Lasse D

Good sport? What's next: Fair play? *wacko* Everything is allowed in a build-off. I expect this one to make the American presidential election pale in comparison! By the way. Is there something wrong in wearing a gay pride T-shirt? 8-

My old race truck has had a major overhaul. Earlier versions received much criticism for not looking like real race trucks, so this time I actually took inspiration from some real trucks! Gone are the two axles with twin diffs in the rear and in comes a solution using the high powered RC engine directly (that motor has already melted a couple of my bricks because of its sheer power). I have plenty of transparent orange bricks from this crane, but I thought it would be more realistic with non-transparent headlights, a lot of stickers and for the first time ever: no steering knob on the roof! I was satisfied with the engine and interior (seats with "ears" and 4 point seat belts) from the last version. The rest of the truck has changed radically from the exhaust in the side to the damped rear suspension. The steering mechanism uses weights to make it return to neutral when the motor is turned off. This is much more responsive than previous systems and feels like the kind you know from ordinary RC-cars. It works best when the batteries are fully charged and I have to warn: The bricks beneath the truck are in a terrible state after having played some hours by driving through gravel and having the steering wheels fall off so that the brick beneath get scraped along the ground :'-( (You have to use the old 4 spoke technic brushes for wheel bolts - all other kinds will not hold!) (Brickshelf gallery)

Thanks everybody *wub* It's both my birthday, and my 9 month anniversary... on EB And does Viceroy also have his birthday today? Happy birthday to you as well then *sweet* This reminds me that I should post a new MOC today as well. Time for a new race truck! X-D

Wow. There really is quite some competition in this one! A great rendering Isotope. Just remember to post it in the entries thread for it to be counted.

You didn't step on my toes because I took the pictures after you posted them :-P I just wanted to add them for completeness. I can see the loading issue when you click a lot of pictures (I normally hold CTRL down so that they open in their own tabs... but they still have to load). Any other opinions?

Thank you for sharing Hinckley. I throughoutly enjoyed every bit of it! And yes. I laughed *sweet*

Wow! 8-

Thank you Sinner for bringing the pictures of the hovercraft. I think it is a really cool model, but The steering wheel doen't work too well. It doesn't turn easilly all the way around and when the craft turns, it doesn't stay stable on the three wheels because the front wheel turns quite alot into the opposite side. Now to the third model! This is quite a basic helicopter with the functionality of having the rotors turning. It doesn't use that many of the bricks and doesn't even have a landing gear. I have a question to all of you. As you can see, I prefer to show one or two large pictures and have the rest as clickable thumbnails. Most people use only the relatively big (typically 640x480) pictures so that you don't have to follow links. What do you prefer? It is no problem for me to do it the other way, but I would like to know if you have any preferences.

I couldn't find a review of this wonderful set in here, so here it goes! I got the set for MSRP (180kr = 24 euro) which is a fair price here in Denmark. As all other Creator sets there are instructions for several models (3 in this case). The box The box is a little larger than City sets in the same price range. The primary model is shown on the front while you see the secondary ones on the back. What you get 312 pieces in 5 polybags and two building instructions: one for the primary model and the other for the rest. The built It was impossible for me to speed build this model because of the nifty functional details from the retractable landing gear to the wings that can turn by means of the handle in the back of the model. It took me a full hour to build it because I had to "test" how it all works together. The finished model The landing gear isn't fully enclosed when retracted and the models are sub-minifig scale, but I still love the design of the models. The doors for the rear wheels open as you pull the wheels down and the final piece of functionality comes from the wings that can either tilt (the horizontal stabilizers) or have elevators. Wing in, wings out, wings in, wings out... Ratings As a whole I actually like this set even more than the Big Rig. The models are just as diverse but the added functionality makes the plane more fun to play with than the rig. Price: 7/10 - A good price, but not a bargain as the Big Rig Design: 9/10 - There could have been a sligtly higher level of details in the main model, but all models are really good looking and I especially like the design of the hovercraft. Functionality: 10/10 - I guess you could ask for working rudders, opening cockpit and so on, but the plane is really filled with movable parts and the turning of the wings works really well. Secondary models: 7/10 - A hovercraft! How awesome is that!? If only the last model was just as inventive instead of a standard helicopter... Modifiability: 8/10 - The bricks are in ordinary colours and there is a good variety of them giving you plenty of possibilities for MOC'ing. You can easily make the main model into something that looks more like an F-14. 9/10 Probably as good as it gets for a Creator set in this price range. It is entertaining to both build and play with, looks good and the secondary models are worth building as well! (Brickshelf gallery)

