ExeSandbox

I'm almost tearing up from how incredible this is. The head sculpt is beautiful. I don't know why, but this shot with the exposed internals looks sick AF.

Thank you! Thank you! I was pleasantly surprised the regular wedge plates worked so well to form the balloon shape. Thanks! That's a huge compliment for me. Will defo be putting up instructions if it doesn't make the cut. Thank you! I'm really glad to hear that. I try to emphasize a certain vibe for my builds. Thank you, I appreciate it! Funnily, the current balloon construction is the simplified version, earlier iterations got very out of hand.

Hi Eurobricks! It's been a while since I've posted a MOC here. This project has been on my mind for a long time and also especially inspired by the amazing Fiesta Balloon by RoxYourBlox. My balloon is much smaller of course. The clouds serves to balance the top-heavy balloon physically and visually (an idea that started from an old MOC of mine years ago), while the seagulls adds a little more dynamism to the model. (This model has also been submitted to the Bricklink Designer Program Series 8: https://www.bricklink.com/v3/designer-program/series-8/2894/Hot-Air-Balloon) The clouds has a well in the center to cradle the balloon basket Some size comparisons to existing hot air balloons in LEGO sets. I wish the prefab balloon shells comes in many more colors, but until then we'll just have to make do with a fully brick-built one. Geeking out a bit on the construction of the balloon. A lot of time was spent trying to solve the internal structure to ensure the model can be picked up and swooshed around. Beginning with the basket and neck of the balloon supported with a central axle and four perpendicular rods. The lower ring of the balloon required an angle of 37 degrees for the wedge plates to sit flush together with no gaps. This part took many iterations before landing on this solution. For the central ring there are no angles involved, just a regular snot connection. The 6x6 round plate is vital to prevent gravity from pulling apart the assembly as the outer panels are quite heavy. The upper rings uses a basic clip/bar connection and are also supported by a 6x6 round plate. In the end, this is the assembly with the outer panels attached. Just have to repeat everything 7 more times... Side note: A new 2x2 circular bar frame has been introduced by LEGO very recently and it just happens to be PERFECT part for this hot air balloon. With this there is no need for the tedious process of aligning all the clips on the old 2x2 octagonal bar frame and the clips can't be easily detached sideways too. Unfortunately I couldn't get my hands on it as it is still rare on the aftermarket so I had to stick with the old 2x2 octagonal bar frame for now. I'm looking forward to trying these out when I can get my hands on them.

This is peak LEGO I love how every brick is clearly recognizable while managing to capture the real life building almost perfectly. Fantastic work!

Beautiful shapes and colors. The dirigible core is a work of art! I'm curious about it's geometry, are the roll cages (windscreen 64450) fixed at 45 degrees or a 3 4 5 triangle?

Hmm, that's strange. I searched up those parts you mentioned and they appeared in Stud.io for me. Have you tried checking C:\Program Files\Studio 2.0\ldraw\parts to see if the aforementioned parts are there? If not, then perhaps you might have to reinstall or somehow download the latest parts library.

Hi Andy, welcome!

お久しぶりです Eurobricks 🙇 It's been so long since I've shared any new MOCs over here. Life got in the way for a while, and I haven't had much opportunities for personal LEGO projects. But today I have something that hearkens back to an old MOC of mine that I posted here during the end of 2018 (gosh it feels kinda nostalgic already ) Container House II A follow-up to it's predecessor, but with fully legal construction and much less fun to look at! Gone are all the cool angles and playful colors, instead I have opted for rigid shapes, a monotone black and white color scheme and a heavy emphasis on realism. Almost representative of transitioning from a high and optimistic TFOL to an Ａ Ｆ Ｏ Ｌ too bogged down with the "realities" of life... pics are worth a thousand words etc etc so I won't bother you all with more text lol. enjoy the pics :) Back to more text!!! As a sort of post-mortem, here is a pic of the older and younger container house siblings. I love them both in their own aspects and have put a lot of thought and care into designing them. But I can't shake the feeling that despite the latter being a more successful and better executed LEGO model, the core idea is inherently weaker than it's predecessor IMO. Not to mention the amount of ideas that were copy-pasted from the former model. (very apparent when you view the interior of both models.) I came into this build hoping to completely outdo myself from the past, but it seems that the 4 year old model will still remain as one of my landmark models. As a footnote, I should add that I built this second Container House for the Bricklink Designer Program Series 1. I don't feel good in commodifying my creations all the time (even though that's pretty much the case now). But if it weren't for the program I wouldn't have pushed myself to bring this model into existence and I'm just happy to have made something new. (Not because I NEED THE MONIES or anything.) As well, though it may seem like the limited palette resulted in the restrained color scheme, that is not the case. It was a conscious decision of mine from the start that just happened to work well with the palette's availability. Thank you very much for viewing. 🙇

