Doctor Sinister

Thank you. Dr. S.

There are no immediate plans for a third issue, this one took me quite a while to do - over 3 weeks compared to the 24 hours of the first one, but I find him fun to write for. I do have another character however who needs my attention in the meantime, and I will be writing more for him soon. A certain Mr Jek Tranter. Dr. S.

Pizza-Man has to battle an invidious foe in this latest issue. Available to download in .PDF format or you can view the separate pages here. And this issue introduces the Pizza-Bike! Dr. S.

That's the Vindicator Super-Heavy Self-Propelled Artillery unit. It's a double-barreled tank, basically. Every single one of my MOCs is on the Tabletown website: http://www.tabletown.co.uk Dr. S.

Thanks for your comments. How did I do? I used my experiences with Grunts and an earlier comic strip I still run occasionally (Strange Things in Tabletown) to really go to town on the layout of this one - it's my "magnum opus"! Some pages have up to 60 separate elements/layers making them up. I was literally writing this thing as I went along, I had no plan, no notes, no nothing, real seat of the pants stuff. I was also releasing pages on Flickr as I made them so I couldn't go back and correct any mistakes in the plot, it kept me on my toes! General note - if you want the pages individually and in greater detail, you can get them here: http://www.tabletownonline.com/pizza-man.php Dr. S.

Yeah, I started on Sunday and did 6 pages, went to bed for 6 hours and made the rest yesterday. Great fun. Dr. S.

Here's a brand new LEGO comic strip I made in a 24-hour frenzy yesterday. You can download all 24 pages in .PDF format from here. I hope you enjoy it, I had great fun making it. Dr. S.

Cool, I'll eagerly await your updates! Dr. S.

I'm using an IR train motor. A 9V might be more powerful but I've never tried it as all mine are tied up in my town. However fellow AFOLs in my LUG will regularly run two train motors even on a 9V system on any rake of substantial length. The problem here is not a rake of course but the sheer weight of the gun carriage which amounts to (more than) the same thing. Your gun carriage is going to be spread across two parallel tracks with weight in between and a complicated steering mechanism for curves. As I say, I fear you are going to need a heck of a lot of power to pull this thing along your double-track, even if it's just to get around those corners, and you may end up having to co-ordinate up to 6 engines to get it moving. For the sake of realism, I personally wouldn't just run the gun on its own you see, my own railway cannon has 7 carriages, only one of which is the actual weapon. I've got troop carriages (Dora had 250 crew JUST to operate the gun, plus several thousand supporting troops to look after her), a flak carriage, the loading crane, ammunition storage. You'd need some or all of that in tow as well. Mind you, that would look REALLY cool. I'm not so sure it did - I'm not talking about a specific LEGO problem here, every motor is unique, it's impossible to get two motors no matter how similar they might be running at precisely identical speeds. Even a difference of more than a few RPM is going to cause problems over a period of time. OK, so then to aim it you're going to need that semi-circle of track to shunt it back and forth. As I understand it, you have two turntable mechanisms attached by a cross-beam. The cross-beam has a variable width through the use of a technic axle down the middle. It looks very cool, but given that you explicitly want the two carriages on each parallel track to stay together, you must have that axle secured tightly on both sides or they will drift apart. Securing them tightly with the technic axle will make it very difficult for the widening mechanism to work - the friction will likely tear one side from the carriage as it tries to lengthen and/or push one carriage off the track as it tries to shorten. To get around that you'll have to make one side loose, in which case you're back to the issue of the two sides going their separate ways. Unless I've misunderstood of course and there's something clever going on underneath. I suppose if you had plates on top and a technic bush on one end of an otherwise free-floating axle it would create a stop-point for the movement, but it might be a bit rickety during movement. AND the other problem that your setup presents is that the entire weight of the gun will be carried on the top of your cross-beams. Given that the weight is down the centre and not directly above the carriages, they might just decide to angle apart anyway. I'll give this some thought as I'd love to see your MOC take shape - although it could be pricey. Dr. S.

Is this going to be powered? If so, I can foresee some major problems: 1) It will be heavy. REALLY heavy. My own railway cannon runs on one track and is already too heavy for one engine at sustained runs - I need a second. If you are going to include the ammunition train behind the gun, plus that massive superstructure on top, you'll need two engines, possibly three PER TRACK. I.E. between 4 and 6 engines. 2) Assuming number 1 above is correct, you'll find that not all LEGO motors run at precisely the same speeds - and very soon you will end up in a bit of a mess with the thing going seriously out of alignment, especially if you are running 6 motors. 3) To aim the original guns, German engineers had to shunt them back and forth along special semi-circular track laid just so they could angle the gun. You might have to do the same to get some realism. The alternative is to have the gun rotate, which would cause its own problems with blowing the train off the track every time it fired and possibly widen the superstructure even more to get a decent looking turntable. 4) I'm not sure the friction in the technic axles will allow you to freely rotate as your picture indicates. There's a very good reason these guns went at insanely slow speeds. I wish you luck - but perhaps you could simply arm your railway cannon with nuclear tipped rocket assisted shells which would allow you to reduce the calibre, size of gun and save you LOTS of $$$. Dr. S.

I've converted my bus from this set to right hand drive - to meet the Tabletown standard. Here's a small traffic jam on my desk of the new sets I've bought over the last 48 hours, contains sets 7641, 7638, 8402, 7686 and 7639. You can find reviews for all of these in the Tabletown Forums. Dr. S.

But that's the whole point, I don't WANT to just calculate it. Can't a guy have a little fun? Dr. S.

