Brickadier General

Thanks CopMike, I thought this was a very nice survey. This was one of the things I asked for: It was really hard trying to keep that within the length limits.

I first began Subscribing to the Lego magazine in '95, and the earliest "surviving" catalog I have is from '98. There are 2 or 3 issues I think I'm missing, but if there really is enough interest, I could upload image scans to Brickshelf. In fact, it's winter break now, and I might as well anyway. lol I would be happy to.

Nice find. I particular like the use of the custom window decals, which are very reminiscent of the old Wild West sets. Hope they make some more down the road. The old West shall rise again!!

Erao, this is all quite great. Not only do I like the architectural design, but I also love the incorporation of the Lego store in the first floor, what with all those fantastic little boxes and mini UCS Star Destroyer. Me thinks this will get you blogged, I hope, I hope, I hope...

Thankye kindly again, and again for the real name (like you gave on flickr). MMCB actually named it that when he was showing me the in progress pics of the coat...I just didn't realize that was the actual name! lol And I actually have been thinking about getting a dark blue one in the future. I've already started to get dark blue kepis. And I'm still waiting on the bayonets...Me thinks that maybe they may have slipped past Will's radar. I know he was already busy with holiday orders to begin with, and then that crazy Sun article made it even more so. So I'm just gonna wait till after Christmas before asking him anything about them.

Wow, thanks very much for posting this. I quite love the new figs, and even the new vehicles too!! I will have to eventually get this one.

Gute Arbeit, Woody64! I'm happy I came across this topic because I had no idea that there were other Lego fans trying to make minifig accessories for pre-20th century wars like the Napoleonic wars. I really like what you have made and will eventually order some one day. However, my main focus right now is on pre-20th century American warfare. If you would like to add more realism to some of your minifigs with coats, I suggest checking out MMCB's custom cloth accessories. You can work with him to get the look of the uniform/coat you are trying to get. That is what I did with my Irish Brigade. Lastly, I have a question? Do you ever plan on making a battle scene/diorama using your soldiers? I'd really love to see something like that eventually. Keep up the great work. Brickadier General

Thanks guys. I will post pics with the bayonets after I get them, and of course, when I have a chance to take some snapshots. College "crunch time" is here.

Nice building. I like the SNOTed walls very much!

Thanks for the kind words everyone. Thanks. If you ever decide to have a go at that plantation, I'd be interested in seeing it. Thanks, and yes, my name stems from Brigadier. I just like wordplay and decided to give it a "Lego touch." Thanks Erdbeereis1. Unfortunately it does not have an interior. I wanted to do one but ended up throwing out the idea for now. If I ever do one with an interior, I think I'd make the building bigger, so I can have ample space for decent sized rooms, hallways, and stairwells. Unfortunately, I don't plan things too well. lol I'm glad you like the building, and I understand where you're coming from. Therefore I'll answer your question and explain to you why I'm doing this: #1 If you read my initial post in this topic, you'll see that I've already made an American Civil War diorama. After finishing it, I thought of ways that I'd like to expand the scene. I decided that rather than make it military specific, I would like to depict other scenes reminiscent of life during the war. The plantation is naturally going to the left of the Confederate campsite, illustrating the institution they were trying to protect. I also plan on adding scenes of the Industrialized North near the Union soldiers and would like to do a scene depicting the New York draft riots (ala Gangs of New York). So as you can see, I'd like to portray all sides of the issue to show a contrast between the north and the south. This is the most important reason I decided to make a plantation. #2 I've already set up the historical context for the plantation with the Civil War battle scene. I'm not trying to glorify slavery, as the plantation is not standing by itself. It's a part of the bigger picture. #3 As you can probably tell, I love history (it's my major in college). And only history geeks like me would want to tackle this, let alone a Civil War battle (you gotta admit, you don't really see many Lego fans making them). #4 I understand slavery is a touchy area, but I'm trying to handle this as tastefully as possible. For example, there will be ABSOLUTELY NO scenes depicting whippings, beatings, raping (definitely happened) whatsoever. I have been thinking of adding something akin of abolitionist, John Brown's Raid though, in which he tried to lead an armed slaved rebellion. Actually, I'd argue that a MOC is completely capable of telling a story. In today, people often learn through images, and a model is another way of learning. I'm telling the story of 1860s America through a series of scenes connected together. And you say that adding the details you mentioned is a "bit much." Well, I say you can't have enough. I love the details. To me, a plantation with an empty field in an 1860s scene is bland and would also look kind of...bland and odd. So while I respect your opinion, there. I also want to point out that slavery is not the only touchy subject to be modeled in Lego. For one, check out the Pillage the Village Contest, and Al Freddo's MOC "Atrocity Island" (I'm not ragging on it, just using it as an example). Here, we have English pirates slaughtering native island people. Unfortunately, that was something native tribes really dealt with in the age of European colonization. Rape and pillage, not just by pirates, but by other Europeans as well. And let's not forget Lego's Western line. Federal troops and Native Americans essentially represented another painful chapter in American history, the government's subjugation of an entire race to crappy reservations in the West and atrocities abound. Sorry if I come off sounding condescending. Just defending myself. I do appreciate your comments though, because they made me realize that if I'm taking this to shows, I'm going to have to add a paper with a "disclaimer" on it about why I made it, as well as the reasons why I didn't make it. Probably would be a good idea to feature a sign explaining the historical context. So in summation, thanks, and no hard feelings.

