Ralph_S

Thank you very much. It is a German built truck, indeed, but in the livery of a British fire department. It worked, by the way. People loved it. Her's the full display. My models at AFOLCon/ The LEGO Show by Mad physicist, on Flickr Cheers, Ralph

For those of you who like it, It's on Cuusoo. Your support would be greatly appreciated. Cheers, Ralph

Thank you. Sorry about not replying sooner. I haven't been keeping track of what's going on in this thread. I'm not sure where the Hind needs to be bulked up though. It's a big machine and quite slab-sides, but it is really quite narrow. I think that most LEGO models you'll see of it are actually too bulky. Anyway, I've done a few more. The Strike Eagle's canopy is obviously derived from the canopy on the F-15C, but because it's a two-seater, it is more bulbous. F-15E Eagle updated (2) by Mad physicist, on Flickr The canopy on the U-2 was probably the easiest I've done. The only thing that was marginally difficult was mounting the central part of the windscreen. U-2S Dragon Lady updated (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr The Tiger's canopy wasn't particularly difficult either, although I did have to redesign the mechanism for opening it. F-5E Tiger updated (2) by Mad physicist, on Flickr By far the most difficult, of all of them, was the canopy of the F-117, because it is bascially composed of triangular sheets. I don't get frustrated easily when building, but I came pretty close to throwing this thing through the room a few times while rebuilding it. It was more than just changing the canopy. To find enough space for the ejection seat, I had to rebuild much of the structure of the forward fuselage. Ultimately it did come together reasonably well, fortunately. While I was at it, I also updated the stickers. F-117A Nighthawk updated (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr The Sea Harrier was another tricky one, ot so much because of the new windscreen, but because I also decided to make the canopy open. The model was originally built for an exhibition and I was n a deadline, so when I couldn't figure out an easy way to get the canopy to open properly, I decided that, for once, I was going to make it such that it couldn't open. This has bugged me for years though, so whilst replacing the windscreen I also had another go at making the canopy open. It slides aft on the real aircraft. It doesn't quite do that on my model. Instead the canopy is attached to a droid arm that swivels. The canopy fits properly when closed and also sists in the right position when fully open. It's the best I can do at the moment. Sea Harrier FRS.1 (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr Finally, the latest of my rebuilds, is my QF-4S Pahntom. I completed the rebuild yesterday, fitting new canopies, but also tidying up a few things using new parts and rebuilding the nose. On the previous version, the black anti-glare paint on the nose was partially made useing black tape (over red wedge bricks), but now I was able to come up with a brick-built method. QF-4S Phantom II updated (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr

I realise that you were basically building it on the fly (pun intended) and didn't intend for it to be a scale model of the real aircraft, but I think replacing a fair few of the dark blueish grey, black and regular blue bits with dark blue could work with a bit of effort and the shape of the aft fuselage could be improved. It looks a bit messy right now. I think the canopy fits wonderfully well, but I also think it would look better if all the transparent bits were trans clear. LEGO do make that canopy piece in trans clear, fortunately. I know that one of the elements you used for the front doesn't actually exist in trans clear, but that could be easily fixed with some trans clear cheese slopes and a 1x2 plate or two. I'm also sure the pilot's scruffy-looking face does not meet Navy regulations! That said, this MOC does have something going for it. It may not capture all the details, but it captures the overall impression of a Blue Angels aircraft and zipping this around a room seems like fun. Cheers, Ralph

Not licensed, not offensive in any way and not particularly likely to be picked by any other fans than my own (if I have any): my Ladder Truck is up on Cuusoo. Now on Cuusoo: Light & Sound Ladder Truck by Mad physicist, on Flickr Cheers, Ralph

Hi. Good to see you made it back home safely. The scale of my models is 1/22. I don't think that LEGO were too concerned about the exact scale of their Model Team sets, basically adapting the scale to the wheels they used, but there are plenty of Model Team sets that are considerably smaller than 1/12. It's been a few months since I started this thread and I have slowly formed my opinion. I understand that with something as versatile as LEGO, organising forums logically isn't easy. However, I don't really care about in what subforum my models fit the guidelines best. What is the more important question is where should I post them that people who are likely to appreciate them are most likely to actually see them. A related question is why a model that gets literally thousands of views and dozens of comments on flickr only gets a handful when I post it on EB? The Technic Forum is not the place for my models. The majority of builders there are into the Technic aesthetic and functionality is more important than looks. I don't know who looks at the 'Special' Forums, but I myself rarely do! In terms of people's interests, the Town Forum is definitely the place. However, my models are out of place there among all the minifig scale stuff. The result: I haven't posted most of the MOCs I've built in the last few months on EB at all. Cheers, Ralph

Thanks. Sorry that it took me so long to reply. I hadn't noticed that this thread had been resurrected and haven't been very active on EB lately and have rarely posted new MOCs, even though I have built plenty. My latest model is a Fire Engine that I posted in the Model Team/ Technic Forum. The Delorean has been done to death, so I'm not sure I'm keen on doing one. A London bus is definitely an option. There are some really nice ones out there already, but that doesn't stop me from wanting one of my own :-) Cheers, Ralph

