imhotepidus

I would definitely be up for another round of this - competition is always good for inspiration (and I have to defend my title, after all ;-) - and by the way, thanks to everyone who voted for me the first time!) I am quite busy right now, with the end of the semester, and moving across the country in a few months, so it would actually depend on the deadline. But as I said, in principle I would definitely be interested. Roy

Is this contest over? Defunct? Null and void? What happened, exactly? Roy

Hear, hear. (Of course, this is easy for me to say, given that I am currently winning!) Seriously, I look at contests as a way to compare a lot of different models, built by different builders, but all in roughly the same 'theme'. That is why I actually prefer contests with stricter guidelines - it is interesting to see what other people come up with within those restrictions, and each Moc is always unique, regardless of how strict one sets up the initial guidelines. If I do well in the contest, that is bonus, but really it is about getting feedback and ideas! Just to take one example - Brainbox, your own ship has inspired me to attempt to build a completely 'wooden' spacecraft, i.e. to try to visualize what a spaceship would be like if build using no metal (much like old-time sea-going vessels). Now, this is of course not exactly what is going on in your Rookyr, but the inspiration came directly from there. Anyway, I enjoyed all the entries, and got some new ideas. So regardless of what happens, I feel like I won. Thanks all. Roy

I think that this is an important issue to consider, but also a very difficult one. The complication is that there are two factors here (1) age, and (2) experience, and neither automatically leads to better building. In fact, I think that in general, experience (i.e. how long you have been building) is far more important than age. Age, in particular, mainly factors in when you consider how big people's collections are, since adult jobs with adult paychecks allow for much higher rates of LEGO acquisition (and I realize that part of the reason people find the Homba so cool is the smooth exterior, which requires hundreds of those arches, and all the chrome, so lots of pieces to work with CAN definitely be an advantage). Nevertheless, all those pieces are not going to be much good without some experience and skill to back it up. One should keep in mind that the older one is, likely the less time they will have to actually build! Experience (and thus skill level) are much harder to judge. I have only been building again (after a 20 year dark age) for a little less than two years. I know people who have been building for shorter periods who are better than me, and people who have been building for much longer who aren't. To sum all this up - I think there definitely is an issue here regarding 35 year olds with 500,000 bricks competing with 13 year olds with maybe 20,000 bricks. But it is not clear how to solve the issue without being unfair to lots of people (i.e. the 35 year old who just started, and has 10,000 bricks, or the lucky 13 year old with 500,000 bricks - and there are some of the latter, they just have AFOL's as parents!) Roy

I just wanted to thank those people who have voted for me so far, and to point out that I will be out of town until Sunday, and not likely to be able to post until then. At the moment I am leading in the poll, and I do not want people to think I am ungrateful if I end up winning and do not post some comment or thanks at the time. So, just in case I do win - thanks ahead of time! Of course, this is far from over, and I am not so arrogant as to think that things cannot change! Who knows what will happen ;-) So, if someone else wins, let this be an early congratulations to them as well. Roy

The shape and basic build are beautiful, but it does come across as a little boring, visually (which is sad, because, if you pay attention, it is not boring technique-wise). One thing that might 'pump' it up a bit is to work some stripes or other details into the wings - the big expanse of smooth grey bricks there could perhaps use some breaking up. Regarding the trash can on the back, which almost everyone else has commented on. I like the concept, but as it is it doesn't quite work. I would suggest rebuilding the tail so that the trashcan attaches one stud further forward. That way, you would get the same effect, but without it sticking out so much in the rear (i.e. it would look like an integrated part of the ship, and not like something tacked on to the end, as someone else suggested). Please take this as the constructive criticism that was asked for - in general, I really like this a lot! Roy

OK, I just posted this in the contest entry thread, but I thought I would give it a thread of its own for commenting on: Brickshelf (when modded) In addition to the cokpit that slides open, there are also hatches that open on the tops of the engines for maintenance, and retractable landing gear. So the ship actually has a number of moving parts, and a lot of playability! There is a gif here showing some of the various moving parts - but be warned, it is a LARGE file. :-( Anyway, I hope you like! Roy

OK, here it is, the final version of the Homba 7033: Brickshelf (when modded) In addition to the cokpit that slides open, there are also hatches that open on the tops of the engines for maintenance, and retractable landing gear. So the ship actually has a number of moving parts, and a lot of playability! There is a gif here showing some of the various moving parts - but be warned, it is a LARGE file. :-( Anyway, I hope you like! Roy

I am definitely going to enter the Homba 7033 in this contest (those of you who also frequent Classic-Space will have seen an early, work-in-progress version of the Homba on that site). Roy