Gnac

I think microbuilding is much more impressive than making something massive. Also some words about how the skill required to make something recognisable in proportion to the amount of pieces swings in the microbuilders' favour.

I was just checking out 70228 - Vultrix's Sky Scavenger, and while it probably doesn't have a huuge amount of technic bits (roughly 1/4 of the total), some of them are pretty new and useful. It has 4 of those black axle/pegs with 2M axle, 4 dark bley 1M "pin joiners" and strangely, 2 cardan cups which seem to serve a mere aesthetic purpose. I was actually searching for sets which contained the latter, and thought "what the hell is Chima doing here".

Dunno about the old days, but to do something like that now requires a scaffolding - a temporary construction of bricks for the "loose" parts to snap to. Depending on how complex the model is, this scaffolding might require hinges, clip + bar assemblies... whatever it takes to fine-tune things for LDDs strict (and sometimes unfair) collision detection. Anyway, after some tweaking, I managed something. Bear in mind that the pickaxe isn't attached to anything, so you'll need to find a way (a scaffolding!) to make LDD treat it as a connected object if you want it to move along with his left arm.

Some of the below pictured parts have already been mentioned in other threads, but it bears repeating how utterly defeating it is to see something interesting, and think "OOH that part has POTENTIAL" and then fail to find an application for it. Impulse buys, the lot of them. Currently bidding on ebay for some imagination to get my money's worth out of 'em.

After this last batch I can go back to sleep. I can't wait! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10698 - Large Creative Brick Box [Model A] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10698 - Large Creative Brick Box [Model B] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10698 - Large Creative Brick Box [Model C] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10698 - Large Creative Brick Box [Model D] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10698 - Large Creative Brick Box [Model E] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10698 - Large Creative Brick Box [Model F] - theme: Classic Notes: How good are those tents LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10698 - Large Creative Brick Box [Model G] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10698 - Large Creative Brick Box [Model H] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10698 - Large Creative Brick Box [Model I] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.9 / b2075) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AND THAT'S YER LOT

The penultimate batch. This one's been reviewed over at Brickset, coincidentally. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10696 - Medium Creative Brick Box [Model A] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.9 / b2075) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10696 - Medium Creative Brick Box [Model B] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10696 - Medium Creative Brick Box [Model C] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10696 - Medium Creative Brick Box [Model D] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10696 - Medium Creative Brick Box [Model E] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10696 - Medium Creative Brick Box [Model F] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10696 - Medium Creative Brick Box [Model G] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10696 - Medium Creative Brick Box [Model H] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.9 / b2075) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10696 - Medium Creative Brick Box [Model I] - theme: Classic Notes: THIS IS THE BEST THING LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10696 - Medium Creative Brick Box [Model J] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tomorrow: 10697 10698!

Some of this stuff is like 2004-2006 era Creator / Designer sets. I was going to put a nostalgia rant here but I'm not digging though this huge pile of other nostalgias just to find it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10695 - Creative Building Box [Model A] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10695 - Creative Building Box [Model B] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10695 - Creative Building Box [Model C] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.9 / b2075) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10695 - Creative Building Box [Model D] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10695 - Creative Building Box [Model E] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10695 - Creative Building Box [Model F] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10695 - Creative Building Box [Model G] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10695 - Creative Building Box [Model H] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10695 - Creative Building Box [Model I] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tomorrow: 10696!

Sometimes people ask The Gnac, "how do you get such vivid transparent bits on yer LDD preview immidges?" And I tell them: "you need to load the immidge into a photo editor and duplicate it as a layer (or three). This makes the normally weak transparencies much stronger." (No-one ever actually asked me this) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10694 - Creative Supplement Bright [Model A] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10694 - Creative Supplement Bright [Model B] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10694 - Creative Supplement Bright [Model C] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10694 - Creative Supplement Bright [Model D] - theme: Classic Errors / notes: YES I GOT LAZY WITH CARROTS AGAIN. This is becoming a running theme. LXF (LDD 4.3.9 / b2075) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10694 - Creative Supplement Bright [Model E] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.9 / b2075) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10694 - Creative Supplement Bright [Model F] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10694 - Creative Supplement Bright [Model G] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tomorrow: 10695!

