ER0L

Thank you! In fact I’m a car builder mainly, however, I was always interested in the surrounding of a vehicle - after some time you end up in building a whole layout for them. That’s also the reason why the road is not the least important structure of the Route 66 layout, compared to buildings and also to trains. - The car you mention is my take on the Speed Champions Ferrari 250 GTO, shrunken down to City scale purposes, see https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/108630-speed-champions-alternates/&do=findComment&comment=2952386

Firehouse "Engine Company 5" - GBHQ/2 by ER0L This build started some years ago when there was a certain “GBHQ hype” (Ideas sets, official set, plus quite a few nice MOCs). I just wanted to see if a facade with a SNOT windows section could be built to get narrower window bars which for me are an important aspect of the facade. It proved to be possible, however, the build was far from being finished at that time. Fortunately I didn't scrap it though it took a lot of dust over the years. Now that there's another Route 66 layout section to be built (the actual shape of the building being a requirement for that), and now that there’s a renewed pumper engine I took the chance to finish it and to turn it into an actual firehouse again (though the Ecto-1 fits in, too). (Btw. there’s a building fault at the facade which I have seen only after shooting the pictures - does anybody recognize it?) One of the main features of the building is the upside down ceiling: Firehouse - Ceiling by ER0L By using an upside down baseplate as a ceiling several problems are solved at once - you can fix the L&S lighting elements easily, you get a (more or less) smooth floor surface without tiling, and you need relatively few parts. The old 1x2 bricks with cable cutout do a great job here. This is something to be further developed, I guess. Built in ceiling: Firehouse - Detail by ER0L As usual for this type of building there's no baseplate underneath but a 5-layer foundation matching the height of SNOT road plus sidewalk - this allows to strictly separate buildings and sidewalks which provides more variability: Firehouse - Detail by ER0L Furthermore I built a small diorama together with the olden 21-wide Painted Lady from 2013 (see https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/84685-moc-victorian-townhouse-san-francisco-style-21w/) just to see how the firehouse will fit into a downtown surrounding - the modular character of the layout allows quick combinations: Firehouse & Painted Lady (R66 mini diorama) by ER0L By doing so I used the opportunity to update the Painted Lady which also had taken a lot of dust in the meantime. Now there’s a proper chimney plus an exterior light. I also reduced the depth of the building due to layout requirements. Last but not least a night shot of the mini diorama (all the lights being Lego): Firehouse & Painted Lady (R66 mini diorama) - Night Scene by ER0L Thanks for looking!

Thanks a lot! Yes, it's just a design idea, a proof of concept, if you will. The next steps would be: choosing the exact type you want to build determine the measurements in ~1:35 scale (the scale I'm using on passenger cars - I just checked it, as a basis for a Bugatti 46 the wheelbase - 3.505 mm on the actual car - would already work, scale would be 1:36,5) building a proper grille building a proper 7w offset frontend building a proper transition between hood and doors (too much offset here) placing the fig(s) building a roof with enough headroom for the figs if it's supposed to be closed building a proper windscreen (which would have to be slanted on a Bugatti 46 Coupé) etc. etc. Though it would be fun I don't think I'll do all this in the near future, there are quite a few other builds in the pipeline. However, somebody might find it useful nonetheless. Especially regarding the quarter tiles I guess this is a matter of "something we couldn't build before and which we can build now".

#16 "Bugatti" (design ideas) "Bugatti" #2 (design ideas) by ER0L, on Flickr Lots of other projects in the meantime, however, the discussion about the actual Technic "Bugatti" (which in fact - apart from the name - has nothing to do with the classic French car manufacturing company, producing high-performance race cars and some of the most elegant luxury cars of all times, unfortunately closed in 1963) made me think about ways to build classic Bugattis with the typical two-tone colour design - which is easier nowadays since we have those great quarter tiles. Another idea was to use 2x2 curved slopes in the same way I did on the Porsche 917K conversion (with the slope pointing inwards) as part of the mudguards. For this purpose I changed one of the older models (easy to guess which one). Maybe this serves as an inspiration to anybody interested in oldtimer car MOCs. Btw. there's already a Bugatti race car, a 35C model, see https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/73182-moc-vintage-cars-1st-batch/&do=findComment&comment=1416045. Thanks for looking!

