TheOneVeyronian

Made several Bricklink orders so I could build my rock band MOC - even though I promised myself no more buying LEGO this month

Goodness, I feel incredibly insulted reading through some of those comments about design choices and whatnot (even if they weren't aimed at me, though I never criticised them for being badly designed, it's purely a personal preference), I haven't a problem with thin uppers going into thick lowers at all, it certainly conveys strength and the fact that these warriors have decayed, only leaving their skeletal innards and armour which of course is going to cause quite a stark contrast, but it's one that makes sense (I agree with LewiMOC in fact). It's the shape of the bone which just doesn't look anatomically correct as an upper limb for me, and I just like things to look anatomically correct. A normal bone piece in place of the "bone" bone piece wouldn't bother me as much. Anyway, that's my last word on it, I don't want to get sucked into any arguments or fan the flames or anything... I just had to say something to explain my choice.

I've been thinking: I wonder how Skull Scorpio would look with articulated legs made out of the "bone" bone pieces? I've been thinking about ways to give him leg articulation, but I don't think it's as simple to add as it was on LOSS without making Scorpio look incredibly weird (you could use 2 Technic balljoints with a 3M cup-cup piece, but I think it'd look odd plus the 3M cup-cup piece is kind of rare). Guess I'll have to wait until August to find out if it'd work

Sorry I didn't get back to this topic earlier! I didn't use Brasso to wipe the torso, but rather used a Magic Eraser on it which is mildly abrasive and takes the print off cleanly and doesn't leave anything noticeable. Pencil eraser takes a really long time and takes a lot of effort (plus I never have enough pencil eraser!). Can't recommend Magic Eraser enough. As for the business - I woud have used more Vardy wings if I had more - but I only had 2 so had to use other similar parts instead. Same with the weapons - I wanted to give him 4 swords but only had enough silver blades for two, so had to give him axes in two of his hands instead.

I pretty much feel the same way as Aanchir does with regards to bulky armour against skinny bones. It doesn't bother me at all. I'm more bothered about their placement than their actual size as I feel the "bone" bone pieces look anatomically more correct on lower limbs than on upper limbs, so I'll be doing some simple limb swapping. But that's just me of course.

The characters in the main render are nothing more than stand-ins to demonstrate the instruments, partly due to making CCBS characters on LDD is fiddly business and is not the whole focus of this MOC anyway. They'll almost certainly be different when I've built this MOC in real life. And thanks for the drum advice - it's not based on any one drum setup, and it's a real faff to include all of it in LDD (what with all the collision errors I kept getting). I'll likely change things around, make the bass drum larger (maybe not 4 times larger though as the macaroni pieces aren't exactly common as muck unfortunately) and fix the plates to the floor when I have the model physically built. The LDD model is literally a base to expand on. Thanks though - I'm making more BL orders for the keyboard and speakers right now so I'll also include more parts to improve the drum kit.

Ah, okay, I didn't see the Toyark report, so that's where Jango has come from. But yes, valid point that Jango would theoretically match better with Obi-Wan in terms of timeline (I did know that, I was purely going from the sources I'd seen rather than anything logical). But I suppose at this moment in time, either Jango or Boba is possible. I seriously hope this isn't the case if we're getting Jango. Looking at my Jango minifig, it'd be mostly Sand Blue with silver, perhaps some blue highlights. And Sand Blue is not even close to Dark Azure having just compared the two, so really it wouldn't make sense NOT to include recolours in Sand Blue.

So while I wait for the parts to build the drum kit, guitar and microphone to arrive (for all I know it could take a couple of weeks as some of it's ordered via Bricks and Pieces), I'll show some renders of just the drum kit and just the keyboard, so you can get a better view of them: Drum kit (Constraction figure scale) by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr Keyboard (Constraction figure scale) by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr

If people don't mind me asking - why is everybody saying one of the figures is Jango Fett now? The only sources I've seen state that it's Boba, not Jango. Please forgive me for being picky, are people just getting the two mixed up (it's easy enough given that they are basically clones of each other!), or am I really missing something here and Jango was somewhat confirmed? Not that I would mind a Jango Fett figure, it might provide some much-needed dark blue and even sand blue constraction parts. In fact, the reason why one of the figures has a $25 price tag, aside from possibly more large/new moulds, is that it might have more exclusive recolours than the rest of the $20 sets. Boba and Jango, whoever it is, would fit into that category perfectly, no way you can have a decent figure of either of them without lots of the sand colours which are virtually non-existent in constraction.

Currently listening to Imagine Dragons - Smoke + Mirrors (whole album). Just released today in my country in fact.

