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Phoxtane

Eurobricks Knights
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Everything posted by Phoxtane

  1. Phoxtane
    Found a bug with the small satellite dishes: They don't have this useful property in real life, sadly.
  2. Phoxtane
    If it works then I'll be happy with it. I think at this point I'm just waiting on the "This is good enough to be 'officially' released" bit.
  3. Phoxtane
    If anyone's still interested in developing this further, I've got an idea: maybe we can sort parts by 'number of appearances' - that is, when you click on a part in the list, it gives you the sets it appeared in and in what quantity. If I could sort by this (from least to most number of instances or vice versa) it would help me decide what parts were rare and what weren't and how to split up my orders from there. Maybe instead of this it could just be as simple as what Rebrickable uses to designate a 'rare' piece: If it appeared in that color in three sets or less. For example, 57906 in Dark Blue is considered to be rare* because it only appeared in that color in two sets. (*This may not be a good example, as I was able to get nearly 100 of that piece in that color for seven cents a piece...) In other words, I'd like some ability to see what may end up being the difficult pieces to get.
  4. Phoxtane
    Think of it like a worm gear.
  5. Phoxtane
    It's the same color as the other ones. I had to tweak the brightness on these images a bit and it probably threw the color balance out the window.
  6. Phoxtane
    Rather than try to make good photos for my latest spaceship while having it sit on the floor of the backdrop, I decided to up the presentation a notch and provide a display stand for it to sit on. The height and angle of the arm can be adjusted by twisting the gear at the bottom of the mini-LA. At the top just about any sort of adapter plate or clamp can be built and attached in order to give a good connection to the model in question. The design is inspired somewhat by the Action Bases that Bandai sells alongside their popular Gunpla model kits. I didn't go for anything as elaborate as this design, which allows the arm and support to be repositioned on the base at will, as I didn't include a nameplate in the design and as such the orientation of the base doesn't matter. Best of all, I've made a digital model in .lxf form for anybody who'd like to build it for their own models! The model can be found on this page under the name "Display Stand Small Models". (If this doesn't fit in this section, moderators, feel free to move it; it's here because I built it go alongside my new spaceship but if it's better suited elsewhere that's okay too.)
  7. Phoxtane
    [ A new, bigger spacecraft done in the same style as a previous one but with the aid of more experience and Bricklink. I retained certain design elements but was able to expand upon the original style in a way that makes me feel better about the whole thing. This new ship doesn't fall apart nearly as often when handled, and to reduce the amount of handling I have to do it comes with its own display stand, modeled after the Action Base accessory kits that are sold alongside Gunpla plastic model kits. In addition, I was able to increase the amount of lime green, dark blue, and trans-neon green, which meant I didn't have to rely on gray greebles as much to fill in the empty spaces. Finally, this ship has much fewer visible studs than the previous and what would have been wasted detail space has been used to great effect (in my opinion)! A bit of lore: While the previous ship in this style serves a scouting/general presence role, this ship comes equipped with two particle lance cannons and a larger particle drive system. This particular variant of the basic drive system comes equipped with a larger particle-reactor core and additional deflectors directly aft of the main particle emitters, as well as a modified particle guide vane geometry. The ship comes equipped with extra secondary particle emitters for better maneuverability as well. Whereas the previous scout ship's particle drive is engineered for long-range endurance and its guide vane geometry is optimized for a higher slipspace speed, this ship's drive system allows for sharper trajectory curves and a wider range of speeds, while also providing the output for the particle lance cannons. Pictures show more than words, so here's the rest.
  8. Phoxtane
    You stole my color scheme. Now I'm going to have to add in another color https://www.flickr.com/groups/the-shipyard/ Every September people participate in this event where the goal is to build a SHIP (Significantly Huge Investment in Parts). The basic definition is that it must be at least 100 studs long (or longer) in any dimension for it to qualify as a SHIP. According to Sariel's scaling tool, 100 studs is about 2 and 2/3 feet (a bit under a yard/meter) in length.
  9. Phoxtane
    That's actually what they use in the official models, as you can see here: Obviously this is an extreme articulation case, but it goes to show how the joints work. On my most recent model (MS-06S Char's Custom Zaku II) the ankle joints make use of the typical ball-and-socket joint, plus some sliding cylinders front and back of the ball joint. They don't really add much in the way of friction but they do help stabilize the joint and keep the foot from rotating in ways it wouldn't be able to on the real thing. I could do the same thing with a Lego ball joint and cylinder, and remove the need for a click hinge there if it worked out properly.
  10. Phoxtane
    While I don't have enough containers to work this way yet, I feel that ultimately sorting by brick type and not color is the best way to go. Currently my setup is to sort pieces into the grayscale and color groups (with white, the shades of gray and black being in the grayscale group), then sort by type from there. Ideally I'd put ALL the 2x4 plates from the grayscale group into one container and ALL the 2x4 plates from the color pile into another, and so on, but since I'm limited in my setup I have to do all the 2xN plates for grayscale and all the 2xN plates for color, and then all the 1xN for both, and then the NxN pile, and so on... the issue with this system is that if I have too many of one color of a type of part it can overwhelm the groups I sort into by having the majority be of that type and color, and a handful of the other colors and parts within that group.
  11. Phoxtane
    The learning curve is a bit atrocious - I'm here to do stuff with Lego, not learn how to use a drafting program.
