Criga88

Well, I know I've been a bit quiet lately, but I'm starting to get myself back on track for MOCs, starting with a quick redesign of an older WIP of a Mercedes-Benz G-class that was plagued by overly complicated building techniques. The new build fits two minifigs, one sitting behind the other, and has space in the boot for most accessories that you may want to throw in. The roof is relatively easy to remove for access to the inside as well. On the back is a spare tyre but I couldn't work out a way to attach it while still on the rim so a minifig head and smaller tyre are holding it in place, it does the trick though. For anyone else wanting to spoil their minifigs the .LXF and instructions are available from here. Comments, criticism and questions are welcome, and keep an eye out for more.

It's been a while since I passed through Brisbane so the only bus that looks a little familiar is the Brisbane Transport liveried one, nice work with the variety of models though. As for a solution to the bendy bus, I used a brick built section to bridge the gap on my Sydney bus which works but does limit the turning a little bit.

Thanks, they started out as a bit of table scrap that turned out usable, I'd like to add more tools but all of the lockers are completely full.

Another addition to my rescue helicopter fleet, and this time it isn't a Westpac heli. This is the Eurocopter EC145 of the Ambulance Service of NSW which operates out of Bankstown Airport in Sydney, I see this helicopter flying to and from RNS Hospital every couple of days so I had to build my own rendition. There's a few parts that I need in specific colours and some areas that need either strengthening or a bit more roundness for me to call this one 100% done, it's joined the rest of my choppers for now. Comments, criticism and questions are welcome, and keep an eye out for updates.

Congrats LT, that's great news. It's an ingenious way to clear room for a fresh start too, looking forward to the next version.

Cheers LT, I don't think that a specific fire truck in City scale would fare too well on Ideas though. TLG's already flooded the market with trucks over the years anyway

Hi all, I have an update to the fire trucks for everyone. The real City of Sydney Fire Station had its open day yesterday so I took the opportunity to have a bit of a sticky beak into the back of the trucks that were there. From that I decided upon the final load out of the two Scania pumpers and the Isuzu heavy rescue truck, however I'll have to stalk the 'Rescue Pump' and 'Aerial' to get reference material since they were absent for the day. The Scania pumpers The equipment carried starting from the back is hose/hydrant parts, a toolbox, a basic first aid kit and a spare breathing apparatus set. The traffic cones slide neatly into the locker on the right hand side while the breathing apparatus pivots into and out of the left hand locker for ease of access. The wedges in the lower section of the middle lockers are more of a filler, and the round 2x2 tiles are meant to represent extra lengths of hose stowed away. The brown box above is filled with the generic firefighting tools seen in the center of the inset, and lastly, the spinal board slips into its own little nook at the front of the locker section. The Isuzu heavy rescue I went all out with the equipment in this truck so there's quite a bit of variety squeezed into the lockers. Inside the rear locker is a portable generator and a drill, and there's a hose reel leading to the jaws of life on the left and a pneumatic ram on the right. Starting from the back of the equipment on the ground there's an assortment of wooden wedges and shoring to support vehicles. Next to them are a few drums but I don't recall what they contained. Below that we start to move into the structural rescue equipment with some circular saws, a chainsaw, pickax, broom and a small ladder. There's also a second, smaller portable generator that sits on a sliding tray in the locker. Since this is a rescue truck, it's only equipped with a single extinguisher for fighting small fires but it does come with a stretcher to move around any minifigs that have been recovered. The briefcases are to represent small toolboxes and the bars and technic assemblies are for metal support struts. I also forgot to remove two coils of rope from the back of the truck but they're just the molded coils from the mountain climber CMF. Comments, criticism and questions are welcome, and keep an eye out for updates.

I like those new shelves in the back LT, so simple but effective. Thats a nice selection of parts in there too, I've used almost all of them in vehicle MOCs so a store like this would come in handy for spares, keep 'em coming.

Neat vehicles, I really like the matching livery on all of them. The cage door inside the prisoner transport van is a great little detail that you threw in Hectorin, can't wait to see more.

Thanks for that Peterab, I've already bought a new baseplate for the station but I'll still need to flatten the old one once I've swapped them out.

Wow, nice venture into unknown territory, there's so much detail on that truck and a great display for it to boot. I'm still confused as to where the decay and ugliness is though?

