greg3

That is awesome!! It looks perfect (the sign made from bones is just genius!!) and the little vignettes are nicely detailed too. The video's great too!! Nice (spooky!) work!!

Raoul Hafner was an Austrian born engineer who moved to England in 1935 to work on developing rotary winged aircraft. When WW2 began, he was briefly interned as an enemy alien but soon released to pursue his work at the Central Landing Establishment at RAF Ringway near Manchester. His aim was to develop a one-man, rotary winged, autogyro glider as an alternative to the use of parachutes to deliver soldiers by air, as the time, silk was in short supply and it was believed that the autogyro would be more accurate. Throughout 1941, tests on model versions proved that the concept worked - as the craft was towed forward the unpowered rotors began to spin developing enough lift to keep the craft airborne. Once the tow was released the craft slowly dropped. In January 1942, full-sized testing began with manned gliders becoming airborne after being towed behind lorries and jeeps. The next step was to tow and launch them from aircraft with the first manned free flight and controlled landing being from 200ft in June 1942. Eventually, successful tests were carried out from 3,900 ft carrying a fully equipped soldier (complete with Bren gun and ammunition). Unfortunately, the gliders were never used operationally as parachutes and large gliders were found to be better suited to the mass landings required. Hefner did continue to work the project and even developed the rotabuggy - a jeep fitted with rotors that could be towed and dropped from a plane!! After the war, he became a leading designer of helicopters in Britain. The craft consisted of a tubular framework with a single seat and short fuselage with a tailplane. The 2 rotor blades could be adjusted using a simple control bar giving the pilot good control over rolling and pitching. In all, 4 versions were produced and I've based my model on the final one (the Mk IV) This had a slightly longer fuselage and the tailplanes had vertical endplates to aid with stability. My relieved test pilot after a successful landing!! (the pilot figure is from United Bricks) Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Side view (some versions had a pair of landing wheels located under the seat) Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Top view Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Front view - the controls aren't perfect (should be a "loop" hanging down from the rotor hub but this was the best I could come up with!!) Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr In flight Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Ref pics (early flight control test from the back of a lorry and the only remaining craft now in a museum) Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Although it's a small simple craft, it took a while to get it looking decent but I'm pretty pleased with how it came out... might make a "What if... combat version" one next (in dark green/brown and with space to carry a gun etc) I might also give the rotabuggy jeep a go too!! Anyway, thanks for looking... comments are always welcome!!

Excellent layout!! (wish I had that much space!!) I really like the way you've combined builds from Ninjago, the modern modulars as well as some sets from the "good old days"!! Think the beach is my favourite part!! Nice work.

Nice looking airport!! I like all the transparent parts you've used - gives it a nice airy feel. I also like the brick built road and runway although they do seem a bit close together but I guess that's due to the space limitation. The bridge to get to the aircraft and the monorail are also nice touches. Excellent work!

Excellent build!! I like the idea of it being built inside the remains of an older building and the display pieces are great!! Nice work!!

Are these the hoses you're looking for.... On Bricklink (in parts) Hose rigid 3mm D Hose soft 3mm D EDIT: Oops Now I've reread your post I see you found them in Bricklink!! Ignore me!!

