Kristof

^you thought 'no'? And you'r sure you ehm... hate them? :/ Some comments make me thinks their authors must be weird.

Any progress or new pics? :)

Spectacular result Milan! It looks even better than I expected. I wish you best luck in the contest but hey I think that hving built such thing is worth much more than some contest victory :D Anyway, I'm wondering how the real performance looks like, without speed variations in the video. Also I wish you go ahead and work up that advanced boom - that's the only part I'm not blown away with - the exhibited extension is somehow short (that swing jib helps but still). Also I can't say from the video whether these outtrigers actually lift the crane. Lastly, one big remark to make - I no longer have obligation against these wheels. They look perfect on the completed crane! :)

These pictures are good enough. Great work on that crane!

I can't see any of your images. You should rather link them from some photo sharing page (flickr, bricksafe...) - attachment's are neither recommended nor practical way. I also doubt that you are allowed to include that many of them as a new user - that might be the problem why the pictures don't show up. EDIT: The video is crude but that crane looks superb. I can't wait for the pictures. And I encourage you to make better (and longer) footage ;) It would surely help you in the contest.

Hi Nik, Both models are almost completed in real. I had to make several key modifications because (as i feared) the structure of the Venator wasnt sufficiently rigid and barely buildable, also I wasn't quite as happy with the design of the Invisible Hand. As soon as the models are built, I'll start making the instructions. As that might take some time to me (i need to learn all about these LDRaw programs from scratch) I'll probably re-submit both models on Ideas first - not that I'd expect them succeed (not even talking about review stage odds) but it's quite good showcase method so I might get more people to be interested in :) Meanwhile thank you for your interest, I hope I can make these manuals ready as quickly as possible.

Whoa :O

Not a big bfan of Mad Max but this is excellent model. A lot of interesting functions and great drive performance on top of that! Well done.

I wish things like brick female on both sides or double sided plate never happen - call me diehard :)

There is something about that superstructure that makes it look not quite right for me. I can't relly name it but it's more apparent now when it's completed. Maybe it's the crane cabin with it's shape. Or these white wedge panels. Just somehow the entire section doesn't match the rest of the truck, whic is very well made in that Kenworth style.

When making a model, one kinda have to make clear (himself) whether studs will be considred defect or feature. I do feaure studs on most of my models - it's also part of my attitude when it comes onto building. But once maximum accuracy is the aim, studs usually are a hindrance. To the question why doesn't lego make these desired parts, I'd use the same argument as before. It would make whole system less entertaining if we had just the right part for any application. To be honest, I hate Megabloks for many reasons and this is one of them - everytime they need to achieve certain design, they just flesh out new part. I hope lego never descend to that level. To be honest, I'd prefer even less new parts to be made every year. Current pallette is growing bigger really fast. Lego also thinks about their elements in much wider scale and time horizon - they try not to cycle and retire parts very often, which is cool since we don't have to many rare pieces and most of the brick remain affordable for longer period. I think (and correct me if I'm wrong) that Megabloks doesn't give a **** about such things :)

Gerogeous models. I also like the pickup the best, especially that color scheme makes up for it (reminds me john deere machines :D ) Excellent video as well.

^ :D Next gen of spaceship propulsion!

5 kg load? Wheew :) Impressive model. Any chance you will be making better pics?

LilMe, I get the points and stand and you surely don't have to apologize, nor justify it against my notes, furthermore if you don't want to have this discussion, just say it and I'm quiet :) To explain my attitude, let me say this. One of the reasons why I love LEGO is the fact that it has it's limits (within range of brick pallete, colors...) and restrictions, which every builder has to deal with. These limits, in my oppinion, conceives the most creative ideas and makes the building such amazingly enjoyable. It's especially the challenge of fighting these bounds, trying to make up solutions that is both 'legal' and accurate. Therefore I can't be more excited seing a MOC that seems to meet both of these standards. Your head assembly (and presumably the whole build) has so many briliant solutions... so many. So yea, I'm quite disappointed, eventhough it's just one piece (let's not talk the legs for now, I'll follow up on that), nothing compared to the rest. Though actually maybe the fact that it's juts one piece makes it even more irritating for me. One piece that puts a shade (very very fine one) on the entire rest of the build, which is just fabulous. "Best AT-AT ever built from Lego with only ONE modified piece" vs. "Best AT-AT ever built purely from Lego bricks" :D Isn't that shame? Or maybe this is the oppinion of crazy purist, who should undergo some psychiatric treatment :) Regarding thes legs, I know this is probably inevitable. Although I'd still prefer making them sturdier at the expense of it's thickness, your decision is somewhat understandable for me. Especially since the others who attempted for AT-AT's of this size had problems even with thick legs. So if gluing allows you to achieve considerably better design (unlike that modified plate :D) it won't devaluate my perception of your fantastic build. Oh, and by the way I'm very excited about that smaller version. PS: If I wasn't sure about that blue stripe at first, I love it now! :) It really makes the whole thing way more interesting to look at.

