1980SomethingSpaceGuy

Excellent blocky, old school looks. Highly improbable, lots of fun, I like it ! Will you build a spaceship based on this, or is this the bennification of another MOC ? I think you need to have the before/after thing... Maybe ask Bob to make sure.

Thanks! With a small model to work on and thus not a lot of parts, I wanted to make the most of them! À propos… - Edited main post to update pictures after a small upgrade:

I just thought of something.. Isn't it missing a door ? Especially, the door to a town hall is something symbolic, it's usually imposing. You come in a bachelor and get out a married man. Or the opposite. But still..

Done with pleasure!

Absolutely awesome build! Everything's right: the colour scheme, the details. I especially love the green house and power source. The considerable amount of work is obvious. Kudos!

Wow! Awesome build! I love the details. Excellent work, thanks for sharing!

Thanks! - Edited main post to add back story.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what Bob says, but my build is true to the original model, in my opinion. The cabin and front face's look remain, the tracks are still an essential part of the model and even more so, still serve the purpose of propulsion. The original model remain recognizable. It's not an alt build; many parts have been added and some aspects remain untouched. My understanding is that we're on a master builder's job here: a front snow plow or tracks make no sense for a spaceship, these parts have to be turned into something more flamboyant. For the house, they've not added random boosters to make the water tower look like a rocket, they have used the water tower parts to build boosters for the spaceship. It's fun because it looks like a house, even if it does not look exactly like the original house. Well I have a whole land vehicle's cabin complete with steering wheel on my spaceship, which I think is gloriously goofy enough to match the theme...

Thanks! You bet it is for me too Such a nice compliment from you means a lot! Thanks! My idea of Bennyfying things is to re-use the most significant parts of the original model; in that case the red slopes, black Z-shaped structures, plates from the plow for the wings, the canon's carriage for the landing pod, etc. but of course the tracks too. I had that in mind when I chose to order that little set for the purpose of this contest. But it was only near the end of the design/building that I added those stabilizers on top of the tracks! I'm a pretty old school builder: I make do with what I have at hand; no CAD, no parts order. I liked this build a lot because it fits my approach: brand new set as a base, only few parts to add; immediate fun. I'm looking forward seeing the other entries!

Awesome build ! Everything's just right, I love it. The ships are a lot nicer than the one in the official boat in a bottle set, IMO.

Neat and clean build!

Absolutely awesome theme! Thanks Bob! Since I seem to be the first to post an entry for the contest.. Is this valid? Spaceship!

Hello! First off, thanks for this contest, the idea is just perfect! Being a 1980 something space guy myself, Benny of course is my favorite character in the movie... Spaceship! I like what they did with 70831 Emmet's Dream House Rescue Rocket! so I went for something similar. I chose set 60222, snow groomer as a base, because it has nice technic parts (those caterpillars definitely are spaceship material! ), old school colors, and even a canon! So there was this snow groomer, just lying around... Then my 1980 space guy came along... And built himself a nice Space Groomer ! He kept the original cabin, since it was cosy and already had featured cupholders. However, he took the time to seal the cockpit; it's cold up there... The fearsome front facing space snow canon. Those thrusters definitely should pack enough boost. Having enough room for the jetpack is a must have on a decent spaceship. For Intergalactical Spacecraft Identification purposes, top, bottom and gear up/down views: And there we are; a bennific spaceship based on a snow groomer. I tried to use as many parts as I could from the original set and not add too many. The model is tough and can be grabbed carelessly by the thrusters, cabin or landing pod. The canon is operated by the 2x2 round black brick visible above, which lands on the fingertips when holding the spaceship by the thrusters. The landing pod's movement is stopped in the position where the model is perfectly balanced so it is quite reliable. But weird. Which is fun! The spaceship features variable sweep wing, ejecting canopy and heated cupholders. Backstory: It was winter, my Benny was on holidays in the mountains when he was called on mission and had to build a spaceship urgently. Looking around, he saw this Snow Groomer and immediately spotted the Technic parts, in particular the beams. A spaceship needs the best technology available to be big, light and sturdy, Benny knows it. He's been using Technic beams for a long time now.. When he took the snow groomer apart, he stumbled across this part: ...which reminded him a lot of that one: And of the biggest and most awesome Classic Space set he ever had, 6985 (he's the one taking the photo below): Then it struck him: since he could not work with his favourite white/blue/grey/transparent yellow palette, he was going to include references to that glorious ancestor in his new build. In addition to the compulsory pair of big thrusters and some antennas in the typical Classic Space style, he chose to use that bracket to create a similar side line: He doubled the roof piece in an attempt to mock-up the original double canopy looks: Of course, the front laser canon and the forward facing cones had to be evoked too: And a pair of winglets on both sides of the cockpit: Of course, pipes had to be added too. A spaceship needs pipes: In the back, a pair of stabilisers and integrated transparent red bricks: And finally, a couple more fins on the back seemed absolutely necessary (as long as a discreet touch of blue): With all that tribute to his favourite Classic Space model, my Benny was happy to fly his Space Groomer into new adventures! Thanks for watching!

Half Beam 3 is too long! The bike itself is rather small indeed.. I used half beams 2 long and the result is okay I guess. Downside is it had to be 1 half wider on each side. Also, I took the opportunity to tune the front fender.