A simple MOC inspired by a TV documentary about these unusual weapons!! First launched in 1944, the Fu-Go was a balloon developed by the Japanese to deliver bombs to North America (over 5,000 miles away!!). (Unfortunately the balloon is way too small (and should be spherical!!) but it's all I had!) image by g.nat, on Flickr The History The idea was to use a hydrogen filled balloon to lift a payload up to around 30,000 feet where the fast moving jet stream would carry it across the pacific in about 3 days. One problem faced by the designers was to keep the balloon in the jet stream as the gas would expand/contract due to temperature. Their solution was to fit the balloon with an altimeter - if the balloon rose too high, it would trigger a vent to open and release some of the hydrogen. If it dropped too low, it triggered an explosive charge that released one or more of the sandbags carried for ballast. In this way, the balloon would stay at a pre-set height until it was over North America when a timer would release its bomb load. With no way of accurately knowing where the bombs would land, it was usually fitted with several incendiary bombs in the hope that they'd start wildfires that would destroy farmland, forests and buildings and ultimately spread panic throughout the population. To begin with, the attacks caught the American and Canadian Governments by surprise and they refused to believe that the bombs had come all the way from Japan, instead fearing that enemy units were operating in America itself. When they did finally understand what these weapons were, they assigned 2,700 troops to deal with them, including 200 paratroopers of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion (the only all black parachute battalion) who acted as "Smoke Jumpers" to put out fires as soon as possible. The fear was that news of the attacks would cause the public to panic. Even worse, if the Japanese knew that the balloons were reaching America and Canada, they might begin fitting them with biological or chemical warheads so a complete news blackout was ordered with the press banned from reporting anything about the balloon bombs. Even without the news blackout, the attacks were no where near as effective as the Japanese had hoped, mainly because they coincided with a period of cool,wet weather, and after 6 months the project was abandoned. (Although by chance, one of the last balloons did knock out power to the site of the Manhattan Project causing the back up safety systems to activate!!) A month or so later the balloon bombs claimed their first and only victims. On 5th May 1945, a family out for a Sunday school picnic disturbed a crashed balloon still with its bomb load causing it to explode, killing the pregnant mother and 5 children. These were the only recorded deaths resulting from enemy action on the mainland USA during WW2 and the site is now a memorial. After this tragedy, the news blackout was lifted and the public warned of the dangers. Over 9,000 balloon bombs were launched of which around 1,000 reached North America - the remains of several balloons have been recovered over the years, some still containing unexploded bombs. The most recent one to be found was in British Columbia in 2014 and it was detonated by the Canadian Navy's Bomb Squad! Details of the MOC The payload - a circular frame from which hung sandbags and the bomb(s) - either one 15kg antipersonnel bomb, or as I've chosen, a 12kg incendiary bomb and 4 x 5kg incendiaries (the wands). Above the frame was a platform containing the balloon's "brain" (altimeter, electrical circuits, timer etc). image by g.nat, on Flickr image by g.nat, on Flickr This is just the sort of weird history I enjoy fining out about and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out... thanks for looking!! Comments are always welcome!!

This week has seen the emergency services called to the mine following reports are that 2 people have been injured. The exact circumstances of the incident remain a mystery but the authorities were able to confirm that neither casualty was an employee of the mining company. Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr So what's been going on? Find out here

Hi Here's the first part of my latest superhero story to be set in my fictional town of Ballabreek. It's set a few months after the events in my Batman v's Red Hood story and as always is a combination of the official stories and my own ideas... enjoy!! Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr As always, comments are very welcome. Part 2 should be up soon!! (I'm also hoping to get a few more origin type stories done over the next few months so watch this space!!) Thanks for looking!!

Very nice!! I love old ships like this and you've done a good job of capturing its shape. Great work!!

Direct to Consumer/Customer (in other words you can only get it direct from LEGO not any other retailers)

I think this'll be a definite buy for me!! Love all the little details and the whole thing just looks stunning as a display piece. (Although I wish it came with a Hagrid micro figure as well!!) Despite being a die hard miniature scale fan, I hope it does well as I think that microscale sets like this would be great for other themes such as Star Wars where, so often, compromises in design are made due to the use of minifig scale. Plus I'm running out of room!!!

Thanks for the comments!! Funny you should say that.... The Wizard and the Hopping Pot

Hi Here's another little scene based on one of the stories in "The Tales of Beedle the Bard". In this tale, a kind wizard uses his magic to help his muggle neighbours. Wanting to keep his true abilities secret, he pretends that a magical cooking pot is the source of the cures he produces. After his death, he leaves the pot to his son hoping that he will continue to use his magic to benefit others. Unfortunately his son has other ideas and, seeing the muggle as beneath him, he rudely turns them away. As punishment, the pot spouts a brass foot and begins hopping around noisily after the son and giving him a taste of the neighbours problems (for example breaking out in warts, constantly spewing out rancid milk or making the sound of retching or a crying baby). My small build is loosely inspired by this tale and shows the young wizard returning to his kitchen after turning away an old man seeking help to stop slugs destroying his family's meagre vegetable plot... Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr This was just a quick build to keep me going while waiting for the new Harry Potter sets. At first I struggled with what to have coming out of the pot... in the actual tale the pot produces liquids, smells and sounds but the story does mention slugs so that's what I eventually settled on. Anyway, thanks for looking - comments are always welcome!!

A follow up to the last update sees the hospital finally open and serving the local community. As you can see, a few last minute changes to the building design took place allowing it to provide a greater range of services... Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr I wanted to try and include all the parts of the original set but a 3 storey building just looked out of place in my small town so I rearranged it a bit and I'm pretty pleased with the results. I've also found myself moving away from the classic open back (and in this case side as well!) design in favour of the Creator style of closed building but still with easy interior access. Section are easily removed to access the various departments... Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr The gaps in the original building are filled with easily removable panels... Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Finally the main entrance... Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr So there we go, Ballabreek now has a modern, well equipped medical facility... let's just hope it's not needed too much!! Thanks for looking... comments always welcome.

That lighting effect effect for the furnace is excellent!! I do like industrial scenes (all the pipes and machinery is just so cool!) and this is a great example. Looking forward to seeing how this one progresses!! Nice work!

