Brickadier General

Ninjas or any medieval/historic Asian themed sets would probably do best in Asia. South Korean based clone brick company, Oxford, has a ton of historic Asian themed sets. In the Western world, well at least America anyway, Asian history is fairly neglected compared to everything else. I wouldn't expect them to sell as well in North America and Europe as, say, the Pirates line. But hey, you never know. At least there will be a Ninja and martial artist in the collectible minifig line.

I prefer the old ones, as the new ones remind me of gorillas with their broad shoulders and long arms.

I really like what you have here. It's a really good build. However, I would fill in the saddle with brown brick, and I would give your drivers some "rope" to hold on to instead of air. The Lego string with studs on both ends would probably work well.

I think you're going to have a pain of a time finding them. Once, I ordered what were advertised as red fireman helmets from a BrickLink seller. When I received them, they were the white ones. I don't think I've ever seen a legit red fireman helmet.

Everything makes sense to me! Very cool and creative. I like the cutaway sections and how there are two different levels to show two different stories that are linked together.

I like the new collectible minifigures, but I do not like the way they are being marketed. So some of the figures are going to be more abundant than others, while some will be harder to find. Well, that means lost potential profits for TLC with all of the people who are just going to jack up prices on bricklink and eBay (and yes, I'm more than well aware of the sales of Star Wars figs, etc.). If I seem annoyed, it's because I am. And I have to say that Playmobil has a better system, because you can see what you're getting on the packaging. I would much rather prefer shelling out a premium price for a boxed set of figures than blindly buying individual bags or a whole case. I'm sure the rationale is that the "random chance" factor will make people want to buy more figures than they would if they were in boxed sets. After all, it works well for lottery tickets and worked well for Pokemon cards, and I'm sure it will work well here. But please, leave the Pokemonesque craze factor out of Lego. Irregardless, it is still nice to see the new figures. I just hope that down the road, they will change how these are marketed. Otherwise, I'm not going to mess with them much because it will just cut deeply into my funds to buy Lego sets.

Well, I've done Ulysses S. Grant, though as a General and not in his Presidential attire: I'm sure there are many more out there, though I doubt any one person has done them all. You should tackle this one, perhaps releasing an image each week. Every Friday could be President's day. Edit: Found some more. Sir Nadroj's George Washington Legoland Mount Rushmore :-D Teddy Roosevelt in his Rough Rider days Lincoln Bust Washington Bust

Hi again, I checked out the Tucker Club forums, but it doesn't look like I can register, so I can't post anything about the car in it. I also tried sending you a private message regarding the Tucker kit idea via Eurobricks, but I couldn't send it. So if you could tell me who to get in touch with, as well as the best way to contact them, I'd appreciate it. I had ideas for a Tucker kit in the past and would like to do a run of 51, as professional looking as possible. However, if there is not enough interest, I would likely just build the model to order. Instruction manuals take a long time to do up, and they wouldn't really be needed for a run of around 10 models or less. Boxes with artwork would also be nixed. This is how I originally envisioned it. I thought it would be great to make 51 kits to commemorate the number of Tuckers produced. I would make the kit in 5 "regular" colors; blue, red, white, black, and yellow. There would be ten of each color. For "kit #1," it would have an exclusive green color, as green is a harder to find color. Also, it would include the chromed bricks by default. For the other 50 kits, I would have to change the color of the chromed parts to dark gray for the fenders and hood ornaments, and light gray for the light saber hilts and wheels. I realize that dark gray for the fenders is not ideal, but some of the parts used don't come in light gray, which is what I would prefer to use. I would have to do this for the kits due to the prohibitively expensive chromed bricks. I was thinking that if the kits were preordered, the buyer could specify whether or not they wanted the chrome parts. If they did, I would package the chrome bricks with their order for an extra fee. I'm going to look into finding out how much it would cost for me to get bricks chromed, rather than buying them on the aftermarket. Ideally, the box would have a nice picture of the car for the artwork, possibly with an interesting backdrop. Ideally, the kits would consist of as many new parts as I can possibly get, direct from Lego. I would also like to include a CD featuring a manual, as well as some pictures of the car in its earlier design phases. Of course, I would want to figure out what this would cost to do, and the logistics of doing it are something else. This is the way I would prefer to market the kit, so I would really hope that there are 51 people out there who would be interested in purchasing it. But after those 51 kits would be sold, there would be no plans to produce anymore in the future. So, what are your thoughts on my ideas? Thanks. Matt Thank you very much. I love your train, by the way. Orange isn't the easiest color to work with.

Wow, you did a wonderful job recreating the real train in Lego bricks. I'm impressed. The decals are so flawless, you can't even tell that they are decals. Keep up the amazing work, bud.