Having taken a conscious decision to slip further into a screaming pit of insanity, I am trying this little experiment... Have you ever wondered how many possible combinations of three 2×4 bricks there are? Apparently it’s 1,060. Anyway, I’m going to find out for myself. So every day that I remember, I’ll try and post a new combination over in my Flickr account and on my Blog. I have however set myself some rules: 1) I am using three differently-coloured bricks, but each combination must be completely unique. Thus, only one of the following images would qualify as a unique combination, despite the colour-swap. 2) No rotations. If a combination has already been used but in a rotated form, it doesn’t count. So, let’s begin! Let’s see how many I can get with the rule limitations above, and without getting bored. Dr. S.

It's beautiful, I love every detail of it, but the Rebels hiding, and the probe droid are my favourite bits. Dr. S.

If anyone wants it, you can now download the .ldr file here and make your own! Note, MLCAD doesn't have the letter tiles in the inventory so I've used black tiles as a substitute - you'll have to find your own and replace them when you build your copy. Also, the .ldr file does not include the actual brick separator. Enjoy! Dr. S.

I've got about a dozen of these things stashed around the house - I'm never more than a couple of feet away from one if I need it in an emergency. Dr. S.

I'm slightly confused as to why you should want to embark upon such a project with no idea how to do it - but good luck anyway. Some questions: 1) What scale are you going for? Micro? Minifig? 2) Does it have to have an interior or are you planning on building a big mass of bricks for strength? I think the technic frame with plates might be your best bet - like the ISD sets - but they can be tricky to get right and with enough strength. Dr. S

I think it was worth it - I've been building the Army since 2002 when the first Clone-related sets came out. The main problem is storing it all - Tabletown occupies my garage, there are crates and crates full of loose LEGO and bagged Star Wars sets underneath Tabletown, my office is full of my favourite Star Wars Wars OT sets and MOCs for the Tabletown Army and Navy, the dining room and kitchen have more LEGO stored which means I'm constantly finding new places to put the Clones and Droids where my family won't trip over them - I really do have too much LEGO in my house. Dr. S.

Sorry forgot about that thread, actually, wasn't sure if it was still valid or not. Feel free to move this in there if you like. I generally keep my SW stuff separate from Tabletown, which is a bit awkward at times as I'm running out of space to keep everything. Remind me to show you my TIE Fighter collection and Stormtrooper army sometime. Dr. S.

Erm, more Droids I think, probably as many vehicles but they aren't as large as the Republic ones - so it doesn't look as impressive. That said, I've got three small Droid transports, a Hyena Bomber and the new AAT to build so maybe once they are put together it'll look better. I'm also looking forward to comparing the new AAT with the original. Probably do a picture in the garden or something. Dr. S.

Yeah, I've got a load of stuff still to build for my CIS army, I'm on holiday this week so I'll try to complete it then and post pix. Maybe have both sides in the same photos. Dr. S.

Been spending more money, so here's my Republic Clone Army - updated pix as of 21/02/09. Consists of two AT-TEs (sets 4482 and 7675), two Republic Gunships (sets 7163 and 7676), a Juggernaut/Clone Turbo Tank (set 7261), a Clone Scout Walker (7250), a Republic Fighter Tank (7679), a V-19 Torrent (7674), a V-Wing Fighter (6205), an ARC-170 Fighter (7259), an AT-AP Walker (7671), a Republic Attack Shuttle (8019), 5 Clone Trooper Battle Packs - less the Speeders as I don’t like them (7655), and 6 (so far) Clone Walker Battle Packs (8014). There are a total of 82 Clones here. 4482 - 2 Clones. 7675 - 2 Clones. 7163 - 2 Clones. 7676 - 2 Clones. 7261 - 4 Clones (includes one on the BARC Speeder). 7250 - 1 Clone. 7679 - 2 Clones. 7674 - 1 Clone. 6205 - 1 Clone. 7259 - 3 Clones. 7671 - 2 Clones. 8019 - 2 Clones. Plus 12 Clones riding the Walkers from the 8014s and 46 ground troops, 20 of which are from the 7655s, 12 of which are from the 8014s. There are 48 old-style Clones, of which 40 are of the Clone Wars type with the new helmets etc, and 33 episode III style Clones plus 1 BARC Trooper. All Clones have the more recent SW style LEGO blasters - I upgraded all the older style weaponry. More reinforcements will be coming. Dr. S.

I am led to believe that there may have been a limited release of some sets around Christmas 1978 but the main stream of releases was in Spring 1979 - hence this celebration. It's also worth noting that the edition of "Bricks 'n' Pieces" featured in the poster announcing the new range above has a clear date of Spring '79 on it. Dr. S.

March 2009 sees the 30th anniversary of the original Classic Space sets from LEGO. Now, three decades on, it’s time for a celebration of spacey goodness at www.neoclassicspace.com. Neo-Classic Space is a reimagining of the LEGO Classic Space range, using modern building techniques and parts. More than just inspired by the Classic Space sets, Neo-Classic Space is an extrapolation of the line into the 21st century and beyond. We aim to follow a carefully thought standard, which we feel is in keeping with the original designs. The culmination of a top-secret project planned over many months, www.neoclassicspace.com will present a new model every day throughout March, many from builders you already know and love, some from new talent you may not have discovered. This is only the beginning. It is time to retake space. We hope you’ll come along for the ride!

Here in the UK we have the Queen's speech on Christmas Day every year. This year, I thought an alternative Christmas speech was in order - from the REAL leader of the country, nay the world (that would be me). Probably not terribly funny, but I tried to be semi-topical. Coat on standby. http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kDi-L79D4C8 Dr. S.