I recently made a bunch of minifigs representing the infamous Union Irish Brigade. I requested a custom set of cloth pieces from MMCB. So the Great Coat and belt were all made by him, and I think he did an awesome job at replicating the actual coat and made these figs really shine. Beards are from BrickForge and rifles are from BrickArms. Will Chapman from BrickArms is even sending me bayonets for them, so I should eventually have pics of them with those cool accessories. Anyway, I hope you like them. Questions and comments are welcome. My MOCpages Gallery Uniform Reference Pic: Youtube Video: The Irish Brigade in the movie, Gods and Generals

After having written a 22 page research paper 2 weeks ago (it was crazy!), I decided I needed some time to relax, so of course I used it to build something! Ever since my building my Civil War diorama, I decided I would like to expand the scene by adding a Southern plantation, and now I've finally begun on it. Mind you, this is only going to be a fraction of the overall plantation. I plan on adding an orchard, a cotton field, a barn with animals, and slave cabins. I partially based the design of this real antebellum plantation house. I used a heck of a lot of 1x4 headlight bricks and technic bricks with pins to SNOT white tiles like siding. In my flickr gallery, Mister oo7 suggested I add shutters and tile to the stairs. I like his ideas and would like to incorporate them, but it definitely won't be for awhile, because I'd have to do a rebuild (well, the tile idea would be easy at least). Even without shutters, I'm content with it the way it is though, so I might even just keep it as it is and build a totally new plantation home with more intricate features like that. Anyway, I hope you enjoy what I have so far. Your input, as always, is welcome.

Wow, I'm impressed by how well you made such a fine minifig-scale conversion of the bigger model. Gotta love the detailing and all the working features, such as the opening hood and moving convertible rooftop. Hope to see more vehicles from you in the future.

I love what you have here and think you've done a really good job at capturing the look of the actual train. Nice use of SNOT techniques for the color scheme, as well as the jumper plate offsetting technique with the doors. All the little details make your model pleasing to the eye. Thanks for sharing your work.

You managed to pull off a great job with what little sand blue you had, and using the snotted 1x2 slopes for the turret=pure genius.

Really nice work, Dan. I love all the little details you've thrown in their, especially the "texture" with the landscaping of the sand, and using the white spikes as sea foam. But I'd sure hate to be there when high tide sets in.

Sure, count me in!

Well, I guess great minds think alike. lol By the way, I think you should continue to expand this MOC further. The more, the merrier, right?!