An awesome little set actually. I really like the small 4-5 studs wide trucks. It is a little expensive right now, but I will surely consider it when on sale. So. Is anybody up for putting on the stickers? :-P

9.30 euro is MSRP here in Denmark. 7 euro would have resulted in a nicer reception from my part, but the strong marked position of LEGO in its homeland together with the general high prices (because some of us are supposedly rich...) makes the prices less bearable. It is funny you should mention Germany. I thought the prices for LEGO were even higher there! I'm sure I paid more than MSRP last time I bought LEGO from from your country. On the other hand. The last thing I bought was the 5521 Model Team sea jet from 1993!

I'm a big fan of anime and have watched some mechas like Full Metal Panic, Neon Evangelion: Genesis (it is a mecha!) and Chobits (Well... She is a robot...), so I was curious to see what this new Exo Force line was all about. The colorful sets and manga-like characters didn't persuade me right away, but the urgent need for a couple of white 3x3 wing plates made me purchase this little thing. It cost me 70 DKR as you can see on the box. This is 9.30 euro, or about the same an American has to pay for the new Republic Cruiser. Pretty expensive for so few pieces (90 + a spare technic pin) The box An action-packed box with one of the sides being oddly empty except from the LEGO-logo. What's inside There is a small building instruction, two polybags (no bag building here) and a sticker sheet with alarmingly many stickers. The build It takes so little time to build this set that I didn't get to take any pictures of the process. Every step was accompanied by an element description although I doubt most of you will need that with so few pieces to keep track on. Most of the dark green bricks have a sticker - even the slopes where the rough surface makes stickers fall off easily! There should also have been a sticker on the windshield, but I wanted to keep that piece clean for better usage later. (I'm one of those who keeps stickers on the bricks) The model You want to see this model from the front, as the back is pretty much neglected There isn't much for the pilot to grab a hold on either. He is pretty much a sitting duck up there with the screen giving him only partial cover. There is a huge wrench next to him which kind of symbolizes the crudeness of the mech. The set isn't called "Cyclone Defender" for nothing. The right arm might hold an ordinary light assault riffle, but the other has a spinning disc with samurai swords which you can turn with the yellow knob on the backside. Those of you who have seen Robot Wars might remember the incredible power of this melee weapon from a robot named Hypnodisc. It would have been nice had there been a pull-back motor to power the disc (I'm sure LEGO has a lot of these in stock), but the simple mechanism still works reasonably well. The riffle comes off and a pin makes it easy to hold with the hand, but the disc is fixed to the arm. It is also a problem that the swords get misaligned quickly during play. The minifig I really like this minifig because of the neat idea with an expression on each side that LEGO has made a standard for Exo Force. Posability Most mech-moc'ers show off their creations using Gundam-like poses. With two joints per leg (one being the ankles) and one for an arm I thought of some less serious poses: Crawling (Silent like a ninja!): Belly gliding: Kick off!; Upside down: Final Rating I have to disappoint you here. This is my first set in this line and I have absolutely no idea of how good it is. The last robot I bought was the awesome 6889 Spyrius Recon Robot for the same price, but it is in a completely different genre. The set had what I expected (two white wings) and is as such a no-nonsense set. I guess it would be of more use if you have some more Exo Force, which I don't. 6/10 Ups: Has great minifig, weapons and is easy to build. Downs: Crude design and a bit too expensive for what you get. (Brickshelf gallery)

Here's an update. There seems to be someone listening. The folder is now public! http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=272794 X-D Let's hope the same thing will happen for you aayla-secura

I'm wondering if anybody else has had the same problem. Normally this would only occur when there is content that goes against the TOS, but my folder named "Sets" with the caption "Official LEGO sets and MODs" keeps staying in non-moderated vacuum on Brickshelf. The content of the folder are some subfolders with my pictures for reviews and two pictures: one with my avatar (in larger scale) and one with some unopened boxes. I can honestly see nothing wrong with this and have received no warnings about the content whatsoever. You can see the folder here. Many other folders have been created and moderated and the problematic folder has also been moderated without problems before. Does anybody know what I can do with this? Kevin (the owner of Brickshelf) has a reputation for not responding with such petty issues and I'm sure he has way too much to see to nowadays. It would be hard to make a whole new folder because of the many links to the subfolders I have posted everywhere.