Impressive build, I really like the massive appearance, the wall textures and especially the roof section. Plus the SNOT road/pavement combination is great (I'm doing it exactly like that, too). It's also nice to see that you packed in so many vehicles - I guess the minifigs in your town don't have to be afraid too much of a fire, regarding such a well-equipped fire station. However there are two points that catched my eye: I wonder if the corner section would look better without the massive (or with less massive) columns in front of the windows. The vehicles which are probably taken from sets (please correct me if I'm wrong). While the more sophisticated 10197 Fire Brigade truck still might work here, plain City trucks don't do the job in combination with modular buildings in my opinion - they tend to keep the toy-ish look they're supposed to have, the more so in a stylish surrounding like this. Of course I'm looking at this from a car builder's perspective, but the vehicles aren't just details here but a main feature of a fire station. Even if you don't want to go 7 or 8 wide (which would without doubt be possible here regarding the large scale of this) mocced (or at least modded) fire trucks would provide a better match between building and vehicles in my opinion - there are quite a few nice examples out there, I guess.

Thanks for your estimation! Regarding the struts: The main load is indeed taken by the roll cage part, that's why it can't be replaced easily. However, even if I agree that it's more elegant than the alternatives you mention, I don't find it very realistic. But well, since it provides the necessary swooshability, I guess it may be accepted.

Thanks for your estimation, glad you like the MOD as a whole! Plus it's nice that you point out some aspects you think are well-made. Regarding the criticism: The idea behind this is to find ways to turn sets designed for children into something useful for AFOLs. Sometimes (not always) this may result in a reduced play value in favor of a more realistic design. Regarding the aspects mentioned: The ailerons are movable (though not as freely as before, especially not upwards), wheels are moving if the tires are fixed correctly, the struts stay in place even when the model is swooshed around. Thus the MOD more than fulfills my requirements as a layout model - as a toy for children it might not be suitable any more, but it doesn't have to.

#7 Stunt Plane "The Flying Sharks" (31076 MOD, biplane version) Here the biplane version: Stunt Plane (31076 MOD, biplane version) by ER0L, on Flickr Building a biplane version was less trivial than I had hoped, especially because two minifigs had to be seated (in the set the pilot himself walks the wing which isn't very realistic, I guess). Some features: Measurements are similar to a Boeing Stearman in 1/40 scale, thus it can be called a scale model even if it does look quite different than a Boeing Stearman. The lower wings are slightly "dihedral" (angled) like on the monoplane version. I was glad to be able to use that ring part I already used on the engines of the Canadair waterbomber (see above) - guess this is a nice part also for this type of aircraft. The wing walker has a device to hold on to. I'm not so satisfied with the "cage" part carrying the upper wing - it provides a lot of stability, like in the set, but doesn't look very authentic, maybe I'll change that in a later version. Viewed from the rear: Stunt Plane (31076 MOD, biplane version) by ER0L, on Flickr Thanks for looking!

Another vehicle with a L&S lighting solution: Seagrave Pumper Engine #5 w/ Light & Sound by ER0L, on Flickr In fact, this is a revamp of a very old model, see https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/61804-moc-american-pumper/ Anyhow, I thought it might be placed better here. There are several implications regarding this model, one of them being the fact that I was very glad to see I can use some stickers of the great 60061 set here (one of my all-time favourite City vehicle sets) which wasn't intended at the beginning - on 100% Lego MOCs stickers are often a problem since they ought to be Lego too, of course. However, it was the FDNY style striping in yellow and white which allowed the use of yellow numbers which otherwise would look odd on a merely red and white fire truck. But the main point here is the Light & Sound equipment: Even if it isn't motorized I guess it might be an eyecatcher on the layout. Thanks for watching, more pics of the Seagrave engine on Flickr!

