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Missing Brick

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  1. Missing Brick
    Nice lxf Daedalus, however, in my experience, single axle bogies tend to be unstable, since there is zero force to keep the axle perpendicular to the tracks. As a result they tend to derail - particularly when being pushed. So I think your original arrangement with a pair of double axle bogies is better. The other thing about having the batt box in the tender is the difficulty disguising the grey 2x2 connector and ribbon cable. It requires a huge pile of 'coal' extending above the height of the tender walls. Hence my preference for housing the batteries in the first carriage where they can be easily hidden - eg. by making half the car a windowless kitchen / guard's compartment.
  2. Missing Brick
    Just my two cents: I couldn't face ruining the model as per the official instructions: having that huge ugly XL motor sticking out of the cab with the ugly wires floating in space across to the ugly battery box sticking out the top of the tender. Ugly ugly. No thanks. Instead I put the battery box and PF-train motor in the first passenger car, IR receiver in the tender disguised under the coal, and LED lights in the engine - including one LED behind the boiler so it looks like the furnace fire is burning. The only drawbacks are the low level wires running between the 3 cars and the batt box filling half the first passenger car - but it's still much less visible than the official lego method. The trick to making the PF-train motor work well is to add some ballast weight directly above the powered bogie to prevent wheel-spin. The battery box isn't heavy enough itself. So I use lead weight string - from a curtain shop. This can easily be cut to the optimum weight and is flexible enough to coil up below the window line. So mine has no problem pulling 3 passenger carriages while pushing the tender and engine. And I get to keep all the cab and tender details - plus I have a boiler that lights up.
  3. Missing Brick
    Another fantastic car MOC Erol. I just built a copy of your vintage speedster from here http://www.mocpages.com/moc.php/337400 A very clever design that looks fantastic. Hopefully I will get round to making a copy of your Impala one day aswell! Thanks for sharing.
  4. Missing Brick
    Nice job on the ramshackle building and the vegetation. Are those weeds climbing around the pillars an official lego part - or just a green cable tie? Either way, nice work.
  5. Missing Brick
    Great MOC. Love the scale. 10-wide gate - yay. Great job on the variety of minifigs for the elves and men. Some improvement suggestions: Less sand green would look better, and lose the uruk halberds: They're too ornate, not orcish enough. Long pikes made of spear plus ski-pole look better and more movie realistic.
  6. Missing Brick
    Nice. Have you got a picture of them all together so we can see how well they gel as an orc-band?
  7. Missing Brick
    Well done for digging up this thread Yan. I always thought it disappeared from the top page too fast. This is an awesome movie realistic MOC with fantastic details. Clever use of dark-tan palisade stripes to break-up the brown. Love the gold trimming aswell. It would be great to see more pics of the interior, preferably on flickr.
  8. Missing Brick
    Great details. I like the guy putting the white hand prints on the Uruk helmets :) You really get a sense of a production line building up the army. Just like the film. Great work. PS. I also like the orcs pulling down the tree.
  9. Missing Brick
    Great expansion. However I'm also getting the 'double vision' effect when I look at the front. I think it might be better just to have one central bell tower / year arch / big window in the middle, and double up the smaller side windows instead. Appreciate this might break up the flow from the roller doors up to the big windows - so it's a tricky problem - but might be worth a try to see if it looks better.
  10. Missing Brick
    Thanks all. Just thinking about this. Somebody already suggested this I think, but it would be interesting to mod the set into a regular straight building like the Town Hall or Fire Brigade. This would allow you to expand the auditorium from 20 studs wide to 30 studs wide. So you could have a central tunnel entrance with walkways and 3 seats either side. Plenty of room for a procenium arch around the screen. More lobby space so you could reinstate the concessions stand. Could be very cool. You can probably retain much of the exterior architecture: Central entrance with just one arch + 2 windows above either side. Perhaps the posters could move into the lobby. eg either side of the auditorium door. I reckon you could seat 40 minifigs...
  11. Missing Brick
    Beautiful MOC - the sort I'd be proud to display on the sideboard. Just need to add some stairs :)
  12. Missing Brick
    Nice curves and great use of the caesar and judge CMF hair. Love the grand staircase on your flickr too.
  13. Missing Brick
    Thanks for the comments and suggestions. Good ideas. I originally intended to make the screen and side walls alot more elaborate - I bought some red curved wedges specially for it - however, unfortunately there isn't really enough room in the standard set. There's only 2 studs to either side of the iPhone = 1 stud after fitting the curtains. It would be nice to have 6 studs either side for more decoration. I'm looking forward to seeing larger mods using multiple sets eg. to make a 48x48 cinema - then you could really go to town on the procenium arch. Perhaps even an orchestra pit or music hall organ, THX speakers on the walls etc. Lots of stuff you could add.
