SlyOwl

This was certainly an interesting build for me, as I've got an eyepatch on at the moment, courtesy, not of an Imperial rapier, but of a sudden onset of Bell's Palsy... so that might be why it looks better if you shut one eye!

Thanks! I agree about the crabs - in retrospect (and having looked up what a crab actually looks like), they're not all they could've been! The floating thing is a bubble! It's meant to be some sort of improvised fishing device.

That looks a great technique! - I knew what it was immediately. The hint of tan above the tie shouldn't really be there - the top of the tie is normally on more-or-less the same level as the collar and the top of the jacket. Maybe replace it with another of those red clips? (or just shift the whole thing up one plate) If you could use a jumper plate to shift the neck into the middle of the body, that'd also help out, as it'd look more like the tie is actually around his neck, rather than rather low slung. Currently he looks a bit like something out of a Joop Jump advert! Hope this helps

It might be the classic mark-up-and-then-pretend-to-discount trick. WHSmith do it all the time (although thankfully not with Collectible Minifigs) - even with their almost never-ending sale on Lego, it's still more expensive than S@H.

I've tried to melt Lego on numerous occassions - and the only successful time was with a naked flame (don't worry, I did it to an already broken piece!). Boiling hot water, right under a desk lamp + magnifying glass - no avail! I did put a ribbed hose in hot water once (it's made from a softer plastic) - it lost some definition, but nothing too bad.

Pop them in hot water? It seems to be the solution to quite a lot of Lego problems!

Left to right: Back row - Holodoc, Christian, Quarryman, Aredhel, Sir Norman Ray, Pandora, Rufus, Bonaparte, Pally, Pally's brother Rick, Miss Kyle, Mister Kyle (Mash) Front row - Copmike (Mickey), Etzel, SlyOwl, Legostein, Peppermint M, Snefroe, Captain Green Hair, Calanon (bigger pic) It was great meeting you guys - and thanks to Bonaparte and Copmike for organising it With all the excitement (and inability to use my hands whilst walking), I didn't take any photos

Nail varnish remover on a bit of cotton wool is excellent. But be warned, it will destroy the plastic and/or printing if you leave it on too long! Printing doesn't normally come off, but I accidentally took off a 1990s minifig torso print in just one wipe whilst removing goo left by a custom sticker

+1 for Whitefang, polybag guru!

In lieu of recent revelations about possible transportation around the park ( ), I will be attending both days I'm staying the in the same hotel as you guys Friday-Saturday. I'm getting a coach in from London on Friday morning, getting in at 8.20 to Legoland, so I'll meet you there. And likewise, I'm getting a coach back from Legoland on Saturday evening. What's the plan for getting between the hotel and Legoland (and vice versa)? And is there anything we need to bring (I seem to recall something to do with pull back racers one year?)?

Well... the fracture clinician guy made a bit of a mess of it, announced it wasn't broken, but it most definitely is, so now I don't have a cast, but have this wedge shoe thing instead (which I really don't like!) - but having gone back to hospital, they said that it is broken, but the shoe thing will suffice - so no cast, but about the same mobility! That said, I can move around a fair bit - and should be able to manage Legoland providing we're not walking around all day (stopping and starting is fine). Moreover, I did have a possible engagement on the saturday - but that's clear now. The big decision: do I come on Friday, Saturday, or possibly both?

WHSmith seem to be enforcing the maximum of 2 per customer now (first time they've done it to me today).

Oookie, now having broken my metatarsal playing frisbee on Friday, I might not be able to make it - getting around the park (and not going to be able to go on the rides) would be a bit rough. That said, I'm getting the proper cast on Wednesday, so who knows, my mobility might be better!

I think I'll be coming for the Saturday Still need to work out how to get there, though!

Yeah, I'm enjoying the grab bags myself - plenty of nice surprises in there (although 5 doors without frames?!) There's some Easter stuff on sale at Westfields (about 99p off) - bunnies and eggs and whatnot - good for the parts, not the builds.

Also, the arms can be removed and swapped with minifig arms. Head-wise, the head can always be removed, but, depending on the age of the figure, the grey neck bit (right in the middle there) sometimes comes out with the head or stays in the body. It can then be separated again, but you're going to need pliers for that... (or at least I did!) It's true the legs get floppy if you keep swapping them around, but Hinck posted somewhere about how to stiffen them up again - I can't find it right now, but it was something to do with painting the red bar with PVA glue or summat to widen the bar.

Thanks guys Ah, I forgot - a special word for Brickdoctor, who was part of the team, but offered to step aside to let the other 5 compete - thanks mate In fairness to them, many of the top teams had a very high average score, and produced some great MOCs. But that's the eternal dilemna of personal satisfaction versus competitive advantage; lots of my MOCs are for contests, so often I'm not perfectly happy with them, but have to cut my losses and go for what the judges want...

