Adamskii

Hi folks - I know the topic of clone Lego is a touchy one for some - but this is a game changer. I already own a UCS Mil Falc, but I know how many people covet one. Now Clone brick company Lepin looks like they are releasing one. If the Mil falc is any good, it could devalue all those who have already collected one, as demand would drop away if there was a viable, quality alternative. The thing about Lepin is it is cheap - VERY cheap. Anyways, I know Clone Lego is a real insult to even suggest to the purist, but to the economist who will never afford the real thing, clone stuff is seriously going to mess with genuine aftermarket values. Regardless of the morality of it, this is an incredible temptation. here is a link to the Lepin kit. IT Sells for various prices about $250 ! *snip* If you are unfamiliar with Lepin, have a look at their UCS kit clones, plus all the Creator modulars have been cloned. The Ghostbusters firehouse for example, is about a quarter of the cost of the real thing. I have mixed feelings about clone stuff, (I'm ok with clone bricks doing original designs, copying Licensed sets however, is another matter) but the price/quality of these kits will be a temptation for for the non purist. Adam Link to advertisement/ announcement *snip*

I understand the game tactic of a Nether Train. Apparently, according to one my sons Unofficial MInecraft Encyclopedia's, the tactic of using a Nether train is that the Nether (aka Underworld) is a scaled down version of the Overworld. So for every block traveled in the Nether represents something like 8 block in the Overworld. So what that means is in a map where resources are scarce, you can travel across the Overworld quickly by building a portal to the Nether, then a track to the destination, then a new portal to get back out to the Overworld again. You now have the ability to travel 8 times the distance using 1/8th the resources. So A Nether train set would in my opinion, have some kind of track, minecarts!!, (maybe even the TNT minecart or the Furnace cart), At least one portal, and then some play stuff/obstacles to represent a journey through the Nether - SO Lava plates, Dark red Netherrack obstructions or wall elements, and a few Mobs (Ghast, wither skelly or Pigmen). My Dreamset would be a virtual trainset in the Nether. the price point I suggest will be aligned with the Friends Rollercoaster set. (possible brick count, type of elements, scale etc) As for a Nether train.. I really hope there is enough track to at least make a loop! whatever the design, That set would be well sought after if it is the Narrow gauge from the friends set in Minecraft colors ! Anyways my 2 cents. Adam

They all sound great , but how and when are they going to make the other 2 temples? Underwater monument or desert, the boffins at Lego should surely be able to come up with some sort of token gesture towards each of these items? The other item that would make a great playset is the village church tower. It is missing from the village set - maybe for a reason? ( I have attached one of my LDD versions of this set in my own interpretation) The witch hut will be interesting, And I wonder if the Nether Train will embrace the design of track gauge (4 studs) the same as that friends roller coaster set? The boys in the Trains forums will be happy if they make 4 stud Gauge rails in a normal color (dk Bley) I can already imagine immense Nether underworld rail sets at Brickventions.. Having played this game with my son, allot, I am wondering what is left ? As for the longevity of the series extending into 2017, I heard it rumored that the Minecraft movie is scheduled for late next year, made by the same people who made the Lego movie... And we already seen the sets that come from that film. Furthermore there is a Minecraft expanded universe. Yes that's right, there are literally dozens of expanded universe young adult novels, and comic book novels. Having read some of those now, there are other structures that do not exist in the game, but might make great kits - Monestary for example.

I love it, The Stronghold/Dungeon was a very pleasant surprise - This is a great way to show off those "cave" or end portal room sets.. Love the inclusion of the mineahfts. The carrots is genius, Im sitting here 3 days into a render on a garden design I am working on , and will probably delete it and start again - great idea! Thanks