  14. Missing Brick
    An improvement? The snot pillars and clock face become part of the 1st floor. Removing / replacing the roof becomes a little more tricky since you need to ensure the snot pillars are pressed in - but I think it's worth it for the smoother finish. PS. Please see the other thread for more shots of the auditorium mod: http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=78620
  15. Missing Brick
    Updated the first post with pics of the complete modified set.
  16. Missing Brick
    After a day spent titivating the set, the only major external improvement I'm contemplating is to declutter the area where the top-floor meets the 1st floor on the 45 degree corner section - between the 8-windows and the Sensei Wu hat. At the moment it's a mess of wedge plates which bisect the snotted pillars spoiling the flow. Ideally I'd like to run the snot pillars all the way up - without any visible breaks. Just need to find a way to make a cleaner break between the two floors.
  17. Missing Brick
    OK, I'm new to the UCS series - but my first impression is that R2 minfig is too small for this model. His head needs a 3 stud diameter to be in scale. Otherwise - a very nice looking model.
  18. Missing Brick
    Had great fun building the set tonight. Very nice indeed. Lots of new and interesting building techniques. (The spot lights on the front use the harpoon gun!). The 45 degree doors are awesome - and the way the Palace sign sub-assembly clips on is really nice and solid. The only let downs are the stickers and the 'limo' which I can confirm looks even worse in the hand than in the photos. The interior is OK but I won't have any qualms about ripping it out to fit my 26-seater auditorium mod instead.
  19. Missing Brick
    Fantastic station and 8-wide train. Loads of great ideas and details. I really enjoyed reading your descriptions. Thanks for sharing.
  20. Missing Brick
    Very nice, but when it comes to increasing the size to a more realistic minifig scale, I always felt the gate should be increased from 6 to 8 studs wide, and the causeway to 10 studs. Afterall, at 6 studs it's not even wide enough for a horse and cart, nor for a battering ram carried by uruks on either side. In fact, if the gate had been only 6 studs equivalent in the film, they would have had no trouble defending it since it can only be approached by a maximum of 2 uruks abreast. Trouble is, if you go to an 8 or 10-wide gate, suddenly everything needs to get much bigger...
  21. Missing Brick
    As Legolas said to Aragorn: " Their armour is weak at the neck.... and beneath the arm" So it's a realistic feature not a flaw :)
  22. Missing Brick
    Not liking that single piece eagle mould atall. Better to buy a Creator #31004 Fierce Flyer - looks better, can grab minifigs in its talons, and you get some pieces you can actually use in other models (you know, like LEGO). Gotta say I'm disappointed. No new mordor orc moulds or prints? Ghost army using 1980's castle helmets? More Gandalfs, Gimli's, Aragorns and Legolases instead of important new characters like Grima, Eowyn and Faramir. Corsairs boat which was only in the film for 2 seconds while iconic scenes at Edoras, Minas Tirith, Osgilaith, Orthanc, Pelennor fields, the Bridge of Khazad Dum, Minas Morgul & Barad Dur miss out. I think the Lone Ranger sets make better LOTR sets than the LOTR sets - just for the black and white Rohirrim horses.
  23. Missing Brick
    Yes, in fact, if you want to fit interlocking pistons/ steam rods you would probably have to fit 6L axles that run right thru otherwise the wheels would jam (I think?) However, I'm still always on the lookout for those black frictionless axle pins for various other bogies. (eg. Emerald Night needs 8 to replace the tan ones that come with the set). You could use 6L axles for some of those but they grind and add alot of drag compared to the frictionless pins.
  24. Missing Brick
    OK, nit picking here - but what's with TLG using tan wheel axles on everything including the loco in this set? How I wish they could produce some black ones for a change. Black axle pins are like gold dust - having only ever been used on a couple of space sets back in the 1980's but they make train wheels look SO much better. http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=3749 I may have to resort to painting tan axle pins black (sacrilege!)
  25. Missing Brick
    Looks great. So I'm thinking lengthen the tender by 1 stud and put a PF bogie, Receiver and lead weight in it. Then build a dummy goods carriage and put the PF battery box in there. Might want to add some pistons to the loco aswell. Prizes for guessing what the lever on top of the prison carriage does.
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