ER0L

As @supertruper1988 has kindly pointed out I'm also dealing a lot with the scale problem, also because of the collab layout I'm working on together with some fellow AFOLs for quite a while now. I agree in practically every aspect with Ron, and I also think it would be nice to have a completely consistent scale system. However I've chosen a different way by using a variable scale system depending on the absolute size of an object within the layout which means that larger objects have a smaller scale. Also train modelers do that e. g. by combining 1/43 scale cars with 1/48 scale trains (if I'm correct). The main reason for this is that I'm a car builder in the first place, and a scale of about 1/35 for passenger cars allows me to build relatively good-looking and realistic cars of every kind - be it a vintage or sports car (usually 6w), a full-size car or a pick-up truck (usually 7w). It also allows me to fit in minifigs in at least quite a few cars (not all of them). Large trucks or semis are smaller in scale - as are trains which are 9 studs wide throughout our collab layout (quite exactly 1/43). 9w for trains also has the advantage that 7w containers fit in nicely - 6w containers are much too small in such a surrounding. Fellow builder Steffen builds his great passenger aircraft in about 1/50 - they are still huge and most impressive yet are going well with the vehicles. The system is far from being perfect but works quite well for our purposes - like other scales may work for other FOLs with a different approach. Whoever is interested in what I call "Larger City Scale" may take a look at this album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/er0l/albums/72157658693815583

Thanks, in fact the loco (and the running stock so far) are 9w+ (9-wide platform plus railings), scale is about 1/43. This is also due to the fact that the passenger cars have a rather large scale for minifig purposes (~1/35), plus dealing with 7w containers is probably easier on 9w rolling stock. It's obvious that any decision in this field has quite a few implications, but with 7-wide for the trucks you're on the safe side, I guess. You'll need quite a few jumper plates though ... Regarding the tires: No, everything is 100% Lego. The tires are turned inside-out to get at least a little bit of profile on the outside. But today I rather think it isn't worth the effort, the effect isn't that impressive, I guess.

Those are some good thoughts, in my opinion there should be much more communication between train and City builders about scale subjects. I agree with the others that 7-wide may be the suitable width for your purposes. As an example you might want to look at Steffen Kasteleiners great 7-wide semis (there's a lot more of this kind of stuff on his Flickr account): I have built this more modern 7-wide container truck - a consequence of this approach is that you get 7-wide containers, too. Also, there's a Flickr album with quite a few pics regarding scale between several kinds of vehicles, trains among them: https://www.flickr.com/photos/er0l/albums/72157658693815583 Hopefully this will give you some inspiration. Great semis indeed, however calling them 7-wide might be misleading - they are what I call 6w+, which means a 6-wide base plus attachments like mudguards, steps or fuel tanks. It's the usual City truck configuration. Consequently, the semis above are in fact 7w+ since they have 7-wide bases plus attachments.

Looks much better and more prototypical in my opinion - at least from this angle. From a front view the whole thing might seem a bit narrow now - but well, that's where things get interesting.

I really like the shaping - simple but effective, you caught the typical design of the era very well in my opinion. Two suggestions: Could the front tires be replaced by the newer Town tires which are considerably smaller (more typical of the era)? I can see there might be a problem with the width of the axle, but using 2x2 round bricks as rims might help here. By using hinge bricks and 1x6 tiles you might be able to close the cockpit more - of course at the expense of taking the fig off. Anyhow nice realization of a classic F1 racer!

True, they always look better. But if you want to combine all types of cars (and all sorts of other models: buildings, trains, aircraft, boats etc.) on a layout like I do you must find a way to get relatively good-looking cars also in a smaller scale (1/35 for passenger cars to be exact). That's why I try to rather shrink SC models down - which isn't as difficult as one might think because the width is already matching, at least in most cases (of course, not in terms of the Porsche 917K which had to be 7-wide throughout but that thing is rather a flying saucer than a racecar). By mounting City mudguards and wheels, shortening the body and setting down roof and windscreen (e.g. the MOD of the GT40 - one of the lowest sports cars ever - is three layers or one whole brick [!] lower than the SC version) you get a much sportier look on a considerably smaller car.

