Brickadier General

Thanks for your kind words everyone. Thanks! That would be a dream come true. If only it were that easy... Thank you! There were many BrickLink orders which were used in this build. In the beginning, I wasn't sure how the carriage would be built, so I bought lots of different parts in pearl gold in case they might come in handy. Now there is a small box of extra pearl gold parts. One thing that help during this build was prototyping. In the beginning, I used some non pearl gold parts in the build, so long as they definitely came in pearl gold. This allowed me to get the desired shape of the carriage while still waiting for BrickLink orders. It also served as a means for determining what other parts might be needed.

Because of work and school, I do not have a lot of time to build. Between semesters, I had a two week break to build, and this carriage was the product of that vacation. It is a minifig-scale representation of the Gold State Coach. The real one was built in England in 1762 as the ultimate ride for the Royal Family and has been used in every coronation ceremony since King George III. It has also been used for special events like royal weddings. The real carriage is beautifully ornate and gilt in gold. It's so heavy that it takes a team of eight horses to pull it! I was inspired to build this model after seeing the carousel horses in set 10235, Winter Village Market. They reminded me of the horses pulling the royal carriage. From the beginning, I wanted to build the carriage out of pearl gold and metallic gold parts. This created a big challenge because pearl gold is usually only used as an accent color in sets. As far as I know, basic bricks and plates are not available in pearl gold. A few years back, Sir Nadroj proved pearl gold could make for a stunning carriage with his "Bavarian Autumn." Since then, the number of parts in pearl gold has expanded to include the wagon wheels, minifigures, etc. The build was definitely not easy, but it was fun to see how a limited range of parts could be configured to make something recognizable. Questions, comments and criticism are welcome. For those who are interested in this project, it is on Lego CUUSOO via the following link: http://lego.cuusoo.c...deas/view/52291 More pictures can be found via my flickr account: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29934333@N02/sets/72157637177950964/with/10602636545/ This build is intended to represent the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. She is represented by the minifig in the front. I chose this period because I used to collect toy soldiers, and one of my favorite toy soldier sets was the Britains coronation carriage released in 1953. Here is a side view of the carriage. Here is a rear-view image of the carriage. The rubber-bands on the wagon wheels are a nod to Sir Nadroj. They also give the wheels some traction! Instead of using the new carousel horses, I used rubber bands and gold coins to cover the horses heads. Pearl gold clips and rings from Lord of the Rings sets helped for decorating the horses even further. There are four Tritons (mermen) on the carriage in real-life. Fortunately, the Atlantis sets offered up the appropriate minifigure. For the Tritons in the front, the pearl gold cobra and axe-head are designed to serve as their tails. Lego doesn't make pearl gold hair, so I had to paint some. The top of the carriage features micro-minifigs, used to represent the cherubim on top of the real carriage (though the real carriage only has 3, not 4). The interior of the carriage features dark red plates to represent velvet, and it can seat one minifigure. The four ornate corners of the carriage were built using Prince of Persia helmets, pauldrons and crowns. The Tritons on the back feature "angel wings," and the bottom portion of their bodies was built using a scorpion and robot arm and 2 teeth for the tail. If you would like to learn more about the real Gold State Coach, there is an excellent video on .Thanks for taking a look, and happy building!

It's a cute little shop and the color scheme suits the theme pretty well. Is that a bubble gum machine inside the shop? If so, I would be interested in getting a closer look. The only suggestion I have would be to add some more candy/baked goods racks along the wall. That might help it really come to life.

There are a lot of cool details in this display. My favorite on is the double decker tram. You don't see those too often!

Whoa, it looks like Jack Stone and Belville got together and had a lovechild. The minifigs, at least, seem to be a fusion of the two. Unlike those two themes, it seems like these sets are slightly less <insert that tiresome argument> and better for parts. The car is great for sand purple, and it's nice to see teal bricks again. Also great to see other bricks come in pink and medium blue. While I don't care for the minifigs, some of the accessories are really nice...A new dog is always cool. Definitely want a couple of those.