Hello all, My 6 year old has abandoned all Lego other than his Minecraft sets, and for that matter most all other activities except console gaming when given the choice of free time. So to encourage time away form the screen and more actual imaginative play, I have built as faithfully as I can the Desert temple from MInecraft Game. This is a play set, not a model. The focus needs to be playability so, as the real sets show compromise, some have been made here, but I have tried very hard to conceal them. Eagle eyed gamer's familiar with the temple may notice some, but I am happy with the results so far. There may be more done to this MOC, is any build ever finished? but for now my son is enjoying adventuring into the temple, especially in a darkened room using torches to light the corridors or different rooms. The MOC. I do have some LDD files on this, but they are evolving and the final product has corrections and definitely simplifications that are not in my digital plan. There is approximately 1500 pieces,of which nearly 400 are 2 x 2 tiles alone! there are some of the jumper tiles scattered throughout to allow for simple minifig or torch placement. The building is sort of a pyramid design with some towers, an entrance and side entrances. There are 2 levels, and a set of corridors. Inside the main floor chamber are portico's and sub chambers (this is where some compromise was made. Using Lego as a medium for Minecraft at first might seem like a very logical and simple application. Wrong. The game is really essentially based on cubes (easy to render, computer to draw, build, etc) allowing for complicated world design at the expense of that real world appearance. Lego is not a cube. It is square at the base on a 2 x 2, but requires 1,5 layers of tile to make it a cube. So suddenly it becomes complicated with structures. A door is a good example, in the Game a door is 1 cube wide and 2 cubes high. Well in Lego (using a 2 x 2 brick as a start for a cube) we need two Lego cubes wide, and at least 5 cubes high to make a door for a minifig to fit in. A more accurate Lego "cube would be a 3 x 3 x 2.33. As you grow the cube in Lego in any direction to accommodate a minifig, the design must also grow in the other axis as well. With that in mind, here is my interpretation of the desert temple. I hope you enjoy, a Video of it opening will be available shortly. Adam

Thanks for your review, it is nice to see some showing detail pictures. May I offer some opinions ? Bag 1 - is not represented in the game at all, the "market", however I wonder if it is a nod toward some of the gaming community active members, especially the younger ones who would recognise the player "Stampy Longhead" who has hundreds of Youtube videos dedicated to campy game themes, and this looks like something readily found in those videos. It also looks similar to some of the building found in the downloadable content map packs, I think the Halloween has a theme park with a stand similar so maybe it's genesis comes from there. I could be wrong but the cake top tile is that new to this set ? It is an almost exact copy of the cake in the game ( and the symbol most synonymous with Stampy). Bag 2/ 3 is a Blacksmith. This is at best an interpretation of what it looks like but I guess that is the compromise for "playability", and the discretion of the reviewer as to how well that compromise is balanced. I guess as long as it has the L shape and the twin furnaces, lava pit etc and its instantly recognizable so its pretty good. Bag 4 -This building you reviewed is the "Library". the wheel is supposed to be a spider web that does not exist in the village Libraries, only in Stronghold Libraries. This is also the "crafting" room as it is the room with the crafting table, and is otherwise quite boring (as in the game it serves a purpose) but otherwise is quite uneventful. It is instantly recognizable and I guess not a bad interpretation. The bookshelf is an integral part of this room. The minifig villager belongs in this room. Bag 6 and 7 -The next small building you refer to as a bad attempt at a castle element, is possible the most unusual part of this set. The wooden structure is a half decent faithful interpretation of a small villager hut, but the stone/snow/ water combination it stands is simply weird and has not instantly recognizable equivalent in the game. I do however think this building is really bad compromise for a building missing from this set, and may be nod towards the "church" structure that almost every village has (unlike blacksmiths, which are not guaranteed and highly prized) where as churches do not have and great value other than aesthetics and a good place to sleep. As it is a tall building, I think the designers may have elevated the small cabin to sort of make a "tall" building to satisfy the village elements. The garden bed looks ok, but is very small, but I guess once again really does not serve a playable purpose, I wish the carrots could be pulled from some sort of fitted socket - that would be a cool feature. Bag 9 -The "well" looks quite accurate. In the game players and Mobs always get stuck in them, would be a proper play feature if that could happen but it looks very small and unlikely to fit any of the minifigs inside? Bag 10 and 11, this is the "Butcher" house, the stone slab inside makes sense, as does the small grazing yard attached. A quite nice interpretation I will get this set for my son at Christmas, who dedicates most of his waking hours to this game, and has many Lego Minecraft sets, and actually plays with them in ways none of the other Lego sets get played with (included trains!) I will MOD the heck out of it though as It really needs help but is a half way decent start I guess. But it looks very basic.. Thank you so much for this review, I hope you don't mind my input. Regards Adam