Found it. Looks like instruction book 1 was updated to use a 3m end-stop axle instead of that [brick yellow] axle peg (step 36 / substep 3). Compare the old step to the new one

Today's bit of pre-content guff is about the methodology of choosing the suffixes for the models, i.e. why is this "Model C" and why is that "Model F". These brick boxes all include an idea book which shows instructions for 3-4 models, with pics of others you can download. Models from included instructions get the first "slots", then it goes in order of appearance on the download page. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10693 - Creative Supplement [Model A] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10693 - Creative Supplement [Model B] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10693 - Creative Supplement [Model C] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10693 - Creative Supplement [Model D] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10693 - Creative Supplement [Model E] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.9 / b2075) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10693 - Creative Supplement [Model F] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10693 - Creative Supplement [Model G] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10693 - Creative Supplement [Model H] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tomorrow: 10694!

I saw a gap in the index, so I decided to fill it with mah love for Eldeedee. Since there are about fifty things queued up, and what with me taking semi-retirement from bullying Calabar, I'll be splitting them up into one set per day. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10692 - Creative Bricks [Model A] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.9 / b2075) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10692 - Creative Bricks [Model B] - theme: Classic Notes: I got lazy with the carrots. Actually, more like fed up. Couldn't summon any scaffolding magic to make them look "hand-placed", and they STILL don't connect to anything. GAH! NON-UPDATE 20160407: Still lazy / fed up. Still haven't done this. LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10692 - Creative Bricks [Model C] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10692 - Creative Bricks [Model D] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10692 - Creative Bricks [Model E] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10692 - Creative Bricks [Model F] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10692 - Creative Bricks [Model G] - theme: Classic LXF (LDD 4.3.8) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tomorrow: 10693!

What the heck is up with Amazon's RRP - £85.88 vs. £69.99 from S@H? The deal still delivers a better price though, so I'll go for this if the offer's still active in a couple of days It should arrive sometime next week, thankyou Mister Grum! This is how my Dad used to wake me up in the afternoon D:

http://www.eurobricks.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=108005entry2187914

They are both my beautiful children and I love them equally.

Wow, LDD's really misrepresented that ('scuse the poor lighting). It's slightly too small for technic axles. The connection accommodates the standard small snaps for CITY-type wheels; I guess it has the cross shape in order to provide notches for the flanged pegs on pull-back motors.

^ You can also use the sharp end of a brick separator - it has a shallow wedge profile which is perfect for popping the bearing out.

Is it an XL motor? I have two of those - bought months apart - and they both have a gravelly oscillating sound in comparison to the M and L motors I have.

Very nifty use of the suspension wishbone arm for the trailer hitch! I wondered how the battery box would fit in the wheeled tractor, so seeing the trailer gave me a chuckle.

This one?

On the plus side, clearly defined limitations can bring out innovative new ways to create in those who are prepared to try. If it's really important to make illegal (and even impossible) connections, then perhaps MLCad might be more your thing.

But just think of all the mini linear actuators you'll have! I already own about six times more mini LAs than I have ideas. ...I own exactly six of them.

Try deleting only the "s_sess" cookie - that put a stop to the issues for me.

Bit of a Technic binge: I first got 42038 from my local LEGO store, then went and got 42021 & 42031 from S@H (with some Pick-a-Brick bits to reach £25 and get my free Gerudo Azari's Magic Fire polybag).

That B model is pretty *unf*, but the single "bucket seat" disgruntles the bit of my brain that enjoys symmetry. Still, I appreciate the opportunity to pick this up without paying an extra premium.

We don't know who is paying for this, though. It could be from someone's pocket, or a department's budget.