Legostein

Hello! A great large-sclae version of the spacey tow truck! The rear part is very detailed with much greebling. Engines and crane are also fantastic. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Already a quite nice setup! As another authentic detail you could add a hole in the floor caused by the highly corrosive alien "blood". Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! I like the simple and clean structure of the base. The interior is functional and there are many nice transparent elements which remind me to the Futuron series. Nice space station! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Until I finally pushed one of those bulb covers with bar into a TECHNIC® half pin I couldn't believe they really stuck that hard together. But they do! And how they do! Oh my! The problem is that the bar of the bulb cover is so long that no other bar gets grip in the loose end of the TECHNIC® half pin. And you would really pull very hard with an iron grip of your fingers to get it off. Let other bricks help us. -------------------- Getting the bulb cover with bar off again from the TECHNIC® half pin: The bar in the bulb is not the problem alone. When the outer lip of the bulb starts to move over the stud you have to push really hard to get the bulb over the stud. Once done, however, they stick very strong to each other. We have to find a way to fix the bulb from 4 sides... We need another bulb with bar to help us. Stuck them into the tile with handle as shown below. Hold the handle with one hand, the rotate gently the TECHNIC® half pin (in one direction only) ... ... until it comes off. --------------------- This is by the way, a nice building technique as well. It's not yet that well-known that two bulbs fit nicely into the tile with handle. Here's an example I built a while back. The Star Trek Deep Space Nine "Runabout" which brought me to the solution of the problem above. --------------------- With that I'd like to say goodbye for this week. Real life starts very soon, and unfortunately I won't be back until next week-end. I hope to have helped you all with the last 50 images. See you soon! ~ Christopher

Hello, and thanks again for your kind comments. With some more time, more reference material will get available on the other ships in this movie which makes it easier to come up with an accurate design. The Dragon Gunship and the Venture Star will get their chance soon. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! The halberd could help again here. -------------------- Dividing two triple slopes: The gap between the triple slopes is narrow, but wide enough that a halberd can be placed on top. Slight pressure from top will divide them. -------------------- Hope it works for you. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello again! Let me assure that it's not my intention to hijack this topic. I took this effort as a special tribute to this great community here. Ha! This is a really tough one! After some time of testing combinations, I'd like to propose a possible solution to you. -------------------- Separating a TECHNIC® liftarm from TECHNIC® 1 x X plates: Here we can use axles with stud at one end. The stud will fit into the liftarm. Be sure to use as many axles with stud as possible. Only together they're strong enough and provide enough grip for the following procedure. -------------------- Have a great sunday! ~ Christopher

