TaltosVT

I built one of these not too long ago using three stacked plates. I added one of these Keychain pieces so that I could carry it with my car keys. The handy part is that the cap is built from a 2x2 brick, so I can snap it on top of the drive when in use. That way I never lose it. I'll post photos of it if I can get my wife to give it back to me. :-/ -Elroy

The VT stands for Vermont, the state that I live in. Taltos was a more popular user name than I expected on a lot of websites, so I added the VT to make myself a bit more unique. I may try it with a mix of grays. I think maybe I'll build a sample wall to see how it looks. That's an interesting question. Most of the original stonework was carried away by settlers after the fort was abandoned in the late 1700's, so it's hard to tell if it was all the same. I would assume that the stone was originally quarried from the same area, though, so it stands to reason that the original stonework would have been a more uniform color. The fort as it stands today is a replica of the original, so the stone for the walls could have come from most anywhere. -Taltos

Apologies for taking so long to reply to this thread, and thanks for the continued interest. Mister Phes, to answer your last question about photographing events, I most definately will take photos when I can. :-) I don't expect to display the fort in public until at least next year though. Hopefully by that point I will have enough built to make it more interesting than just a single blank wall. I've been questioning this myself, so I'd also be interested in people's opinions. The use of 2x2 bricks to create a brick effect was a conscious decision, and I decided to use a single color to keep the costs down. Now that the wall is almost finished though, I'm thinking about possibly adding in some darker bricks in spots to break up the "blank wall" effect. One thought that I've had is to add in small sections of 1x1 plates, to simulate stones in the wall. As oo7 states, the walls of the actual fort are much more textured. The 1x1 plates might help simulate that. -Taltos

If I remember correctly, this fig came out just after, or at least around the same time, as the first untethered space walk from a space shuttle happened. -Elroy

Another way to build at an angle is to build on top of 2x2 turntables. The only example I have is a sign that I made for a park. It can be seen in the lower left corner of this picture. -Elroy

I'm not really sure yet. The LEGO group that I'm in (NELUG) occasionally displays at public shows, so I'll probably start with one of those. -Elroy

Exo-Champ, I just read through the rules. Looks great! Do you have any plans for including rules for building templates for custom mecha? I built a Combat Mechanic mecha a few months ago in the Exo-Force style. I thought it might be fun to build a template for it. Where most of the Exo-Force mecha have weapons, my mecha has tools for doing field repairs. I saw that you included rules for doing repairs. In the case of a unit like this, would he follow the normal repair rules, or would he use some sort of rules specific to a repair mecha? -Elroy

I became interested in American Revolutionary War history after attending a battle re-enactment earlier this summer. I started doing some reading, and quickly realized that school had taught me nothing about what really happened. They taught dates and names, but there was no information about why people felt the way they did. Also most of the information we were given came from the American perspective (it's the old "Victors write the history" sort of thing), so I started looking for references from the British perspective to get another view. As far as Ticonderoga itself, I was raised in Vermont, which is where The Green Mountain Boys were from. When I was young, we were always told stories about how Ethan Allen and The Green Mountain Boys stormed the fort. Ethan Allen is sort of like the Robin Hood of Vermont. I also remember visiting the fort with my father when I was young. I've been sort of fascinated with the structure since then, especially after studying architectural design for a few years. I'm hoping that when I complete this project, I can display it in various public settings. It might be a way to help kids become interested in our history a bit. Thanks for your interest! -Elroy

The information comes from a few different sources. One is the fort's website, which has a nice outline of its history. The early days of the fort are outlined here: Fort Ticonderoga History: 1700's Timeline Another source was the book Fort Ticonderoga - Key to a Continent by Edward P. Hamilton. I've also read a few first-hand accounts by men who fought at the fort. These references are probably my favorite, as they give you a sense of what was really happening, as opposed to the usual dry information of dates and names that most American schools give us. I would actually love to find some British and French sources. If anyone knows of any, please pass along the names to me. It would be incredibly appreciated. -Elroy

