dmaclego

Thanks, guys! Well, LEGO sets - even UCS sets - are toys and as such they must hold certain standards.They will never be as overloaded with detail, as complicated and as fragile as AFOL-made models. On the other hand, my Y-wing is a crappy toy - it has virtually no functions, heh, even placing a minifig in the cockpit is a royal pain!

Most impressive collection. Congratulations. You know what may prove more dangerous to your rebel fleet than the Imperials? Dust! :D Perhaps you should think of a large, plexi case for these treasures.

Thank you all for your kind opinions! Now, that is a bold statement :) . An ultimate praise for my model, being compared to Ralph The Great's work! Thanks, man :) .

Thank you very much, gentlemen. I'm glad you like my model. Indeed. Well, they fit precisely over three studs so... why not? It's the only LEGO part I know in this size. Plus, it's shiny metallic ;) . And they cost next to nothing, since I have a bunch of LEGO key rings waaaay too worn to be usable for anything else!

Hello again! Y-wing - Just parking by Maciej Szymański, on Flickr After slightly over 2 months of work I'm proud to present my rendition of the famous rebel fighter: the Y-wing. It's big: over 1,900 elements. It's long: 51 cm (but still much smaller than the UCS version). Is it minifig scale? I say: yes - but that's because minifig's height is NOT the most important parameter to me. The only non-LEGO stuff I used is the electric installation - 6 LEDs, a switch and some wires. Please, take a look at the gallery. As usual, I'll gladly answer your questions.

Thank you guys and sorry for the delay; I must have overlooked your posts (which is strange, since I visit this forum daily). Well, I daresay it's coming along nicely :) . At this very moment, I'm expecting the last two Bricklink orders (17 parts altogether) and I'm yet to finish maybe 5% of fairly generic greeblies. Oh, and maybe add a decal or two. After that - since due to budgetary constraints I decided to postpone creating a display stand and just use the one I built for the X-wing - the model should be ready for a photo session. Indeed, they are small wheel rims. They have small, rectangular holes into which you can squeeze a flex tube. And that's what I did.

Wow, guys, you make me feel VERY old ;) . My first LEGO set was All-terrain Vehicle 6927 (not Star Wars but close enough ;) ) back in 1982 :D . My dark age came in the 90's but I wisely kept my whole LEGO collection. Then in 1997 I bought my first LEGO set in years: Technic 8459. As you can see, I came back to the hobby quite a while before LEGO Star Wars era and when the first sets finally appeared, I started buying them for my sons. We built them together, of course, but now as I think of it.... no, I never bought a Star Wars set for myself :D . And finally, in 2004, disgusted with the official set 7166, I started working on my own Lambda-class Imperial shuttle, which eventually, years later, thanks to my friend and LEGO designer Adam, became the UCS set 10212. The rest is history :) .

Well, that's a bummer! I do not mean to lecture you but in my humble opinion lack of a VERY VISIBLE link on the front page of the Star Wars forum will, sooner or later, effectively kill the blog. Like Kalais, new users will just never find it. Do you think it would be possible to restore the link?

Well, I'm not really sure the concept is mine (or maybe I saw it somewhere and copied subconsciously) but it's nice of you to ask. So sure, just go ahead and use it :) .

Very nice. Two questions though: 1) The wall is thicker now. Isn't it going to cause problems with fitting the rear wall and, even more so, the roof? 2) Aren't you going to inset the DBG tiles somewhat deeper in the wall? They seem too thick, too obvious at the moment.

Most impressive. I particularly like details of the engines section. Very good proportions, too. I can't remember a better rendition of this ship in LEGO, so... congratulations! :) About the flags in the middle part - there is some room for improvement there but not with existing parts and not in this scale. All in all - great job, Mortesv!

Oh boy, I have a box of those right in front of me and it just didn't click in my mind :D . Thanks. Anyway, the idea is brilliant and - with Brickdoctor's permission - I'd love to use it one day.

