Legostein

Hello! That not only a great building with nice interior, it also features life and motion. What impressed me also very much are the creative decorated hats you built with the islander headgear and the cherries. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! That's a great snapshot! It shows that even with simple methods you can get a strong effect like this slapstick situation. Well done! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! I have always liked planes, and this one is no exception! It looks great, and is highly functional. The opening back and the retractable landing gear are nice, while the sliding side door is my favourite. That's just like the real airplane doors open. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello there! As English is not my native language I didn't know what to find behind that thread title. I clicked and sa an image first of a strange machine. Realizing what it was I thought exactly what you wrote below that image. But isn't it great when you build something that almost no one else tried before? And the result is very impressive! That tree grabbing apparatus is amazing and the entire tread/gear construction, too! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello and good evening to everyone! Afer several sets of combat capital ships and starfighters, it's time to shed some light on planetary bound combat craft. We'll start with the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) and their ground and air combat vessels. Please find below the summary image of what we'll see on this page. To avoid overlappings with the official Mini line and due to the fact that I don't think the official ones are that bad, I chose a much smaller scale for some of the models to be clearly different. As the Clone Army is introduced in Episode II, most of the models come from this episode. Let's start with Episode II - Attack of the Clones then. All images are links to the image and instruction galleries. -------------------- One of the most popular vessels of the GAR is the Low Altitude Assault Transport (LAAT) also known in short as Republic Gunship. Although the model presented below is very tiny, it is quite detailed nevertheless. It features all four gun glass emplacements, twin cockpit, angled wings, rockets and colour scheme. I had to use a connection I usually avoid and don't like that much, but there are so many 2-wide versions of the LAAT out there, that I said to myself to make a 1-wide version. The construction is very compact to include all the details and thus made it quite tricky. -------------------- A variant of the standard LAAT is the Low Altitude Assault Transport/carrier (LAAT/c) also known as Carrier Gunship. I built it in the same style and scale as the LAAT so that they can be used together. The great thing is that even for this small scale, it can really carry a combat walker! It is attached by a great piece, a small pulley wheel which also allows for a studs inversion. -------------------- Now let's take a quick look at the micro AT-TE walker ( All Terrain Tactical Enforcer) the LAAT/c can carry. I liked the official version, and the tiny LAAT and LAAT/c gave me the possibility to go for a really tiny micro model here. But even if only having 11 pieces, I think it's recognizable as AT-TE. It looks so simple and primitive, however required some thinking as well until I came up with what you see below. -------------------- Another common walker of the GAR is the SPHA-T walker (Self-Propelled Heavy Artillery/Turbolaser). The shape of this walker is really unusual and required normal Mini scale. It uses many half stud and off-set techniques. The feet use 1x4 offset plates, as these are among the very rare cylindrical pieces of 2/3 height. -------------------- A very rarely seen, and probably lesser known vessel appears in Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. It's the High-Altitude Entry Transport-221, also known simply as Republic Assault Gunboat, not -ship. The design is very slim, and thus not easy either. For the tail, the angled hinge piece worked out best. A nice thing for the side engines is that the little hose cones exactly slide into the stud notches of the 2x2 cone in the front. -------------------- As so often, I'd like to close with a vehicle from the Expanded Universe, this means it does not appear in either of the six official movies. Nonetheless it's quite popular and well-known as it appears in a number of computer games. It's the TX-130 Saber-class Fighter Tank or simply Republic Fighter Tank. The shape is very angular and thus tricky to design. Fortunately there are wedge plates of many sorts which can be used. The characteristic front "face" with the two small "eye" windows is realized by a transparent black 1x2 tile which is separated by the 1x3 slope in front of it. -------------------- With that I am done for today. Thank you for your time and interest. Have a great week! ~ Yours Christopher

Hello! That's all in all a very creative and original use of parts. It's a great source for seeing many unusual connections. Also the motion in the ping pong ball is eye-catching. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! My favourite details are the small rivers in the scene. You arranged the transparent elements so that a lively flowing appears. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! I like this review because it reveals some new pieces. While I don't consider the 2x4 tiles as particularly useful, I am very happy that we FINALLY get the 1 x 2 x 2/3 with Studs on Sides in Light Bluish Gray. Yay. Thanks for the details, ~ Christopher

