Doctor Sinister

No, I don't mind at all - it's not like I have the monopoly on them! Dr. S. Thanks! Dr. S.

Haven't decked out the troop wagons yet, I've spent about £100.00 on this MOC this week and my wallet is hurting! Dr. S.

Full images of the final build are now here - including a short video showing it in motion. "Mighty Lizbet" herself now sits on a split-level carriage, lowering her centre of gravity and making the shape more what I originally intended. the carriage is also longer. The ammunition loading carriage follows the gun on the train. There are two types of shell - armour-piercing, for bunker busting (yellow band) and high explosive (red band). There are two troop wagons, basic but functional designs.The rear platform allows for weapon emplacement for defence. Dr. S.

Yes! Brilliant! Thanks for the heads-up, looks good! I've switched immediately. Dr. S.

I agree about the doors, but LDD is limited in choice. With the actual build I'd like something green. Dr. S.

These are the remaining elements to go with my Railway Cannon project as initially posted here. The front carriage is the ammunition store and loading platform - it's the same height as the breech on the cannon itself. Ammunition is loaded up a small ramp and then slides along a rail and into the cannon. The rearmost carriages are the two troop wagons. In reality, they would not sit together, one would sit behind the train engine and in front of the cannon and the other at the rear of the whole train. They are inset at the back because the barrel of the gun pokes forward and space will be needed at the rear of the carriage in front of the gun itself, and also so that weapons can be mounted on the rear to defend the train from attack. I have decided to use the engine from set 7898 as my locomotive. For one thing, it's green, for another, it's pretty much what I want, with a few modifications. And lastly, I have never built an engine from scratch before - I'd likely screw it up, and why bother when I have a perfect candidate already in my collection? Comments welcome. Dr. S.

Absolutely - in reality, although impressive and firing HUGE rounds that could sometimes totally demolish city fortifications in an instant, railway cannon weren't terribly effective - the largest German ones only ever fired a couple of dozen shots and they needed hundreds of men to man them - and a train a mile long to service, assemble and deploy! The resources could have been better used elsewhere. This construction is really evidence of LEGO Doctor Sinister's utter insanity in insisting they build the thing. Oh, and I just thought it would be cool. Someone on Flickr suggested it a couple of weeks ago. Dr. S.

Well, I didn't want to go too OTT with the range and give a ridiculous figure - the point here being that it can fire a TWO TON shell 25 miles. :) Dr. S.

In reality, although impressive and firing HUGE rounds that could sometimes totally demolish city fortifications in an instant, railway cannon weren't terribly effective - the largest German ones only ever fired a couple of dozen shots and they needed hundreds of men to man them - and a train a mile long to service, assemble and deploy! The resources could have been better used elsewhere. This construction is really evidence of LEGO Doctor Sinister's utter insanity in insisting they build the thing. Oh, and I just thought it would be cool. Dr. S.

I could be way off but that looks like one of the ones at the Aberdeen collection in the US - all their armour etc is just left out in the open on the ground, it's criminal in a way because the tanks etc are just rotting. Needless to say, I don't think that piece was originally designed to be used on the ground like that - it might have been modified? I dunno for sure - but if it is a railgun, they should bung it on some track at least, for display purposes. Dr. S.

It's not a rocket, it's a shell with sabot fins - check the linky for the full set of images and all will be explained. Like some modern tank rounds, the shells are using stabilising fins that unfold once the shell leaves the barrel. Dr. S.

Fair enough, but it's deliberately retro' - when LEGO Doctor Sinister says he wants something, it's best not to argue with him. Few railguns had side supports, I've seen some pix of a Russian one but it looked crap compared to the German ones I was modelling on. And as for the barrel length, that's really the whole point - the longer the better. Also, the largest ones didn't swivel, way too big for that, so they built special semi-circular track so the gun could move back and forth and angle for an aim that way - I'm trying to remain faithful to the subject matter here. Dr. S.