  12. Phoxtane
    Seconded. I'd love to see a studless re-release of the 8880 set, along the lines of the old 'Legends' theme, with special suspension pieces and everything to make it just as special as the original. Maybe with some old 80s-style art for the box:
  13. Phoxtane
    I would like to point out that I was complaining about the supposed lack of the M-motor in the PF lineup within LDD (although the lack of L and Servo motors is irritating as well).
  14. Phoxtane
    About the only thing that can make this better is a (semi)relevant video:
  15. Phoxtane
    I'll go get some ice for that burn. In a more serious tone, I think the more recent modular buildings have been better than the older ones. Cafe Corner especially is showing its age, and the Dectective's Office actually looks like a building I'd see downtown, as opposed to Cafe Corner, which just doesn't quite fit in. I'd be all for some cheap modular-style buildings that were just a shell without any interior; maybe they could go one step further and incorporate hinge plates so each floor could then fold up into a block shape for transport... with the amount of pieces freed up I think we'd see 4-5 floor buildings!
  16. Phoxtane
    Yeah, and there'd be a play feature where you put a bucket over everyone's head so you could steal everything without getting caught!
  17. Phoxtane
    This sounds entirely reasonable to me. A lot of time and effort goes into building these more adult-oriented sets that are more of a display piece than a playset.
  18. Phoxtane
    Oh no, we use the trains as the barrier itself - they discourage people from reaching through with their hands, especially the smaller kids where the trains are at shoulder height. I'm not terribly fond of the practice because it limits how we can run the track through a layout (only on the outer edge), but nobody in my group has the space to store any sort of clear plastic barrier or the equipment to transport them with, and since our group is spread out across a good portion of Colorado (and southeast Wyoming) travel time starts to become a significant factor. It's a shame because we can't do anything fancy like the Texas Brick Railroad group. What I was more worried about was somebody bridging the tracks with a higher-amp current running through them and getting a nasty shock. That's where the barriers would come in.
  19. Phoxtane
    Looks like it's down again. There's a lot of pictures missing in threads previously posted in the Technic forum that have Brickshelf URLs. Out of curiosity, what happens when Brickshelf goes down for good? All of those broken links and images lost forever... I think that at some point the community will have to move on though.
  20. Phoxtane
    *cough* Well, I wasn't expecting that. Oh well. Incidentally, where is that motor? I can't seem to find it the normal spot, or I'm not looking hard enough.
  21. Phoxtane
    More irritating to me is that the Power Functions M-motor STILL is nowhere to be found in LDD. It's been about seven (?) years since the Power Functions system (and M-motor) was released.
  22. Phoxtane
    At this point in the game, I'd recommend to any newcomers to just stick with Power Functions, and invest in a good set of rechargeable batteries. 9V stuff is only getting more expensive, to the point where I'm considering holding onto my 9V stuff for a good while and then selling it later on rather than use it. At the same time, there's no good way to convert PF track over to 9V, and ME Rails has been having enough issues lately with their solution that it'll be a while before I see any. I suppose if you're that deeply invested in 9V, then go for it if it makes you happy. As for the Lego 9V transformer, is it possible that they limited the output to 1.5 amps in order to make it safer for kids? I'm just starting out in my college career but if the amperage were much higher, wouldn't it pose a safety issue to bridge the two rails with your arm or something? I'd be all for redesigning the 9V transformer circuit in order to increase available power but I'd worry about safety at this point, especially at my LUG's shows where the trains act as a moving barrier (we don't put up cordons, so we run two tracks on the outer ring of our displays as the first line of defense).
  23. Phoxtane
    Fly Monster: Too bad he only has one.
  24. Phoxtane
    I'd like to have another go at building a Gundam - the more I look at my previous attempt, the more I grow dissatisfied with the proportions and poseability, especially since now I have the actual official model kit that looks like this: The biggest issue with my model (apart from looks) was the joints. I relied mostly on ball joints and the classic click hinges which meant that the ankles were prone to letting it fall over and the knees couldn't bend more than one click before they locked up, and the arms were mostly totally unposeable. Therefore, the issue relied mostly on the frame - except I never had a unified frame to begin with. If you'd like to see the mess I made of the design, you can find the LDD file on this page. For this build I've been looking for a mech frame that's similar in scale but is an actual proper frame rather than some weird unibody thing. The appropriate scale for this sort of build, I'm told, is anywhere between 9-12 minifigures tall (depending on if your minifigures are 5 or 6 feet tall, respectively). In LDD my Gundam is almost exactly 9 figures tall, so I am okay with another build in that scale. For joints, I would like to make use of ball joints again but replace the knee and elbow joints with the 44224 and 44225 pieces, and do something about the hip joints. To this end, I've been searching for a frame that I can build but haven't been able to dig much of anything up. To summarize: I need help in finding a mid-scale mech frame that uses the strong Technic Rotation Disc Joints and ball joints for maximum strength and poseability, but haven't had much luck in finding anything reproducible (picture quality from 2006 isn't nearly good enough for me to make out much of anything). Does anyone have any sort of resources or frames that they use regularly to help them with their mecha builds, and if so, would you be willing to share them here? Thanks in advance - I'm pretty sure this sort of thing is the Holy Grail of mech builders!
  25. Phoxtane
    Just curious what I should be expecting with Bricklink orders in terms of processing time. My first few orders that I made on Bricklink had invoices sent out almost immediately, and then packed that day and shipped the next after I paid, but now I'm starting to run into orders that take longer - much, much longer - to have invoices sent out and whatnot. I'm wondering now if I just had a lucky string of prompt sellers, or if it's normal for orders to be sent out almost immediately?
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