anothergol

nope, only got 1 out of 5 BL orders, 2 of which not even sent yet If everything goes right, eventually I will only need 1 more little order. thanks

I'm actually surprised that there is no atlernate Bricklink sites for other brands (or even filters, in BL itself). BL isn't sponsored by Lego, is it? Using any non-Lego part doesn't fit the rules I impose to myself (if I were to break those rules, I'd 3D-design & print & totally forget about Lego, the results would be much better but that's just not the same game), but if some people want to mix parts, it's indeed no different from using Brickarms stuff, chromed bricks, cut parts or whatever. It's not Lego, yet it's already in BL. Of course the LDD is another story, it's owned by Lego.. I'm sure its database isn't super-protected, though.

Yes, that's what I originally planned to get, but those are pilots for the Endor one. Couldn't find movie shots of what's in an AT-ST on Hoth, however this article tells about "imperial army pilots" used in AT-AT's as well as AT-ST's, and it would make more sense to be more covered in the cold: http://starwars.wiki..._Command_Crewer Thus it would be this one in the AT-AT: While this other one from the set is similar to the Endor pilots: But I'll certainly get an AT-ST pilot if I shop where there is one available.

Am I right that the crew to be found in a Hoth version is similar to the one in an AT-AT, btw? I don't have a Lego pilot that you'd find in an Endor version, but I do own an AT-ST (& AT-DP as well, but the crew seems rather different in there).

It holds!! Even the backmost hip balljoint holds well. Sure, it's not fully dressed yet, but the side plates aren't gonna change much. Of course, it's not gonna be kid-proof, it was never intended to be. Can't blame Lego for releasing ugly ones, theirs are kid-proof.

Bluerender definitely has replaced LDD to POVRay here. I think it just looks better because the default choice of lighting is better. Even though both tools don't look that great at normal precision, I always render 2 or 4x bigger. (edit: ah, hadn't noticed the aa setting, it's an oversampling factor? can't find what the values are for, but 4 4 seems to improve a lot. I'm guessing it's not X & Y oversampling factors, as it defaults to 0 1. I'm guessing the second value is the oversampling factor, and the first a coverage method or something?) I'd like to reiterate my request for animation, because this is really something that's not possible (in less than 1 year of render time) using POVRay, while BlueRender would do that in half a day at worst. A simple 360 rotation around the vertical axis would allow presenting stuff, like I tried to do here using a turntable, but it's horrible to do in the analog world, whatever can go wrong, goes wrong:

lego has used separated turntable plates in official sets, though. In fact, they now seem to be used more as "vents" than as turntables.

ah, the worst sin :)

Nice use of parts, the helmet glass fits perfectly. And the seat is a cape? Perfect fit. What's that part around the syringes?

thanks, around 600 the minifigs will have to raise one of their chubby arms a little, btw

I could still put it on lego ideas when it's done. I've built 3/4 of it using the parts I had, it'll take a couple of weeks to gather the rest. The head already shows its weight, it probably won't move around much, but it's mainly there for rotation and a little tilting. The hip bars.. I have serious doubts that they will hold, but I'll just dump them use a single ball joint, if it doesn't work. The ankles are normally not an issue. This is what I'm building:

it was a typo, I meant these bi-directional (as opposed to tri-directional for ball joints) assemblies: The big ratchet joint is still a perfect choice for the upper leg though, as it looks exactly like the AT-ST one (maybe Lego made it for the AT-ST & AT-AT?)

I believe that the top strongest joints Lego has to offer are -the ratchetted ones for the legs (-too- strong IMHO, I think they require crazy force to move) -the "bit-directional" ratchetted ones, but they're too bulky (although, they allow working directly with studs, they might actually be an option for the legs) -the ball joints, I think they're nice up to this size -mixel joints, I love those. They're actually holding the side panels here. -I would put friction pins last - even with dual pins, I can't imagine enough strenght, unless I'm missing some building technique to have strong pin joints

I'm not finding those 7M ball-joint bars easily enough (3 models apparently, in dark grey), especially in new state, so I hope it won't happen to me. But I suppose that they break as you detach/attach them, not when tweaking? is there any trick for a strong joint using T-bars? I normally only use them for very light builds. I mean, they're normally much weaker than ball joints(?) thanks I had seen it, I didn't know it was an official one. According to that blueprint, I have pretty accurate head metrics. The body could be a bit thicker & wider, but length is correct. This said, the legs should be right under the big side gun, and they currently are. Thighs have the correct length, legs too. Lower legs could be 1 stud shorter, but not possible using the ratchet join, but that's still ok. Feet: correct width, length should be 1 stud shorter, but there is no smooth wedge that would allow this. So it's actually all pretty correct afterall. Only legs are much thicker, but since there's no way to do this better using lego in a safe way, I'm all happy with it. The side "gun cups" should be much flatter, but there aren't parts to do this, I'd have to either sacrifice the additional disk, or change the 5x5 scala dish for a 6x6, which I had in an early design, it doesn't look bad but a little off.