Same procedure ... Cars too narrow and much too tall, but well, it's Speed Champions. The series has had quite an impact on car moccing both in good and in bad ways - we see more and more 6w+ cars with that inglorious 4-wide windscreen which rarely looks good (that's why you hardly see any front views of them). On the other hand we get a lot of great stickers and quite a few interesting parts for our own purposes. Some thoughts on this batch: From my point of view as a dedicated modder of SC sets the Ferrari Garage is very interesting - a downsized version of the GTO would probably be a nice addition to the "Speed Champions Classics" in minifig scale (Porsche 917K and Ford GT40 so far). The 312T (which one is it exactly?) looks very nice, too (look at the different tire sizes, did we have this before?). Maybe this is something to be turned into a smaller version to complete this series (also based on SC, but considerably smaller - with different tire sizes): A third interesting model is the Mustang, mostly because of its colour - for film fans without stickers, of course ... However that will be a tough one - probably not all the necessary parts exist in dark green to turn this into a well-proportioned minifig scale model. Anyhow I'm looking forward to at least these two sets.

Police Vehicle 2017 - Hummer H2 Super Secret Police edition 7-wide, 1/35 scale, 100% Lego. No motor, no suspension, no steering, not even lights - just a straight and simple build. Plus chrome rims. Stickers are taken from 70802, one of those great Lego Movie sets. I guess the 7-wide form factor works quite well here, surprisingly I didn't find another H2 in 7w (6w is tricky proportionwise, 8w of course would be even better but is too large for minifig purposes). Thanks for looking!

Modulars meet Friends ... I wasn't sure about the leaked pic being a fake or not, and that means something. While I like the window front and the shaping of the roof, I'm not sold on the upper floors which look rather plain and too small. The car seems to come straight out of a Friends or Simpsons set, it rather looks like a pimped Mini than a proper landyacht which would be required here. All in all: I'm underwhelmed by this.

Thanks a lot Kurigan, also for the time and effort you put into your comment. This is why I came here, and I don't have a problem neither with the criticism nor with the tone - I wish we had more of this kind of constructive criticism over in the Town forum ... Also thanks a lot for all the links and suggestions. Regarding the guns, I'll check out the links. It's interesting what you say about the general type of the ship and especially the stern - I had the impression myself that the stern and bow don't really match. However, I wanted to keep some traces of the original set I had at hand (the Barracuda in fact) und keep at least the windows. Still don't know if I'll change this aspect but I'll definitely try your suggestion of a fantail. Anyhow I like the idea of a "benign back story". Concerning the pre-fab hull: No, I'll leave it as it is - at least for now and for this ship, although it might indeed be interesting to combine the flextube/flag technique with, say, a curved hull. I guess this would be too much at once. Anyway I have nothing against prefab parts as such - it depends on how you use them. Even the cockpit parts you name can be put to a good use on a car: Regarding the "100% Lego" thing: I guess Lego was never intended to simulate a lot of things and yet we build them out of Lego. And that's already my point: I'm just not interested in solving Lego problems with the use of Nonlego. Of course this gets a bit weird when there's no actual difference between Lego and Nonlego, for example regarding strings for a rigging like in this case. But well, 100 % Lego means 100 % Lego, that's what I tell people on a convention when presenting my builds - it's a kind of label I want to keep throughout. Anyhow regarding rigging I'll surely be happy to take your advice. Anyway I won't exaggerate here - I'll try to find a compromise that works for me. Again, thanks a lot for your thorough comment which I highly estimate. Now I guess I have some homework to do!

Thanks again, this is all very helpful! I'll try the arched windows at the cabin. There are 3 hull sections. I tried 4 of them, but the proportions of the whole thing were spoiled by doing so. I instead lengthened the rear a little. Compared scalewise the ship is quite small regarding my other builds (~ 1/40 scale) but as a larger structure on the layout the scale may be smaller anyway, I consider it to be about 1/50 (there are such small brigs). Thanks for the hint regarding the anchor. I can't even take credit for the modifications - it was taken straight out of the Fishing Store set I modified recently (see first pic). However I'll try to brickbuild the anchor. Thanks for the link, looks very nice indeed! Regarding guns: The standard guns don't work here anyway, there's not enough room between the deck and the gunports. I even thought of omitting them completely, but well, as a museum ship it may have some guns on board. I'll try to brickbuild at least one or two of them. Thank you! I've tried several solutions, however the flags are quite nice (I also use them on the fenders of my oldtimer cars) since they are pretty thin so that everything melts into each other nicely, there are hardly any gaps or offsets. However on a larger ship your suggestion might work, too. Thanks a lot! As said, there aren't many details to show right now, but this will change, of course. Even if it was a quick build so far (at least by my standards) I'm well aware that building a Lego square-rigger is rather a time-consuming and laborious process. Thanks again all for viewing and especially for commenting! The next time I'll have some more details to show you - in any case there's a to-do list now!

