Praiter Yed

The decal is very nicely designed and looks Lego-ish - also well applied . I'm surprised by how well Jack Sparrow's face works for Tony Stark!

I'm still stedfast in my refusal to accept that this is not an Alien prequel, the new trailer has slime and those vial things seem to be laid out the same as the Alien eggs in Alien. Either way, I can't remember the last time I was this excited about a film release, maybe Phantom Menace or even Tim Burton's remake re-imagining of Planet Of The Apes... and we all know how they turned out In addition to the new trailer you can catch the UK trailer (which is very different in tone) and one of the viral videos (maybe what you were close to finding zenn?) focusing on Michael Fassbender's character over at Empire. EDIT: Oh, and for the real nerds (me then) there's also a breakdown of the new trailer.

The 1976 sci-fi classic Logan's Run, although dated and somewhat flawed remains one of my favourite sci-fi movies to date. Maybe it's something to do with my age when I first saw it, or maybe it's something to do with the often edited scene when Logan says 'let's take all our clothes off before they freeze on to us' (gratuitous nudity ensues), that makes me still believe Jenny Agutter's Jessica 6 is arguably the hottest of the sci-fi babes. KDM, just like Lego I've completely missed the hotness of the source material. Although I'm pleased with how Michael York as Logan 5 turned out... The 'flame gun' by Brickarms is the weapon that first gave me the idea for this project, it seems a bit odd that this would end up being the last one of the first batch (I will update this thread with more classic sci-fi customs in the future).

The lush forest floor works very well and I like the relatively simple, smooth tree trunks which really do give the impression of giant, towering trees. Luke's stance is good but I can't help but feel the inclusion of a speeder bike would make this appear more action packed - even if it was just the steering vanes coming into view in the foreground. Still, a lovely MOC

Thanks KDM, yes we all really enjoyed it and even the weather was nice, I hope I didn't sound too downbeat about it, because it really did all work out perfectly. I've just realised that I forgot to even thank Eurobricks in my report - how rude! Thanks EB for the chance of a wonderful weekend I hope I haven't painted Mrs. Praiter in a poor light, she really is very sweet and was concerned that we would spend an awful long time in the car for a fan event the kids wouldn't really enjoy. But of course there was loads for them to do and even the toddler had a good time (we could tell because he was well behaved although I did catch him trying to climb into the ROTJ display ). As far as being strong and limiting my Lego spending, she's recently banned me from BL for the second time , I just hope she never reads the 'Whats Your Recent Lego Star Wars Purchase' topic There's no chance of me going to Billund - although I could try saying 'seize the day again'. I'm glad you liked it JackJonespaw. And there's plenty more to see in my brickshelf. I believe it's the big opening weekend this weekend - is anybody going along? Would be nice to hear some more opinions or even see some more pics.

I did you a disservice by assuming the video would be a little boring and for that I apologise . It's actually very well done, and I really like how you made the effort to make the pieces appear to move around of their own accord rather than just showing the stereotypical build. My favourite part was around 44 seconds in when the 'thrusters' moved to the back of the engine blocks. Very well done

I liked your first version even though it was in the wrong part of the ship, but this is so much nicer. The first shot looking down the corridor looks superb (but I think the picture needs flipping so that Leia is on the opposite side). Well done

play.com have both 9493 X-wing and 9492 Tie Fighter @ £39.99 there's some reductions on other LSW sets too and seems to be reasonable savings throughout all themes (LEGO Super Heroes 6863: Batwing Battle Over Gotham City also @ £27.49). 4 stud storage brick is reduced to £9.49 but only in pink

Thanks KDM. I felt it was very important for me to try to get the faces right for this project - I don't think TLG could justify paying someone for the amount of time I spent on them. In TLG's defence I personally think their faces are more hit than miss and in my limited experience the female faces are harder to design, possibly down to their smoother skin and lack of beards. Thanks charlieboy. Yul Brynner puts in a very memorable performance - proof that actually being able to act is much better than sticking any old wooden actor into the role of an android. I've still not seen Escape form LA all the way through (that's not a judgement on the film, just bad timing on my part). Only in a film from the 1980's could they imagine we would be wearing skin-tight camo print jeans in 1997. Thanks Ash. The hair does the job ok but I think Snake should really have a bit more of a demi-wave.

A lovely diorama. Well done Markus1984 I wonder if you plan to ever extend the hanger scene at the front? Then you could include Luke and the gang running to the Falcon.