Thank you both. I have plans for incorporating the gangster car in a future MOC...

Hi Andy. This is Matt. I met you at Bricks Adventure this year. I wanted to let you know that I really love your bus, and it looks identical to the real thing. Do you plan on making more buses? How about this one? I actually want to make a Hong Kong double decker tram (trolley/streetcar), but it is so hard to find the parts I want in dark green. I'm guessing at some point, you will try to make one of those. Keep on building! Matt

Hi all, I was in China up until a few months ago, and I had come to realize that I hadn't built a a MOC in over a year. I like antique cars, so I decided to give the Ford Model A a shot. The Model A was made between 1927 and 1931, and there were a variety of body styles. I started with a black sedan, and then I made the green pickup and blue cabriolet. Each one is a little different due to the bricks which were available to me. I hope you enjoy them. I also posted the vehicles to Lego CUUSOO, including my Tucker Torpedo. So if you would like to see an antique car possibly become a Lego set, feel free to support whichever one you like: Model A Sedan Model A Cabriolet Model A Pick-up Truck Tucker Torpedo The "Gangster's Getaway Car": A shot with all of the gangsters. Weapons are from BrickArms and BrickWarriors. The one gangster's hat is from BrickWarriors. Question: How do you get that curve? Answer: Lots of SNOT! Model A Cabriolet: The minifigs are Great Gatsby inspired. The doors do open. Model A Pick-up Truck: The Doors to open. The back door also opens.

Gender: Male Occupation/print on torso: Wild West Cavalry/Union Civil War Soldier Type of headgear: Kepi (dark blue, black printing on the "bill," gold printing for the emblem on the hat) Type of facial expression: A serious look or one displaying anger Color on torso/legs: Dark Blue Torso. Medium blue legs (print a red stripe on the side of each leg) Accessory: Brown rifle, cloth greatcoat

These are really good, but my personal favorite is the Voodoo Idol. It's pretty sleek looking, and you made good use of the way you can link the flame pieces together. My only suggestion would be to put a 1x2 tile on the very front of the car since the rest of the body is studless. Good work all around!

Hi all, I'm auctioning off two Lego Star Wars sets on behalf of fellow PennLUG member, Cale Leiphart. The sets are brand new. 4483 is unopened. 10019's box is opened. However, all of the contents are still 100% sealed, and the stickers are still on the sticker sheet, hence it being in new condition. Unfortunately, I can't ship outside the U.S. However, if you have family over here and would like me to send it to them (so you can pick 'em up when you visit), I may be able to work something out. Any questions, send me a PM. Thanks, and Cale's trains will thank you as well. Auction link

Agreed, especially when a lot of people are buying these things to resell at marked up prices. See what I mean? I also think that they need to rig the barcode thing so that things are more random. Notice how that ebay ad claimed to have 5 sealed cheerleaders. While the barcodes are great for us folk who actually want to use the figs we buy, they're also great for people who abuse the system for the sole purpose of ripping people off. Surely this had to have been anticipated. Even if the figs were packaged as sets, I'd imagine the same thing would happen. There aren't any easy solutions...aside from manufacturing more. Honestly though, I can't believe how limited of a run they really are. Here for two or three months, then gone. I think that it would be worth their while to at least extend that to anywhere from 6 months to 1 year.

Sorry, I don't want to create a problem. I was just miffed that night and wanted to make sure those decals couldn't be attributed to someone else...Because I saw them use someone else's decals in the past, I questioned the originality of those. I do agree with your main points for sure.