Not much to see inside, the chubby minifigs will take all the room. Pics of AT-ST interiors that I found are pretty boring, all filled with 80's style little lights. It opens from the front, no working hatch. I think they will, because there are other minifig-sized AT-ST's (like, the one on Lego ideas), thus probably of a similar weight, that use them. The question is more, for how long will they? I never really "played" with bionicles, so I don't know. They're certainly very strong joints when new, athouth that varies with parts. The foot ones shouldn't be a problem, as the center of gravity is normally at the front. That is, it looks worrying that they will lean backwards, but gravity should be pushing them front-downwards, -in theory-. We'll see about the joints of the inter-leg beam, in the worst case I can ditch it. Those only have to support the weight of the head, though.

If this is the Hoth one: & this is the Endor one: the difference is massive! So I guess mine would be the Hoth one. Probably better, with the light blueish grey color anyway. Back (using Bluerender, nice tool btw): This said, this is a render, and between the height of a render and the actual height after all parts & joints have bended under the weight of the head, it should be noticably shorter.

Thanks for the info. Do you know of any online source with pics? I certainly will, but I'm still working on it & ordering parts (so it's gonna take weeks) 2 minifigs side by side, if everything goes right. If you mean too thick, I can only do with what Lego has to offer, and if I want the generally neglected joint at the bottom of the legs, I have to go for 2 beams-wide legs, plus all the covering. And if I make the head bigger, it's not minifig-scaled anymore. But really, on different sources, the legs are either short or long, big or small compared to the body. They're always thin from a front view - but really, I can't imagine 2-plate-wide legs -without sacrifying functional joints -keeping things sturdy -not using illegual techniques The thigh, that's where I took some liberty, because I think it looks better, more like a chicken. It could definitely be thinner but it doesn't look right IMHO, and the necessary thickness of the bottom parts makes it worse.

I know, yet another AT-ST, but I've spent days detailing it, I think it's gonna be great, if ball joints don't deceive me. I wanted one with less "stairs effect" on the body, a sharp & flat one. Now... I designed it by google-imaging everything AT-ST-related, and I realized that everyone was very very loosely adapting it. Is there an official blueprint for the AT-ST's? (yes I know that even in the movies different models were used). At first I was into the details, but then realized that it wasn't that important if only a few geeks can recognize what's wrong. However, I'm after the exact metrics, and the few blueprints I found seem to have giant legs, while in the movie the legs look pretty short. Anyone? Edit: Final picture: (Flickr album: https://flic.kr/s/aHskooATiv)

it looks like it will take time to get used to, but it had to change anyway, BL was looking very poor compared to BrickOwl

yeah I eventually read that in the thread, any idea of which tire?

The black rubber(?) dome/cover thingy that covers the center here, anyone knows what it is? I've never seen this before. Thread here: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=57851&st=0

My very first, and for a trip back to '83, I bought a new one & opened it. And it was totally worth it.

To gather bricks, I would never bother with PaB because it's expensive for a way too limited choice. I don't even think that Lego will ever do this properly (but that would be great). To me it's all BrickLink, & possibly BrickOwl (much better interface, and useful "used state") if it ever grows as big as BL. Ebay.. too expensive.. except if you buy sets without the minifigs, maybe. But ask yourself how much you can use of a set, I know what I use and I know that many parts aren't of any use to me, so buying a set for 5c/part isn't necessarily better than buying only the parts that you need at 10 or 15c. My advice would be, if you buy a set, buy it for what it builds (or for the minifigs, for the collectors out there), not for the pieces. I'm sure that grabbing parts by the weight at flea markets can also be good & cheap, for the ones who are ready to waste their time washing crap. I know I wouldn't want to be the one who'd buy *my* own 30-years old collection full of teeth marks & germs. Buy new unless you don't have a choice (old molds), you will see that recycled parts are generally NOT cheaper than new ones, and strangely sometimes more expensive, even within the same shop. Never buy used printed parts, of course, unless the label states that it's in good shape. You definitely WILL get used parts that look like new, but that's totally random and you will end up throwing crap as well.

yeah, I've done that for a couple of creepy robots :)

I suggest google image search ("lego tiny mech"), you will see a lot of inspiration in there. There's a limit to what can be done, but it can be tiny & look great, yes. But you'll have to forget about normal plate/stud connections, to use clips mostly.