Vectormatic

I think the fact that we only get a single motorcycle every two years plays into this, there arent many sets, and part variety is rather low in some areas as well, we only have one wheel type for the last 7-8 years, and only two tires to fit on them for instance, front shocks also are rather limited. As for bricklink, personally i only order in-country, and from sellers with many sales and overwhelmingly positive feedback, it also helps that generally i dont order too many parts at once, so if an order goes bad (not that it has), im out only 10-20 euros. While we are on the subject of bricklink, id suggest picking up a bunch of those pearl gold wheels when you can, they are relatively rare, as they only appear in a single 2014 ninjago set (and only 1 per set), so once that set retires, price on that color might go pretty high, i plan on picking up at least one extra set for future motorcycles Just looked into it (didnt know they did real Lego set imitations already), and while i very much desire 8051 (the one that got away from me), ill be giving it a miss, aliexpress shows me a price of $46+shipping for one of those, at which point paying €50-60 for the real deal from bricklink seems more appealing, im also a bit of a purist in that i dont object to knock-offs entirely, but i wont mix fake with real lego, so getting a decool 8051 would pretty much stop me from modifying it, or re-using parts of it later in other models While you are buying bikes (4 x 42036 and 2x 8051, wow, jealous :P), id recommend 42007, it isnt the most loved bike, and a bit less open to modding (i think anyway), but it does look very nice, and there is an easy mod on youtube for moving the chain to the other side inside the swing-arm, which makes it look pretty damn good.

Lol, just ordered one last month for the GF off of BL, paid less then MSRP for a sealed box, so im happy anyway

Have been working on the 42039 mod further, tore down the cockpit, moved the windshield (and dashboard) two studs back, moved the mounting point for the nose-panels two studs back, did the same with the front splitter and currently working on shortening the headlights by one stud (all that shortening has to come from somewhere), with the shortened nose it is starting to look like a while different model. Also been steadily expanding my Bricklink wanted list (ive been using some off-color parts on the 42039 for the sake of progress, and the new doors will need a bunch of parts too), and patiently waiting for pay-day before i start ordering a whole bunch of parts again.

I got to say, i think that rock miners (or whatever the theme was) cockpit on the falcon looks quite decent, i think i like it better then the very very open translucent piece they ended up going for The front tunnel seems like a miss, but it suggests quite a bit of height and playability in the model

ah right, i skipped over the first part to get right to the news, which was somewhat new to me since i havent been reading this thread religiously... my apologies for the confusion On topic though, im really interested in the Obi-wan fighter!

Some more info regarding the 2016 non-TFA sets, saw it on reddit: http://www.groovebricks.com/more-lego-star-wars-winter-2016-set-details/

Looking back at the prelim model now, it had its flaws as well, the wheel arches were waaaaaay too high etc.. And with some spare parts and time, modifying the final version is fairly doable, with some extra liftarms and couplings you can correct the nose and make the back fin, at which point it already looks better then the prelim

Awesome stuff as always Sariel, love the custom low grip wheels

The preliminary contains some non-existant parts, the rounder wheelarches for instance, and some panels which arent available in bright green, im also not sure if the very light bley parts are available.

I smell a star destroyer, im gonna guess and say the SSD?

The sticker sheet lists Wabra Horsted and Madsen as drivers, i kind of assumed those are the guy who designed it.

PF will be compatible with anything technic, it just needs space, a few studs for mounting the motor/battery box, and an axle to drive, you could work it into a 30 year old set if you want. Some sets may lack space, or need extensive modification though As for motors, currently there are the M, L, XL and Servo motors, which should work for anything but big moving structures, or things you want to move very fast, but in those cases hooking up two motors in parallel (either hardcoupled or with a diff) is an easy way to scale up the power. Do keep in mind that putting loads of power on a drivetrain will cause wear and tear on your cogs and axles though

Yeah, the prelim pics were very R-18 like, i was kinda heartbroken when the final version was shown :( That said, i dont mind the TS040 style front end, but the missing BHF.... And i agree LMPs looked pretty good pre-BHF, i really like the open cockpit ones too (R8-R15), but i just cant help wanting it to look like a realistic current car :P

Check out the general discussion topic on this set, some people (including me) have modded the set to include the stabilizer. I also modded the nose on mine to be lower and sleeker Im currently working on phase II of my mod though, adding some fins and panels is one thing, but if you compare the model to a proper lmp1 (im using the toyota TS040), some things are out of whack still, which im trying to correct.

Holy crap, a €300 car... I can only hope/pray it is some kind of sportscar/racecar, it would be the crown on my collection, imagine a scale 1:5 or 1:6 model...

Id hope so too, or for them to make those wheel arches on 42039 in other colors, modding a 42039 while keeping the colors anywhere near coherent is a bit rough considering it uses new parts in a new color

managed

The prints dont match what would be on these kinds of MOCs, and wouldnt look right. I also guess that removing the print will probably ruin the look of the tire as well

Expatriate

I tore back into my 42039 last night, i previously modded the nose, added a rear fin and extra bodywork, but after mulling it over for a while, it wasnt finished after all. I managed to rebuild the rear suspension to be one stud lower (although ill have to see if the current solution will cope with the added bodywork once i add that back on), allowing me to drop the engine cover one stud, making for a more slender and LMP-true back-end of the car. Next job will be adjusting the engine cover to line up correctly with the cockpit again, remoddeling the back end to fit in nicely with the dropped cover, and filling body work gaps. And then the next step is shortening the front, mainly the splitter and the cockpit, to get it close to real LMP1 proportions.

Id love dark blue, im not much of a rock crawler guy, but that bodywork on 41999.... drooooool If they would put that out on top of a normal muscle car chassis, id be all over it. And Tan, that would be interesting, but i cant think of many non military vehicles that make sense in tan.

Id love a re-release of the interceptor, it would look awesome next to my vader's tie (8017), but given recent prices (especially in europe), it would end up costing north of €50... Id like a Tie proto as well, but €55 man...

How about taking the entire cockpit/arm design from the newer Tie and grafting updated interceptor wings on that? Should get you the best, most up to date look

According to brickset it was H1 in EU/UK and H2 in the US (which is odd, considering im european and thought it was H2) I guess i have less time left to pick it up then i thought.. still not entirely sure though But yeah, with 9396 in 2012, 42025 in 2014, id expect a new air verhicle in the next batch, here's to hoping its a cool chopper!

42025 is a H2 set though, dont they get cycled in 2 year periods? (42000 to 42039 did..) Anyone know what the 2014 H1 flagship was?