Thanks guys. It will be great to meet some of you in person. I certainly intend to. I look forward to seeing your latest stuff and having a chat. I had a blast last year. Oh my, that's been done for at least a year. I think I may have even posted it here when it was done, but anyway, here it is. Scania with Nooteboom stepframe trailer (7) by Mad physicist, on Flickr Scania with Nooteboom stepframe trailer (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr Scania with HIAB crane (5) by Mad physicist, on Flickr Cheers, Ralph

Thank you for candid and flattering answer. I have been building lots of different things for many years, but I still find building aircraft models to be both the most difficult thing I do with LEGO and also the most rewarding. I can imagine that trying to build a model of a real aircraft for the first time is a daunting prospect and I think that you have done an admirable job. It's obvious that it is supposed to be a Ju-88 and the same can't be said about some attempts I've seen by other people! Things definitely don't get easier with minifigs involved. I think that due to the weird proportions of minifigs, it's almost inevitable that the interior of an aircraft will be cramped. I always struggle to find enough space -even on bombers- and I typically only include the crew that you can actually see from the outside and don't bother with the rest. It's not worth the trouble. I suspect that the interior of the real Ju-88 wasn't exactly spacious either. I've looked at night fighter versions myself. They didn't have the ventral canoe and carried three crew in the cockpit. the pilot had a proper seat, as did the gunner facing aft, but the third crew-member was sort-of wedged between them. I completely understand your desire to do something that other people haven't done yet. I feel a similar way. Even if I do build an aircraft that other people have done before, I generally try to come with my own solutions. The B-17 hasn't come to anything yet and has been put on the back-burner for a while. I am working on a WW2 project -a V2 launch site- and am planning a few more aircraft, but they are more modern and most likely won't be minifig scale: an F-105 Thunderchief and a USMC AV-8B Harrier. Feel free to drop me a line if you're looking for some advice when building your next aircraft. I'm not very quick when it comes to replying (as you can tell), but I generally do reply eventually Cheers, Ralph

Thank you. Less than a week mate. It's a shame you are not coming. It would have been nice to meet you. Building the colour scheme using bricks rather than resorting to stickers is part of the fun if building vehicles like this, albeit expensive in terms of 1x1 plates that it requires. Thank you very much. Thanks. You know, I figured that they'd have some fire engines there and spent a fair bit of time searcing flickr flickr and bricklink to see whether I could find any pictures. Perhaps I should have searched longer, but I didn't find any! Cheers, Ralph

I think you've done a reasonable job of recreating the shape of the Ju-88, which is no mean feat by itself, bu I'm not sure your choices were wise. Your model has a wingspan of about 100 studs, which works out to a scale of approximately 1/25. That's huge. It's about 80% bigger than what I would consider appropriate. Even at 1/35, which is bigger than I like myself but is considered OK by a fair few military builders, a model would still be a lot smaller than what you've ended up with. I briefly considered building a minifig scale Ju-88 night fighter a while ago and worked out that the forward fuselage would end up being five studs wide at the scale I like -roughly 1/43. The difficulty of fitting a crew into that was one of the reasons why I ultimately didn't build it and decided to to build a He-219 Uhu instead -only to find that squeezing a crew into that was pretty difficult as well. Minifigures are wide fellows and trying to fit minifig crew into a LEGO aircraft is inevitably a pain, but at six wide it should be doable with a little SNOT work. The canoe fairing could be three wide and still (just about) house a minifig with some panels and SNOT work and by mounting it using a half-stud offset would look OK. I gave a fair bit of thought to this myself back when I was thinking about building one, but I ultimately decided that I didn't want to compromise on the scale. This is not a bad model by any means, but my advice is that if you value accuracy, ditch the minifigs altogether. They're only an awkward distraction. That's what I do for most of my aircraft models and I think it hasn't hurt them at all. If you do want to build minifig scale, perhaps focusing more on something that looks decent with a figure next to it will provide better value for your efforts than trying to fit the whole crew inside. Cheers, Ralph

In the last few months I've built several models that I haven't posted on Eurobricks, but for this one I decided to make an exception. Next week I'll be traveling to the UK to attend AFOLCon and The LEGO Show in Manchester and I built this model for the occassion. I've displayed military models at shows in the UK many times, but this time around I wanted something that was civilian as well as recognisably British. A few months ago I already built a British Police car and an Ambulance. I felt that the twosome wouldn't be complete without a fire engine of some sort. The vehicle I chose to build is a Mercedes Econic turntable ladder as used bye the London Fire Brigade. The model has a two-piece extendable ladder that is approximately 70 cm tall when fully extended. Mercedes Econic turntable ladder (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr The turntable ladder uses a Mercedes Econic chassis. The Econic was designed with a low cab and a low step into the cab. This makes it particularly suitable for uses where the driver or passengers have to frequently step in and out of the vehicle, for instance for distribution or refuse trucks. It also means that with an Econic chassis the overall height of a ladder truck can be lower than if it were to use a conventional truck chassis and cab, allowing the truck to go under low bridges. Mercedes Econic turntable ladder (2) by Mad physicist, on Flickr British emergency vehicles typically have a pattern of chevrons on the back, increasing their visibility. Cabin doors and equipment hatches can be opened, the outriggers can be extended and raised and the model also has an old 9V Light and system for the roof lights and siren. Mercedes Econic turntable ladder (7) by Mad physicist, on Flickr Here are all three vehicles together. British Emergency Vehicles (1) by Mad physicist, on Flickr I am very much looking forward to displaying these (as well as my collection of Dutch police vehicles) at AFOLCon/ the LEGO Show and look forward to showing them to those of you who'll be there in person. If you're considering going, if only as a visitor, do so! It'll be grand. Cheers, Ralph