Thanks! The inspiration is a Yamaha YZF 450, by the way. Good idea; I'll give it a go tonite!

Hey everyone! I recently bought a used 8838 set. I remember I wanted this set as a kid, but it never happened. I built it and enjoyed the journey in the past (man, the instructions were a whole other world by that time!), and then got the rims and some other parts a ticket back.. to the future! The focus was on making something stiff with correct proportions. It features working direction and suspensions , a chain drive, a single cylinder engine and a side stand. It's not a lot of parts and not a big project overall, but I'm happy with the final look. Thanks for watching!

Thanks !

As a BMW bike adept, owner and rider, the set 42063 was a must have. I was very disappointed with this set, tough, since the engine is not a boxer. NOT A BOXER. Man, this boxer engine is about the best reason for this bike or even this company's success! The exhaust is attached to the swingarm. This is just silly. The travel boxes are quite modular, but not as much so as they would be considered a play feature. And the bike looks awful without them. A shame. Finally, the top fairing holding the headlights and the handlebars were a bit too weak to my taste, and the disc brakes with pulley wheels did not do the trick for me. I decided to fix this. Let's MOD: I tried to keep the proportions and general looks of the original set. The boxes now come off easily and reliably; they're now an actual play feature. The bike looks also good without. The boxer engine mock-up (down) and the original (up). The boxer fits in the frame with just a slight modification (rotate 180° a 3 by 3 T-shaped beam in the front part of the frame, no mechanical incidence). I was disappointed not to be able to see the pistons actually BOXING. Then I remembered those see-through cylinders. They work well here, in my opinion. 3L connector pins, stopped axles and three point fixation scheme make for reliable fitting and unfitting of the boxes. I also rendered all three as the original top one: with a door and 3L connector pin as a knob. It seemed ugly when I first built the original set, but if the alternative is a losing a quarter of the inner space, as on the original side boxes, then I prefer the knob. The front of my boxer engine also looks a lot more like the one on actual bikes. Here we are. Some simple modifications to respect basic or essential mechanical principles and offer more play features. Why didn't Lego do that? The number 7 plate is from model 8838. Because not only BMW has a history of making motorcycles!

Thanks a lot! The gearbox is 2-speed. With only classic gears at disposal, I'm just sliding an axle to align either one of 2 pairs of gears with different ratios. When this was built I figured I had a pair of those long black rods from the Mindstorms set left. I used 2 to connect the foot peg and mimic actual motorbike gearbox controls. It works, but would not be good enough for a Lego official, honestly. Single arm rear suspensions indeed are not ideal to render with Legos. It of course will tend to twist. But on the less complex second bike, it is stiff enough to work flawlessly. Yep, sorry about the dust, I thought the same when I looked at the images, but I figured it was okay for a motorcycle not to be perfectly clean. Mine never are; I rather spend my time riding them, not cleaning them Side panel off, details of the front suspension system and top gearbox rod sliding the stopped axle. First speed, lever down, light grey gears are aligned. Second speed, lever up, dark grey gears are aligned. The top rod is hold in place by the side panel. It's rather simple in the end, but I had never seen a Lego bike with gears. Sorry about the horrid green rubber, the white one got lost as my son was playing with the model and that is the only one I have left. Thanks!

Very nice ! Creative, beautiful color theme, I like it

Thanks! I just bought a few older bike sets to build some more.. Looking forward!

Thanks for the review! This was probably my favourite set as a kid. It's huge, the flight controls work well, it's minifig sized and the propeller is actually shaped like one. So much so that I had to pay this set a tribute, lately. And man, do I like old instructions.. 572 parts, 18 steps.

Nice mod, really like it! I would have offset the cylinders to get them in boxer config rather than adding 2 more, but I think quite every other modification you made is better than the original. Kudos!

Thanks for the review! I got this set too. But I must admit it rather disappointed me. - It's not a boxer, more a flat V2. The cylinders are exactly opposed, they should be offset to allow for.. well the whole BOXER thing. - The rear suspension is not a paralever. It's just a single arm with 2 cardans. - The mechanical setup of the pseudo telelever front suspension would actually negate the mechanical advantage of the design: the front will plunge on braking with such an angle. - The caster angle is way to big. - The side boxes open in such a way that a huge amount of inner space is lost. - The exhaust is non-existent under the bike and the silencer is attached to the rear arm. - With boxes removed, the rear is to thin, with a clumsy transversal structure protruding. - The handlebars and the whole windshield headlight structure is a bit flimsy. - The disc brakes are poorly modelled. For me, this set is more a nice looking toy than a engineer's design. I'm okay with this in general, but owning 2 BMW boxer bikes, I can tell that that it's definitely not the mindset of BMW. And thus, I'm not happy with this set. I've started modding mine and got rid of the flimsiness of the top structure, changed the disc brakes, fixed the exhaust and the side boxes, fixed the rear. But this is kinda pointless unless I also fix the engine, the telelever and paralever, which is another level of redesign, so I gave up for now.

Hi there! I bought my daughter set 60100, but the helicopter was obviously too small. Here's a revision for 3 valiant postmen: