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lostcarpark

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Everything posted by lostcarpark

  1. lostcarpark
    Here is the base last time I displayed it... I plan to rebuild the front wall using the above techniques. James
  2. lostcarpark
    A couple of test builds for the Hoth base to share today... First, I've been trying out motorised doors. I suspect this is very basic stuff for Technic builders, but an area I only venture into occasionally. I have a series of axles running the length of the blast doors. Under the middle, a set of gears reverse the direction the axle turns, so if the left half turns clockwise, the right will turn anticlockwise. A series of worm gears are spaced along the axles to move a gear rack on each door. It works well in small scale, so I have to scale it up now. The second test is for the ice walls at the front of the base. The first version of this was just built out of bricks, but I want something a little better, so I'm looking at slopes. The technique uses sections of 1x2 and 1x3 slopes, connected with hinges to give a greater variety of angles. I'm pleased with it so far, but it's going to need a lot of white slopes. James
  3. lostcarpark
    Yeah, I'm interested to see what the UCS Hoth set is like. I doubt they can do anything on this scale, but hopefully it will contain some interesting ideas and parts, and force me to up my game. :-)
  4. lostcarpark
    I am very bad at deciding a project is finished. There's always something that can be improved! I will keep posting progress, but there may never be a "final" version. James
  5. lostcarpark
    I wasn't happy with the last photo, so here's a better one. Echo Base Service gantry, now with handrails. I tried a bunch of different options to get the double handrail, but wasn't satisfied with any of them, until t realised you can slide flex house through the hole in the side of the "evil robot" arms. James
  6. lostcarpark
    I agree there would have to be some kind of joint to allow side to side and front to back movement, but in the movie models, this is clearly hidden inside the foot mechanism. Anyway, I think it's a stunning model regardless, and this is just one minor point that's a little off compared to the film, but more than made up for by the many other excellent details. James
  7. lostcarpark
    I really like what you've done here. I'm considering the UCS Falcon, and I don't see how you could make the gear retract, but I'd love to have a working access ramp, as it's usually displayed in a in a way that the ramp would likely to be open. Has any done an opening ramp mod for it? James
  8. lostcarpark
    I would try to lose the ball joints, if possible, for aesthetic reasons rather than strength. For a brick built head, I think ball joints would be asking for trouble, but plate construction should be light enough that you'd get away with it. However, it looks clunky to me, particularly on the foot joint, so hopefully you can find something more elegant. James Oh sorry, the mobile interface didn't show me there was another page... I was just looking at the renders. Fantastic build. Well done. I'd still change the ball joints on the foot connections. James
  9. lostcarpark
    That looks amazing. I love the use of forced perspective. I'd love to see the curved ceiling (allegedly based on the Trinity College library in Dublin). James
  10. lostcarpark
    Ah, well I can see that would make things tricky... priority 1: baby, priority 2: sleep, priority 3: LEGO... At least you can start Duplo in a few months. James
  11. lostcarpark
    I first took part in a collaborative Hoth display around 2005, and there have been several incarnations of it over the years. Usually these involved arriving with a big box of white bricks and building the front wall of Echo base in-situ, and breaking it down after. It was only last year I decided to build it as a permanent MOC, in sections to allow it to travel between displays. It was always going to be a long term project. Generally, I'l spend an hour or two on a section at a time. Often there will be test builds, to try something out, find it doesn't quite work the way I want, so it will be dismantled to try something else. Once I find a design I like, I'll often have to wait to order parts to complete it. The gantry was a surprise. I picked up a bag of the gun barrel pieces and a bag of the angled Technic connectors, and wondered if they'd go together, and less than an hour later I had the gantry above. I still need to get the right flex hose pieces to give it a handrail. So, many hours tinkering, but generally only a couple at a time. Hope this answers your question. James
  12. lostcarpark
    Cheers, Guy, The gantry will go in front of the x-wing bay, which will be a similar module to the snowspeeder bays, but with a larger bay. James
  13. lostcarpark
    A quick addition tonight... This is work in progress on the service gantry that appears in the background in the hanger of Echo Base. I had the gun barrel pieces in mind for the legs for a while, and when I combined them with Technic angled axle connectors, it came together very naturally. I still have to add ladders and hand rails, and some other details, but I like the direction it's going. Now I'd better get on with it or health and safety will have a field day...