Thanks for adding me LegoModularFan, though I could tell you more and more interesting things about car building, I guess. However, since I’ve been asked, some thoughts about my approach regarding buildings. I must admit that buildings aren’t my favourites when it comes to moccing - probably that’s why I’ve built only a few of them so far. Buildings are parts consuming and expensive, you can’t do much with them, the whole effort often results in just one more facade among others in a row which hardly gets the attention it may deserve - 3 of the 4 walls invisible which is rather a waste of bricks. On the other hand buildings are most important regarding the all-over look of a layout. They are what jumps into the eye at first at a Lego convention, long before you may recognize that the cars don’t look bad either - which they shouldn’t, of course, once people approach and take a closer look. So yes, you have to think about buildings, too, when you are interested in combining all sorts of City stuff in one larger layout, which from my point of view was and still is the original idea of “Lego City” - for children who play with City sets and also for us AFOLs who create their own ideas of a city built out of bricks. Some aspects regarding my approach: A rather technical aspect: Even if I think that Modular Buildings are nice as such, if you want to have just a row of great looking Lego buildings on display, in my opinion they aren’t suitable for more ambitious layouts (the pattern is rather strict, they don’t go well with road plates which themselves aren’t very variable etc.). That’s why I don’t build in the Modular style but in a way that allows for more variability - I’m actually using a combination of SNOT roads (2,5 layers) plus SNOT pavements (2,5 layers) plus separate buildings with a 5 layer foundation (see the example below) - by strictly separating those elements you get a much more variable setting: widths can be odd (see below), you decide where a t-junction is situated, not the pattern, the width of roads depends on their importance etc. This is also the principle of the joint “Route 66” layout together with fellow builders Steffen Kasteleiner and Gábor Horváth which has already been shown on several occasions so far. This might already illustrate that I don’t think of a building as a single MOC but always as part of a larger structure. This also involves thinking of the people (= minifigs) using a building or even living there, that’s why there are always some matching minifigures going with the buildings - they are an important aspect of what is “bringing to life” a Lego city in my opinion. Of course, the minifigures have their own cars - a nice opportunity to build some more vehicles. (Or vice versa: At first there was a stretched Hummer for the annual Academy Awards event in my Lego City, then I thought I might build a wedding chapel for the Route 66 layout going with it, as you can see below - in fact there’s such a wide range of nice roadside buildings going with US roads that a car aficionado like me has enough ideas regarding buildings for years …) “Bringing to life” also implies elements like moving devices (e. g. a spinning tire on the roof of a tire shop) and, of course, lighting. Buildings are large structures, you have a lot of room you can deal with (I can tell that this is quite different with cars) - so why not include everything that’s possible here? I’m often wondering why there aren’t more illuminated buildings (and trains, and trucks, and ships btw.) because this enhances the possibilities very much in my opinion. There’s nothing more beautiful than an enlightened City at night, I guess. And Lego grants everything that is necessary to do so, even without any third party parts (on the wedding chapel I’ve tried to use all kinds of older and newer Lego lighting stuff in combination, see below). These might be the most important aspects concerning buildings from my point of view, I guess. Regarding building techniques I can’t tell you much since I’m not specialized in that. But it rather seems to me that large structures like buildings allow for more special techniques than, say, cars since stability can always be granted elsewhere - which is often not the case in car building. Regarding the building process: I hardly use any digital tools - difficult to explain why not. I guess if I was more into buildings I'd use them more often - regarding car building at rather small scales I have the impression that quite a few things don’t work properly with them. Also, I guess that by designing a model digitally you have to build it twice - once on your computer and a second time using the actual bricks which might not behave as planned in reality, e. g. regarding stability - but again this might rather be a car builder’s perspective. Instead, I build countless rather colourful preliminary versions which are then refined with more and more details. It’s also an important aspect to get some distance to the model, maybe even not look at it for a day or so because you get used to it too much and don’t see the mistakes you’ve made. Sometimes it also helps to show it to somebody else to evaluate it. Those might be the most important aspects regarding buildings coming from ER0L’s Garage, I guess. Thanks again to LegoModularFan for the opportunity to describe my approach, and thanks to all for reading all this stuff. Examples: Painted Lady (San Francisco Victorian Townhouse, 21 studs wide) Wedding Chapel and stretch Hummer (detail of the Route 66 layout together with Steffen Kasteleiner & Gábor Horváth)