Hey all, You might remember that for the 2010 MOCathalon, a group of us - "Eurobricks' Finest" - decided to compete, and we came third! We planned to do the same thing this year (apart from coming higher up the rankings!), only just myself and Matn were able to play again, as the others had more important commitments. So, we brought together Team Eurobricks just in time for the contest to start - SlyOwl, Matn (AFOLs), Newright, Matthew Maulfair and Infomaniac (TFOLs). For those of you unaccustomed to the MOCathalon format, here's the rules. Essentially, in teams of 5, 2 AFOls and 3 TFOLs, over the course of a month you have to build across 30 wild and wacky categories, which can then be repeated after they have all been completed - and each MOC receives a total score out of 25 from the judges. Having started two weeks late after getting in a mix-up with the dates last year, I decided to start early, with, unsurprisingly the pirate cabin category! Having run the Captain's Cabin contest - and done the promotional image for it - it was a very quick build to do. Matthew also struck early, with his clever entry in the "you know what they say" category - building well known expressions out of Lego! From then on I worked in short bursts of activity - managing the fairytale category and classical literature in short succession, before stalling for a long time on Dr Seuss and Shake and Bake - making a meal with Lego. I must confess I don't recollect as well when the other team members submitted their entries, as we were constantly discussing the WIPs, so they all blurred into one! But huge kudos to them - their building techniques and skill were outstanding, and I believe Team Eurobricks had one of the highest average scores per entry, even if we didn't manage that many! Unlike last year, we only managed 18 entries this year - but I know there were a lot of very good WIPs that didn't make it for one reason or another - many commiserations to Infomaniac, who had a beautiful diorama experience a rather nasty dose of gravity! Hope to see it finished sometime! You can find all our entries here Ultimately, we came 8th, with 365 points (one for each day of the year!). The winning team scored over 1200 points - many congratulations to them! We decided towards the end that we weren't in the running for the win, so chose to aim for 300 points, which I'm pleased to say we made very comfortably. So thanks to the judges, the competitors and my team-mates! Special thanks must also go out to the Fellows, who gave excellent and incisive feedback on many of our WIPs, taking them to the next level. Cheers, Barney

As with the white Boba Fetts, it's getting more common as time goes by; but still a reasonably rare fig. Here in the UK, if you signed up for the Lego Club within the past month or so, you got a free Max minifig - mine arrived today.

Not going to happen for me, as Bluewater's a bit of a trek, and I have parties both preceding nights! I should be able to make the next Westfields one, though.

Thanks again all! Dazmundo, that sounds amazing - two of the best characters (or parts) right there! Hmmm... looking back through my Flickr, it seems I haven't actually used it as much as I thought - this was the latest one. I guess it's that it's so familiar to me that I think everyone knows it! It wasn't intentional, but now that you mention it, I see what you mean... might have to think about incorporating that more thoroughly next time. For the most part, they are actually connected - there's a mish-mash of clips and hinges and whatnot behind the barricade - it's very fragile, though. When I do it again, I'll make sure it's more solid (and also has a back!)

Thanks guys - this MOC was quite emotional for me (as it were!), so it's good to hear you like it Mmmm, I recall there's some sort of copyright issue with the music in Germany which prevents the videos being playable there. Well, technically he should be Enjolras, but his identity in this is actually a bit blurred (as Enjolras could be the guy with the flag - I took quite a lot of liberties with this!) - and I wanted to convey the youthful heroism of the uprising, coupled with the tragedy of it. A screaming face didn't quite fit, nor did a grimace - I let them die as they lived. Awesome! Who's he playing? I'm planning on seeing it again in the summer maybe. I saw the production at the Barbican (which is just down the road from me, literally) - but missed the concert itself at the 02, unfortunately. Really? You must have seen it before... I felt a bit bad about rolling out the same technique again, just to score the points in the contest... It's seriously worth seeing. I think it's a bit on the pricey side (minimum of £20ish) - but it's really powerful stuff. And a great source of inspiration - various little things in all my MOCs have been inspired by Les Mis - familiar?

Dawn at the barricades in Paris, June 1832 - the final attack. Gavroche and Éponine have already fallen during the preceding night, and Le Amis D'ABC are now outmanned and outgunned in their fatal struggle for democracy - Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Feuilly, Grantaire... I'd highly recommend this video - not so much for literatural accuracy, but for the sheer emotion of it. I plan on doing a more detailed and larger Les Mis barricade MOC at some point over the summer; but time is limited for the MOCathalon! Any suggestions/ideas would be much appreciated!