to build it :) UPDATE: This is the real MOC :) Full album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskTyAXHH

Hi, All! Here are alternate models I have made using the LEGO Creator 10252 VW Beetle set. No. 1 Buggy No. 2 Pick up Truck Thanks for watching!

Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 T-rex Year of release: 2017 (according to BrickLink and me, 2016 according to lego.com) Number of bricks: 174 + 8 spares Target age: 7-12 years Price: €17,99 (in Lego online shop; I found a set in Hamburg's Saturn for €12,99) A word in advance: I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this set, but to me it seems the best place since there are dinosaurs here. Soon after I rebooted my Lego hobby, I fell in love with the Red Dragon from the Red Creatures (31032) set. When I saw the Mighty Dinosaurs in the first 2017 catalogue, I knew I had to get my hands on that one too. Not to my disappointment. A somewhat better layout-ed version of this review can be found here on my website. The box Let’s get the box over and done with. The front side of the box (see above) looks neat with a volcano in the background and the remains of a dead dino at the feet of the T-rex. Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 box front The backside gives no additional surprises. The same models but with a more equal space distribution, so you can have a good look at the other two of this 3in1 box. Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 box back Then the side, well the only interesting one. More of the same and a 1:1 picture of a 1×2 plate with the white pointy things that do well as teeth but also as fingers on the wings of the flying dinosaur. Is it a Pteranodon? Let’s stick with that. Thirdly, the part is also used as the serrated edges at the head shield of the triceratops. Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 box long side One side also advertises Lego Life which turns out to be an app for your tablet but I am going to ignore it here since I bought the box to build Lego not to tap a screen. The contents Then, what’s in the box? Three booklets for the three models and three bags of bricks. One for the biggest parts, one bag for the smallest parts and one for the mid-sized parts. No surprise, no mystery. What is a nice surprise is that this is actually a 4in1 box. The fourth model is a Brontosaurus. You can download the building instructions from www.lego.com. I checked it. It is there. The parts What I like about the Creator theme is that it finds a good middle ground between detailed modelling with large amounts of special bricks on the one hand and the type of building of the pre-1980s. These are sliding scales, of course, but still. The Creator theme gets you decent-looking, highly playable, sturdy and yet very recognizable models. True to this middle ground, this box contains many basic and close-to-basic bricks and some special ones. According to the manual, the box contains 174 bricks divided over 68 different shape/color combinations. This is not counting the eight spare parts (shown below). Overviewing all these, what stands out is the collection of hinges. There are about 45 parts that perform a role in some form of hinge. The picture shows all the varieties used in this set. Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 hinge parts Next, here is something familiar to most Lego fans, but since I have just come out of my dark years, these are new to me. So, it is time to pay my homage to Lego’s greatest invention after the studs-on-top: studs-on-the-side. The Mighty Dinosaurs set has three types of them. The 1×1 tan brick has two side studs on adjacent sides, which is new for 2017 according to BrickLink. The 1×1 brick with studs on 4 sides was introduced in 1985, so I wonder, why wait 30 years with the adjacent-sides version? Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 side-studs bricks Also new in this set are some parts that are new because they are available in dark green: a 2×2 brick with ball receptacle (and axle holder), a 4×3 open wedge that forms the eyebrows of the T-rex, and the left and right 2×3 wedge plates. Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 new parts Apparently not that new, but a very puzzling part to me when I saw it the first time is this one. Technically speaking it is a pneumatic hose connector with an axle holder attached to it. It makes for an excellent nail holder as I’ll explain below. Hose connector with axle holder Spare parts after building the T-rex. None of the other 3 models use any of these spare parts, so they are really extra. Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 spare parts Building instructions The set is part of the Creator theme and advertised for ages 7 to 12, so to me it does not seem a difficult model. It could be different for a 7-year old builder. I am really curious, because compared to the 1970s building instructions, the current ones are a giant leap ahead. However I feel Lego has overshot it’s target here, which is why I wonder what a 7-year old thinks of it. Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 T-rex instruction page Recently, I rebuilt my Technic fork lift (852). In some places, it needs a bit of three-dimensional insight to figure out which brick goes where. Those days are over, fortunately. But to spend an entire image to show where one single brick goes after an image where three bricks are placed in a row leaving a conspicuously empty spot? I count about 10 such overly clear steps in the 52-step manual, which makes me wonder what the reasoning is behind the design of the building instructions? Design If anything, I find the design elegant, perhaps with the exception of how some of the hinges are used. When it comes to the overall shape: I like it a lot. It really looks like a T-rex and it stands firmly. If I have to point out a flaw, I’ll say that the front paws seem too long. One stud too long to be precise, and their claws are one stud to wide. In defense of the design, the mistake is of course with the T-rex itself. It looks hideous and unreal, even for a dinosaur, with those ridiculously small front paws. Technically speaking, the design is quite similar to that of the dragon from the Red Creatures set, so the basics have been tried and tested. Moreover, there is a cousin T-rex as one of the additional models in the Roaring Power (31024) set. I haven’t built that one, but having checked its building instructions, I think one could make an interesting comparison of the building techniques that are used in these two T-rex models and the Red Dragon. Possible topics could be the use of hinges, the design of the legs and feet and differences in the construction of the heads. I’m not sure whether it is a flaw or a smart solution, but the T-rex’s head is too long and/or heavy for the small ball-hinge that connects it to the neck. On static display, the hinge is strong enough to keep the head steady in any position, but a small movement of the entire model will make the head nod downwards. A green 1×2 plate prevents it from dropping completely and holds it in a natural position. So, the hinge is not strong enough, but there’s a good work-around. T-rex neck and head hinges T-rex with hinge blocks T-rex without neck hinge block Upon further inspection, the hinges between the neck and the body also don’t allow the neck to bend downwards. And at the back-side of the body, the first tail-part also has a block. Here it is a round 2×2 plate so that the tail can still move left and right. The overall result is that the T-rex can hardly bend forward, but it can bend backwards to the extent that it can almost kiss the tip of its tail. T-rex tail hinge with block T-rex fully curled downwards T-rex fully curled backwards To finish the technicalities, there is an interesting technique to put the middle toenail of the hind legs a bit higher than the outer ones. This is where the pneumatic hose connector gets a creative application. The pin of the nail fits in the centre of the axle holder and two clips hold the two sides of the connector. The box’s illustrations nor the building instructions advertise it, but this construction allows the nail to hinge downwards. It could be a nice technique to make retractable cat nails. Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 T-rex claws with hinging nail Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 T-rex claw with hinging nail Below a few pictures of the major building stages of the T-rex. Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 T-rex skeleton Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 T-rex body Mighty Dinosaurs 31058 T-rex building stage Color scheme The color scheme is well-chosen. The basics of it have also been tried and tested. Just like the Red Dragon, the T-rex has tan at the bottom. This goes all the way from the chin to the neck to the belly to the tail. The top side is green. No-one knows what colors dinosaurs had, I believe, and they may as well have been green-ish. Mixing in some dark-green parts adds a lot, and since it’s a children’s set, the brightest of the two was wisely chosen as the main color. The scheme is broken by some highlights. I’m not sure if the grey color of the hinge parts is good. In favor: it breaks the green. Against: it is not green and makes the model look like robosaurus. The fiery orange eyes beneath the dark green eyebrows give the T-rex its dangerous looks. The big rows of teeth may have something to do with that as well… The Pteranodon, the triceratops and the Brontosaurus Unfortunately, I don’t have time to discuss the other three models. Hopefully the pictures will do. In terms of color scheme they are all the same. In terms of shape, the four are markedly different and do equally well. The T-rex, which has the largest number of parts, probably serves as the selling point of the set. But in the end however, I’m tempted to buy three more sets, so I can display the four at the same time. The Pteranodon Pteranodon body Pteranodon body plus limb parts Pteranodon divided in modules Pteranodon The Triceratops Triceratops’ head halfway Triceratops’ head Triceratops’ body without top shield Triceratops divided in modules Triceratops The Brontosaurus Brontosaurus body halfway Brontosaurus body almost finished Brontosaurus body Brontosaurus divided in modules Brontosaurus (Notice the mistake?) Playability I’m more into building than into playing with the resulting creations, but I am guessing the T-rex and its cousins have a high playability. There is the attraction of the dangerous animals packaged in a bright color scheme that makes them good toys. They are also loaded with different kinds of hinges which makes them ideal study objects for children who are not familiar with the concept. Moreover, the hinges allow for endless variations of positions which must be a lot of fun when playing. The Pteranodon has great wooshability, provided you keep the head straight. Otherwise the head works like rudder and since it is at the front side it makes flying characteristics a bit unstable. Also, the Red Dragon and the Pteranodon make a great flying team. Finally, do note that the models are on minifigure scale, in particular the T-rex. Conclusion Great set! Talking value for money, at €17,99 in the on-line store I find it over-priced by 3 €.

