Ralph_S

Toys R Us in the Netherlands doesn't exist any more? What? I obviously have been away for too long! The one that I used to go to on a reasonably regular basis was the one in Eindhoven, which was in the city centre. They too used to have a PaB, although the last time I was there (probably December last year) that was gone. It was quite a nice store, but the prices were usually as high or higher than the Lego online store. It was only worthwhile when they had a three-for-two deal. Cheers, Ralph

That's a lot of praise. Thank you. I love the trucks LEGO makes for their city sets -certainly compared to what they used to look like five years ago or when I was a child- but there's comparatively little fun to be had in essentially copying what they do. My models aren't built to be played with, so I can choose to push things a bit further. What helps, of course, is that I've been building a lot of minifig cars in the last year or so and I;d like to think I keep getting better at it. Cheers, Ralph

Nicely done. I'm no stranger to five-wide cars myself, but you're taking it to the next level. Cheers, Ralph

I think you'll find that many people do know it. In fact, it's a pretty famous model, probably in part because LEGO re-released it a few years ago as an exclusive, set number 10021. By today's standards the model may not be all that exciting, but I remember seeing it in an old catalogue when I was a child and wanting one badly. I never did get one, but I own two of the re-released versions -not so much for the model, but because they were a fantastic source for small plates. Cheers, Ralph

Interestingly, about three or four years ago most TRUs in The Netherlands had small PaB selection as did some German stores. I don't think I ever saw any attendants. The parts were alway a bit limited and it wasn't cheap, but I did get some good parts there every once in a while. As far as I know none of the stores still have them now, although I haven't been to many of the stores in question in the last few years. I can only speculate why. Cheers, Ralph

I agree with you as a whole, but I do think that in terms of construction workers, there is a very important biological factor that we can't deny: working in construction requires a lot of physical strength and on average men are physically stronger than women. We can talk equal rights and social pressure as much as we want, but we can't deny biology. That's not to say that there are no women who are strong enough to do it or that women ought to be actively discouraged from wanting such jobs, of course. Cheers, Ralph

Thank you. that's what I try to do, make my minifig vehicles just that little bit more detailed. Windows are the main drawback of building 7-wide. There simply aren't any suitable windscreen pieces. I could have tried to fit a six-wide one on there, I suppose, but filling in the half stud spaces on either side would have been awkward. I think you may be missing something, or more precisely, confusing two things: SNOT and studless. Studless means you;ve got no studs showing. SNOT is a name most AFOLs I know associate with a whole range of building techniques that involve mounting parts such that their studs aren't pointing up (or in case of tiles, that the gaps the studs stick into aren't just pointing down). Depending on what you build, you can build studless without using any SNOT techniques, by slapping tiles on every surface, for instance. My truck obviously isn't studless, but it has SNOT techniques all over the place: in the striping on the equipment doors, the mudguards, and the entire front of the truck from the front doors forward. Thanks. I know you value 'playability', but my minifig stuff is mainly built for display purposes. Most of it is reasonably sturdy (I don't want things to fall to pieces), but looks to me are by far the most important part of models like this. I am glad you like it. Cheers, Ralph

Thanks guys. As a hobbyist I've got a number of advantages over LEGO's set designers: my models don't have to be built by 7-year olds and I don't have to keep the price and parts count low in order for my model to be able to compete with other toys. Some parts of this thing are very fragile and very complicated and would never be suitable for mass production. Cheers, Ralph

During the last two months I've been happily building minifig scale cars and trucks. All of these are going to be part of a large collaborative display at the Great Western LEGO show in Swindon in the UK in early October. I've never made it a secret that I really like fire engines and I've built a fair few. However, until now I didn't have a model of a contemporary minifig scale US pumper truck. I originally wasn't going to build a fire engine of any sort for this display, but I've really been itching to build one, irrespective of whether it'll be on the display or not. As usual, pictures are links. more pictures I wanted quite a lot from this one: working doors, working equipment hatches, a typical paint job with stripes running down the side and an overall realistic look. I'm very happy with the result and I hope that Eurobricks members will appreciate it too. Cheers, Ralph

I'm normally the last person to start talking lecturing people on build techniques, but I do feel that in this case the mostly studs-up construction of the front makes it look a bit clunky. Some half-stud offsets and a radiator made with grille tiles could make it look a bit nicer. Still, it's a nice truck and I always like to see representations of a fairly everyday vehicle. Trucks are workhorses first and foremost and this one has that look. It's surprising how much more detail you can fit in a vehicle that's just a little bit wider than the norm. Cheers, Ralph