That would be great, MetroiD. I would be interested in seeing how you bring this together, but I'm no expert. :-) I just play around with things over and over again until I get something the way I want it to look. I think you can do the same with great results. As Tuckerfan pointed out, there are replicas. Unfortunately, I missed the AACA Fall Meet in Hershey this year, which I believe is one of the largest, if not the largest antique car show in the U.S. As it turns out, there was a tucker convertible there. Tucker Convertible I'm not sure what the story on it is, but from what I understand it was made from some original Tucker parts that were never used in a finished vehicle. Wow, thanks. That's quite the honor because when I was originally making this model, I thought it would be really cool to make a kit at a run of 51 just the like the real thing. But I gave it up for the time being due to lack of funding for it to do it the way I want to. I'm a recent college graduate, so money is tight, and I have plans to get certified to teach English as a foreign language in the late spring/early summer and hopefully be contracted somewhere by Fall. So I anticipate being busy and would hate to keep people on a long waiting list waiting for too long. However, I would like to gauge the interest in such a kit, so I will definitely stop by the Tucker Club forums. Actually, the funny thing is that I did refer to your website during the construction of my model, so thank you for providing a great website with Tucker information, and thanks for letting me know about the interest in my model. :-)

Awesome! My Civil War troops have something to look forward to.

I really like your plane. There aren't too many ones built at this scale with so much detail, let alone with power functions. Do you have any video footage? Also, love the "Snakes on a Plane" reference. That was pretty funny.

Everyone, thank you so much for your comments. I really appreciate your thoughts. The rigid hose pieces are held onto the windscreen with rubber cement. It is a weaker form of glue that is commonly used on notepads. This means that, while it holds the parts to the windscreen, they are not permanently attached so I can take them off at anytime. I did not want to use regular glue or crazy glue, because that stuff is too strong. Still, I know I cheated. hehe Thanks, it's a tough job, but somebody has to do it. I actually would not have made those modifications, but I was at a loss to find the best solutions without making them. I figured that, because I never plan on taking this model apart, it would be alright. Thanks so much. I hope that you will make your 5 wide Tucker and show me it when it is completed. You're right that the Tucker is a tough car to model on a small scale. I think Model Team scale would be the easiest to work with. 7 wide was hard enough, and I can only imagine how challenging a 5 wide scale Tucker would be. Still, I think it can be done, and it sounds like you are up for the challenge. I'd say go for it.

Hi all, I am very much alive, but I have been very busy these days. Consequently, I do not get to make many MOCs as often as I used to. But I finally got around to taking pictures of my most recent model, the 1948 Tucker Torpedo. I first found out about this car when I interned at the AACA Museum in Hershey. Eventually, they will receive three of these amazing cars. I found the story of them to be quite fascinating, and only 51 were ever officially produced. I knew that I would have to make one out of Lego. This was not an easy build. If you look at the design of the actual car, you will see what I mean. The center headlight meant that I would need to make the car 7 studs wide, and then there were the curves on the sides of the vehicle. My model is hardly purist. I used chromed bricks from Chrome Bricks, and the License Plate was done by Slick Bricks. The taillights are BrickArms rockets, cut down so they can fit in the light saber hilts. And if that weren't enough, I had to cut one of the chromed grills in half, and I also had to cut down rigid tubing for the windshield (and they are held in place with rubber cement). But anyway, here she is: Flickr Gallery And as always, your thoughts are welcome. Have a nice day, and happy building. -Matt

I have bought a few of the lighting kits and love them to death. But as mentioned, they may be a little harder to incorporate in smaller MOCs like street lamps due to the bulbs being placed in a technic half-pin. However, from my experience, they look fantastic inside buildings. So far, I've used them in my plantation home and burning building on my Civil War Battlefield. The one on the battlefield has a flickering effect, which is awesome and could work well for any house fire. You can use trans colored bricks to get different lighting effects. I used trans neon orange in the burning building and trans orange in the plantation. Unfortunately, I don't have pics of the interior and how they're wired up (I need to get on that because Rob wants some shots of the inside of my plantation and how everything is wired). And there isn't really a way to get around using battery boxes or the speed regulator, unless of course you make a "hack-job" of a "hack-job." lol The speed regulator is the way to go in my opinion. And if you don't mind the butchering of parts, you could also make a request with Rob to install lights in a particular MOC like Hope this helps.

Wow, I'm glad to see someone else making Civil War mocs, and they are quite nice...very faithful to the mid-90s Wild West style. I don't want to nitpick, but if it were me, I probably wouldn't put the flag pattern on the cars for accuracy. But I know that you're keeping with the "toy look," so it's no biggie. They still look nice. Are you going to go to BrickFair this year by any chance? I plan on bringing the battlefield again and expanding it, so if you want I could make room for your MOCs. I'm already talking with 2 other people who want to collaborate. Sorry, zouave. I'm not dead even though I don't post very much. I'd like to be able to post regularly, but I've been quite busy as of late. I have some new MOCs too (not Civil War related), but I've refrained from posting them because if I disappear after that, it doesn't look very good. However, you're always more than welcome to send me a message. I check EB from time to time, and when I checked today I found this, and you're right. I enjoy it. :-)

I love old vehicles, and this bus is pretty danged sweet. Though the wheels seem kind of small for a vehicle of this size. Are they supposed to be like that. Do you have a reference picture anywhere? Sorry, not trying to be difficult or critical. I'm just curious

I think the pipe-cleaners work beautifully for this figure. I would never have thought to use them before. But really, they are the cherry on the ice cream sundae. Every detail on this fig looks great. In particular, I'm really liking the Breastplate decal.

