Splat

This made me think of someone sitting there squashing those small bean-bag polystyrene balls into each of the empty holes in Technic beams to aid flotation. Most of the Lego boats that have been released that were designed to float came with a weight to help with the stability when in water (rather than using battery packs). Eg. Boat Weight 2 x 6 x 2 or Boat Keel Weighted 8 x 2 x 4 @gjpauler: I know it probably seems that most people aren't very receptive to your ideas, and I can see that you obviously have a passion for helicopters (and boats) and want to combine this with your passion for Lego, but building a micro helicopter would require a lot of new pieces and materials that Lego doesn't currently produce (as well as all of the weight, modularity, and legal/safety issues), so Lego might not be really to go there... yet. Lego is still primarily a kids toy, and kids don't have the same passion for all the technical details of a real working helicopter as you do. They just want something that they can 'swoosh' around.

This is looking very promising It looks like you have almost totally redesigned the base, and it's great to see your progression through different concepts. I'm also looking to build a sci-fi tank (not from StarCraft), but I'm just in the early planning stages at the moment. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on your progress.

Thanks again for your comments everyone Those were two of my design criteria: show the minifigs, and keep the cost down. Given that each series cost me about AU$80 (16 x AU$5), adding another AU$12.50 or so for the pieces and 1/8th of the cost of the baseplate isn't too bad. Please do copy it. But if you do, all I ask is that you share your results with the rest of us. I'd love to see how others take my design and mod it to make it their own. Thanks for sharing. I like how you have made the stands fit perfectly within the width of the shelf, and when more series are released you could squash them up a bit to make room for the new minifigs too.After seeing your coloured stands, I think that I will stick with black as I think it gets a bit too 'busy' with too many colours - but that is just my opinion. I realised that after I ordered all of the pieces! The problem would be that the second stand would have rows with 6:5:6 which adds up to 17, so doesn't really work with the Collectable Minifigs, but if you were using these stands for other minifigs that wouldn't be a problem and would probably be a better solution. I agree! I was looking through Pick A Brick for parts for another MOC, and when I saw the Brick, Modified 2 x 4 x 1 1/3 with Curved Top (aka Brick W. Bow 4X1x1 1/3), I immediately thought that they would be good to use for a minifig stand - that's where it all started! Those are great ideas I was trying to incorporate the Tile, Modified 4 x 3 with 4 Studs in Center parts, and the use of the Plate 2 x 3 parts was really a last minute decision. Unfortunately the supporting structure of my design wouldn't be able to do what you suggested as it has a few gaps (see below), but it could be re-designed fairly easily. It might use a few more bricks and cost a bit more though. PS. It looks like my BrickShelf Folder is public now, and includes the building instructions in there too.

Thanks everyone for your comments Hi Yatkuu and Lord Of The Fries. I did think about adding some colour, but as KielDaMan mentioned, I didn't want the display stand to draw attention away from the minifigures. Adding colour to the stand itself might get lost at the minifigures feet and just add 'visual noise', but I did think about adding a flag pole and creating custom stickers to put on them. Unfortunately these flag poles weren't available on Pick A Brick, and BrickLink doesn't have many sellers that have much stock. Well, that's why I provided the Pick A Brick and BrickLink details in the 'Spoiler', just in case anyone else needed to know what parts to use to make their own Thanks ETAV8R Do you have any photos of what yours looked like before you pulled it apart?