Well, it;s rare I render models over 2,000 bricks, but I render Technic and CCBS quite a lot, but parsing is slow for all models of all sizes, relative to how many bricks are in the model of course. Actual rendering speed once it finishes parsing is good, even if I have a few applications open. I have 4 CPU cores in my computer and I imagine my CPU speed is quite good (slightly dumb question is how can you check that? Once I can report on that it might solve the question). So what's causing snail slow parsing but normal rendering speeds is still a mystery to me. Also, as the hard drive that POV-Ray works from has something like 750GB free space, I don't think memory swapping is the problem either. Thanks for helping anyhow, it's very helpful

I've been thinking about how those US prices translate to GBP, and I think this is most likely, based on how some of the prices for Bionicle and HF translated into sterling: $19.99 sets (Cody, Obi-Wan, Luke I believe): £14.99 $24.99 set (II agree with Shakar, I can see Boba occupying this price point): £19.99 $29.99 set (Darth Vader): £24.99 $34.99 set (got to be Grievous): £29.99-£34.99 There's nothing official about these, these are speculative guesstimates. I really hope that LEGO don't pull their USD=GBP thing for these though, I don't think I can pay thirty English pounds just for Vader! It's bad enough they did that for the Protectors. Hopefully TLG might surprise us Brits, but that's wishful thinking I guess. And yes: Vader really does prove that capes always cover the things they don't want you to see

I don't know where I recall 4 from then if that's the case! To be fair though, stringing that MOC guitar wiith 5 strings and ensuring they're nicely spaced and that is extremely difficult (the looping technique only really works for multiples of 2) so it'll probably stay as a 4 stringed one. I'll pretend it lost a string

I noticed BZPower put up some more pictures of the Star Wars constraction figures, including views of the back of the figures. I'm quite disappointed to see tht Vader's back is a bunch of exposed Technic. I know it's hidden by the cape, but still feels like something is missing there... I'll just view it from the front all the time On the good side though, it does offer some insight into how Vader's beautifully complex torso is built. Luke's back somewhat breaks up the nice flow that the front torso shell offers (i.e. the front looks very gapless, whiih I like), but I don't mind it too much. Could have stiill been a lot worse...

Thanks! I'll try to make a render of just them once I've finished the renders of the keyboard and drum kit, though the picture of the character that will be shown below has almost exactly the same build (it's just spruced up with custom armour and such) After a bit of playing, I actually found that the 2.0 shield was far too small for the characters. Might be okay for something small like a ukulele, but I'm going for full-size acousto-electric and bass guitars here. Speaking of which, I just made a quick mock-up of a bass guitar after somebody on Flickr said the band isn't complete without a bassist (excuse me if 've got the number of strings confused with that of an electric guitar, I'm sure it's 4 but might be 6) using mostly Technic and CCBS to see if it could be done. I'm glad to say I succeeded using a large chestplate which seemed to make an ideal guitar shape: CCBS and Technic bass guitar by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr My sigfig demonstrating the guitar: CCBS and Technic bass guitar by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr In case you ask, the random-looking bit in the middle is just something that keeps the strings taut and in place. Any suggestions on what other Technic piece to put there are welcome.

I can't unsee that now I never actually gave much thought to the colour schemes but now I'm tempted to call this band "The Power Rangers"... The reason I went with System is that I've tried all Technic/all CCBS instruments before and I never really liked their overall look, plus I intend to string the guitar, which I think is actually easier to implement in System than CCBS/Technic. I was going for really realistic details on the instruments. But I am considering making a bass guitarist thanks to some feedback on Flickr and I might make that out of Technic/CCBS. Also, nice idea for using the turbine. Don't think I considered it since I don't think it's in LDD. I'm about to start making some more renders to give more views of the instruments, I'll upload those when I'm done. I also have the LDD's if anybody is interested in taking a look at them.

Personally, I ike the chain printing, it does give off a "villainous and dangerous" vibe to me. I may or may not drape more chains on them when I eventually modify them to do other things like erase the trans-neon orange where it looks ugly/unnecessary. Reminds me, I should do that and meant to do that with my Skull Chiller MOC. Time for me to sneak some more chains into some BL orders

Sorry I don't check this forum all that often. I use the term "moulded animal" rather loosely to indicate any animal that is either one piece or is made up of mutiple moulds which are specific to the animal. So yeah I collect the sharks, horses, right up to the big ones like dinosaurs and dragons (the Fantasy Era dragons and Smaug are the limit of what I would consider a moulded animal). Basically it stops before it becomes entirely brick-built (though even that goes out of the window as far as dragons are concerned). Not quite sure what this has got to do wiith goats though, [made-up theory] but maybe there's a theory that they were supposed to be included in Castle sets with dragons in (as food), but they come already "eaten" by the dragon, hence no goats appeared in those sets[/made-up theory]