Thanks a lot, that's very helpful! Regarding the pics: At this early stage of the project I was rather thinking of the general impression - measurements, proportions, colours and such. More detailed pics would only show the many unfinished spots and missing details. But it's no problem to upload a close-up of an important aspect if necessary. Thanks for the hint regarding the side windows - I completely agree. In fact, I didn't have a proper idea so far. There isn't much room, and I don't want it to stick out too much - in any case, hints are very welcome. Regarding the prow, is this what you think of? You may also spot the fixation of the shrouds (in case that's a new aspect anyway): Maybe the prow is a bit sharp on a ship like this, but I somehow like the shape of those arch bricks. Thanks again for the nice and helpful comment!

Hi all, guess this is my first post in this forum. I'm a car builder mainly, however I build all kinds of stuff supposed to go well together on a layout. My only contact with nautical Lego so far was by building a commuter yacht: I didn't actually plan to build a tall ship, however, I recently came across those great old hull parts and I couldn't stop tinkering with them until there was this smallish 6-gun brig. Just an early WIP and still a long way to go, but the main aspects may already be spotted. The idea is to get a hull shaping which is rather determined by flextubes than by bricks to get as fluent lines as possible. The brig is meant to be a pretty low waterline model which can be used on the layout and is easily accessible from the wharf (see above). Another aspect are the slightly angled masts which I think are quite important on this type of ship. Shrouds are made of strings with studs (without cutting anything). The rigging will be 100 percent Lego which also means that there won’t be any sails, but well, a ship under sails needs some water around it which isn’t possible on the layout anyway. But she might serve well as a museum ship on the wharf. Another angle: I'd love to hear what you ship experts think of it. What can be improved or should be changed? Note: Being a complete newbie in this field, I obviously looked at quite a few of your great ship models, I can't name them all. However, if I used a special technique that should be credited, I'll do that for sure. Thanks for looking! C & C welcome as usual.

I'm a big fan of set conversions, and I think you've done a nice job here. I like the overall shape, the use of the SC wheels, and the upside down frontend, of course. I'm not sold on the door solution (guess there should be some more doors anyway) and the studs on the roof which spoil the clean lines of the build in my opinion - but well, that could easily be fixed. Regarding scale: If you don't want to measure the real scale of your build just compare it to the largest and to the smallest vehicle you're using. It's obvious that if you're dealing with 6w trains an 8w bus doesn't fit in. However, if there are no larger vehicles than this bus and your passenger cars aren't smaller than 6w, things might work anyway.

Hi all, update for the Sirius which has finally found its berth on Fisherman's Wharf in the Red Crab Bay: I rarely buy new Lego sets at a regular price, but the Old Fishing Store excited me from the first moment. And I wasn’t proven wrong when building it: It's a fantastic set with lots of great ideas and an amazing parts choice. If you're ever going to build some marine stuff this set provides you with everything you possibly need (3 sea gulls included). My first thought was what it would look like together with the yacht, and I took the opportunity to finally build a berth for it. The yacht isn't only a major asset of Erol Cruises - you may also go aboard for a fishing trip. Tickets are sold by Anton who probably is also the harbor master of Fisherman's Wharf (hence the watchtower). Of course all this is far from being finished (and I won't finish it right now due to other projects), it's just a start to see how a harbour section could be accomplished that goes well with the Route 66 layout. Regarding the MOD itself: The wharf situation required some modifications on the building which originally rather seems to be installed on a somewhat rocky beach. Another point was to install all the great fishing gear at the outside since the interior of the build (which is fantastic, too) can't be seen on a layout. That's why I opened the wooden understructure and enlarged the platform. I also shrunk the roof a little (2 studs in length and width), however, this will be something to work on. Thanks for looking!

Hi all, an update of the slot system: Here you can see both the school bus plus the police command center (see https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/103425-moc-police-interceptor-of-the-year/&do=findComment&comment=2711090) moving on the slot circle together for the first time. The police truck has its own chassis now - it had to be modified and reinforced due to the smaller steering lock compared to the school bus. As you may spot both vehicles can be used on the same slot, however after some time they're going to collide since the school bus moves a little faster - which is quite logical because lights are missing here. In any case the police truck will be rather used on a night layout. The next step would be an RC vehicle which is able to adapt its speed to the self-driving vehicles to prevent collisions. I'm also thinking about switches but haven't found a proper solution yet. However, together with the trains, the monorail and an elevated train which is in the making there'll be quite a few traffic on the layout - day and night. 100% Lego (lighting included). Thanks for looking!