This is my report on the trip to the Star Wars Miniland Experience which I won here on Eurobricks. I wasn't sure whether I should tag this onto the end of the raffle thread so if the Mods' feel this goes better there please move it. I have waffled on about distances and the journey so some of you might want to go straight to the Legoland part Winning, Organising, Travelling and Arguing. Before entering the raffle for a preview of the Star Wars Miniland, I cleared it with the family to make sure we could go in the event that I won. Well, on Monday morning when I found out I'd won things all went a little pear shaped, my kids both had parties they were supposed to be going to ('and were looking forward to') and my missus had work commitments! I pointed out that "I did ask if we could go at short-notice" and received "WELL I DIDN'T THINK YOU WOULD WIN' as a reply. After some, erm, debate, the kids agreed they would rather visit Legoland than party, work commitments were rearranged and it was up to me to organise the trip. I offered my two extra tickets to an old friend who is a massive SW fan and also a bit of a closeted AFOL - he was over-the-moon and couldn't wait to tell his son. It was at this point that I found out that the prize was not exactly what I initially thought, I assumed I'd won 6 tickets to Legoland including a visit to the new Star Wars Miniland but in fact what I had won was a one hour preview tour of the new SW exhibit. OK, I was still happy, my friend lived closer to Legoland and had offered to let us stay the night before, so I was looking forward to seeing an old mate and making the most of the weekend, I was however, dreading breaking this news to 'the Wife'. As I suspected, voices were raised, the issue of distance versus time was brought up without the slightest mention of the word 'parsecs' and Mrs. Praiter decided not to come. It was only my persistence and the use of the phrase 'seize the day' that eventually persuaded her to tag along. So, Friday came and the prospect of a 3 hour drive with a two year old was not something I looked forward to but a train journey was certainly not an option (UK members will know that British trains are as crap as they are expensive). As it happens the boy slept most of the way, leaving only my 10 year old girl to occasionally shout 'are we nearly there yet'. We arrived at midnight, quickly got the kids to bed and spent the night boozing and reminiscing into the early hours. The next day we did a bit of sight-seeing had a nice lunch then set off on another 1 1/2 hour drive to Legoland. The boy slept again and but there were more shouts of 'are we nearly there yet'. Legoland Arrival at the Legoland Hotel was at 3.30pm for a 4pm start of the tour. We were offered free refreshments, sandwiches, cakes, coffee/tea and soft drinks for the kids. There was plenty to keep the children occupied while we waited, play rooms full of Lego tables, a staircase shaped like a giant tree, brick-built animals and statues, a brick city to admire, even the lifts were fun! At 4pm we set off through the Legoland Park, this was the first time I've visited Legoland and I really enjoyed walking past the massive miniland displays. Even though they couldn't go on the rides, the kids enjoyed the walk too and for the two year old we were given a brightly coloured push-along car for him to travel in. At last we reached our destination and the bit you lot are interested in. We marched through the entrance of the Star Wars Miniland to the sound of the Star Wars theme and were followed by two Imperial Stormtroopers! My boy was unfazed, he sees them almost everyday on my t-shirts. I was immediately struck by how dark it was, there was atmospheric lighting and sound effects throughout the exhibit. I should point out that my Missus was in charge of the camera and was mostly off photographing the kids so sadly I was left taking shots on my mobile which didn't really work due to the atmospheric lighting. The images shown here were kindly supplied by my mate FB... The first display was from The Clone Wars Next up was The Phantom Menace, an L-shaped display featuring a huge Theed Hangar with lift-off/rotating Naboo starfighter, Theed Palace and an epic battle scene between Gungans and (100 ) Battle droids. The Attack of The Clones display featured The Geonosian Arena (complete with some impressive arena beasts) and the battle of Geonosis. There were some really good Gunships and Drop-Ships in this scene but the pics either had too much flash or were out of focus (sorry ). For Revenge of the Sith there was a huge battle of Kashshyyk display plus a Mustafar landing platform and animated battle between Anakin & Obi Wan Now we come to the interesting bit... For A New Hope a massive Tatooine set-up featuring multiple scenes including the Lars' Homestead, Tusken Raider attack, Mos Eisley Cantina and a massive Millennium Falcon that lifts off from the Mos Eisley hangar. There's a small tunnel in this section that leads to a viewing bubble in the middle of the display - I'm only of medium build but it's clearly designed for children and I decided not to risk getting stuck. Possibly my favourite section was The Empire Strikes Back (it's a toss up between Tatooine and Hoth). As we walked into the Hoth area we were faced with The Dark Lord of the Sith himself (or at least someone dressed as him), my boy refused to enter, nice to see Lord Vader is still scaring Younglings after all these years. The Hoth section featured Echo base and the Battle of Hoth, plus a Wampa cave with truly a hilarious Wampa. The battle scenes were suitably epic and the AT-ATs were awesome! The Return of the Jedi area focused on the battle on the Moon of Endor possibly all the scenes you'd expect here; Ewok Village, Attack on the Bunker, various scenes from the movie featuring AT-STs and Speeder bikes. The highlights for me were the HUGE landing platform with a brilliant Lambda Shuttle and the absolutely MASSIVE shield generator. After staying in the SW Miniland way longer than we were supposed to, we were allowed a quick visit to the exclusive Star Wars shop. I hung on to my cash but admired the lifesize brick-built statues of Darth Vader, C-3PO, R2-D2 and Chewbacca. Finally back to the hotel where we were given some rather nice gift bags including LSW Heroes Sticker books, Darth Vader Key Light and a Magnet Set (old style not glued! ). Now for the 200 mile drive home; 'are we nearly home yet'. More pictures in my Brickshelf Summary: Meeting up with old friends, nice food, booze and sightseeing made the whole weekend worthwhile and Star Wars Miniland really was the-icing-on-the-cake. Everybody had a great time and although Mrs. Praiter failed to be amazed by BIG Lego models (even Canary Wharf didn't impress her (some people just aren't into Lego)) she did have her photo taken with Darth Vader. Without entrance to the rest of the park it's not really worth a 400 mile round trip (imo), but that's not to detract from the awesomeness of this attraction, it truly is a fantastic addition to the park and definitely worth a visit. EDIT: I forgot to mention that as my 2 year old was allowed in without a ticket my friend was able to take his daughter along too and so as not to split up the their family we were very kindly given an extra ticket for Mum - thanks JD

