TristanBane

Instructions and 15,000+ bricks bought! - The building will start this weekend. I've just finished Cavegods AT-AT (for the second time in 5 years!!) which took me months. I'll not be finishing this one any time soon.

A terrible photo of my most recent effort. This one measured 196*196 studs. DSC_0008 by tristanbane, on Flickr

Not sure if this is the right place to post but it is Lego, Star Wars and an MOC - so I figured why not. This is the first of two Star Wars themed Lego mosaics I'm working on. It measures 96*96 studs (2x2 of the 48 stud base plates). The second one, which is a work in progress will measure 144*144 studs or 9 of the 48 stud base plates. I'm very happy with how it worked out (Wife and kids love it too). I think the next one will be even better! DSC_0017 by tristanbane, on Flickr DSC_0015 by tristanbane, on Flickr

Love this mod, so tried it myself (My first ever attempt to mod a set so go easy! - and it is still a WIP). I tried to convey a few things when making the modifications. Firstly, I've always associated the exterior of the palace with the image you commonly see in a Google search for 'Jabba Palace' where there are 3 prominent domed towers. The image suggests they are in close proximity to each other, which they are not, so I've added a 3rd dome to the palace to try and mimic. Secondly I wanted to have 3 scenes depicted without having to rotate the model. The interior with Jabba, the exterior and the classic scene of R2 and C3PO politely knocking on the front door! You'll notice I've rotated the tower and the door now faces the front. Lastly, the door on the original model is just too small for me. In RoTJ the door is colossal, with the sentinel being a tiny spec in comparison. I've doubled the width and changed the arch to try and inch closer to the grandeur of the original (Still falls well short, but I'm happier with it). I've lost some of the playability in the process but, as it sits on display in my office, it was an easy compromise to make.

I said I would post some images again once I finished the build so here they are (Well, as you can tell, it is not completely finished but this is as far as I'm going for a while so I figured is was worth providing updating on progress). I'm moving on to something less stressful such as shark taming (alternatively I might just build a few TLG models to relax)! This has been, by some margin, the most challenging, oftentimes extremely frustrating, but ultimately very rewarding, Lego build I've attempted (I'll admit to being a Lego novice compared to most members here - but having build the majority of the Star Wars UCS line - this is, without doubt, the most intricate, detailed, complex and difficult build I've encountered). Having said that, I couldn't recommend it more - from the initial BrickLink saga of sourcing all the bricks from the world over to (almost) completing the build - the experience has been exceptionally rewarding. The model takes pride of place among my collection of UCS Star Wars vehicles (Even my wife has commented on how impressive it looks - and, believe me, that is something! My son loves it, but that was a foregone conclusion!). For anyone attempting to build this behemoth I'd highly recommend following Dave's blog over at http://gimmelego.blogspot.co.uk/ where he provides a very comprehensive progress report at every stage of the build. Hats off to Pete (Cavegod) for a most inspired (evilly so!) design and creation of one of my favorite Star Wars vehicles from the original trilogy (In fact, the AT-AT was the first Star Wars toy I owned back in the early 80's, so this is quite the nostalgia trip for me) Here are a couple of images of my model, you can see the UCS Y-Wing and Snow Speeder to provide a reference point on the scale - this this is huge! (If anyone is interested in taking on this project, myself and Dave [and likely others] have been providing Pete with feedback when we have discovered issues with the LDD files - so the latest should reflect the final model pretty accurately at this stage)

Almost finished the body when I decided to see how it stood on its own. It didn't fall down!

So, with a little help from a friend, I've finally started to build the beast (Having spent an age buying all the bricks and then recovering from the ordeal). I'll post a picture of the finished build when I'm complete - and that will be some time away based on how much time I've managed to spend on the project so far. In the interim I though I'd share a picture of my helper climbing down after a hard days work on the front left leg! (I know, how mean making the driver build his own transport)

The second of Anios MOC models I have complete (Tie Fighter was the first). I can't recommend this one more, great design and fun to build. The model is very strong at its core and provides some challenges when adding all the detail for the engines. Many thanks to Anio for all the effort in putting together the design and instructions. Some pictures of the (almost) finished build:

Hi Cavegod, I'm interested in getting the LDD file for this AT-AT - looks fantastic. not sure how to contact you directly as I'm new to the site. (I've just finished working on Anios Tie and currently working on his Slave1)

Yes, unfortunately it is only available from the 10175 set. I was lucky and found it on ebay for £4 (It and the 2 rare curved plates - I was the only bidder on the auction). I had originally planned to buy an old 10175 without box/instructions and start from there - but a lot of brick sellers list against the original set for rare bricks and I was lucky - worth checking on eBay if you can't find on Bricklink. Good luck in finding it - a nice model once complete.

My version of Anios ST01 MOC. Looks great IMHO.

If worth anything close to what I paid for it I'd be well off!!

Very nice.

I find that you need to visit a number of bricklink stores to get all bricks - and that is for smaller MOCs!

Great work