Hi all, first off, some updates regarding the previous models: #1: Wrecker (60056 MOD) Like nearly all of my models the wrecker has gone through various minor changes, this is what it looks like as of today: #2: Container Truck (60027 MOD) Here you can spot how coupling is working: The container truck is also part of a larger container project (with the Train and the Technic department involved), but more on that later. Now for a new vehicle: #3: Ice Cream Truck/Ice Cream Van (70804 MOD) I wanted to do this for a long time - and actually did it right now before summer is over. In fact it's not a mere mod of the Lego Movie set (see https://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?/forums/topic/90096-review-70804-ice-cream-machine/) but a completely new 7-wide vehicle. However, I've taken over all those nice typical details like the cones and of course all the stickers from the set. Additionally, I found those great old wheels which fit quite nicely here, I guess. As you may spot, the shaping is derived from the Police Command Center: For a comparison of scale and proportions I've added the stripped original model from set 70804 (which looks much better with details and stickers applied, of course). It's surprisingly tall, even with one layer at the roof omitted like in the pic. Even if I don't refer to the original shaping (which is quite nice as such but not very typical in my opinion) it's great to have all the needed details, stickers and - last but not least - proper minifigs for a special type of vehicle in one set (instead of being forced to make several BL orders for it). That's why I'm taking a closer look to any new minifig scale vehicle - even if it may take years to use it like on the Ice Cream Truck. However, it's also true that not all City sets have the same quality regarding part choice, minifigs, and stickers as a Lego Movie set like 70804. 100% Lego. Thanks for looking!

Ah, there's the white convertible - as a Bond fan, that would've been my first suggestion. Either way, the Toyota 2000GT is probably one of the most beautiful Japanese sports cars ever built. You did a great job by recreating it with some nice shaping and great parts usage, the car is instantly recognizable. Two suggestions: This 4w SC canopy (other than the rounded SC canopy which works quite nicely on race cars) doesn't work on 6w sportscars in my opinion (like no 4w windscreen ever did on them before). As can be seen in your third picture, cars don't have a proper front view like this. Have you thought about using a 5w windscreen and roof instead? The wheel wells can be improved in my opinion. I guess without the cutout they'd look better, even if they are completely squared then. Another possibility (that's how I'd try to do it) would be to use city mudguards which in most cases look quite good on such elegant and low sports cars. But well, it's most important to find your own approach to Lego sports car building. In any case, great job on both versions!

Thanks for the nice review. A fantastic set with lots of useful parts. My yacht has already set its course!

Thanks guys, glad you like them!

Another fantastic batch of vehicles from you! Not only are they all to scale (and what a small scale it is!) - they are also immediately recognizable throughout which is not so easy to achieve even in much larger scales. And as if that wasn't enough, you've covered a wide range of different types of vehicles with lots of different solutions, shapes and colours. This is minifig scale car building at its best! The only downside I can see is that hardly anybody will be able to join you in this uncompromising approach towards a "real" Minifig/Modular Building scale. And I include myself here - I'd have a hard time to identify all the sophisticated techniques being used on your models. However, what I'm able to identify is very inspiring - like all your models in general. Would be keen to see them "in the brick", of course. Keep up the excellent work!

Ferrari, Porsche and Ford sounds nice, thanks for the info. Hopefully there are some classics among them suitable for modding purposes. Regarding the Porsche 919 prototype mentioned above: We do have it already in set 75876 (though a bit outshone by the Porsche 917 in the same set, that's true).

Another two racers: Nigel Mansell's Ferrari 641 and Lotus Formula 1 In fact, those aren't proper SC alternates any more but more or less my own designs. Whereas the Ferrari still shows some aspects (and some stickers, of course) of the previous model (see above), the Lotus is completely my own design. With both of them I guess I've found a proper form factor for my own purposes here - one stud shorter wheelbase than the SC models, shorter overhang at the front, more realistic wheels (which, alas, don't spin at the front), reduced number of visible studs - plus, most important aspect, a more closed cockpit. If you spot the Ferrari you already guess the idea, but it wasn't until building the Lotus that I understood that by using hinge bricks and 1x4 tiles the fig can be fit in completely without mutilating or decapitating it. The open cockpits were one of the aspects bugging me most on the existing minifig scale F1 racers. Hopefully there'll be more of those formula 1 racers in 1/35 scale in the future - there are quite a few ideas, of course. However, at this rather small scale you don't have that many choices ... More pics on Flickr. Thanks for looking!