Hi Having missed out on much of the previous HP themes, I'm really looking forward to the new sets and have been catching up with the "Wizarding World" by reading some of the spin off books. This is a little build I threw together after reading J.K Rowling's "The Tales of Beedle the Bard". It represents an incident recounted by "Dumbledore" in the book's notes as the inspiration for Beedle's tale "Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump"! Lisette De Lapin was a French sorceress who, in 1422, was arrested in Paris and put on trial for witchcraft. Found guilty, she was sentenced to death but mysteriously disappeared from her locked cell the night before her execution. Officially, her guards were blamed and put on trial for aiding her escape but rumours soon spread that she had used her powerful magic to turn into a rabbit and squeeze through the bars. Further reports from sailors of sightings of a large white rabbit crossing the English Channel in a cauldron fitted with a sail, seemed to back up these accounts. Even more astonishingly, over the next few years, records from the English Royal Court claimed that King Henry VI had appointed a white rabbit as one of his chief advisors. (although that could have just been a story made up by rivals trying to prove his insanity). If this is all true, then the question is, if she was an Animagus why not simply turn back into a human? Perhaps she had rushed the difficult process or hadn't completed the long preparation required to be able to successfully control the transformation. Whatever the truth is, it's likely that the legend inspired Beedle's story of Babbity - a washerwoman who turns into a rabbit to teach a king a valuable lesson. My little scene is of Lisette crossing the Channel... Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr The whole build Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr The cauldron "boat" Untitled by g.nat, on Flickr Like Star Wars, the thing I enjoy about Harry Potter is the idea that that there's a whole world and history behind the little bits we see/read about so I quite enjoyed this little build and have ideas for more MOCs using the upcoming sets. Thanks for looking... comments are always welcome!!

That looks great.... I especially like the little details around the front (the cheese slopes as chopped firewood is clever and looks perfect!!) The roof also looks good (not seen technic pins used that like before) but I'm not sure about the hole to let smoke out... It just seems too big. (And if it's a 2 storey building and assuming the fire is on the ground floor, how does the smoke get out? Unless the upper storey only goes around the edges like an internal balcony) Anyway, those criticisms aside, it's a nice build. Looking forward to seeing more!!

Hi The houses with the greenhouses/conservatories are actually official sets (Creator 3-in-1 Park Street Town House 31065) I'm sure the instructions are online somewhere!! Cheers

After another long break it's time for another update. This time we get a sneak peek at the town's latest building project - a new emergency hospital. Replacing the ageing medical centre, which was actually just a fancy doctor's surgery and could really only treat minor injuries, this new build will bring cutting edge medical facilities to the people of Ballabreek. With construction complete, the hospital is due to formally open in a couple of weeks but today we get a brief look at this new addition to the town... The building is located on the site of the previous medical centre and a small section of land that was part of the park. image by g.nat, on Flickr The main entrance. image by g.nat, on Flickr image by g.nat, on Flickr Unlike the previous building, this has a fully equipped accident and emergency area and can accept casualties delivered by ambulance. image by g.nat, on Flickr image by g.nat, on Flickr As you can tell, in keeping with my philosophy of using official sets where possible, this is just the new official hospital set. However it's taken a few weeks of trying different locations/orientations to get it to fit in as seamlessly as possible but I think this layout works. So far the only MOD I've made is to tweak the main entrance and to make it a 2-storey build to better fit in with the town. I'm still not happy with the rear view though and will probably move the "eye clinic" to the ground floor to cover the exposed green baseplate and this will allow me to add the "x-ray department" to the first floor. (this should be done before the hospital "officially" opens!) image by g.nat, on Flickr Thanks for looking.... comments are always welcome.

Nice build... the roof texture and all the details in the towers make it especially eye catching and I love all the interior details too. Very chilled and relaxing!! The details around the "guru" (is that the right term?) are spot on - I really like the owls!! Excellent work.

That is awesome!! I love all the products you have on display and the colour choices are perfect. Even the car park with all the markings etc is spot on. Excellent work!!

Fantastic looking cottage!! Love the way you've designed the modern interior (especially the kitchen) and all the little details really bring the scene to life (the "nest" is an excellent use of parts!!) The only thing I'm not sold on is the green water... I don't think it stands out enough from the land but that's just me nit-picking!! Anyway, awesome work (my minifigs would like to book it for a week or 2!!)

Great looking buildings (love the "chippy") but it's the little details that catch the eye (I especially like the traditional round postbox!!) Excellent stuff!!

This is awesome!! I love all the "brass" pipework and other details and the colour scheme is perfect. (The trailer and extra bits are just the icing on the cake!!) Excellent work and I hope it does well on Ideas!1