This is the first phase of my Railway Cannon project. For those of you who don't know what a Railway Cannon is, it's basically a MASSIVE gun mounted on a railway carriage - the Germans used some absolutely enormous ones during WWII and this gun, although smaller, is very much based on the largest of these - the Schwerer Gustav, aka "Dora". The TARC (Tabletown Army Railway Cannon) MkI- AKA the "Mighty Lizbet" is a 300mm Railway Cannon capable of projecting a high explosive shell over a distance of 25 miles. Go here for full information! I plan on (eventually) building a locomotive, 2 troop wagons and a crane and ammunition carriage to go with the gun itself, but that will take time. Dr. S.

Yeah, kind of weird...but not a deal breaker IMO. In all honesty, the sheer monstrous size of the truck took up most of my attention. Dr. S.

Nope they were Marines which is quite different. Dr. S.

I love this...it's great. Imperfections aside, I want one, because I know I'd spend hours landing on alien worlds and exploring, then taking off again and warping to the next destination, giving the crew their dinner on the way, working out shift patterns, wandering from the conference room at the rear up to the "bridge" to see what's what, evading enemy starships and generally breaking the Prime Directive whenever the hell it suited me or the plot. Dr. S.

No, there is NO photographic trickery here at all, save that I smudged out a reflection of me from the trooper's helmet in the Thin Red Line picture. Dr. S.

Just messing with my Brickarms US Army soldiers. Click for larger pix. I know that Brickarms sell these guys as US Army soldiers, but they look just like men from The Thin Red Line...so here they are on the island of Guadalcanal. And finally, our heroes encounter a small obstacle to their advance... Dr. S.

That's William Howard's castle - I think he goes under the username of whoward69. Dr. S.

You are too quick! I was still uploading them. Dr. S.

Forgive me if pictures of these sets have been posted before, but at LEGOLAND Windsor today I found what I was told are the ONLY Agents sets currently in the UK. So I took some photos. I even got to play with them! So without further ado... Now, I am well aware that these are not the greatest pix in the world - but we were in a circus tent and it had WEIRD lighting... Someone I was with told me that at a previous event he was forbidden to take pictures of these sets. Dr. S.

The Brickish Association have been supporting the LEGO Club with a 3-day display at LEGOLAND Windsor - Saturday to Monday. I attended on the Sunday with the entire Tabletown Army in tow - same setup as last time basically, but with HUNDREDS of people coming to see us this time. I'm very pleased with how it went, the TA got a lot of attention, I was asked a great many questions - and I even got "paid" for my time at LLW with a bag of bricks. I even met up with PaulC from Eurobricks who recently joined the BA. There were some hairy moments, at times we got swamped and I found myself in charge of three tables as others had gone to lunch etc and I had to carefully fix models, stand others up and keep a wary eye on little hands prodding and poking at some of our models. The undercarriage on the Dragon had to be fixed more than once! A good day though - although tiring, I was on my feet all day and now I am knackered. Some pictures of note. Full set of piccies here. 1) I got to drive my car THROUGH LEGOLAND! 2) They were trying to beat the world record for the tallest LEGO tower whilst we were there, so here I am next to it. 3) Me with the Army again. I realised how miserable I looked in the Petersfield photo so I made an effort here to look happy. :lol: 4) Oi! Get down 'ere! Also blogged on the Tabletown Blog. Dr. S.

Has anyone else had any problems with Minifig legs recently? Two sets I've bought this month contained Minifigs with legs that slide right off - without much (or sometimes any) assistance. My "Mutt" character from a new IJ set has a left leg that seems to keep working itself off of its joint after only one or two bends of the hip. Dr. S.

Great review, thanks - I now want this set when I didn't before, mainly for the parts though. Oh, and your cat is gorgeous, so beautiful, makes me sad slightly as both my cats are gone, I love that your cat is in a few of the pictures, really getting involved in the build! Dr. S.

I'm there on the Sunday as part of the Brickish contingent - we're taking it in turns as an association to man displays over 3 days. The Tabletown Army is my display... Dr. S.