Hello, is there an official Minecraft location within the forums? I just simply cannot find a collective of minecraft posts, either new releases, speculations, reviews, MOC's MOD's etc in one place DOes such a holy grail exist or is it scattered throughout the forums? I understand it may not be popular with some, but the stuff sells alright ! Anyways if someone can tell me which of the forum sub groups Minecraft belongs too and where I ought to be searching - please help me ! I have been working an a MOC, and would like to post it where other like minded Minecraft devotee's can see and discuss. Regards Adam.

I saw this on my news feed today and though someone here might be interested to read this. I am not much of a minifig collector, but, I know many of you are, and this may be old news, but to some like me, a pleasant surpeise and all round good news story ! Well Done Nasa, and Lego. Link to news story here : http://www.collectsp...ws-080411a.html Here is the image ( I hope all can see it):

I have almost eliminated all play features from mine, and removed a tonne of structural framing mainly because it was the wrong shape, size and interfered with accurizing details. But the kit cost me$400 AUstralian dollars and I have the bricklink receiots for at leats a nother $400 to fix her up... and it's not finished, and its only half renovated (one side only)... This is not a cheap kit to correct and do accurate. See my post here http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=121869&hl=sandcrawler Regards Adam

Thanks. ALot of the substructure has been removed as unnecessary, or in the way of the snot profile. Alot of stuff could of been corrected during the build and I would love to go back and redo especially the hidden bricks and elements that become exposed by snotting. The original idea was to simply tile it out to be flatter and studless but I have gone way beyond that and built a rod for my back. The front end angles are such a mess that I am struggling to make sense of it and have ordered a number of parts to accommodate some ideas. I will post a new thread when It is finished, and highlight as many common easy fixes as I can! Adam

A few clearer pictures of the WIP. The back end almost finished other than fixing some misalignment, and Bricklink parts arriving. The Starport side is getting there but the main skeleton/ technic chassis has visible parts through the gaps and needs to be color corrected. There Vacuum tube and belly sponsoon are minor corrections. Can see there has been some experimentation with the idler wheels in the track assemblies. The chin plate is starting to be corrected, along with the cheek plates and cockpit sections. These front angles are mind boggling in their complexity - because they have to appear so simple! The point of these pictures is to simply log progress. Adamski

Thankyou for the comments. An interior (while always desirable) is not planned. The interior of the real thing apparently has many many levels, and is like a refinery or foundry with furnaces and forges. To be in scale I doubt Lego could be used to accurately reproduce the intricate details? also, unless minifig scale why bother ! I think perhaps I might build the bridge though in minifig scale to display next to the finished product. The pic below shows what I mean. And this is sort of how I break down the sub assemblies to make sense of the greebles. I guess greebles is not really the right term because what I am doing is replicating something and not making it up creatively; where as the studio model "busy" areas are greebles becaue they are creatively filling voids / adding details without restraint to a plan. (early WIP pic) Adam

I got the UCS Sandcrawler for Christmas, and although a moderately nice to look at set, it has simply compromised alot of accuracy for playability. The studded sides are just a deal breaker for me. The proportions are reasonable, but I decided I needed to at least attempt to correct the vehicle, while still maintaining the structural dimension of the original kit. I can't find pictures of anyone else who has attempted this mod. I am trying to use the real studio model prop as reference not the awesome Randy Cooper interpretation resin kit. I will post a very detailed article soon but I thought I might drop some Work In Progress shots - nothing finished - ALOT of changes to come... Hope you see my vision from these. Adam I cannot find blueprints So I drew my own using as many reference pics as I could. The Randy cooper resin model, My WIP attempt, The real studio model, and the Lego UCS Interpretation.

