Jeroen Ottens

Cool! Nice solution for the remote as well, very clever

I wonder what you call advanced, when you call this a simple model I do recognize the 'Oops I've got too much functions in my model and now it is falling apart' issue. Reducing functionality at the start worked for me as well. As for the issue with losing the overall structure during the build my solution is to make several copies at once. One that is solely aimed for structure & looks, so no internal gearing, functionality etc. Just some hinge points for the basic functionality. Then a second one that is almost the opposite, namely just the internal gearing & functionality. And finally a third model which incorporates both the structure and the functionality. All three variants are then developed iteratively, where solutions in one model affect the next iteration in the second one. This approach makes the chess-like think ahead your moves a little easier in my experience. But it does require more lego and you will always find yourself using those rare pieces right in the middle of your structure

Welcome. May your building hours be long and prosperous

Just make sure you that they have their theft insurance arranged up front (you have to make an estimate for the value of your model for that). And that they will put your model in some kind of glass case so that the visitors won't be able to touch it). It would be a pity to see that someone is taking your model (or parts) with them and all you get a excuse note... Let us know whether or not you are going to do it, I might come over to have a look, it's practically around the corner :)

Ahh the Unimog , that will give your collection a good boost...

Cool, very compact with all the functions in. I always wanted to build a tractor with loads of equipment when I was a kid, but somehow I never get to building one I look forward to the equipment you're going to make.

I love the midget race car. Especially the angles of the panels are ingenious. I hope your son will give you more sets so that you can make some bigger models

Cool mechanism. But as Tadej said, the aircraft must be quite big to accomodate such a large landing gear... What are you planning to build? You're not the only one building big aircrafts though :) Wait for the upcoming Hispabricks magazine for the premiere of my latest technic aircraft (90 cm long :) Keep up the good work. In my experience with building planes the landing gears & bay doors are the most challenging parts of the plane, so getting that to work is half the job :)

The following stack could work: Yellow dish round 6x6 (can also be replaced with lamp shade 5x5) Blue plate round 4x4 White plate round 2x2 Red axle 2 through the middle of them all

My estimated arrival date is November 13th in Holland Bought on Amazon with speedy delivery

I am a mechanical engineer too and my experience was that my engineering skills helped me with building complex models. Knowing how to make stiff, lightweight constructions is a great help. My experience however was mostly with the studded technic. It was only this year that I seriously attempted to build a studless model (keep an eye on the upcoming Hispabrick :). I found that studless building has quite a steep learning curve and my first attempts were pretty frustating. Mostly because the models weren't rigid enough. What finally worked for me was to build in phases. I first build the outline of the model, almost without functionality. I only add the important function pivot-points (in this particular case landing gear, canopy and airbrake pivot points). I then put that mockup aside and start from scratch again, but this time I focus on getting the functions as compact as possible. Once that is finished I set that one aside as well. Then I start again from scratch. But this time I try to combine both the outline and the inner mechanics in one model. This step is then repeated multiple times until I get the model right. In my (limited) experience I find that 1/3 of the model is technical functions (gears, axles, pneumatics, etc.), 1/3 is structural integrity (beams, pre-stressed frames, etc.) and 1/3 is design elements (panels, flex-axles, etc.). Hope this helps.

Wow, that's impressive. You must have had quite some sparetime I especially like your ships.

That's a good MOD. Too bad Lego is no longer considering working steering wheels essential for cars anymore, but as you show it can be remedied quite easily . Makes me wonder: Have all car models without working steering wheels been modded by AFOL's by now? Jeroen

The detailing looks great, but... It does look quite heavy for an ejector seat. In my F14 I used two springs per seat (you can see one of them just below the two seats) and even then I had to reduce weight to the absolute minimum to ensure that the seats where flying some decent distance in the air. Jeroen

Wow, that is going to be some impressive plane! Are you planning to clad the hull? Or will it stay barebones like it is now? Jeroen

Hi, That's really cool! Great that you took up the challenge. I love the way you made your collective pitch control. Very clever! Meanwhile I have updated my mechanism to a much more reliable one (based on the 9396 mechanism), but this time with 4 blades per rotor and full pitch and collective control :) I'm still not going to build it into a real helicopter because I have another project under way... Leg godt, Jeroen

DLuders: Interesting! Have you tried attaching a motor to it? Yes I did. I used a PF XL motor and drove it with a train controller to increase the speed slowly to a reasonably high speed. It is quite a sight, it still amazes me to see the rotors rotate against each other :) Jeroen Thanks, it turned out rather compact indeed :)

Hi, Half a year ago I designed a counter rotating rotor mechanism for a helicopter. Having solved that puzzle I lacked the ambition to really turn it into a working helicopter. But with the 9396 on the market now there might be others interested so I thought I'd make some pictures of the mechanism and post it here. More detailed photos can be found on my flickr page. If there are any questions or requests for more detailed pictures I'm happy to help out. Leg godt, Jeroen Ottens

The long answer to your question where to start is: I wanted to build this plane when I was 16, but at that time I simply didn't have enough lego. After my dark ages I started to collect in earnest and I tried to build it again. I finished a black version that was a lot smaller than this one. It was not looking that pretty though. It did get me a job at Lego as a designer :) There I learned the fine details of building with Lego, so after I quit I built this version in my home. In the end it has taken me more than 10 years to complete the model... My short answer would be: It starts with pursueing your dreams Jeroen

Hi, I can send you the LDD file that I have. It's not the final design as photographed, but it's 80% accurate I think. Jeroen

Thanks for the comment and for pointing out that the link wasn't working... I have repaired the link. Jeroen

Hi, As promised before. I have finished the Aston Martin in real Lego. All features are working as expected :) More pictures can be found on my cuusoo site. Leg godt, Jeroen Ottens

Hi, Thanks for all the kind comments. It has been quite some time since I finished this model, but I lost my original Flickr account so that's why I posted it again recently. Jeroen

Of course there are :) - revolving licenseplates - a bulletproof shield in the back - a phone in the door - tire cutters on the wheels - a radarscreen in the dashboard The only thing missing is the passenger ejection seat, I couldn't think of a small enough mechanism for it :( The bricks are coming in to make it in real life. I'll post some video once I finished the real thing... Jeroen

Yeah I was seriously tempted to do the ejector seat. I even had a working prototype, but in the end I decided to go for the looks instead of the gadget... Then on the other hand, I already made some working ejector seats in my F14 :) Jeroen