Wow. I'm seeing more and more mods of this set, and I like everything I have seen until now! At first I thought it wasn't a good set given the width and big green parts, but you guys (and the other ones I have seen on Brickshelf) sure make the best out of it! >5150 Lego Doesn't your camera have a macro function? It is often marked with a flower.

A diff? Sure it is possible, just not if you restrict yourself to the bricks from the dino-set which I did. It drives with a speed that is much like if you used one of the old 9V motors directly into the wheel as I did with my race trucks. You can place a big black wheel directly onto the motor instead of the mid-sized one, but that will increase the load on the motor so much that the resulting speed is about the same. The large motors are not ideal for such applications because they need some gearing, but I'm experimenting with some ideas that might make it work.

The cross axle is connected to a joint so it comes off easily, but the it can't steer as you mention. I could have used a spare wheel on the back like 5590, but it would be inaccessible if the truck had to pull one of the larger trailers like the ferris wheel. A smart solution would be to have a coupling for the steering inside the real coupling like I did on the old police HQ, but that would require that all my large trailers we modified for this and I would still end up with a knob on the top somewhere. The next truck will not have a steering knob. This will be the first time ever that any of my trucks doesn't have one.

I have added some pictures of the secondary models. Classic American car It looks good, uses many of the bricks and the doors open. I think the parts are cleverly used, but it doensn't have an engine or a trunk. Go-cart I really love this model. It has an even more clever use of bricks than the car. It uses only a small parts of the bricks. The engine looks good and there are a lot of details. It is a shame the steering doesn't work on any of the models though. I have tried to add a working steering mechanism to the truck by using the bricks from 4958 Creator Monster Dino. The steering is done by means of a plastic wheel mounted sideways in the front. This is an easy mod that changes the looks of the truck very little. Brickshelf gallery

I'm also happy about my Firefox. It has some nice extensions and I'm even planning on making some to benefit the LEGO community. Internet Explorer is fine if you love ads and want to do something dangerous. It might be much better now, but the infrequently bug/exploit-fixing of that software when I used it made it easy to find something else.

Wow. It costs even more than the Crawler Crane! I have seen this set in person and thought it couldn't have cost more than half the actual price for what you get. I just really dislike this set. It doesn't even make sense: TIE stands for "Twin Ion Engines" - even the wokipedia says it doesn't use that kind of technology for propulsion! That new republic Cruiser on the other hand looks like a must have!

Yeah. I stole that idea from the Mercedes trucks in LEGOLAND :-D For a long time I thought the Mercedes Benz logo was the only one for which there' a good resembling brick, but when I went to LEGOLAND earlier this year, I saw some peugeots where 1x2 grilles were used. It was only like

When I saw the contest I wanted to build the giant mechanical spider from Wild Wild West, but I think it will be hard to have it stand on a 8x8 plate. Unless it may be Quattro? :-P

> Azuka If you like the one with the MB-logo, you should have seen it in person - it was terrible! But thanks for the comment. The opening mechanism was needed because a tilting cab design wasn't strong enough when you pull the truck around from the top. > SirNadroj I'm happy about the balls as well, but it is a problem that they take almost all my spare green and red plates 8-

That brings back good memories :-) There was once a whole gameshow with these kind of challenges called Takeshi's Castle. It was shown on German Television and when I saw it, I remember wanting to build the challenges in LEGO. Perhaps that would be an idea for you if you want to try something wacky?

I might make 12 studs wide Model Team trucks all the time, but I still have very little experience building cab-over designs. There have been a lot of prototypes before I ended up with this design for the Octan truck: (The brickshelf gallery) The truck uses a lot of SNOT-techniques from the front to the windows in the sleeping cabin and slopes for the stripes. I can't remember the last time I used so many different in such a small space! The biggest challenge was without doubt the windshield. The 2x6x2 windscreens are very low and look good on a truck like the old American Freightliners, but not on this more European like, so I have tried to give it a lot of "make up" around the windows to make them appear taller. Click on the following picture to get to the gallery with some of the many prototypes