Thanks again, Ron. Panamera, Cayenne? I'm not convinced those are real Porsches. You won't ever see one of those from me, I guess. Regarding the Aston Martin: Truth to be told, it doesn't fit into the actual scale range any more, I'd have to shorten it first. But well, there are still quite a few cars I'd love to build - if I had the right idea. A Countach in 1/35 would be a dream, but I don't know how to do it - also because it's an unusually smallish super sports car (wide, but smallish). Regarding the driver: I've understood that, but decapitating him is no option, hiding him completely doesn't work since the head always sits high even with the thin chassis. A lying position doesn't work since then the head moves versus the rear which it shouldn't - this disturbs the balance of the whole car. Plus it's very important that the driver can watch where his car is going (especially in curves) instead of staring high in the sky. And so on ... I know it's another compromise, but compromises have to be met. Regarding third party parts: I'm convinced all this will change our hobby to something else if we don't take care. Just think of the possibilities of 3D prints - some builders are already experimenting with that. When everybody is able to produce all the parts they need the idea of Lego building or at least Lego moccing (to find different solutions from the exact same set of shapes and colours) is gone in my opinion. In terms of model building as such there are much better looking models than models made out of Lego. Then why use Lego in the first place? There were times I was thinking of changing the hobby and build nice cars without having to mimic a windscreen with something else but a windscreen ... But well, maybe I'm too pessimistic in this regard. Only time will tell what becomes of our hobby. And if we are still in the car moccing business five or so years from now ... Again, thanks a lot for your thorough and lengthy comment!

We were able to quote single paragraphs before, weren't we? Can't figure out how it works now. First-off, many thanks Ron for your detailed comment! Regarding mudguards I completely agree. Smaller sports cars work well with mudguards - larger muscle cars or even full-size cars don't look good with them because the wheels on those types of cars are rather within the body, not at the edges. I'd love to build a 911 one day, however, there are already some very nice examples - I just don't have an original idea here. On your 911 (which I've seen before) omitting the mudguards works very well but I'm not sure if this solution can be transformed to a larger scale. Anyhow looking forward to the finished model. Regarding the out of the box SC models in Lego layouts: Yes, I've seen that several times now, too. Same for the Ecto-1 which is completely out of scale in comparison to practically everything in a Lego town. But this only shows that there's a need for more vehicles fitting into the world of modular buildings. In fact, there is simply no out of the box solution for that: either the models are too simple and too small (like Town trucks) or they are a bit more sophisticated (like the Speed Champions) but too large. On the other hand there are many possibilities nowadays for moccers to find a proper compromise. Fitting in the figs: I've made a decision here - either you try to fit them in or you don't. From the beginning I've tried to build cars fitting minifigures. Nowadays I know I can't have that everywhere - especially on super-low sports cars. Mutilating figs in order to fit them into vehicles seems contradictory to me (for me it's like fitting a dead body into a suitcase, if you know the scene from "The Americans"). Since a F1 car without a driver looks a bit odd on a race course I'm willing to make compromises here (like on practically everything). The same goes for the steering wheel - it just has to be there in my opinion. Lastly, stickers. I've made a decision here some time ago, too: I just don't use any Nonlego stuff on my models. That's why I'm such a fan of the SC series: It allows us to build relatively good-looking race cars without the need to use third-party stickers. There is no "good" Nonlego or "bad" Nonlego in my opinion - it just isn't Lego. And I can tell that this is a great decision because you simply don't have to justify any more why you're using this or that third party stuff on your model. Instead you just concentrate on the best possible solution you can find with Lego. I'd be so bold as to make the case that 90 percent of the Nonlego stuff around are either completely unnecessary or could be replaced by Lego solutions if builders tried harder. Regarding the rest I'd say: Not everything must be built out of Lego. Cutting is no option for me, too, not even stickers. Pneumatic hoses may be cut, that's the only exception. I do cut flexible hoses sometimes when the proper length is missing - but only to a length that exists in the same colour. Anyhow, omitting third party stickers is not because I'm so fond of Lego as such. But if we start confusing things here we lose the benchmarks to compare our builds - since that's what we do, trying to find better ways to build a Lego model, not Lego/Nonlego models in varying compositions. Solving problems coming up in the Lego world by using Nonlego solutions doesn't make sense to me. Many thanks again Ron, looking forward to your upcoming models (which clearly are a benchmark to me regarding extremely sophisticated solutions on small-scaled vehicles - in spite of using a different scale system).