Legostein

Hello! Now that is a nice helicopter! I like the use of the old windscreen, reminding me of all those great helicopters from the 90s. As a minor comment, I would suggest that the support which connects the tail and back rotor with the main body should be two plates high as it looks a bit thin. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! That's an ingenious idea for the towers at the edges of the castle. I will remember this. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello dear community! The Lambda Shuttle was among the most popular shuttle types in the Empire, and even after its fall these shuttles are being used widely throughout the entire galaxy. There are, however several similar shuttle types on which I want to report here. As usual when I present a set of mini models, there's at least one unpublished one among them, exclusively presented to you here, and we'll start with a quick summary image of this post. -------------------- Rgarding the timeframe, the very first tri-winged shuttle we see appears in the animated Clone Wars TV series, the Nu-class Attack Shuttle by Cygnus Spaceworks. The construction was very unconventional and tricky. The cockpit is studs down, while the angled gap is being closed by a 1x1 slope. The 90° angle in the wings is realized by a garden fence and the engines are garden flowers. -------------------- The Theta-class Shuttle is the first one we get to see in the movies. It is also manufactured by Cygnus Spaceworks. The real tricky thing about this one were the wings. They had a hole! In the construction below, 4L bars were used, attached by 1x1 clip plates. the end of the bar slides into the stud hole of the wedge plates and fits perfectly. The unique shape of the top wing is realized by an inverted slope that has stud holes on the side. -------------------- Staying in the original movies, we continue with "A New Hope" where we can see the Sentinel-class Landing Shuttle (at least in the expanded version of 1997). This craft is already very similar to the Lambda Shuttle, having a real top-wing compared to the shortened ones of the predecessors. The model is completely studless this time. Again we use 1x1 slopes to create the illusion of a horizontal main body although we're already angled behind the cockpit. -------------------- In "Return of the Jedi" we finally see the Lambda-class Shuttle, the probably most popular shuttle design ever. Both the Sentinel-class shuttle and the Lambda-class shuttle are designed by Sienar Fleet Systems instead of Cygnus Spaceworks. This is due to the fact that SFS lured away the designers from Cygnus Spaceworks. Similarities between the Cygnus and the SFS designs are obvious. As for the Sentinel, the cockpit also uses the printed curved space shuttle slope. -------------------- I usually call it "Inverted Lambda Shuttle" due to the inverted use of wing shape, but its correct name is Delta-class Escort Shuttle, again by Cygnus Spaceworks. It has been uploaded just recently! It only appears in older computer games. From the very few reference images we have, it seems that there is a rear gun tower which was realized by a very compact constructionm as the engines had to be placed somewhere in the narrow construct. The plate on which the engines are attached slides into the stud hole of the tails. -------------------- Also known from the computer games and designed by Cygnus Spaceworks are the Missile Boat and the Assault Gunboat. Both are similar although it's not obvious at a first glance. They both have attachments above the agled wings. It was rather difficult to find a way to attach something very flat and smoothly above an agled wing, but the final solution worked out quite well, and was used for both ship designs, Missile Boat which has missile tubes attached and Assault Gunboat which has additional maneuvering wings. -------------------- That's it for now. Almost. I don't want to close without having mentioned there is yet another craft, but neither a shuttle nor a spacecraft, which is also tri-winged. It's an atmosphere vehicle and shortly appears as a model in "A New Hope" - the T-16 Skyhopper. It's a very old mini model which I haven't updated to newer building techniques yet. You probably could use the newer 1x1 slopes for the sides instead fo making the entire construction studs-down, but that's a nice technique as well. Well, I don't know. But now I'm really done! Have a great week and thanks for your time! ~ Christopher

Hello! A really lovely set of houses! I'd gladly rent a flat in there! Also a great fan of those pieces, I like the use of fences whereever I see them! And the simple trick you attached the flowers is very efficient. The construction site details for the one house being renovated are nice to look at, too! How many of your great houses do you have yet? Can you build a small city yet? It would be a pleasure to see! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello everybody! Agreed, it's not the most exciting model I've built, but it was quite fun, and that's what counts. Scrooge McDuck's Money Bin is the centre of many tales playing in Duckburg. When you look through all the comic stories which appeared over the years, you won't find two identical drawings of the money bin. It differs in colour very much, and less dominantly also in shape. Sometimes it's blue, red, yellow, green, gray, etc... Some versions don't have the top dome, but most of them have. It is more consistent in the animated TV series "DuckTales". In my younger years, I loved the comic series. In the german version Scrooge McDuck is called "Dagobert Duck" and usually there's the "DD" (double D) as emblem on the front wall of the money bin. That's why I built it that way. There is an old Modulex tile with a $ symbol, which I will buy as soon as I find one of those rare tiles. See you around, ~ Christopher

Hello! An interesting design. I like the many grill parts, tiles and slopes. The way you used the mudguards as cover for the engines indicates the possibible existence a predecessor model with wheels before hovercraft technique was used. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! This looks excellent thus far! I guess the entire ship will be rather large. If you continue with the great amount of details you've been using here, this will be a spot-on capital ship! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! An interesting design! I like the shaped look. Especially the mudguards as entry hatch again completely horizontal is a very nice touch! Did you attach the 4x4 round bricks with the cones ina way so that the treads can actually move or are they static? Cheers, Christopher

Hello! A really decent layout! Quite some western feelings come up when looking at this. As a minor suggestion, I would get rid of that needle tree. They're so rarely found in deserts. Maybe replace it by some bush? Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello there! That's an original idea. But are apples the only fruit and vegetables available at LDD? They should offer more of the rich palette of food then. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! A nicely layed out house with excellent interior. I must admit, however, that I miss your usual lime green. I've searched everywhere but wasn't able to locate even the littlest bit. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Heehee! That's a funny topic! My member number is 1505. Actually, there's no real set 1505. But a combi pack consisting of sets 1503 and 1504 is numbered 1505. They are two DUPLO® sets from 1986. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! An interesting topic! I hope we are allowed to expand the discussion to the use of TECHNIC pieces in MOCs as well. Although I'm just a mini builder, TECHNIC pieces are totally indispensable, in my opinion and for my creations. I agree that SNOT can do a lot, as I love to use it very much, but not everything especially at very small scale. These parts include especially smaller 1x1 and 1x2 bricks, fat and flat beams of short length, and many of the angled connectors. Let me give just two little examples if allowed. This little hailfire droid uses lots of TECHNIC pieces. Without the angled connector it would not have been possible, as conventional hinges don't allow for an additional connection at the hinge center. And the large gears are the perfect choice for the wheels. Another example is this small droid starfighter which consists (almost) entirely of TECHNIC pieces. Any conventional plate technique would have resultet in a more bulky construction. In summary I agree that many TECHNIC techniques can be replaced by conventional building, however sometimes the TECHNIC constructs proove to be more stable. When building very detailed or at small scale, TECHNIC pieces often resemble the only way to obtain a certain accuray. That's my humble opinion. Have a great day, ~ Christopher

Hello! An excellent choice of minifig heads! You captured the facial expression of the situation perfectly which prooves you have a good knowledge of the increasing amount of minifigure heads. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! It seems that folder has been emptied: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=398612 I noticed that the original post you were commenting is from August, so who knows what happened since then. Cheers, Christopher

Thank you! Often the details only gets obvious when looking at the instructions. See you soon, Christopher

Hello! Very clever use of parts. You get the shape perfectly. All thumbs up! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! This is an excellent MINI model! It's great the dropship now has something to deliver to the ground. It's furthermore a fantastic example for the use of a high specialized piece to get important details of a vehicle, namely the robot bodies for the legs, which allow for bith, attachment of the feet and side gear. Thanks for sharing, ~ Christopher

Hello there! Now this is really fantastic! Although being midi-scale you managed to get a great playable interior with minifigures. Also the accompanying ships are a pleasure to look at! So you're really making a business out of the new midi scale with minifigures started with Vader's TIE in the Death Star set. Do the TIE fighters hold a pilot as well? Great work! ~ Christopher

Hello! I think that the flying helicopter is the most original of them as it's completely different from what the theme usually focuses on. However, I guess it's dangerous flying around in narrow caves. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! You're really enjoying this theme! And your vehicles get bigger and better everytime. Great to see! Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! Great to see you're expanding your fleet of vehicles! Do you have any original sets still assembled or did you buy lots of lime green spare parts? Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello! That's a real Spot-on creation! So many lovely details and moving minifigures. It's acting minifigures who make a moc lively. Although the one sunk in the lava won't be that lively in future I guess. The landing platform and the ship on it are definitely a highlight in that scene as well! All the cylinders and curved slopes give the ship a real fantastic look. And I like the trans-red diamonds, which I also tend to use often. Cheers, ~ Christopher

Hello and thank you for all the comments! It's great to see there are quite some Stargate fans here. Thanks Cam! I try not to be a factory. Making a proper mini model is tricky and takes time. Often I need weeks until I am fully satisfied. You can't force it either. While watching the series you sometimes get an idea, see a certain shape, and an idea pops up in your mind. It's spontaneous. Heya, thanks! I am also a big fan of O'Neill and personally my SG universe ends after season 8. The Goa'uld mothership took me quite long actually, until I came up with a valid idea how to do a tetrahedral pyramid. It's a simple solution, but these often are not obvious. Thank you. I am not a fan of the Ori either. They should have stopped after season eight. A new crew, a new enemy was not of the more original ideas in my opinion. But nonetheless, the shape of the Ori ship is unique and funny, and thus I designed one. Thanks! Often you have to use a certain piece which combines shape and detail. That's why it takes me so long. For the Atlantis fans, the Puddlejumper is already there, and I hope to do more soon. My pleasure, thank you! I also like the original movie. Ra's mothership and the deathglider can also be found in the gallery above. Thank you. It's a great praise when miniatures are being recognized instantly. I will try to fill the gaps of missing ships slowly, but constantly.

Hello! This idea is certainly unique! The realization, however, is rather spartanic. That road cruve gives you so much space to add desks, consoles, a meeting room, etc. I'd love to see it filled with more details. Cheers, ~ Christopher