I'm loving the redesign of the McLaren, it looks so much better when it's not as chunky down the sides. Keep 'em coming ER0L

Thanks LT, aviation's always been a passion for me. I have a couple of new heli's on the drawing board for after I've made a bit more progress on my City layout and Fire Station so keep an eye out

Hi all, this topics gone a bit dormant since there's been no real changes to my police force for a while but before I moved house I parted out my police helicopters to be replaced by Australian aircraft when I'd settled into the new place. After seeing the PolAir helicopters at work flying over Sydney Harbour most days and their presence yesterday for the ANZAC day services in the city I decided that this weekend was as good as any to start building up the air wing again so here's the first addition. The helicopter's based on the twin engined AS355 "PolAir 2" of the NSW Police Force and is built upon the AS350 from my Ideas project. The only changes with this version was to the engine nacelle and the equipment carried. It's fitted with a small camera under the nose, a searchlight below the tail and various antennae along the underside. When LEGO releases more bricks in dark blue I'll be able to change the tail colour to match the real helicopters livery but for now the bright blue still works. Well it's back to city building for a bit now, I need a place for all of my police vehicles to patrol

Just a quick update for this arvo, I finally got around to finishing and taking pics of my news chopper. Up until this weekend I've been too preoccupied by organising my LEGO room and starting a city layout. It's straight back to work now so the pilot's taking off to report on the progress of "Studney"

That looks so much better with the lower profile, I'll be doing something similar with my Speed Champions sets when I get some other projects out of the way. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the series redone by you ER0L.

That's a great plane Pizzareno, I especially like the smoothness of the wings. I think the tail works fine, the only way I see of getting it smoother is intricate SNOT work and plates at odd angles but then it becomes too fragile. Maybe change the rear window to a windscreen part so it's not a jumble of cheese slopes as it kinda looks like broken glass (to me at least). It's still an all together nice build though, I'm looking forward to more.

Brilliant design work and techniques as always ER0L. Looking forward to your next one, update or new, and at least there's plenty of spare hubcaps from the Speed Champs line for them

Nice work LT, that definitely screams butchers with that display and tiling. My only beef ( ) is the display case is looking a bit too empty, how about a few drumsticks to fill in a bit more of the space?

Thanks Feuer Zug, it's taken months of behind the scenes planning before the actual build but it is still a start. It's only natural that I build mainly Aus based too, a small detour to and from work and I can get all the inspiration I need I spent a bit of time on the Isuzu last night as well so it's taken up residence in its bay, the exterior and front locker are basically finished but I'm trying something a bit more complex for the rear lockers so they're going to take a bit more time. And yes, that is steering built into the front wheels but this is more of a temporary solution with lots of fine tuning still required. More's on the way, just trying to find that balance between work, rest and play

Thanks LT, I'm hoping the weight of the rest of the building and trucks will flatten out the baseplate a bit more

Hi all, just a quick update for now. This week I started to build the fire station and the trucks that operate from it as I start to make my own City. The extra Scania trucks were the first to be thrown together as I already had the design for them finished, I've yet to find good references for the lockers though so they are still empty for now. The Varley and Mustang in the last two bays are just placeholders until I finish the Isuzu, Bronto Skylift and Nissan. The Isuzu is sitting on my desk at about 75% complete but the parts for the Nissan are buried under my collection of police vehicles so I'll have to dig them out over the week. I've assigned firies to all of the vehicles and there's still a dozen or so extra minifigs to put around the building when I get the interior done. I'll be using the stations open day next month to get an idea of how to fill the rooms up but in the mean time I'll keep going with the facade. Comments, criticism and questions are welcome, and keep an eye out for updates.

How about an area for your work vehicles LT, maybe a small workshop and electricity substation with some parking for the trucks? Also, quick question for you, do your 48x48's ever warp out of shape in transit, and do you have a way that you find works best for flattening them out again? My one for the fire station is a little worse for wear after its interstate trip.

It's been a while between posts since I've been settling into my new place and the new work routine, but a few bricklink orders arrived over the week so I've been able to throw a couple of builds together. First up is the three cars from Top Gears everyday track day cars, a Mercedes-Benz 190, a BMW M3 and a Ford Sierra Sapphire RS Cosworth. I couldn't resist making my own car at the same time since it's an E46 model, like the M3. The next is still a WIP but it's had enough done to be recognisable. I present the Holden Torana in HDT colours. There are a couple of AS350 helicopters almost done as well but I can't remember where I put all of my rotor blades so they'll have to wait until I've sorted out my LEGO room a bit better. I'm also in the planning stages for building a City to display vehicles and aircraft but that's still very early in the process. As usual, keep an eye out for more updates and new creations.