dmaclego

The key word here being "simple" :) . Come on, you are building a very impressive, beautiful, huge scale model here! No place for compromises! Don't go the "simple" way; make your model so that no-one (a grumbling old fart like me, for instance :) ) can say "nice build but could have been better"! Please, don't read all these exclamation marks as scolding - I'm just trying to cheer you, to make you try even harder, because I believe you can :) .

I hope it's not too late to ask this question but... Do you trust your blueprints 100%? The rear landing gear you built according to your blueprints does not look exactly like the real thing. The struts are paralel in your version, while in the film it's clear that only the rear strut is vertical, while the front one is somewhat slanted towards the rear one. Please, take a look at the picture below.

Only very obscure and non-canon characters begin with X, according to the Star Wars Encyclopedia. I guess I'd go with X-wing pilot. Easily recognizable. About N - it's either Nien Numb or Nikto (both are available as LEGO minifigs).

Neat idea. And such elegant circles. It looks like a very, very, very long term project, considering the number of Star Wars locations ;) . My favorite is Galen/Krennic scene. The planet was wonderfully austere with a sudden patch of green and you conveyed it perfectly. (Even though I'm not a fan of spilled round plates ;) .) Great job!

Thanks, guys. Yeah, I couldn't resist. There are seven light points in the personnel bay of my AT-AT and they are all good ol' 9V LEGO light bricks with blinking function, depending on the direction of current. Disco connection was too obvious to be ignored ;) . AT-AT (WIP) Lights in the night by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr

1. Please, take a look here: and here: Oh, I just remembered that there is one more function: an elevator goes up from the platform. You can see it raised in the left part of this picture, right under the lighting tower: 2. The trees - well, I did not photograph them during construction. The idea is fairly simple: tall black slopes and tall bricks (mostly 1x2x5) plus some flex tubes and axles inside are the trunks. Branches are just black plates 1x6 (or 8 or 10), connected with toothed hinge plates. And then just lots and lots of leaves in both sizes :) . Branches are mostly located in groups of four, then 6-7 bricks of trunk, then branches again. Really, really simple design. Thank you for your kind words :) .

Yes. The challenge (in terms of engineering) is very tempting but that would be another 30 baseplates, another 10 sequoias, another ton of shrubbery and then that huge, non-modular dish.... Plus another logistical problem, of course. I'm not ready for this, mentally and financially :) .

It is, isn't it? :) OK, some more numbers I actually know: the flat part of the landing platform is roughly 10.000 parts (detailig, greebling, railings and lights not included). AT-AT is roughly 7.000 parts. Altogether there are about 6.000 leaves on the trees. Total height of my Endor exceeds 155 cm (shuttle in flight) or 125 cm (with shuttle on landing pad). The green base is 2 meters wide and 1,5 meter deep. There are 63 kg of green bricks (mostly 2x4) in the hills under platform and around it. Plus unknown load of other green bricks in the lower modules of the ground. I used some 70 LEGO lights of different kinds, 9 LEGO electric motors and 5 transformers to power all the functions. Each AT-ST consists of about 480 parts. I guess that's all I can remember :) .

Thank you all, guys. So do I :D . That's why I don't ponder it too often ;) .All I know is that my Endor weighs up to 200 kg. Oh, and about permanent display place: not an option until my sons leave home for good :) . And since I'm not going to kick them out any day soon... But showing it once a year during some exhibition may be possible. I'm thinking about next year's Skaerbaek Fan Weekend in Denmark. We'll see.

They are exactly where they should be: on the ramp next to the AT-AT :) . Your skills are complete by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr

Thanks, man. I must say that seeing and reading viewers' reactions is one of the best parts of the whole process. Especially seeing kids' faces during the exhibition - priceless :D .

Thank you all very much, guys. Please, let me add with all modesty that I've added much, much more to the shuttle :) .

Hmm, let me think... A guy who does not have an extra room for monstrously huge LEGO creations? Because that would be me :D . My Project: Endor will spend considerable time in boxes before I present it again. Without dedicated space for it (and, preferably, a glass cabinet) it would just gather dust. Sad but true :( . Thank you for your kind words!