I honestly don't know what to say :) . I mean, obviously, thank you! But you paid so much attention to my model and then sacrificed so much time to express your feelings about it (twice! - first on the blog and now here) that I'm afraid that a plain "thank you" just isnt' enough . I'm actually blushing, having read such an enthusiastic review - and it's not easy to make such an old fart like me blush ;) . I'm very glad you like my work and please, rest assured that such positive responses motivate me to no end. I guess I'll be working even harder now ;) . But while I respect your opinion about my model being the LEGO X-wing, I must say that incredibly good models appear here almost daily, so it's only a matter of (short) time before someone simply blows my creation from the water. And now to the details you noticed: "a beautifully working landing gear". Only if by "beautifully working" you mean "good looking" :) . The landing gear is not retractable. Long story short - frontal gear was folding nicely (I used old fingered bars) but there was absolutely no way I could do the same trick with the rear gear, due to lack of space. (In theory, it retracts inside the engines - what a silly idea! - and I wanted to show some "guts" of the engines between open wings, which would not be possible with folded landing gear inside.) Then I decided to skip the mechanics and have a really, really realistic landing gear. Conversion from "standing configuration" to "flying configuration" takes some 30 minutes, mainly because of the electric mess which is a real pain in the... engines ;) . "why all four of the cannons have ribbed tubes where I can only spot two on most reference images. I'm sure you have a perfect reason." Oh, yes, I have a good one: I'm in love with them :D . But a more general answer is: my X-wing is an amalgam. I gathered quite a lot of photos of all the existing studio models and soon realized that it is not possible to re-create any of them fully. Some details would always have to be left out (or done only so-so), because it's only LEGO and certain parts come in certain color, period. So instead of building a model lacking details, I decided to have one overflowing with details ;) . There are decals from Red Five, wing markings from Red Two, certain color splashes from Red Three and so on. In my opinion, it worked. "there's a very good reason for that one guy walking around with a radio" I'm about to sorely disappoint you: there is absolutely no reason :D . As I was ordering parts for the scenery (like a rather rare red ladder - you know, Luke used red one on Yavin IV ;) ), I picked an elegant, dark blue toolbox for the Rebel technicians and then noticed in seller's inventory that gray radio thingy. And now a LEGOholic's confession: I bought it because I didn't have one :D . Then added it to the scene just for kicks; seemed appropriate for the good humored pilot ;) . "But I won't be complaining if I see yet another topic crop up again in the forum". Glad to hear that, because - if "everything is proceedng as I have forseen" ;) - my next topic will be titled "Yet another Y-wing"! Lots of work ahead but, as I said, I'm properly motivated, for which I thank you once again!

I think I have another idea but it'll have to wait until I try it :) . I have one more question about your model: what are the round, toothed parts that you put inside Technic Driving Ring Extensions, on the very end of guns?

Same feeling here! I know there's a price for having the canopy hinged but... The bulge takes away quite a lot from a generally very pleasing silhouette. The overall shape is great though and so are the guns. Lots of tasty details. Congratulations!

The red stripes are good ol' panels 1 x 2 x 1. Sorry, I do not have any pictures of the nose. But what I used inside are Technic bricks 1 x 2 with two holes (put horizontally, to attach the side slopes) and headlight bricks. Also, the lower curved slope brick 2 x 4 is attached to a hinge brick 1 x 2 (to make the slope more steep). Yes, I'm working on an Y-wing. I have most of the cockpit ready and currently try make the "neck" look decently.

Well, I used to but I don't anymore, to be precise. It's a daunting task to me plus I very much prefer to build new stuff :) . On the other hand, I've published so many photographs from different angles that it should be possible to reverse engineer the crucial parts of the model. Good luck with that! Thank you very much. Positive reactions to my work mean a lot to me and help me survive the toughest moments during building. Like now, when I'm struggling with that darn greebling on a new model ;) . Thanks again!