What about me? When you were posting preliminary pics of the Neptune head on your flickr account and asking for a name, I (jpark4evr) said Neptune's Noggin, and that was weeks ago. Anywho, it looks great, and I wasn't expecting the Neptune sculpture to wind up in a pirate MOC, but it fits in nicely.

Very nice. I've been waiting so long for bayonets, not for pirates, but to equip my Civil War soldiers! I can see this accessory lending well to many different periods in military history. Expect a large order from me when these are released. And as someone else mentioned, it would be cool to see Brickarms develop more 18th and 19th century firearms to further supplement these bayonets.

Thanks for the kind words everybody! By the way, forgot to mention, but suggestions and ideas are always welcome. I do plan on eventually expanding the scene to hopefully include a southern plantation, among other things. Thanks. And hey, yeah I remember you too. It was nice meeting you, and I do hope to go again...provided the funds are there of course.

I'm really enjoying this. It's very pleasing to the eye and the amount of detail you've packed into it really makes this looked like the ruins of a church. If your open for ideas, I think it would be cool to work on the windows on the bottom floor, adding some transparent colored plates/cheese wedges to the windows as well as some "fragments" on the ground to give them a shattered look. That'd be pretty cool to see.

Hi all. I've been MIA for awhile now. But some time ago, I had posted that I was working on a Civil War battlefield to take to Brickworld this year (which by the way, was fantastic. It was nice to meet other Eurobrickers there too.) Anywho, I finally got around to setting it up at home again and took lots of pictures which can be found here. There are over 4 pages of pics to check out, but here's an overall shot of the display: I didn't base this on any particular battle, but rather combined certain elements that were appealing to me based on a variety of battles, hence the name "Battle of the Randomness." The creek is inspired by Antietam. So too is the small white burning building, which I was inspired to make after looking at pictures of the shell-shot Dunker Church. However, it is not a model of the church. The Confederates charging to the federals, lead by Armistead was inspired by events at Gettysburg. I also include a wide variety of regiments; Zouaves, Louisiana Tigers, African American troops, etc. As they say, variety is the spice of life. A number of generals/officers appear in the display; Pickett, Armistead, Lee, Longstreet, Grant, and Chamberlain are all here. I also wanted to add something a little different to the display to make it a little more interesting, so I added the Confederate campsite to the left of the creek, complete with tents and even a field hospital. If you look closely at the hospital you will see a slave nurse. This is historically accurate, as the South did use slave women as nurses. My goal here was also realism. I wanted to make this look as believable as I possibly could. That is why I used a wide variety of minifig heads, especially angry/scared expressions, as well as a wide variety of poses. You will find figs running, one man for his life, casualties, blood, and people falling back as if they were just hit. It ain't pretty, but as General Sherman said, "War is Hell." All of that was time consuming, to say the least. I also wanted variety in the terrain and foliage, which is why I chose different colors and sizes for each tree. I also used a lot of custom stuff in here, so my apologies to the hardcore purists out there. ;) The Confederate torso decals were designed by legofreak. Armistead's hair/beard was made by Arealight, and the dwarf and sage beards came from brickforge. The scalpel in the surgeon's hand was kindly given to me by Will of Brickarms when I was at Brickworld. And lastly, and most importantly, I used Brickmodder's LifeLites kit for the building on fire. Although you can't see it in the pictures, you can set it to have a nice flickering effect to simulate a fire. I will have to upload a video sometime. So anyway, I hope you enjoy it. :) -Bayonets on!

It's not for everybody. Personally, I just bought the set for the figures, and I was originally just going to sort the parts and put them away in storage Yes, it probably would have been nicer if they would have at least done a brick built beak for the front of the sub. Unfortunately, I never got my hands on the Batcave set, so I never was able to build the original sub.

Your figs are pretty nice, and your car is pretty sweet looking. However, if you actually build it, I would do it in black instead of red.