That's the one I was unsure about, hence "my most if not all" comment. It's not listed on bricklink yet, so that probably is new in dark green. Not the most useful part imaginable, but it's something, I guess.There may also be other less obvious parts. Perhaps even larger plates in the wings. It is nice to have such a large quantity of dark green in the same set. It usually only comes in small hands full.

Are you serious? Since they also sell Technic to eight-year olds, I can't imagine them thinking it's too advanced In many cases it simply doesn't make sense to use anything other than studded beams in combination with system elements, quite simply because you can attach bricks and plates directly to the beams!

No it doesn't. I agree that the dimensions of a 2x4 are similar to those of real-world building bricks, but so is a brick where the width is twice the height and the length is four times the height (which would make a 1x1x1 brick a cube). The result would still be rectangular, suitable for building walls, and the overall proportions wouldn't have been all that different from the current 2x4. Even starting with the 2x4 brick, a stack of 5 2x4 bricks is as tall as a row of three 2x4 bricks lying side-by-side is wide. I have a really hard time believing that this is a coincidence and unless you have a reference somewhere that explains this, I'm not buying it. It's also not as though they chose integer measures in a convenient measurement system.

I don't like them. I understand the reason for having them and it does make building the set easier. However, I generally don't build sets. I pretty part them out straight out of the box. For doing that, it's much nicer to know that, say, all of the 1x1 red plates are in just one bag (albeit mixed in with other stuff) rather than having several different bags with completely different contents that can still have 1x1 red plates in them because they're used in multiple sub models.

You certainly seemed to be suggesting that 1x1 bricks aren't cubes because cubes make for a lousy building material. If that's a misunderstanding, then I'm sorry. It's self evident that you need rectangular bricks rather than 1x1 bricks for building strong walls, but that doesn't tell you anything about why 1x1 bricks aren't cubes, which was what the OP was asking about!

As you guys can see from my avatar, I build planes out of LEGO. The previous model was gorgeous -one of the few sets I still have in one piece- and this one looks pretty good too. It is definitely on my wish list. A shame that most -if not all- of the dark green parts on it are already available from other sets. I could do with some 1x1 dark green plates, LEGO!

Don't be silly. I'd be very surprised if anybody here would like to see all elements being 1x1x1 cubes and that's not what the OP is suggesting either. Properly formulated his question would be: why is the 1x1 brick not a cube? You could have 1x1x1 cubes, with other elements having a width and length that is an integral multiple of the height. That would make a 1x2x1 brick essentially two 1x1x1 cubes side by side. There's no reason why that wouldn't work, as shown by Modulex. However, I completely agree with Dfenz. The dimensions that were chosen, for whatever reason, offer possibilities that you wouldn't have if the basic unit were cube-shaped. Cheers, Ralph

Thank you. You've definitely given it your own twist and I am glad that my model was one of the things that inspired it. In turn, my model was inspired by a scene built by Firas Abu-Jaber. I love the ticket machine, by the way. Cheers, Ralph

Very nice Routemaster, andybear, and a lovely scene. Well built with very nice details. However, I can't help wondering whether the similarities of the whole scene to my own are a coincidence. Cheers, Ralph

I'm not quite sure I understand what you are looking for, but how about something like the sign on my pub? The Lion Pub by Mad physicist, on Flickr Cheers, Ralph

I think the yellow is an improvement. The lime green can work well on a UK ambulance (as you can see here), because there the colour has to be different from the yellow used for the body, but for police vehicles and this traffic officer's vehicle, yellow is much nicer. I also like the chevron markings on the tailgate. I think you've definitely raised the standard of the model. I wouldn't lower the mudguards. They are quite closely wrapped around the tyres on the real vehicle, but the bit of space you have now makes it look much more like an off-roader than if you were to lower it. Cheers, Ralph

I like that idea much better. PF motors and battery box are chunky things, that you can just about squeeze them into a more-or-less minifig scale semi-truck or bus. An NXT is big that is bigger than any minifig scale vehicle that would look sensible in a city. A system that drives the vehicles from underneath through thin road plates -you could also have a small train running underneath it rather than a chain- means that you can have much smaller vehicles. I know I've seen somebody do it. The radius of the curves in the road plates is much smaller than that of the train track, and he even solved that by a separate guidance rail that followed the road and that guided an arm with the magnet that was hinged to the train. I've spent a bit if time searching the 'net for it, but can't find it. Cheers, Ralph

No. You need to copy and paste the BBCode. Not the html. Cheers, Ralph