Hi all, some updates. First-off, a short video of the second “Route 66” joint layout in March in Hungary, again together with Gábor Horváth (https://www.flickr.com/photos/gabor_horvath) and Steffen Kasteleiner (https://www.flickr.com/photos/29666619@N04): Even though the airfield is missing here, we had a lot of fun, since there are quite a few further developments, inter alia a big motel by Steffen (see his Flickr) and a trailer home by Gábor. For me it was especially nice to see the moving vehicles together with the new 9w trains (1/43 scale, all by Steffen, I couldn’t bring mine) on a loop which didn’t exist on the first layout. Just a beginning, but there’ll surely be more interaction between the different types of moving vehicles. Another moving object is the newly built oil pump, at the wedding chapel replacing the gas station I tried to combine all kinds of old and new Lego lighting stuff (will be shown more closely later). Just an impression of the “action features” being part of the concept of the Route 66 Brick Project. Now, a new vehicle, easy to recognize: There’ll be three types of moving vehicles on the R66 layout: A - slot guided vehicles with fixed speed and passive steering (school bus and command center so far) B - slot guided RC models with variable speed (so that more than one vehicle may use a slot) but also a passive steering (not yet existing) C - full RC models which are also able to use the outer lanes. They will also be able to pass railroad crossings or even use dirt roads. Thus this can be considered as a type C vehicle. Some specs: 8w, ~1/40 scale, 100% Lego Credit: I took some inspiration here (and just copied the sign which can't be done better brickwise, I guess; the bus will also get the lettering, but it may take months to collect the necessary parts). front and back lighting via PF LEDs M motor with worm gear plus transmission with a 20:12 ratio (also 24:8 is possible which increases speed but reduces manoeuvrability) servo motor for steering pendular front axle so that the vehicle is always steerable and has enough traction all the time, also on bumpy grounds (it can even climb pavements when reversing) which might be necessary in certain conditions in a Lego town movable second rear axle so that climbing ramps is no problem With the emerging PF 2.0 this may be outdated within a few months, however for a long time I wanted to build one of those - now that there's a requirement of a bus for another R66 section (a downtown section which deals with several kinds of public transport) I used the opportunity. Build was relatively quick (less than 3 weeks) due to the experience with the other movable vehicles. However there wasn't a full RC model yet, also because I didn't know how to build a proper steering. With that fantastic servo motor I used for the first time these problems are history, fortunately. Build was fun, there were only two major issues: the frontend which took me several days (especially because a slanted windscreen was absolutely required) plus lack of stability, caused by some large SNOT sections and the construction of the steering which is supposed to deliver the utmost manoeuvrability (most important at these dimensions). Next time I'd rather try to build a completely stable frame at an early stage rather than reinforce the structure later - which provides a good stability too (see the video below) but makes the whole thing quite heavy. With 8w and about 1/40 scale this model has a large footprint on a Lego layout. Although it fits very well into the scale range (since the 9w trains are still considerably larger which they ought to be), this will have an impact on the scale system, but more on that subject later. It’s obvious that such a vehicle enhances the possibilities very much, also because you get proper contraflow. Video: Though built for wider brick-built roads, the bus is also able to move on regular road plates - as long as you let it circle on straights and curves. At crossroads or t-junctions It isn't able to turn, neither left (which is no problem on the much wider R66 road setup) nor right - at least not in a single movement. In another portion of the video you may watch the bus climbing a SNOT pavement with its considerable height of 2,5 plates - however this only works in reverse. Thanks for reading all this stuff! More pics on Flickr.

Thanks all! Since I'm trying to build in a more realistic scale the cockpit pieces (which I think do look quite nice) aren't very useful for my purposes. Maybe the large fuselage parts (nose and rear included), combined with brickbuilt wings, could be used to build a small passenger jet. At a width of 8 studs in roughly 1/40 scale this could be something like a Canadair Regional Jet (quite similar nose) or an Embraer-ERJ. Could be an interesting project, especially with working engines. With a brickbuilt bottom of the fuselage also a luggage compartment should be possible. Many thanks all for commenting and viewing!

Thanks for the info, I was talking about the non-movable elements. The more unusual techniques the better - if everything stays in place (studwise or not ... ). I was just wondering if it's stable enough to be transported to a convention which would be great because you don't see many buildings of this kind on such occasions. However for that purpose it also should be modular in some way which it probably isn't. Thus I rather take it as a built picture, as you put it. Very inspiring nonetheless.

Impressive indeed! Lots of great textures and techniques - and another example why brick-built roads are superior to road plates. At least they look much better when broken ... One question though: Is everything we see here fixed?

I absolutely agree. However, for this new version with canopy I had to omit them: Only a few modifications are required to install the canopy, the pilot fits in nicely.