He was indeed. There is a nice article about him here: William Phillips They don't mention Ticonderoga though. :-( -Elroy

It was suggested in the Interesting Cannon thread that I start a new topic for my Ticonderoga Project. Though it's not really a Pirate related project, it probably fits in this theme better than any other. Basically my goal is to create a minifig scale version of the fort at Ticonderoga, New York, here in the U.S. I haven't gotten far on the project so far, and I'm estimating that it'll take a few years to complete. I'm keeping track of my progress on my web page located at The Ticonderoga Project. Comments are always appreciated, and helpful tips are always appreciated more. Especially if anyone has any advice on how to fund a large-scale project. That's probably my largest hurdle at the moment. My wife is fully supportive of the project, as long as the bills get paid first. By fully supportive, I mean that she thinks I'm crazy, but she hasn't said no. :-) I'll try to remember to post here when I have major updates, though the web pages should always have the latest update if people want to follow along. -Elroy

I don't usually get into gun debates because I tend to be on both sides of the argument. From what I can tell, the original reason behind America's right to bear arms was for the formation of militias. The militias were for the protection of the community, whether it was against indian attack, government attack, or attacks by headless horsemen. In a case like that, it makes sense. I certainly don't want my government saying "I can own a gun, but you can't. Now do what I say or I'll shoot you." In a case like that, I'd like to be able to defend myself somehow. On the other hand, I personally can't stand guns. I won't have one in my house. So every time you hear someone say that all Americans are toting guns around and filling their houses with them, you've got proof right here in writing that it's not so. I do own a couple of swords, but my skill level with them is such that I'd probably chop out my own liver before being able to defend myself with them. I do, however, have the choice to own weapons, which to me is the important part. A lot of people twist the right to own a firearm into something else. Most commonly it's "I have the right to protect myself!" While that's basically true, what they really should be saying is "My neighbors and I have a duty to protect our community from outside forces that might destroy it." Our right to bear arms is really a right to form militias. Of course, these days if you form a militia, the government will probably come in and blow up your commune, but that's another discussion. Oh, in the case of a headless horseman attack, you're pretty much doomed anyway because they are already dead, and most likey won't be bothered much by bullets. -Taltos

I definately still play. I don't limit it bricks either. I also have an n-scale train set that I play with, among other hobbies. Oddly enough, the same question often comes up in train forums. A lot of the model railroaders don't think of themselves as playing, but then they go and create elaborate stories about what their trains are doing at any particular moment. To me, that is playing. What I always think is strange is that when my daughter was very young, I'd sit on the floor and shake a rattle or toss a ball with her, and no one thought that was strange. I was just playing with my daughter. Now that she's almost 11, I'll sit on the floor and build with her, but people think that's odd. Playing with a toy built for an infant was okay, but playing with a toy built for an older child somehow crossed the line for some people. On the other hand, when I show people photos of the LEGO train layouts that I participate in, they are more than impressed, and they go into all sorts of discussions about how we are creating art, etc. I just smile and nod, because I know that all I'm really doing is playing, and that they could do it too if they'd just let go of the notion that adults can't play. -Elroy

Hi all, I might be able to help out a bit, as I'm the builder of the original howitzer that was posted. Tim Gould used the barrel design for his ship version. I'm still working on how he built his base. Anyway, the barrel looks like this: It's two technic pin connectors, held together by a technic friction pin. Then a horizontal clip (or vertical clip, I always get the two mixed up), then a 1x1 round. The end is a technic pin with towball. The carriage is best seen in this pic: Basically everything clips onto one of the new(ish) handle pieces: The handle piece is connected to the bottom of a 2x2 plate with wheel holders. My main reason for creating it was to go along with the model of Fort Ticonderoga that I'm building. The story of that whole saga is here if anyone is interested: The Ticonderoga Project -Elroy