Stations and depot (inspired by real ones of my city) for my tramway line:

The new Creator set 31065 just screams "Modularize me!", doesn't it? ;) Nice architectural details, realistic colours, a cool fire escape. It's a little low, but hey, in no city are all buildings of the same height. My initial idea was to buy two and merge them into one modular building, but after I had built the first one according to the instructions – as a starting point for my MOD – I realized that only very little needs to be done to make it a 16-wide modular. Mostly just basic bricks for the back wall. At this stage, I was still thinking of adding another of those bay windows to each floor to add a little to the height, but in the end I actually like it the way it is. So I decided to simply make it narrower by remowing the window on the left side of the door. Since I needed the whole building to be of the same height, I added the window above the door – fits nicely, I think. When I had the first building ready, I simply built a second one next to it. Actually, three in a row might look nice... So this is what it looks like as a 32-wide double. It very much reminds me of the style of housing that the Gallagher family lives in in Chicago's South Side, so I just had to place a homeless drunk on the sidewalk :D I still need four of those dark stone grey shaft with balls to complete the roof. The sides are very plain, and also the fire escape had to be relocated – now it's in the back, which gives the backside a nice detail together with the window, tree and some seating. Usually, when I have the façade finished, and if it's a commercial building, the interior, then I just run out of ideas and inspiration so the backside remains very plain. In this case, however, the set came with enough details to furnish the backyard. The chairs and barbeque are borrowed from 31052 Vacation Getaways, the tree is a combination of two 31065 trees, the birds are 31065 originals. I also added an entrance to the basement. There's a modest interior, as well. This is the top floor with one apartment having a 31065 bed, the other one a 31052 bed. There are no stairs, that would eat up all the room inside. Gotta use that fire escape! The main floors both have identical kitchens. Again, the furniture is a combination of 31065 and 31052 to get some variation. As you can see in this picture, the buildings share a common basement. There's a pillar in the middle to add support for the upper floors. Two similar fireplaces, though. The main floor is so low that the door needs to be placed here, otherwise it doesn't fit. This works out relatively nicely altough the door does come off a little too easily when removing and placing the top floors back. Wouldn't work in a real set. The two floors are separate, though, but the roof is just one common piece. Don't you think the 31065 looks great as a modular? It's a very inexpensive way to build MOD modulars, too. You need one set per one 16-wide modular and then mostly just basic bricks in tan and dark red as well as dark stone grey tiles. That's about it – some plates for the floors/ceilings, too. Thanks for reaging, and as always, grateful for your comments!