In the instructions maker? From my use, I haven't found a way to do that, so I just have to keep clicking. Yeah, Studio uses the internet. It has to connect to the Bricklink marketplace to display the latest $$$ for each brick. Can be used offline, but the $$$ of the bricks won't appear.

Aaaah, sorry I didn't mean for it to look that way!! I made the pic myself just to tease ya'll on this being an actual LEGO set. (Nokturn did a great job on the design after all.)

look wat i found

1. - 1 point 5. - 1 point 6. - 1 point

s i e g e

Ah I see, no wonder this one has some Giacinto Consiglio vibes to it! Thanks for sharing some additional background on your model, interesting to know that the similar composition to PR wasn't planned. It was cool seeing the building techniques that went into those windows from the instructions (big props for making them free), although they may be chunky, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of it's parts. Yeah it's nice that drawings tend to simplify things too. I love seeing photos of real buildings as well, but in real life there's different materials used with different textures which are often essential in it's design, while all we have to work with are shiny plastic bricks. On the other hand there are also super detailed paintings and sketches. As a result, I have to depend on colors and shape as a crutch when looking for references to work with, and drawings do stick out more in that aspect. I'm currently working on a couple of MOC commissions, haven't had the time to work on personal projects as a result. Though with a full year almost passing already, I hope I can start cooking up designs for my next modular soon.

So good to see another Modular Building from you! (Can't imagine it's been two years. ) The choice of composition is quite inspired! Mixing the Parisian Restaurant layout into a corner building is certainly something I haven't seen before, and it works well! (With the staircase, it almost looks like the tan building trying to hug the front one. I think that helps blend the two buildings together.) The color blocking is thoughtful as well, they both accentuate or mask details appropriately. Man, you've also got a knack for building in all four directions, those windows looked like a technical challenge to fit into the building (not to mention the whole chunk at the top built upside down), although maybe at the cost of the interior in some places. As well, can definitely agree with preferring drawings over photos , perhaps there's also something with them being more vibrant and colorful compared to real life, which is easier to picture with the bright colors of LEGO bricks. But overall, it's been very cool to see how your modular designs continue to evolve over time!

Nice! Wish I could've been there to see them in action up close

It's so satisfying to watch in action. Really cool build!

This looks like so much fun! (Perhaps even more so than the A-model) For such a big and sleek design, I can't believe this has more posing ability than the Samurai-X mech from the same wave.

Came for the house moc, left with a wholesome story. (rip house though...) The story is hilarious, nice way to show a MOC. The tiny house is charming and the little fellas (along with the cannons) are adorable!

How is this even possible!!? I would build this in a heartbeat! (if only I had 10302...)

Flexible hoses are really fiddly for me in Stud.io as well. I think keep playing around with them is the only thing that could work, as there aren't any tools in Stud.io to manipulate flexible hoses properly. However you can take the difficult but guaranteed method of using the hoses in Mecabricks and bending them there. Then exporting the bended hoses as .obj and importing them into Parts Designer (set the scale to 250) and then exporting them as custom parts in Stud.io and position them accordingly in your model.

Interesting concept! An bulky and ominous angel is something else. Wings are very beautiful and that sword hilt is . The iridescent sword and halo(?) version really sell the look for me personally. But the regular halo is a cool parts usage, I didn't know the spiral stick could bend that much!

Very hot

The waterfall!!

Seriously impressive! There are so much details that my eyes couldn't follow all at once , but everything harmonizes very well. The colors are beautiful and I like how the shape of the building completely encompass the view from the walkway. Is the building also decorated on the inside?