Hello wondermonkey, here is a video I made of it. ALso I did a post on Euro bricks with details. http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=89420

Hello davidmull, I sure hope no one asks, is 41 too old ? MY lad has been playing with the Lego trains for at least 1.5 years and has a very good appreciation of their fragility. He Is capable of lifting the trains on and off, and re railing derailed cars, and can re rail triple wheel bogey diesels with blind sliders. He can switch points to send the trains in the direction he wants and is able to park rolling stock in sidings for engine changes. However for all he can do, there is alot he does not do. He does not run anything with power functions - he prefers to push and sometimes the force applied is all wrong - trains pull not push. He also likes to mix n match vehicles oddly, SOmetimes he likes to use the cranes but can get a bit tangled with the lifting as they are poorly engineered. I think he is more than capable of playing with them, does not smash them and does not disassemble them. He is also not all that great at reassembling fiddly breakages. I have designed the layout with him in mind, and me too - we want some interesting opportunity to do different things, play some stories out, and leave as much scope for him to create as possible. Even with all that set up at his disposal (out of my wildest dreams when I was his age) he takes the spare track of which there is quite a bit, and builds his own loops on the ground. He is slowly learning to close a circuit and is beginning to show signs of appreciating track geometry (not stressing track to close the loop). So is 4 too young ? maybe. Every kid is different - this one has grown up with it and with full 100% access to even my prized MOC's and now he thinks nothing of them and leaves them pretty much alone (probably because they break so easy!) and is much more interested in building his own fire engine trains or police trains - amazing how kids gravitate to those themes and how The Lego Group pander so willingly with their town releases. Put one of his cousins who has had no exposure to this type of set up in the room and it is just armageddon ! Hope that gives an insight to my situation. Regard Adam PS here is a pic of him on an older layout over a year ago..(age 3.5) "]http://[/url]

I should elaborate a little bit - I have a limited "footprint" from which to build/design/house our train collection. And above all else it must be accessible / playable for my 4.5 year old lad. This is why the table is only 60cm off the ground. We have already filled one spare bedroom with a Lego city, and it threatens to spill out into the other living areas in the house.. So my last bastion of space is the outside games room, a 6 meter by 7 meter shed that also houses the bar, pool table, various other collectibles and furniture. Some how I have shoehorned a 210 x 120 cm boarded layout and squeezed in a smaller 600 x 1800 board as a shunting yard. But this is all I can spare so keeping in mind the accessibility requirement for play all that is left without increasing the footprint of the train set, is the walls! I was curious to know if anyone had drawers lined with trains? I think my train / carriage count is only around 45 units, but what happens when you get up in the hundreds? Adam

Hi Folks, just put up some shelves to have somewhere to put the overflow of trains that just don't fit on the layout. Simple shelves with routed tracks (to save a few $$) creates much needed room on the boys layout and shunting yard. I was wondering how everyone else stores or displays their spare trains? The ones that are not on your layout but ready to go at a moments notice so to speak. Do you quarantine special collectors trains in non running displays ? Looking forward to some ideas as I am sure over time the collection will continue to outgrow the layout and the need for storage will get more serious. Regard Adam, http://

Thank you for your comments. The windows are the greatest challenge for this project (essentially this is a square box with doors and windows). SO they have to be a key accurate feature so to speak. I note from many reference pictures the windows have a light grey (possibly chrome) window frame, and they are a two part design with an upper and lower section. There are some very old clear 1 x 2 x 2 lego bricks from trains that had this design painted on. but they are pricey to buy but could look very effective. Otherwise I have to Make up a two part window. The front two windows it must be noted are, single frames (driver etc) and the brown 1x2x2 work well. I am using them at the moment temporarily but will not be happy with them in the final design for the side windows ! Adam