Thank you! At this scale, some more greeble was necessary at the frontend (the design of the radial engine being rather common, I guess). However, I was very glad to be able to use one of my favourite parts - the VLCS (very long curved slope) - on the fuselage to get a sharky shape. I didn't count, so I have to guess: Roundabout 70% of the set parts are being used in the MOC. Of course you have to add quite a few parts to get a more realistic shape and especially a larger footprint (the plane in the set is a smallish biplane designed for children with a rather chibi appearance - looking great nonetheless). The question behind this (like on the "AFOL vehicles" thread mentioned above and also regarding the modified Speed Champions) is: How can Town or minifig scale related sets designed for children be turned into something also AFOLs can use on their layouts - instead of building everything from scratch which requires a lot of time and effort? A Creator set like this with its great parts choice (much better than your regular City vehicle) can be used very well for such purposes in my opinion. Thank you! Looking forward to that.

#6 Stunt Plane "The Flying Sharks" (31076 MOD) Maybe this would have been something for the "Vehicles for AFOls" thread (https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/100860-mocs-pimp-your-town-ride-or-city-vehicles-for-grown-ups/), but since it's no Town ride but a Creator plane this thread may be suitable, too. This is my take on the new biplane set 31076 (https://brickset.com/sets/31076-1/Daredevil-Stunt-Plane) which amazed me at first sight with its great "Patrouille de France" colour design, nice shaping and lots of useful parts. In spite of being a Creator set it is minifig scale and includes a great fig. (For what you get I think it's rather inexpensive, also regarding the fact that you can get it on discount already.) A great detail is the V angle of the (lower) wings of the biplane done with hinges which I wanted to keep though I had a monoplane in my mind which required a different solution for that (I kept the clips for the "support cage" though, so that this can still be turned into a biplane again). Anyhow I guess the plane builders are as happy about the new cutaway curved slopes as are the car builders ... The idea behind this is that it would be nice to have some smaller aircraft on the airfield of the joint Route 66 layout, too. Though not the main attraction, a rogue of some colourful stunt planes named "Waldo Pepper* and his amazing Flying Sharks" or something would probably be an eye catcher. More pics on Flickr. Thanks for watching! *At least in German-speaking countries it is obvious that the fig is in fact Waldo Pepper, because here the set is called "Tollkühner Flieger" which might be a reference to the German title "Tollkühne Flieger" of the 1975 US movie "The Great Waldo Pepper" ... ;-)

That's a great looking bus indeed - slick design with some nice SNOT areas. Well done! However there's one aspect that spoils the realism in my opinion - the length of the wheelbase. It looks as if you omitted a whole section between rear door (which in fact should be placed more to the rear than to the front) and front wheels. If you added (at least) one more window on each side, the proportions would probably be much better. I'd even try to figure out the exact measurements of the original bus you have in mind (at 8w, scale should be about 1/40) since at these dimensions you may indeed get a much more realistic look than in 6w.

Ferrari 250 GTO (75889 MOD) Probably my last MOD regarding the actual batch of SC cars. Same procedure as always: shortened vehicle shortened wheelbase smaller wheels 5-wide windscreen and roof the car is much lower than before no stickers mimicking constructive elements, everything that can be built should be built filled gap behind the rear mudguard (I understand it's supposed to be a vent like on the original car but not many people will recognize that, I guess - it rather looks like an unfinished section) However, in spite of the obvious downsides the original model is very inspiring. Especially the front section with the upside down hood or roof part is amazing in my opinion. We just have to lift off the double curved slope and get a well-rounded, well-framed vent/grille that is typical of quite a few classic sports cars - no sticker required: More pics on Flickr. All in all the 2018 SC batch is a great thing in my opinion - lots of great shaping ideas and also lots of new very useful parts. I'm pretty sure that especially the new mudguards will open a new chapter in minifig scale car building. Hopefully we'll get some more great classic race cars like the Mustang, the 312 T4 and the 250 GTO in the future. Thanks for looking!

2nd version of the Mustang MOD: 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback (75884 MOD) - 2nd edition This version has a less bulky frontend with a bumper, thinner, more elegant rockers to keep the typical ground clearance and a more fluent backend. Plus there is another F1 racer now: Ferrari 312T4 (75889 MOD) This is just a quick conversion to address the main issues of the SC model (which I think is already very nice as such, much better than the Mustang in my opinion): shorter vehicle (1 stud) shorter wheelbase (0,5 studs) wider track front (2 x 1 stud) wider track rear (2 x 0,5 studs) The open cockpit remains a problem. However, it might be quite difficult to adapt this model to the other F1 racers with the more closed cockpits - maybe I'll try it some day. Thanks for looking!