First of all, I normally hang out in the Technic Forum, so I apologise if something like this has already been posted. After buying all of the Collectable Minifigures (Series 1 - 4), I had been storing them in plastic storage boxes. I wanted to actually display them rather than just store them, so I decided to build my own display stand for them, and I built it out of Lego of course! During the 'May the Fourth' promotion on the Lego website, they were offering free shipping to Australia, so in addition to a few other Lego sets I decided to order a few parts from the Pick A Brick (PAB) selection. You could probably get these parts cheaper on BrickLink, but you might have to get them from several sellers, and pay multiple shipping costs, so in this case Pick A Brick was just easier. An interesting side note: although the Lego website says that the Pick A Brick order will take a few days longer to ship than normal Lego sets, I have found that in Australia they usually arrive first in most cases. I think this is because they get shipped directly from Denmark, whereas the other Lego sets get shipped via a distribution centre in S.E. Asia somewhere. Before I ordered the parts, I modelled the display stand in MLCad, only using parts that are available in Pick A Brick, and I decided upon this design: (Click on the images to see larger versions) I didn't get the Tile, Modified 4 x 3 with 4 Studs in Center parts from Pick A Brick though because they only come with the Collectable Minifigures. If you want to display other minifigures but don't have enough of these parts, you can get them from BrickLink, or use some Plate 2 x 3 parts instead (you will need 32 of them). I didn't get these baseplates from Pick A Brick either. I actually used a different type of baseplate, which I'll show you later (you'll need to keep reading to find out!). After receiving my Pick A Brick order, this is what my first display stand looks like: And populated with Series 1 Collectable Minifigures: You may notice that there is a Technic pin hole on the side. There is another one on the opposite side, and one on the back too. This is so that a Technic Pin can be inserted to join two (or more) display stands together: The join isn't strong enough that it makes a rigid connection, but it does keep the display stands aligned and stops them from getting knocked apart by accident. The photo above also shows how I have purposely offset the minifigures in each row so that they don't get hidden by the row in front of them. Alternatively, you can place the display stands one behind the other, and use Brick 2 x 2 x 3 parts to raise the back stand up to the correct level: As I mentioned above, I didn't order the baseplates from Pick A Brick, I actually planned for these display stands to be put on a X-Large Gray Baseplate. Each display stand is 24 studs wide and 12 studs deep, so eight display stands fit on the 48 x 48 studs of the baseplate, and creates a nice set of bleachers: My bleachers have room for eight series of Collectable Minifigures, but only four have been released so far, so it is half empty at the moment. Perhaps I'll fill it up with other minifigues for now. On the right half of the stand, I have used the Plate 2 x 3 parts, but when more Collectable Minifigures are released, I will replace them with the Tile, Modified 4 x 3 with 4 Studs in Center parts instead. You can view all these images, building instructions, and MLCad file in my BrickShelf Folder (once moderated). If you want to see the Pick A Brick parts list, or the BrickLink XML so that you can add the parts to your BrickLink Wanted List, expand the 'Spoiler' section below: Constructive comments and feedback welcome.

I think the only time I've been really stuck is when using something like a Technic, Liftarm 5 x 7 Open Center Thick, Technic, Liftarm 5 x 11 Open Center Frame Thick, or Technic Turntable Large Type 2. The problem is you can put something in the middle of these (such as a Technic, Axle and Pin Connector Angled #2 - 180 degrees) and then use a Technic, Axle 2 Notched to hold it in place. But then you can never get the Axle 2 out again, and no tool made from Lego will be able to help get them apart again. When this has happened to me, I've had to use a sharp blade or very small needle-nose pliers and slowly pry the Axle 2 out again, but you have to be very careful not to damage the Lego pieces too much. For everything else, I just make up my own tool out of other Lego pieces as needed.

Thanks Mr. McDuck Yeah, Dexter rocks - almost as much as Lego!

Here are a few photos I took a while ago for a The Brothers Brick "A Mime is a terrible thing to Waste" Flickr Contest. No captions required, the photos should be self explanatory. And my current desktop/wallpaper on my PC at work (dual-screen): The background pattern in the last photo is a X-Large Gray Baseplate, just very out of focus (shallow depth-of-field). I especially like the way that his fedora hat casts a nice shadow over his eyes.

This looks quite interesting - the differential has been moved so that it isn't taking up space between the two sub-axles. It's a pity we can't see the back or bottom of the construction in the video very clearly though. I decided to try and roughly model this in MLCad (without the chassis around it): (click the images for larger versions) The LDR file can be found here.

Hi drakmin Some options (click image to go to the related forum thread):

It's great to see all of these in the same place. Since I've only been on the forums for a couple of months, this lets me see some of the older MOCs that I wasn't aware of. Thanks.

Thanks for the translation wanwan

Wow, some great alternates in there Nathanael. I just got this set delivered the other day... it might be time to open it up and start playing...

I just received my order from Big W online. Took about 4 days to get to me in Melbourne - much faster than waiting for packages from OS. The only thing that I'm not happy about is that they just put the Lego box inside a plastic envelope, and as a result the box was a bit squashed by the time it got to me.

I picked up the following: 1 x 8262 Quad-Bike (box got a bit squashed in transit) : £21.24 = about AU$32.50 2 x 8047 Compact Excavator (fairly cheap for a nice range of pieces: treads, turntable, worm gears, etc) : £18.84 each = about AU$27.30 each 1 x 8046 Helicopter : £11.84 = about AU$18.12 1 x 5867 Creator Super Speedster : £7.64 - about AU$11.69 These were just the small sets that I added to my order - why order one set when you can order many! I didn't really need/want the last two, but they were on special and I couldn't resist. Bricks are addictive! What I really want is the 8043 Excavator... I just got another canned email stating that they are still waiting for their suppliers. Sorry to hear that you lost 3%. They have only charged my Credit Card for the sets that they have actually shipped, so they haven't charged my Credit Card for the 8043 yet.