  14. lostcarpark
    Looks like a nice start, but a little unfocused. For example, you've got the snowspeeder, but I'm unclear exactly where it's located. I would pick one specific location or scene, and go all out to get that fully detailed rather than trying the whole base. Watch the movie and pick out details to model. For example just the corridor where the Snowtroopers and Vader first break in would seem a good starting point, and could be modelled without needing vast numbers of bricks. You could have a running battle with rebel soldiers hopelessly defending the base to give their colleagues a few extra minutes to escape. James
  15. lostcarpark
    Thanks Guy! I came across the light sets in a discount store and thought they were worth trying. I feel slightly bad using a non-LEGO solution, but there was no way I could afford to put enough power function lighting in. The sets are slightly tricky to use as there's about 10cm (4") between lights, so some planning of the route they take around the model is needed. But they fit neatly in a Technic hole, so work well. I'm pleased with the floor lighting, though it does require building the raised floor. I suspect I'm going to regret this when I get to building the floor of the main hanger to house the Millennium Falcon, which will require six 48x48 baseplates. The whole project is likely to take me a few years. James
  16. lostcarpark
    Last weekend I was working on the second module of the Echo Base hanger, and I aimed to fix some the things I wasn't completely happy with in the first module. Here's an early WIP shot: The only thing holding the front wall up was my hand out of shot! This time I wanted to incorporate lighting under the floor, and especially the floodlights that were lining the hanger in the movie. It cheap €3 set of LED lights from a discount store seemed good for the job, especially as each LED neatly fits in a Technic hole. I wanted the front wall sloping inwards, like in the movie, but I wasn't going to construct it entirely from slopes, so I found an alternative solution of attaching the wall with clips. The inner walls of the base also slope inwards and are connected to the front wall by Technic pins. The same thing from a slightly different angle: Here are the first and second modules side by side. I plan to rebuild the first one to match the second. Finally, I built a copy of the Rebel personnel transporter, as designed by Louise Dade: James
  17. lostcarpark
    Hi, So I never got around to posting... My plan is to construct the rebel hanger as a series of connecting modules. The interiors I posted earlier are part of the first one, here: The Snowspeeder hangers are under the medical lab and command centre. Here's a close up of one: Here's the front view of the whole module: The scaffolding to access the upper level is not from the movie, and is only a temporary feature. This is the first of several to accommodate all the snowspeeders, with more parts of the rebel base upstairs. More to follow... James
  18. lostcarpark
    Hi, I have been displayed my version of the Battle of Hoth at shows in Ireland over the last few years. It's mostly using models from sets, but each time I try to add some new custom details. For the latest incarnation, I've added the medical lab, complete with Luke thawing out... Echo Base Medical Lab by James Shields, on Flickr Echo Base Medical Lab by James Shields, on Flickr This shot shows the complete model: Echo Base Medical Lab by James Shields, on Flickr Here's a view from around the back. showing how it's held together: Echo Base Medical Lab by James Shields, on Flickr Here's the rebellion's newest recruit: Echo Base Medical Lab by James Shields, on Flickr The lighting is a set of 50 LED lights powered by 3 AA cells. It set me back €3 in my local discount store. In addition to the medical lab, here is the latest version of the command centre. I've tried to do this a couple of times, but never really felt I captured the atmosphere of the movie. I think there's still room for improvement, but I'm much happier with the latest version, below: Echo Base Command Centre by James Shields, on Flickr Echo Base Command Centre by James Shields, on Flickr Echo Base Command Centre by James Shields, on Flickr This is on display in Athy in Ireland tomorrow. I'll post photos of the whole display soon.
  19. lostcarpark
    In this tree there were somewhere between 150 and 200 flower sprues, and a similar number of stems. I'd probably have used more if I hadn't run out, to be honest. You could definitely get away with smaller trees, especially in minifig scale displays. James
  20. lostcarpark
    I should add that used the old flower stems part 3741: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3741 The newer part 99249 would be even better (mixing in a few 19119 would also be interesting), as you could push the bottom bar into the holes of the foliage pieces: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=99249 The main problem is these parts are still quite expensive. James
  21. lostcarpark
    Hi, Here is my cherry blossom tree built mostly with flower pieces. The main technique is to keep the flower petals on their sprues, connected my stem pieces. LEGO Tree in Blossom by James Shields, on Flickr A run down of the method follows... 1. First attach stalks to each corner of the flower sprue. 2. Next, attach to the foliage piece, and keep adding more flower sprues. 3. Add further flower pieces. Connect to the foliage where you can, but it doesn't matter if stems are only connected to flower sprues. 4. Keep going past the edges so that flower sprues hang down on floating stems. 5. The completed section from underneath. 6. Next, attach a plate with vertical bar (or any part with a bar for a strong connection to the foliage) to your tree branch. 7. ...which should be attached to your tree... 8. Push the bar of the plate into one of the holes of the foliage. 9. The top of the canopy reapplied. 10. And another view of the finished tree
  22. lostcarpark
    Thought I'd include River Song too... Lego Friends by LostCarPark, on Flickr James
  23. lostcarpark
    Yes there is a space round tile (as well as spares of the 1x1 round plates in four colours, a pink cheeser and a white gearstick). I think it's great to have tool wheels in another colour, and I'm glad it's purple rather than pink - if there are other mech builders in your LUG, it would be a good part to suggest for LUGbulk. James
  24. lostcarpark
    Okay, I've read some of the comments here, but I haven't gone through 16 pages worth, so forgive me if my comments have already been said here. Even though Lego are one of the most popular toys in the world, they are still somewhat constrained by the conventions of that industry, which largely divides toys into "boys" and "girls" aisles. In many toy shops Lego is positioned in the "boys" aisle, so is never seen by girls. I have some reservations about the body image portrayed by the new mini-dolls. I think there's a danger that the figures being very skinny compared to regular minifigs will reinforce the message perpetuated by the fashion industry that girls should be super-skinny. Despite these reservations, I do like the sets, and I feel that they portray women in non-stereotypical roles such as science, engineering and architecture, which is a positive thing. And I would much rather see girls putting Lego Friends on their Santa list than Barbie. James
  25. lostcarpark
    I don't buy that. They definitely seem to be promoting non-stereotypical female activities. While not perfect, I think it's a heck of a lot better than toys like Barbie. The bit that's confusing me is what age are the characters supposed to be? Because they have girls' body shapes, but seem to be involved in grown up activities. James
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