I agree with anothergol. There is huge step between zero and one regarding modified bricks. I share the oppinion that purity shouldn't be sacrificed for some little details. The more in this case where you could easily omit this part without losing much accuracy. You scare me with these legs :D Are you sure there is no way to avoid that?

Wobble isn't the main concern, unless the model is to fragile. What I see as a problem is fragility of your column. Not even talking about the previous version which wouldnt widthstand any side to side torque. I know that this might seem ok as it has no problem with holding the weight but as soon as you apply any non horizontal force, this won't last. I.e. when you accidentaly hit or push the model on the stand. Of course, if you plan to display it in showcase, you may never regret the flimsy construction. Yet I wouldn't feel safe, even then :)

^It's the style in which you commented. It simply 'sounds' negative and somewhat bittery. Hey maybe it's not how you meant to express it but you have. By the way those three dots you use all the time contribute to the missinterpretations as well. Cumulonimbus' comment is quite valid there, and even if it wasn't, it's certainly not that ridiculous to make you Lough Out Loud :P Nothing against your suggestion though, I agrre it's at least considerable to show the interior.

That blue stripe looks a bit weird but I like it actually. Eventhough its not just the right color. Hows come noone spotted that before?? :P

Well, not much to say except of well done! As I was mistaken several times previously, I'm being more careful with "this is the best -something- ever built!" kind of statements but I'm quite confident I wouldn't have to regret using it this time. The accuracy and detailing are astonishiing and some part constructions (I. e. these slopes forming the bottom of the front 'window') are just great. I wish you keep the level of accuracy through whole build. Good luck!

^I'd say it's better to have all steps than a crooked slope (cheeseslopes doesn't make for very smooth line unless used in rather complicated way with angular bricks and so...) followed by several one plate high steps. At least I like this one better - it's LEGO afterall, should be proud for some blockyness here and there :D

Milan, that's all just right. Maybe my post sounded a bit to negative while it wasn't intended. Also by magnificent projects I didn't mean huge builds exclusively. For example I call effe's or Erik's cranes magnificent as well as yours, yet it's rather medium or small. As you say, noone starts with instant experience and part pool, yet to enter contest like this one with confidence, you need both, at least so some extent. And that was basically what I was trying to say (rather clumsily) - this contest doesn't attract beginners, eventhough they would be welcome to participate. (I'm judging by myself and the reality so far - can be proved wrong eventually) Which doesn't mean at all that this is not great contest! There are many smaller creative competitions where even newbies can aim high. This one offers showcase of the best lego modeling which I'm super happy to see and admire.

My oppinion isn't very vbaluable since I couldn't be more far from entering this contest (havent built anything remarkable from technic... so far), yet I watch the contest and all the WIP's carefully. If I were about to enter, I'd probably loose all hopes (and most likely be discouraged from entering eventually) after seing WIP's from several pro builders, showing their magnificent projects. Eventhough I know all these sayings about how it's not about winning etc. I'd hardly find enough motivation to enter a losing battle. I'm not at all mad about that and I don't blame the contest - all I can blame is my lack of skills, part resources and perhaps time. But I think there might be a lot of people, surely better technic builders than I am, who are feeling the same, which may be why there aren't as many WIP topics and why it seems there won't be that many entries in the end. I think that part restriction or shorter time would make this contest whole different and we may loose some of these georgeous looking (according to WIP's) creations so even the slightly negative fact that one can hardly contemplate winning without being big technic guru with great stock of parts is somehow worth it, at least for me :)

Brilliant idea, thank's a ton for sharing! I walways wonder how do you people come up with such inventive ways to use certain parts, especially these parts that I barely know about or almost don't consider a part :D

Quite hard test, wasnt it? :D Two remarks - you can barely expect less 'bending' in turntable with half kilogram weight and half a meter leverage unless your couterweight is much (several times) heavier. With your reduced superstructure, your counterweight doesn't really counter anyway. Remarkable drawback of having better look. I think however that with the weight closer to the pivot point (boom fully raised) the bending should be fairly acceptable. I also noticed that your hook string doesn't unwind when you extend the boom - I often miss this auto-function on cranes. Wouldn't it be possible to make it that way so you get rid of that inevitable unwinding with ever few inches of extension?