Hello! There are so many great techniques used in this complex, so that it's an incredible source for inspiration. Alone the big variety for the plant environment is amazing. Using those green rock parts as hedge is a very useful method of using big ugly rock pieces. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Quite an interesting idea and well built! I like the ninja-styled helicopter. My favourite piece is the blue classic space control panel piece as decortaion for the roof. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello, glad these hints are of some use. Thank you. Exactly. It's a similar method as for the jumper plate separation. -------------------- Extracting a plate out of a tile ocean: As CP5670 mentioned, the TECHNIC® has one of the strongest grips around studs. -------------------- And now that we have these fine tiles on the baseplate... Removing tiles from a baseplate: (works only for tiles with groove) The halberd is your weapon of choice here. It fits perfectly into the groove. Move the halberd right into the groove of the tile. Then use lever action to remove it. -------------------- These methods should safe your finger nails. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Now that we have seen many hard to separate brick combinations, I think it's time for some approaches for easier disconnection. Here are some examples what usually works for me. These are my personal experiences, but maybe they are useful for someone else. My general rule is to let other bricks help you for separation. -------------------- 2 x X plate in the center of a baseplate: For me it often helps when I stick an additional brick on it, and the begin slowly but hard pushing from the side. It also works for never more slippy bricks but better when you have an older brick. -------------------- Jumper plates in the center of a baseplate: It's important that you grab the single stud from all four sides. This does not work because the grip is not strong engough: But it works this way: The turn the jumper plate for easy disconnection: -------------------- Small gear on axle/pin: Here we need a hole that is large enough for the entire pin to fall through but narrow enough for the gear to hold on top. -------------------- Lever base on 1 x X plate: These might sit very tightly and the main problem is that you can't get proper grip because they're both so small. We simply fix the plate and use something to turn the lever base. I recommend an older panel which already has scratches. -------------------- Maybe someone will find these helpful. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Nice combination of slopes to give this cute bird shape. Which you can only see only in the zoo here unfortunately. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Pretty nice littel setup. The motion of the surprised diver is fantastic. I guess he's attached by sticking the seagrass into the hole in the flipper. The ruin-like sea floor looks also very authentic. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Well, I have to disagree here, unfortunately. Even for the new ones it's difficult. I used new dark bluish gray 1x1 plate and a new light bluish gray lever base. I'll gladly send you an envelope with the two friends. Be sure to try it really with an 1x1 plate, not a larger one. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello everybody! Among the most difficult to separate bricks is the following combination in my eyes. I don't like using mechanical tools for separation as they always cause dulls or scratches. These two are really hard to separate. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Maybe you find these suggestions useful. Or maybe not. I like the last one best. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! If allowed I'd like to give a short display stand guide of common displays I used in the past. With over 200 hundred stands needed, several variants were developped. I consider the display stand as a part of the model, and hence it's on all photos I take. I included some examples for every stand type mentioned below. -------------------- - You have a centered stud hole/bottom tube on the underside (the standard stand): Note: The left one also applies for models which have studs only on the sides. Example 1 -------------------- - You lack a centered stud hole/bottom tube, but have two 1 x X plates next to each other: Example 1 Example 2 -------------------- - You have a centered inverted stud on the underside (e.g. inverted 1 x 2 jumper plate): Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 -------------------- - You lack a centered single inverted stud, but have an inverted 2 x 2 (or bigger) plate on the underside: Ugh, well, you caught me. I haven't used this variant yet. -------------------- - You have an inverted tile on the underside: Example 1 -------------------- - You only have a hole/slot with standard bar width on the underside: Example 1 Example 2 -------------------- - You have a boat stud on the underside: Note: Unlike any other dishes, the 3 x 3 dish's bottom tube is one plate height shorter than the rest of the dish. Dish and bottom tube have no blunt end. Example 1 Example 2 -------------------- That's all that I remembered for the moment. I might edit this post with more methods if find more. I hope these are of some help. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello again! Thank you for the nice comments! I am glad you like them. As I wrote in the starting post, I am aware of the fat rotors. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Nice little compact drone. The wheels looks nice which is not always easy at small scale. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! This reminds me a bit to the classic 6059 gate from the Black Knights series. But I like your gate much better. When I see it correctly you did not use any castle panel wall but built evertyhing with small bricks instead. The effect provided by the grilled bricks is great and also the face decoration. This would have been a fantastic medium-sized castle set! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Another great vehicle! And again you've used excellent techniques and details. The holder for the replacement wheel is particularly nice. And the mudguards using hinge bricks are truly amazing. One of my favourite detail is the box on the underside where you used brackets for cover. I don't know what exactly it is because I am no expert im truck technology but it's bricked great! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Awww, that's sweeeeet! Words and bricks of course. The apple core and the matchbox are particularly nice! Very inspiring! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Many times I caught myself sliding two of these grill tiles against each other while thinking of something completely different. But it never came to mind to make something like this great sliding door with the grill tiles themselves. Great technique and idea for a wardrobe! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello dear community! Today it's my pleasure to present two of my most recent mini models to you. During my mission to visit many different Science Fiction worlds, I came across the movie Avatar which was in the cinmeas at the end of last year. Several nice designs could be seen there, out of which I'd like to give two examples. These are the Scorpion Gunship and the Valkyrie Shuttle. -------------------- Click the following images to get more views and the instructions. -------------------- Let's begin with the Scorpion Gunship. This is the smaller rotor craft appearing in the movie. The big one is called Dragon Gunship and might join the collection later. First let me admit that the rotors are too fat, but those TECHNIC cylinders were perfect for the purpose as they could be easily attached to the main body. They also can rotate freely by 360 degrees. The cockpit is completely studs-down while the rest of the gunship is studs-up. This allowed for a detailed cockpit construction with all needed attachments. -------------------- The Valkyrie Shuttle can be seen in the beginning and closing scenes of the movie. The mothership Venture Star held two Valkyrie Shuttles but one was destroyed during the final battle. The design features quite many wedges and also has turnable maneuvering/landing thrusters which you can turn towards the surface like in the movie. -------------------- That's it for today. Thank you for your time and interest. See you around, Christopher.

Hello! You captured the motion perfectly in this setup. A great snapshot in time. I especially like the little temple with the original columns using 4-wide cylinders and wheels. Cheers, ~ Christopher