Today I finally received some of the Technic sets that I ordered from The Hut. I placed the order on the 14th of April, so it took them just over a month to get here from the UK, despite the 'Usually dispatched within 24 hours' note on the website. They were packed side by side in the box, and as a result, one of the set boxes got a bit squashed. Luckily I buy Lego to build the sets and MOCs, not to invest in MISB collections, so I'm not too concerned. The rest of the box was packed with air pockets, but I wish that they would learn to put the sets in the middle of the box and have the air pockets around the outside to protect the contents a bit more. Overall I paid about 54.8% of the Australian RRP, and saved myself about AU$100. The 8043 Excavator that I ordered at the same time is still 'Awaiting Stock Pick'. I'm hoping to save about another AU$130 by ordering this from The Hut. I guess I just have to patiently wait for this one to arrive though...

The 8109 Flatbed Truck has 1115 pieces, and PF Battery Box and M-Motor. The 8070 Super Car has 1281 pieces, and a PF Battery Box and M-Motor. Therefore I suspect that TLG will sell 8109 for about 90% of the price of the 8070. So about US$100 or UK£90 or AU$180. But that is just my guess... I'm liking the look of these, and I think that I'll have to get at least one, maybe two (one for the B-model). I like the way that the B-Model has a red cab, whereas the A-model has a yellow cab. But it doesn't look like there are lots of mechanisms in these. Just a tilting (and sliding?) bed, steering, and a simple winch for the A-model, and a scissor mechanism, steering and a simple winch for the B-model. Technic sets have had piece counts on some of their boxes over the years, including last year - such as the box of the 8043 excavator.

I think Zblj means something like this: Once you put the hoses on the pneumatic cylinders, it should form a nice tight fit. Zblj, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I just placed an order for 8092 Luke's Landspeeder at the Big W site for AU$42.87 (I missed this set when it was available in store). Shipping was $7, but I used the code 'BDAY5' to get $5 off. I think it is a 'spend $25 online and get $5 off' code. Total price was AU$44.87 shipped. Given that it is still $49.99 at Lego S@H (without shipping), I think this price was ok.

I have downloaded the instructions for the A Model, and compared it to my 'reverse engineered' attempt. It looks like I have about 51 differences (not including stickers)! I knew that the front and back were a bit off, and most of the other differences are things like me using 3L blue pins with friction, where the official instructions used 2L black pins with friction, etc. Obviously these pieces are buried deep in the model, so it was hard for me to work out from the few photos I had to work from. Overall, I still think that I did a good job. In fact, I think some of my differences are actually improvements! If you're interested, you can view a list of my differences here. Now I just need to find some time (and good weather) to take some video of my PF powered 8081. Hopefully soon...

Thanks efferman Mechanically it looks very similar to the A model, just with a different chassis and body. I guess with the specialised steering parts, and the limited number of other gears and axles in this set, they pretty much had to keep the mechanics the same. Now you just have to modify it and put in a V8

Hi efferman, I was just wondering if you could shed any light on what the B-Model of the 8081 is...?

My first thought would be the Technic Circular Saw Blade: The Technic Tread Sprocket Wheel Large or Technic Tread Sprocket Wheel Small might be okay: Other than that, some of the Bionicle pieces might work for you too.

Sorry to hear that you are still having 'wiggles'. I have taken apart my 8043 a while ago for parts, so I can't test this myself. Perhaps you can try these steps to troubleshoot the problem: Remove the bucket, so the LA isn't attached to anything, and see if you still have wiggles. If so, remove the LA, and test again (be careful of axles spinning around). Then remove the axle, and test again. Then remove the universal joint, and test again. And keep removing parts of the drive-train until the wiggles have gone. Whatever you removed last could be the cause of your 'wiggles'. To test if an axle is straight, take it out and roll it on a flat surface. If it is bent, then you should be able to see that it doesn't lie flush on the flat surface, and doesn't roll smoothly. Also make sure all axles are fully inserted into the universal joints, and remember that gears aren't happy when they are squashed, they need a little bit of space to prevent friction from stalling the drive-train. And make sure your batteries are charged up (perhaps try new batteries).

Sorry, not adding much to the conversation, but I had to look some of those sets up to see what they were. I thought that I might include some pics here for other people's reference (click the image for more details). 5563 - Model Team Racing Truck 5571 - Model Team Giant Truck 68.8 tire and wheel Grazi's Tow Truck