First off, some remarks regarding the previous posts: @r5-j2: Your Bat AMG looks nice. @danielthelegoenthusiast: No instructions, sorry. I even don't own the model any more. - Regarding a Tesla: At least I haven't, and I probably won't do it - just because I'm no fan of modern car design. @LM71Blackbird: I agree, the SC line is one of my favorites, too. Now, another conversion: 1968 Ford Mustang Fastback (75884 MOD) The modification process admittedly took more time than expected (I spent more or less a whole weekend on it). The result can be called a mixture between my Eleanor (which has the same dimensions, see https://www.flickr.com/photos/er0l/26502739722) and the SC model. As usual, the main task was to set down the model considerably so that it can be used in a minifig scale surrounding. The frontend is less exposed now (the hood part is set back a halfstud and slanted). Another goal was to omit the ugly gap at the rear bumper. More pics on Flickr, thanks for looking!

Hi all, some more 100% Lego lighting solutions. Guess the vehicles should be here, too: PF LEDs come in handy for head and back lights, whereas the great old Light & Sound lights (in flashing mode) are performing nicely as police lights. One of the locos: The yacht: The (motorized) Greyhound Bus: Greyhound Bus - Frontend by ER0L, on Flickr Now for something new: The old V8 Diner gets an update by installing LED spots for the signage: Not exactly overwhelming (I tried to catch the actual impression on the photo), however it's a possibility to illuminate those large signs - doesn't make much sense if only the diner as such is enlightened, those signs should be seen from quite a distance for hungry car drivers at night. It helps to use the 1x1 round trans-clear plates which diffuse the light a bit more, without them the sign would even be less readable. Another solution by using Light & Sound lights - you don't see this very often, I guess: The SNOT road/pavement standard I'm using allows to hide all necessary wiring (also of the street light) on the left. Hopefully I'll be able to use this principle more (there are quite a few great other clips to be put on the so-called light cabinet). Those are nice lighting details which make a night layout more realistic and lively, I guess. Thanks for looking!

Well, your solution has taken place somewhere else, too - I’ve seen this several times already. However, “bringing the city to life” is also a major aspect for me, not only in terms of lighting - I’m just stating that you don’t need any Nonlego stuff to accomplish that. And that’s because we’re living in great times where all the amazing things TLG has produced over the years is just a BL order away. And it’s even more fantastic that all that stuff can be easily combined with the technologies we have nowadays (see the pics below). It’s true that lighting the inside of a building with PF LEDs is difficult - that’s why I mentioned the Light & Sound lights (see https://www.bricklink.com/catalogList.asp?catType=P&catString=123) which come in handy here (and which aren’t even that expensive). Of course all this takes some effort and consideration but in my opinion it’s worth it. Anyhow, whoever is interested in 100% Lego lighting solutions might want to take a look at this album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/er0l/albums/72157646066952981

Wow, that's an ambitious project! However, since it's still at a rather early stage I guess I’d think over the scale - even if you have postponed the plan of building the whole thing. I don't know how large a MSG in 1:48 would be, but I’d guess much too large for Lego purposes. Bricks (and of course the necessary minifigs which would have to be thousands) will cost you a fortune, much thought will have to go into transportability (i. e. modularity) in case you want to show it somewhere else when finished. I guess a large structure like this should - and can - be built in a much smaller scale and still look good. You might want to take a look at the work of the pros of the Miniatur Wunderland in Hamburg (probably the largest model railway in the world): Their soccer stadium is 1:150 - in a surrounding of 1:87.

Ouch, that drilling pic really hurts … However something like this really makes me concerned because it keeps me thinking what’s going to happen to our hobby in the long term. There doesn’t even seem to be a moment of hesitation if using such Nonlego products in a Lego setting might be okay or not. Personally, I think it isn’t, because solving Lego problems with the help of Nonlego makes no sense to me. A common statement in such cases is that we have to look for ourselves because Lego hasn’t this and Lego hasn’t that as if Lego is something imperfect which it isn’t in my opinion. It’s just Lego, not scale modelling. And it’s definitely not imperfect when it comes to lighting: There are quite a few options, regarding especially the older stuff like the ingenious Light & Sound system - even minifig scale cars can be enlighted with 100% Lego solutions. No offense, it’s just my personal opinion, of course anybody can do with his or her Lego as he or she pleases, however presenting Nonlego solutions in a Lego forum might not be appreciated by every FOL.