Thanks for the reply, I chose excel as it was quick, very quick... No brick selection, no "fitting" of parts, no libraries to go through, just click and fill cell with color. Also, I was making multiple changes on the fly at all levels/layers and its easy to delete a row of bricks, and easy to squash a line of bricks to plates. Its very easy to draw the front view when the side view has dictated the template. Same for the plan view of the base. Bottom line is speed not brick perfect accuracy. When MOC'ing, I find the the designs are fluidic at best anyways so would rather spend more time working on practical application and solutions. Furthermore, the point of the Excel wasn't so much as to create a virtual kit prior to build, but to generate a rough shopping list for Bricklink - as stated I have very limited Reddish Brown brick as wanted to get few orders off that night, and, as usual, on Bricklink, I don't just order the minimum I often clean out the seller on all the bricks that match the design in mind. So lots of room to make changes when parts arrive, and spares for other projects if not required! Further more, I don't have a computer that would run LDD fast enough (working off a tablet). I can't run Blue brick (cant even find a working link) or anything like that so making the most of what I have that isn't pencil and paper! Hope that clears it up and is a bit less odd. Adam

Hello fellow train builders. I wanted to create a local railcar from my youth that no longer exists, but has many memories for me. The South Australian Railways (SAR) 400 class , also known as a Red Hen due to its prominent colour. A link to the Wiki on Redhens.. http://en.wikipedia..../Redhen_railcar I wonder what steps other builders go through when turning an idea into reality so instead of just posting the final pics, I though maybe it would be interesting to show the steps I take ( some I am sure will be backwards). SO firstly, I scour the internet for as many photographs of the model as possible - A solid reference library is a non negotiable. My local train museum happens to be the National one as well and will go back there in week or two, and take photo's and go for a ride on one of the working examples they have there! here is an example of the vehicle to be modelled. The next step for me is to identify sub assemblies within the model that lends itself to Lego construction. For example, what are the key character points for the vehicle? Do the bricks that best fit those characters come in the colors I will need? No point choosing to make something if there are no bricks in that color or shape to match. This idea has been mulling around for a year or two now so for some time I have tried to make myself aware of the colors and bricks that might be relevant. So some of the key elements for this project is the curved roof, the doors (recessed), windows (frame colour, 2 part glass). Each item has a matching Lego piece or can be constructed, In the Reddish Brown color that best matches the train. I don't have allot of reddish brown brick so Bricklink will be getting a visit. To create a shopping lis, firstly I need to make a plan / instruction. I use Microsoft Excel to create a very quick design, I adjust the x and y axis to roughly meet the ratio of the Lego brick. By filling out the cells with borders and colours, I can plan out the train carriage to as best as possible maximise the proportions of the vehicle being modelled. Here is a screen grab : I can get a pretty good idea of what type and how many bricks I need. I can also start to envision some of the design challenges. It is not a perfect method, it is however VERY quick, maybe a couple of hours. I wanted to double check my design before buying all those bricks, so did a mock up build in rainbow bricks just to validate scale/ proportions etc. I choose to model in 6 wide at the carriage deck - the standard Lego train scale, I leave the 7 and 8 wide to the serious enthusiasts. Here is my mock up. I worked out some issues with window scale, made a few attempts to represent some elements such as the wedges above the orange chevrons before settling on a modified plate, and the same with the lights, windows and even the heights of the doors. Now I go off to Bricklink with my shopping list. The last week has seen me spend alot of money. although some parcels are turning up so have been able to very roughly assemble to the front end (albeit with a rubbish mess of bricks of different quality) SO this is the next step - as the bricks turn up, grow the vehicle ! Once the upper deck is complete (all the Reddish Brown turns up!) I will go ahead and work out the undercarriage. That A whole different ball game. At this stage, as bricks arrive, I will also probably find flaws in design, or elements that don't look right and that will put me a loop of ordering new parts for alternative designs and so on. I expect this to last a few weeks. This vehicle will be motorised and have an extremely limited interior. I hope you enjoyed my design process so far. Any comments appreciated. Adam