Guys, Some of you may remember my AT-AT model, some of you may know my Lambda shuttle and some of you may even have heard these were crucial parts of my crazy idea called Project:Endor. Well, it's done. Thirteen years ago I started working on a virtual LEGO model of the Imperial Shuttle. It took me 6 months. Then I spent another year building it with real bricks. And when it was completed, I heard - from LEGO designer Adam Grabowski, whom some of you may know as Misterzumbi - that maybe I could build a small scene for that model. Well, I took the idea to my heart - as you can see today ;) . As time went by, my shuttle became set 10212, over 1 meter tall trees grew up one by one and the platform slowly took shape. Ultimately, "the small scene" became some 200 kg of bricks, set upon 48 baseplates. I have no idea how many bricks are in it. Fortunately, neither has my Wife ;) . I won't bore you with minutiae - if you have any questions (about electric functions, details or anything else), just shoot. In this gallery you can find a photographic history of Project: Endor - pics of the finished project can be found, of course, at the very end. In time, there will be more of them; they just need editing. Also, I'm slowly working on a movie presentation but that will take quite a while, since some of the mechanisms were damaged during recent exhibition. Have a good time watching the pics and please, feel free to leave comments if you wish. 072 - Seriously happy by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr 077 - Endor by night by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr

A very good model. Could use some studless techniques on the bottom and under wings but still - very, very good. Congratulations!

I second that question! Overall, a great model, to be sure. I don't think you could go any further with detailing in this scale. That's a very good reason to think about a 2-meter long ISD ;) . And just one small complaint: such fantastic greebling everywhere and still those huge classic-space wheels as main engine exhausts? They look nothing like the real deal; I know you can do better!

Well, that much is painfully clear. But then you say you'd be honored to be stolen from, so I understand our points of view are fundamentally different. I don't publish building instructions anymore but when I did it, it was in the spirit of sharing, not in the spirit of making some rich Chinese mf even richer. So, unlike you, I wouldn't be honored. P.S. I designed the shuttle. Then, with my permission, my friend at LEGO re-designed it to meet UCS set criteria. Then Lepin stole OUR intellectual property. Of course, technically it belongs to LEGO, but it's still OUR design.

Oh, but you will. Because when some Chinese crap company kicks real Bose out of market - which is quite possible; low prices can do miracles - you will end up with Chinese crap. I can't believe some of you guys can't understand the most basic rules. I will try just once (without much hope, since Mortesv and DarthTwoShedsJackson already tried in vain): 1) You steal - you are a thief. 2) You buy/sell stolen stuff - you are a fence. 3) Lepin steals intellectual property. You buy Lepin - you knowingly buy stolen goods. Which makes you a..... ? Yes. A fence. A criminal (at least in my country). That's it from me. There is absolutely nothing to discuss. It's really, really bizarre how some people claim that black is white or at least gray. And that's not even touching the problem of copied MOCs. Do you realize, for instance, that we are facing a threat of ALL decent LDD files disappearing from public sites? MOC builders will not wait for Lepin to steal their designs. Unlike you, I may have a taste of what's it like to be robbed by Lepin. They copied 10212 based on my design. The LEGO designer who created 10212, by the way, is a good friend of mine. How do you think we feel right now?

Definitely one of the best UCS sets ever. Thank the Maker for the new windscreen! I can see some excellent UCS snowspeeder MOCs in the near future :) .

Very, very good model. And it won't topple your AT-AT with a harpoon ;) . If I were to complain about anything here, it would probably be the bulge on the roof. It is much smaller than the one on Brickdoctor's model, but still... In the perfect world, the entire roof would be slightly sloped forward. But your model is pretty close ;) .

Thank you very much, guys. They are skewered with parts 4593 (Lever small) to grill tiles hidden below. Also, the same part connects lower strip of spare chain links with the upper one.

Good evening. This is my first post here in Special LEGO Themes; so far I appeared only in Star Wars department, so... hello everyone! To be honest, I wanted - finally, after so many unsuccesful attempts! - to build an early 76 mm turret (model 1940) for my T-34 tanks family but I failed again and then found some consolation building this - a tank destroyer / self-propelled gun SU-85, also based on the famous T-34 chassis. It happened very quickly (by my standards, anyway ;) ) - in just 5 or 6 evenings and virtually zero Bricklink orders. I'm pleased with the gun mantlet and general proportions of the model. Not so pleased with gap between glacis and side walls. And that's it, I guess. Please take a look at the photos. Comments welcome! P.S. I did not bother building ground plates just for this model - what you see in the last picture are modular plates I created for my ongoing Endor Project. False perspective rules ;) . SU-85 - left front by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr SU-85 - right front by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr SU-85 - top view by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr SU-85 - on the battlefield by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr

Really good points, Tommy, but I can't say I agree 100% :) . Having my own AT-AT sleeping peacefully in a trunk, I keep wondering, from time to time, if making such a huge beast mobile is possible at all. Initially I thought: no, absolutely not. Of course, LiLmeFromDaFuture , just like any of us, would have to start his project all over (parallel linkages are just one of many reasons). But let me go quickly through your other suggestions. - About arcs on top of the feet - in my opinion, you don't need to provide power there. They could just hang there - on an axle, for instance - and be "self-levelling". It is a four legged machine so it cannot topple forward or backwards if all other joints are rigid (controlled mechanically). If you look closely at AT-AT stride, you'll find that at least three feet ALWAYS stay on the ground. And a big LEGO AT-AT actually may stand on three legs, as it was proven by my model, when I (acccidentaly, of course) missed the axle hole as I was attaching one of the legs ;) . - About upper hip joints - you are right, they would require tremendous power if they were to swing powered through an axle or turntable. But please note that most of the large AT-AT designs (not mine, however) utilize vertical beams that connect outer ends of hips with vehicle's main body. Now, imagine an actuator instead of those beams. That could work :) . - About synchronization - very true. An adder mechanism would be necessary to sum up power of several XL motors and only then, from a single shaft, you could distribute power to four legs, carefully setting gears or levers. Complicated, I admit, but this method solves the problem of (lack of) synchronization. - About steering - even more true :) . I virtually can't see how this could be done. Not with a model that weighs 6 or 7 kilograms. - Generally: builder of such a beast would have to forget about providing power to upper hips, lower hips and knees any other way than simple mechanical levers. No gears. No pneumatics. Nothing fancy. Currently, I'm trying to construct a skeleton of such a leg where I could only move the upper hip joint, and power of that movement would be transfered (in the same time) to lower hip joint an knee joint. The good news is that amplitude of movement does not have to be large - several degrees, maybe ten. But everything else is bad news :) . For instance, two liftarm beams connected together take up two studs of space, which is the entire thickness of the leg - it's not possible to hide them. Not to mention the fact that even pins with friction are terribly loose when long beams and serious forces are involved.... So, theoretically, anything is possible but today I'd only say: maybe, maybe. Time will tell. But maybe the host of this topic is a better engineer :) . I hope so!

Thank you, guys. About weird parts: true, I used some, but you have no idea how weird are the parts I considered using (but didn't) :) . These include a huge sand blue Bionicle mask, some small copper masks and some giant flat silver Hero Factory claws. By the way, I didn't throw them out as unusable; they're still in my "greebling bin", for future use :) . About Technic axles 32: well, it wasn't the easiest buy even here, in Europe - took 4 Bricklink orders to complete. But if I may have a suggestion for you: ask the sellers about the condition of used axles. I'm not sure if they were perfectly straight when brand new but now most of them just aren't, which is not a big surprise considering what they have been through as parts of a LEGO hockey set ;) . And it may pose a problem, since you don't want your Y-wing engines askew, right? ;)

Thank you all; it is a pleasure to read such positive responses. Either that or they were inspired by the Gold 2 studio model, which had a little bit longer struts connecting the engines with steering vanes ;) . But seriously: I never follow the standards set by UCS series because, as I said, TLG designers are making toys and stick to strict business rules while I'm just interested in nice looking models :) . Absolutely. There is a glimmer of hope that MLCad could handle some of these illegal connections but it's a moot point, since I just don't have that much time (or skill, for that matter) to even think about creating instructions. On the other side, I published a "behind the scenes" photo of engine nacelle technique and the rest (cockpit aside, maybe) is pretty straightforward, I guess :) . So true about the cockpit! To be honest, I started building the Y-wing from the cockpit and for a very long time I was "happy" having virtually no vertical tapering on it - the nose was just as thick, as the rear part of the cockpit and cabin's roof was horizontal. ("Happy" means "I gave up hope of doing it better" ;) .) It was only when the model was almost finished that I finally found a solution. Thank goodness! :) But the truth is, there is some room for improvement: the bulge on the bottom of the cockpit (where landing gear is connected) should also be slightly slanted, just like the cabin's roof. And I know how to do it, just couldn't bring myself to rip the guts of the cockpit once again, when I finally assembled all the flex tubes around the cabin :D . The thickness of the body is a tricky matter. Each studio model is VERY different in this area. But I liked very much the bent tubes that go under the "neck" of Gold Leader model and they actually set the thickness of the rest. Actually, there were four such tubes under the studio model but I found room only for two. But still I'm glad :) . About the long Technic axles - I'm surprised myself how sturdy they are; the model is very, very swooshable. There are three crucial things about them that I luckily managed to re-create in my model. One: they go all the way from front domes, not just from the pneumatic T-joints you mentioned. Two: they are not braced in any way - they are supposed to look like glued to the engines (and they were, in the studio models ;) ) . And three: the cross-section of the original struts was "T" shaped, not round (like in the UCS model) or flat (like in previous fan-made models) so I thought that Technic axle cross-section ("+" shaped) is the closest solution. About other rebel ships... The answer is: no. I'm going back to my Endor Project for a while. Also, the unfinished model of the old Soviet backhoe "Bialorus" craves my attention ;) .