This is an MOC which I've been working on for the past few days. I wasn't sure where to put it, but considering the System-built instruments being showcased are being built for and in the scale of CCBS action figures (these will also be MOC's, though they'll change as I make the transition from LDD to real life), I thought it'd best go here. Anyway, given my love of rock music, I really wanted to MOC a rock band, but loads of people have done minifig ones. So to be a bit different,I thought I'd do one in CCBS Action Figure scale, which I have assigned the provisional name "CCBS Rock Band" (it'll get a better name I promise ). CCBS Rock Band (WIP title) by TheOneVeyronian, on Flickr The guitar is definitely still WIP as it needs some final touches that I can only apply in real life, such as a shoulder strap and strings. The CCBS figures used here in the LDD render are MOC's of mine also, however they're stand-ins to show off how they fit with the instruments (once I build this IRL, the figures will be almost completely diifferent, I'm yet to decide whether to use the models from the project indicated in my signature, or go with completely new models), that's why they have non-existent part colour combos. I will post more pictures and pictures of the individual instruments either once I've got the parts to build them in real life, or if I can find the time to render them individually at several angles. Positive comments and maybe even requests for other instruments are welcome Thanks, I hope you enjoyed looking at this MOC! EDIT: Fixed a typo I only just noticed...

Pretty sure I'm using the exact same settings (unless I have misunderstood your question), my new computer (should mention both old and new computers are Toshiba laptops) has the same RAM (4GB) and twice as much hard drive capacity as my old one. I can't remember the processor and hard drive settings of my old computer, but my new computer operates everything from a single 1TB hard drive whereas my old computer had 2 separate hard drives totalling 500GB, one for programs and one for data. Could that be a potential factor perhaps? It's a complete mystery though since the actual rendering goes at the same speed as my old computer and doesn't heat the hard drive much either. I'll try and see if I can find out the HDD speeds of my old and new computers in the meantime.

Sorry to post again, but it feels like the questions I posted a little while ago on the previous page have just been (unintentionally?) skipped over. I'd especially like to know why my parsing time is suddenly unusually long... I guess I'm going to have to assume that nobody has a clue as to why or those who do know just aren't here at the moment... it is a bit strange and puzzling that a better performing computer actually has slower parsing times, I fear it's going to bug me Or is it the case that I might be asking in the wrong place?

Has anyone considered that Skull Warrior's inflated piece count could be partly down to the fact that it will come with about 7 extra studs because it has a gatling gun launcher? They're the reason why the Protector piece counts are so high, and I can see it playing a part here too, though I can't see it being the sole reason for Warrior's inflated piece count. The Warrior probably also has some Technic tht we possibly cannot see?

Unfortunately, it appears that we are actually not getting any more strictly CCBS parts in Spring Yellowish Green. The bones on the dragon in Destiny's Bounty are in fact Trans-Neon Green (I wonder if this will lower the BL prices of them?). But still, plenty of CCBS recolours coming from Ninjago (and Laval 2014's gold beast foot is also being made available in a Chima set - good news for those in America I'm sure). Plus, for those not wanting Skull Scorpio but do want his trans-neon green 4M bones - rejoice as a few Ninjago sets contain a chock-load of them so they'll probably be cheap on BL I'm in love with all these CCBS and HF weapon recolours in case you couldn't tell!

I can't tell if he's talking about a glitch where he got an out-of-stock email after ordering items that were in stock at the time of the order - I've had two of those this year when ordering 1x1 plates with holes, yet they aren't out of stock and you get them as normal. But if it's not that - if he managed to order out-of-stock items, I would love to know how as I could try ordering White Pythor, and Eyezor's/Kapau's legs too... it's entirely possible he phoned Customer Service as you can still place Bricks and Pieces orders via that method? Though unlikely as they ultimately all go through the same computer ordering system... I'm stumped

I'm with a lot of people here, I just don't think it's very good for a UCS model, and definitely not good when you say the minifigure is the highlight of the set! Yes, granted it has an impressive size and it does look very much like a (albeit slightly blocky) TIE Fighter, but still. A model like that really should have been priced closer to £130 rather than the £170 that seems to be the price set for almost all UCS scale ships nowadays. Very easy pass for me, I think I'll be picking up the Wookiee Gunship for May 4th rather than this. That or I think the Slave I and the Tumbler really set the bar of quality really high, and the TIE just can't hold a candle to them.