I finally posted pics of my Civil War battlefield and Southern plantation diorama, as it was seen at BrickFair this year. It was integrated into the PennLUG train layout. I actually had to design some of it on the fly and brought parts with me to work on it there. The orchard and landscaping to the right of the plantation home and the curving part of the path, for example, were all done on-site at BrickFair. It took me over 24 hours, nearly straight, just to set everything up. I tried to handle everything in as tasteful a manner as possible. For example, I felt that the NBA minifig heads were too suggestive of old sterotypes (ie: big lips) and, for the most part, most of the African American faces that could fit in have big grins on their faces. On a plantation scene, I know those would be criticized. Chris Edwards, a fellow PennLUG member, suggested that I keep the heads plain brown, and that was such a good idea that I decided that the majority of them should appear that way. I think it worked pretty good. The final display was around 2.5 ft by 11 ft, and I actually bothered to count all of the minifigures. There are 229! I actually had to run back and forth to some of the vendors, buying horses, Brickforge bridles and mushrooms, and BrickArms rifles, all to complete the display. I wouldn't have had to, but I felt so compelled to do so. lol My display was nominated for "best military vehicle," and I'm glad I didn't win because I think someone would've tried to kill me. hehe It was still flattering all the same to be nominated. I never expected anything, really. I have taken 85 pictures of the display, which are now up on my Flickr. You can see them all here. You can also compare this to the version of "Battle of the Randomness" that I brought to Brickworld 2008 here. Meanwhile, here are some noteworthy pictures of interest. Also, be sure to look for "Easter eggs," such as the Back to the Future Delorean making a visit, "Yankee Chief," and Wolverine. Thoughts and suggestions are welcome. Keep on building! Matt -aka: Brickadier General

Hi Eilif. I'm glad you liked my review. I won't be able to get reviews out on the other sets for awhile because I'm pretty busy. I do have pictures which I haven't posted, and I may just settle on uploading them for all to see rather than go into a full-blown review. I've seen the Sluban brand before and actually accidentally bought a Sluban tank thinking it was Oxford, and the quality of plastic was horrible (plastic was very brittle). I've never heard of Just Kidz before, but I do know that BestLock did something like get a license from Oxford to use some of their molds and probably even designs (some of the tanks look very close to Oxford). And I have good news for you. A2zever is not out of business, and you can get the set I reviewed. The last time I checked a few days ago, they even had some of the newer military vehicles, some of which featured new mud-guard pieces. So anyway, now you should be able to get that set!

If this is real it's going to be mighty dang expensive, especially judging by the projected price in Euros. I know that one of the reasons Lego discontinued 9 Volt trains was due to the costs of paying an outside party to put the metal on the tracks, but I thought they also rationalized it because the 9 Volt line wasn't selling very well. That's why I almost can't see this as being real. While it would definitely be targeted at AFOLs, I can't really seeing it doing well with the general public. It has too much going against it. While it does look cool, the thing would likely cost over $100 US, you only get an engine, tender, and one car, and there is no track. Like I said, I know it might do well with the AFOL community, but outside of that I really don't see much of a market for it. And I'm having a hard time being convinced about flex track. Wouldn't that actually end up costing consumers more than the current line of track? I'll wait and see, but I'm not convinced until there's some more tangible evidence. -Negative Nancy signing off

I probably already told you this at the January PennLUG meeting, but good work on this awesome solution. I really look forward to seeing this run on our club layout at Brick Fair.

The Daily Show - "My Least Favorite Martian" I was immediately reminded of that correspondent interview when I read this thread. heh Personally though, I don't get what the big deal is. The aliens are pretty much just pure fantasy. The trolls in the castle line are pure fantasy. The rock monsters in power miners are pure fantasy. They are non-existent races, and of course they're often likely to be portrayed as the "other" in relation to their human counterparts. It's tribalism in its purest sense, and that's the way human nature is. The "other" becomes a perceived threat, and conflict ensues. And I'd have to say that aliens are really nothing to get uptight about. Now imagine if the baddies in the new space police were labeled Blacktron 3 and were African American/European/etc.. That would be something to be upset about.

Well, it ended at $138.50 U.S., which works out to about $6.30 per road plate. So if you have a sizable collection, I think it would do well on e-bay. Just remember that every auction can be a bit different. Yours might do much better than mine or even go for slightly less. It all depends on the bidders, so you never know for sure. I would definitely start the auction on a Saturday evening though for better exposure.

Hey everybody, I put up a lot of 22 old road plates on e-bay to make a little bit 'o money. There the old light gray and green road plates from the 90s, and there are a lot of straights in there. Current bid is at 122.50 (It was 86 when I last checked today). So that's about $5.57 per plate. Auction