Thanks K-nut. It's cool that you think the figure is good even though you haven't seen the movie (which despite being a bit dated, is actually very good) . And yes, that is the BrickForge holster. Thanks ED-209. I too saw Westworld on TV as a kid - that's what this project is all about... nostalgia I've not seen Zardoz for many years - not sure I ever figured out what it was about. And thank you. Thanks Gryphon Ink. First post updated with Snake Plissken from Escape From New York

Original Post: Inspired by some Brickarms weapons, I have decided to create a series of custom figures based on characters from 'classic' sci-fi movies. So far I have made four characters but am struggling to find the time to photograph them. First up is 'Gunslinger' played by Yul Brynner in the 1973 movie, Westworld... The revolver is by Brickarms and the gunbelt is by BrickForge. Next up is Snake Plissken as played by Kurt Russell in John Carpenter's 1981 corker, Escape From New York...

The Smooth Haired Leia came with some copies of 10198 Tantive IV. I think the smooth hair was due to an error with the mold and many AFOLs got replacement parts from Lego - I'm surprised that people are willing to pay so much for it now - IMHO it really is quite horrible. Have you tried contacting Lego directly, perhaps they have lots of the smooth Leia hairpieces due to all the ones they had sent back and seeing as the head, torso and legs were the same as previous ANH Leias, you would really only need the hairpiece (and another generic Leia figure to put it on).

- For a moment there I thought you were saying that TLG are about to release a Wullf Yularen (although a TCW version wouldn't be surprising). Thanks for your kind words and also thanks for the blog. Thanks Mr Man, it is nice to have some variety in Imperial Officer's uniforms and I'll probably do a couple of generic versions of this when I can get my hand on more black Kepi's. I actually owe you a little credit, as it was from reading your post about modding the CMS Mad Scientist a while ago that gave me the idea I'm not so sure about the double/single breasted top - I only had the two images on wookipedia as reference and it's pretty hard to tell - either way, I think I can live with this version (at least for now ).

All these scenes are great but I absolutely the first shot! R2 is a very nice size, both the mini escape pod & sandcrawler are cool and the Jawa looks ace. I think I prefer the use of the slope brick over the official versions' little legs.

OMG! Unbelievably unbelievable - I'm seriously a bit shocked now - going to have to break the news to Missus Praiter that she's spending next weekend looking at Lego Awesome, thanks KDM, EB, TLG & Random.org.

The forced perspective works very well. I really like the double handled lightsabre (what's the little black bit you're holding it together with?) and the infiltrator is just brilliant!

Great interview guys I've been a fan of Smokebelch's photographs since before I joined EB, in fact before I'd even heard of Smokebelch (I had some downloaded from Google images and didn't even know who'd taken them). I find it incredibly inspiring that Smokebelch uses pretty much a point-and-shoot camera and still such a basic 'home-studio' - gives hope to the rest of us. Keep up the good work Smokebelch

There's recently been discussion in the Star Wars forum on how to fill your 10188 Death Star, well, I'd have to include Wullf Yularen... I used white waterslide decal paper for the 'tache then put a transparent decal over the top for the face. White 'hero' hair is by Brickforge.

Wow! You've captured the likeness very well - I love it!

1. B - 100 2. I'm expecting to have a wonderful day out with the family (despite the British weather).

Hmmm, I'm not sure I entirely believe Ridley Scott's comments on this - I wouldn't be surprised if he's just trying to limit potential disappointment at the lack of Xenomorphs. From the trailer and other sources we know that the Space Jockey/'s are present and if the crashing space-craft we see is the same derelict ship as found in Alien, surely we can conclude that events in this film are going to have a direct link to the original movie. Ridley Scott has made no secret of the fact that the Space Jockey as seen thus far is in fact a space-suit and not another alien lifeform, which poses the question what, or even who was inside the fossilised remains seen in Alien? And, if it is the same ship, might we get to see something bursting from the chest of said space-suit? EDIT: New movie still and www.weylandindustries.com

Good call Ash, just ordered 2! Other members are also reporting similar savings that I mentioned earlier on Droid Escape and Geonosian Cannon in Asda stores. Some stores seem to be selling them for £11.90 and others as I reported, at £8.50. Both prices are good so it might be worth checking out or a phone call.

I agree, the red stripe is a nice compromise, that's what made me wonder if a red 2 x 4 double slope brick would also work (could be overkill on the red), there's currently only 1 white one available on the whole of bricklink . As I said, it was really just a small nit-pick - I really like this model and would actually like to build one myself - something similar to this would have been a nice addition to TLG's midi-line but alas they seem to have gone by the wayside