I'm rather late to the party but... great work, man! Very good models and nice rendering. Deserve some good photography when finished ;) .

Thank you. I look forward to seeing your model!

Sturdy enough to swoosh the model :) . But if I shook it violently, they would probably fall apart, because laser cannons are heavy: there are metal train axles inside flex tubes.You know, it's qui pro quo - stiff and straight guns, but bigger weight ;) . I actually tried to make the wings completely tiled inside (using inverted tiles 2x2) but THEN they were really, really floppy, so I returned to long plates to improve sturdiness.

Well, that's not quite fair. If an 8 or 9 year old kid would try to assemble a really advanced, SNOT-build model, I guarantee it would be their very last contact with LEGO. Even if they succeded, following the instructions, they would never be able to build anything similar. Toys need to be sturdy and reasonably simple (which does not mean primitive, of course) a that's what LEGO sets are. Adult building is a whole another story. And about visible studs - that's company's policy; the studs are considered a LEGO heritage and will be exposed to the end of days :) .

The reason I used the inverted tapered slope on the top of the nose is quite simple: I absolutely hate and avoid all kinds of LEGO wedges with toothed lower edges. Which means pretty much ALL wedges ;) . (You can probably imagine, how painful it is for me to look at the rear edges of wings with all those 2x4 wedge plates ;) . ) In my opinion toothed edges are just aesthetically unacceptable; I use them only if I have absolutely no choice. Of course I'm not in love with studholes on top of the nose, either, but consider them a lesser evil ;) . About the wings mechanism: yes, the L-shaped Technc liftarms are the key. The problem is, in such a tiny space you cannot attach a 20-tooth double bevel gears to them firmly (no X holes in the liftarms) . That's why, If you look closely at the picture some 16 posts earlier, you will notice tiny little pieces of flex tube crammed inside the 20-tooth gear wheel. They serve just this purpose: to hold the gears and liftarms together. You turn the gears in opposite directions - the liftarms turn as well. Now you know one of hundreds of reasons why this model could never be issued by the LEGO Group - they just don't do such things ;) .

Dziękuję :) . Yeah, the cannons are at least something really original. I'm proud of the hockey masks as supressors and of the way the cannons are attached to the wings (with three tiny supports). Realistic enough, I think :) .

Thank you all very much. And I'm glad that things I paid special attention to are so generously appreciated: the colors, the long forgotten details, the lights. Very satisfying indeed :) . The lights in my model are custom made. All you need are LEDs (you can have 50 of them for a dollar, in various colors), very thin wire (even cheaper) and small coin-batteries (I used model CR2025 - they last several hours of powering 3 or 4 LEDs each). Plus a soldering iron and lots of patience. But if you want it quick and easy (plus you have plenty of cash ;) ), try your luck at Brickstuff.com, for instance. I never tried, but myy friends are happy with their products.

Initially, front landing gear was folding inside the hull. Then I realized that if I want to show the engine guts that are visible on the inside of the wings, I will have extremaly little space for the rear landing gear By the way, the whole idea of landing gear inside engines is quite silly (but that's not my fault; the X-wing was conceived that way). When I realized that, it became obvious that removable landing gear is the way to go, especially that it could be made much more faithful to the original, than the folding prototype. And that's what I did. Currently, you need to remove landing hear (which is very easy - you just pull a bar from a clip (front) and a pin from a Technic hole (rear) and that's it. Flaps covering the landing gear bays, though, are another story. In the front you just replace panels 1x4 with tiles 1x4, not too bad. But rear part is a royal pain, because you need to remove the flaps with hinges, then reposition all the wires inside (which is the trickiest part) and only then add the half cylinders (identical with the ones on upper wings). It takes some 30 minutes but is well worth the while - there's nice greebling when the wings are open and there is almost perfect landing gear when the wings are folded. Sorry for being so talkative ;) .