I agree with your statement but, in this case, I do not believe for one second that this is an issue of two people coming up with the same design independant of one another. For the reasons I already mentioned, I do not think it is a coincidence. If she wasn't selling Civil War stuff, then maybe I could brush it off, but there has to be something there. And to be honest, I don't really care if someone else emulates one of my models. For example, someone made a nearly identical recreation of my Hershey trolley, and I thought that was cool. But when you start selling those items for a profit, and with out consulting the original builder to sell the design as your own, then you have crossed the line in my opinion. That's pretty darn low. But I'm not going to let it bother me anymore than it did when I first saw the listing because, in the grand scheme of things, I have more important things to worry about. Plus, I know that eBay won't do anything about it anyway, and I never heard back from this person. I thought of doing custom Civil War kits in the past, and this experience will probably strengthen my resolve to eventually go down that path. I just need to come up with a better cannon design. :-D

edit: It looks like my heading was too long and was cut off. It should read: "Can any of these Civil War decals from this eBay seller be attributed to someone else?" Hi all, Sorry I don't get to post very much...I'm crazy busy all the time it seems. I'm writing because I need your help. Some of you may know that I'm a big fan of doing Civil War stuff in Lego. Time to time, I search "Lego Civil War" on eBay to see what cavalry figs are going for these days. Incidentally, there is a person selling "custom" Civil War Lego minifigs and models. This one really ticked me off: The Custom Kit in Question Compare that cannon, if you will, to the one I made four years ago (for my Civil War stuff no less). Even though hers looks ever so slightly different, you can definitely see an uncanny resemblance, and I don't think it's mere coincidence. I mean, she specializes in selling "custom" Civil War Lego stuff, so I'm sure she did google searches on "Lego Civil War." I'm pretty disheartened over the fact that my design is being ripped off and sold for profit. Sent her a message to please come up with her own cannon design and stop selling the one that looked like mine. Seeing that, made me call into question whether or not the decal designs in those listings are hers. I know that she once used legofreak's. How do the decals on these minifigs look? Anything look familiar? princess1226's listings Thanks for your help!

Wow, I can't wait to see the finished version of this. My advice regarding figs from my own battlefield experience...Go with as many different faces as you can, angry/annoyed/scarred faces would work best. Also, go with a wide variety of poses to keep things interesting. You can also toy with this to add more emotion to the scene (ie: a soldier catching a fallen comrade in his arms). Be sure to add some damage to the scenery, too, like fallen trees, and any buildings should have plenty of pock marks. But I probably don't need to tell you that.

It's hilariously great. Your MOC is the sh... To employ such skills would have left me pooped. Ok, enough with the fecal humor. I love the SNOT work of the outhouse and the landscape it is centered in. Having the outhouse empty out into the nearby creek was a funny, albeit disgusting, touch. But it definitely speaks a certain truth about those "simpler" times. Dysentery, here I come!

My vote goes to the unreleased "Aquazone" monorail, just because it was never released and would have added a 3rd theme to use the monorail. But if we are talking about sets that were released, my vote goes for the Airport Shuttle. It was my favorite set as a child, not to mention my first motorized one. Probably made me stick mainly with the town theme too. I'm not big on space stuff, so I am a bit biased, but what can I say?! hehe

I'm loving the technique you used for the dome on the observation car. I never thought about fitting "robo-arms" in click hinges, but it works quite nicely. But the train in its entirety is quite wonderful too.

Ni hao! This is a fantastic replica of the real train. Can't stress how much of a good job you did. Does the Hong Kong Lego Users Group have a group train layout at conventions? And this question is off topic but...Are there any Lego Users Groups in mainland China? I ask because I may be living over there in the near future. Again, great job.

While it's nice to see Lego coming out with new train sets, I can't say that I'm particularly impressed with these, but they are slightly better in appearance than the RC trains. I can't see myself picking these up, but I hope they do well enough. I still have to get the Emerald Night anyway. hehe

Very nice work. As long as you plan on keeping them together, then there is no harm in "cannibalizing" parts. That's my philosophy anyway. I just wish I knew how to do this kind of stuff myself.

I'm willing to wager that come BrickFair 2010, BrickForge will debut guitars. Why do I think this? It is a high demand piece, and one of the themes at the show this year is music. But hey, I'm not a psychic. I just play one on TV!

The only reasonable alternative would have to be BrickLink.

If Disney does a western anytime soon, I'm sure that we will see the return of Wild West sets. ;-)