Hello! I think one image survived. But I guess we shouldn't do thread hijacking, so back on topic. I think these two Bandits are a great enrichment for the Mexican theme line. Minifigure sets have been released for almost all themes, so it's great to have theme for custom themes as well! The choice of minifigure heads is perfect, and I guess you have a large collection of sorted heads. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! The chruch rounds up your village nicely. Although I also liked the Mission. But at least there's also an nice cactus. Plus I like the structure for the red roof provided by the grill bricks. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Thanks again for even more comments! They're highly appreciated and motivating. Now to answer the colour question about Belbullab-22 fighter: It looked quite dark in the movie, but I agree that new dark gray would probably suit it better. But I am very picky about consistence in the colour scheme, and if one piece works perfectly but doesn't come in the correct colour, I usually go for a slight colour variation instead of destroying the shape. The 1x4 brackets unfortunately don't come in dark gray yet. But as soon as and if they are being released, I will change it to dark gray. Thanks for the hint! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! I like the twin-pod design. Catamarans are more rarely seen. The 2x2 motor block brick works perfectly here, and also the sail construction is elegant. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! That's an adorable little building! The house facade is really nice and those grill tiles do their job excellently! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! I'd be interested in some construction details or work in progress images to see if there's a possible alternative to the door rail plates. I often have similar problems, but usually a good or even better alternative can be found. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello again! Thank you for the kind words! And if you're not fed up with Minis already I can take away your concerns of running out of models. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello Ralph! The plane looks outstanding! I like your construction style with only plates and basic bricks giving the shape of the plane. Of course that retractable landing gear is spot-on, a detail that is hard to design. And the cockpit is my favourite as I am particularly fond of transparent pieces. A unique cockpit shape out of bricks, and even very rare 2x3 trans clear plates. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! That's a fantastichouse with many details on the house facade. I pretty much like the green SNOT window, and the white slopes in the roof. Probably the most efficient and simplest indication of snow on the roof I have seen so far. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Considering the very limited parts variety, I guess this is as similar as it can get to the Delta-7 Aethersprite-class Light Interceptor. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! This is a very nice little scene with many lovely details. What I don't like is that the pipeline does not really connect to the floor and hangs loosely from the top. Maybe you want to use a TECHNIC Pin Connector to overcome this. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! The car looks really sporty with your modifications. The wedge plate does an excellent job for the facade. And it's great how it fits into the container. If I may, I only suggest that you also provide a picture of the original for those who are not familiar with it (like me). That makes it much easier to spot the differences. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! That's a great fire truck there. The sliding door using those droid arms is really a fantastic idea. I also like the use of the new coloured trans-neon-yellow round plates for the back lights. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! That's a pleasure to look at! One detail I like a lot is the functional bikes holder, a rare detail which I had not seen yet. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello everybody! After having discussed the capital combat starships of the Separatists fleet earlier in this fine forum, it's now time to shed some light on the starfighter forces of the Separatists. There were several new ships in the new Clone Wars TV series which have been updated very recently, so I'd like to present nine commonly seen starfighters of the Separatist force to you today. We'll start with the summary image, so that you see what's awaiting you. -------------------- Let's do it in chronological order of appearance, thus starting with The Phantom Menace and the brown Vulture Droid Starfighter often also adressed simply as Droid Starfighter or later as Vulture Droid. It was used by the Trade Federation. To get the wing design done appropriately, a standard plate construction would have looked too bulky, and hence I chose the Bionicle tooth piece as wings. -------------------- That's already all for the first episode, and in the second episode, Attack of the Clones, there's the next notable Separatist starfighter, the so-called Geonosian Starfighter or more correctly Nantex-class Territorial Defense Starfighter. It was used in general by the Confederacy of Independant Systems. The model uses two of my favourite pieces, namely the "space nose" and the "3x2 plate with hole". -------------------- Let's continue with the Clone Wars TV series where are bunch of new fighters are introduced. First, the Vuluture Droid got a new colour, the typical blue shade of the Confederacy of Independant Systems. So, this is basically only a colour varioant of the Vuluture Droid from Episode 1. This isn't that exciting yet, but there soon appeared a new variant called Hyena Droid Bomber, a twin-pod version of the standard Vulture Droid. It's the same principle as with the TIE and TIE Bomber. Having had the standard Vulture Droid with Bionicle Tooth pieces, these had to be used again to be consistent with the former models. It was a bit more difficult, because there were no flat 1x7 Technic liftarms. Another ship using Bionicle Tooth pieces is the Droch Boarding Ship. It appears in the episode "Rising Malevolence". The design has only very few pieces, but the tooth pieces worked out well, and it even has features. It can grab an escape pod, squeeze it and release it. Another ship appearing in the Clone Wars TV series, although first introduced in Episode 3 (but hardly seen there) as being released before the TV series, is the so-called Magna Guard Starfighter, or more correctly adressed as Porax-38 Starfighter with full name. This was a very trick craft, especially the wing construction with its flat attached guns was difficult to realize. I used another of my favourite pieces - the chainsaw body - a great possibility to get a very flat studs inversion. -------------------- Let's move on to Revenge of the Sith, where we spot another starfighter already in the beginning battle scene (That's where today's quote is from). It's the Droid Tri-Fighter. This fighter is difficult for several reasons. First, the wings are crescent shaped, and second these are arranged in triangular fashion. The bigger you build this, the easier it is to get the shape. The real challenge comes with small scale. In the end I decided to go with the old 1x4 offset plates. It's probably one of the more ugly models I've built so far, but I still like it for its unusual choice of parts. The most popular ship from Episode 3 probably is General Grievous' Starfighter, which is a Belbullab-22 Starfighter. It's also a tricky little craft with lots of brackets this time, 1x4 and 1x1 brackets to be more specific. It features all shape grooved and angles giving the craft its typical shape. The last starfighter of this batch is only less known, as having only few seconds of screen time. It's the Mankvim-814 Light Interceptor, used by the Techno Union and hence often abbreviated Techno Union Starfighter. The little blue craft has an organic look making requiring careful use of slopes and rounded pieces. Although only rarely seen, I'm glad to present it to you here. -------------------- With that I am done for today. I thank you for your time and interest and wish you a great start into the new week! ~ Yours Christopher

Hello! It looks very comfortable and is a place where one really could relax. That hair piece as plant is brilliant. That's a very valuable idea for micro building, too! I will remember this! Thanks for sharing, ~ Christopher

Hello! You're quite on a roll! I guess you could have made a complete advent calendar with all your fabulous mocs. Personally I like the horse shed. It's a detail we rarely see in creations. Horse are present often by usually we see any home for them. Cheers, ~ Christopher