Hello all thanks for kind comments and yes both myself and the boy enjoy actually "playing" with the trains, but then so does my wife enjoy collecting Lego too, so no need for deception ! here is a pic of sidings as requested and a bit of a more "overhead" shot as requested. The MOC diesels are all local vehicles from South AUstralia, in very noticeable livery. the main one is my GHAN NR class, the second is my 830 class diesel in Australian National Livery green and gold, and the last is my CK class diesel also in Australian National Livery. I previously made entry to the Erobricks website regarding these vehicles. Please Don't bump the entries! http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=89420&hl=ghan (GHAN photos) include a video I made and here http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=89438&hl=ghan#entry1762154 (830 class photos) Thankyou again folks ! Adam

Hello. Just thought I would offer a pic of my simple layout for my son (4.5 years old) to play with our trains on. The main board is 1200mm wide by 2400mm long. the shallow board at the back is 600mm wide x 1800mm long. I had to rearrange the room the old layout was in do accommodate some furniture to be put in storage. The rules of this build were - 1- make as much "useable" track as possible (lots of switches for interest), 2- lay the boards out so the boy could reach into any part in case of derail or play on the roads, 3- use as small a "footprint" as possible in the room 4- two trains must be able to run at the same time without collision 5- to try and maximise spare track (shunting yard) to have the trains stored on and ready for use (to prevent lifting trains on and off by the boy) This is my result! As always a work in process so comments appreciated ! Adam this was the old layout... We started to get a few more Modular's and have removed them to our city layout. this layout is now gone, but was alot of fun.

Can we see more bad guy hideouts? Like how about Mafia style mansion? Or what about a "recycling" yard transportable building and the metal crushers etc? Think of all the movies with bad guys and their hide outs are always cool places with lots of details that would make great sets.. Just simple stuff like a fence and gate with guard dogs and video cameras. How about a creator building set that has a hideout with escape route etc. With all these criminals running around surely they need somewhere to hide, and this just adds to a complimentary effect to the police stations etc. I think there should be a police armored car (military conversion like that MRAP or V100 or whatever) that could ram into the hide out. OR a bomb disposal team with robot that could go inverstigate the bad guys hide out ? Too sensitive I'm sure (otherwise the bad guys could have a hydroponics set up or a drug lab??)but we can MOC or wish.. Adam

Great review!. Are the grey parts old gray or light blue grey? Adam

Hello, Firstly please forgive me if this is covered in another thread. I have a the UCS Mil Falc 10179. Currently it is disassembled and stored in a large sealed plastic box, because when it was built I had a very hard time making space for it to be displayed. It was constructed for about 3.5 years on display in various parts of the house without a case, and collected a significant amount of atmospheric dust. Fortunately it was not exposed to sunlight. The obvious amount of dust is the reason I disassembled it. I didn't want to let it get worse. It's not just dust, but whatever else is in the air in a house full of people - so I guess all sorts of things , basically its a simple matter of running a duster over the surface - the supreme amount of detail is an incredible dust magnet! As far as I can tell the parts are all in excellent condition, no apparent suffing/scratching, bent corners etc.. How do others keep theirs stored (built, in a cabinet, boxed) do you "dust" your Lego frequently? But the reason for this thread, is, how do I wash/clean my Lego 10179 pieces? there are ALOT of them, and I don't think I would have the patience to individually scrub each one with a toothbrush in water. I have read somewhere (possibly on here) that placing the pieces in a pillowcase and putting through the wash machine on gentle could work, but I am scared of possible damage or loss. Is there a reason not to use a water softener such as a detergent (we have "hard" water here in Adelaide Australia, with alot of chemicals and chlorine very apparent). I think I would use distilled water anyway. What effect would window cleaner have ? Perhaps washing by batches in a tub of some sort? The next issue is how do you dry the parts without leaving water marks? Lay them out over a large area in a single layer ? with a fan blowing on them ? Any ideas would be helpfull. I do have a fair bit of patience for this process, no real hurry to rebuild the old girl, but nonetheless would like to get the parts clean soon in preparedness for the day I do want to build, or sell... Regards in Advance, Adamskii PS I wont be trying "the Schticky"..