I wasn't sure where to add a comment to this excellent MOC. I really like it. The overall proportions, the level of detail, the techniques and most of all the really nice colour scheme. It's a typical Gambort creation. Cheers, Ralph

Of course the new much smaller battery box helps a lot with making the vehicle smaller than any I've seen so far, but you've still done an impressive job packing all this stuff into a vehicle this small. Nicely done. Ralph

I think 'showing off' has a negative ring to it that you hopefully don't intend. I'm not the world's best photographer, but sharing MOCs through the internet is part of my enjoyment. I'd still be building if there weren't an internet (I was building before there was an internet as such and long before I found out about sites such as brickshelf, eurobricks and mocpages about five years ago), but being part of a LUG and being active on sites such as these has added a social dimension to the hobby that there wasn't before. Cheers, Ralph

I'm going for new and rare stuff. Useful things that I cannot easily get my hands on otherwise. Think 1x1 orange plates, 1x1 orange tiles, 1x1 green tiles and orange jumper plates. I'm not going to waste the small amount of money that I can spend on this on anything I can get in sets in fairly large quantities or can buy from bricklink comparatively cheaply. Cheers, Ralph

I can relate to that somewhat. My MOCs are often quite fragile, but that's usually because of the working functions. Retracting undercarriages on planes, sliding doors on minifig scale vans etc. However, their value is not in enabling me to play with the MOCs, although that is how much of it started many years ago. Their value now lies in the challenge of making them work I've given up on swooshing, except for special occasions: I swear I wasn't making any noise! I think your observation may be somewhat biased by the type of people you run into on the internet. People for whom playing with LEGO is much more important than building models are far less likely to spend time sharing pictures of their latest models on the internet, through flickr, for instance. Some of the people who are into sharing pictures seem to be pretty competitive which fosters a degree of rudeness. Cheers, Ralph

I didn't know about this either, but it makes a lot of sense, actually. It's good service to you, as a customer, and while all of these sites may be unofficial, the stuff that is being traded has at one point been sold by LEGO, so a healthy trade there is also in LEGO's best interest. Cheers, Ralph

Well, yeah, although I wasn't told about that in advance! Cheers, Ralph

Some interesting comments have already been made. LEGO for me is about building. Sets are little more than parts collections and I collect parts with the intention of building new models. I suppose I still play, but not in the way I used to as a child. I don't come up with elaborate stories, stage air-to-air combat or attribute personalities to any of my figures any more and don't drive my minifig cars down my city street, but I can easily spend hours fiddling around with the details on a model to get it just right and for public displays still try to come up with little scenes that tell a story that visitors may see (such as a fire-man rescuing a cat from a tree). Play, but in a different way. Cheers, Ralph

I too was specifically referring to the cab-over-engine type trucks. I do love American torpedo-nose trucks with all their bells and whistles and I also like European trucks, such as Scanias or DAFs and I built a minifig scale version last year. Thanks. I am not aware of that show and just chose the colours because I wanted something that stood out a bit. I do have a heavy duty wrecker but in a different colour scheme. Cheers, Ralph

I can't say I remember a flatbed truck, but that doesn't mean I didn't see it. I suspect my main inspiration for it was one of my own older models though. i built a 1/22 scale flat bed recover vehicle years ago. It's still on <a href=http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=128727>brickshelf</a>. I've always liked US ambulances and I do remember yours. I can't say I was specifically thinking about it when building mine, but with hindsight I realise they are quite similar vehicles. Thanks. Cheers, Ralph

Thank you very much for the praise, but it's you guys who took it to a new level with the added power functions in particular. Cheers, Ralph

I agree, the loading mechanism is a really nice feature. I always like to add a bit of functionality and in this case, the small scale is a huge advantage, because straightforward hinges can do the job rather than some more complicated (Technic) construction. You definitely were the main instigator. Thanks. Those two concepts go hand-in-hand (Just kidding Americans) Nice job. Nice build, but I don't really see a mean muscle car in it, but perhaps that has more to do with my mental image of a muscle car. Different people have different understandings of what a musclecar is. I was thinking about the sort of vehicles they had in the late sixties, early seventies; little different from a full size family car but with a wild paintjob and huge engine. You may be thinking of something that looks a bit more 'muscular' too, like a Challenger. Thanks. At first it had just a black stripe running down the length of the hood, but I had plenty of space for something a bit more creative. Thanks. I'm glad you like them. I am really enjoying building them and there'll undoubtedly be a few more before October! Cheers, Ralph

In the last few days I've continued to build minifig scale vehicles, building three new ones. I don't want to reveal too much, but they are intended for a large collaborative display (with an American theme) at The Great Western LEGO show 2009 in Swindon in the UK in early October. The first (and probably nicest) is a flatbed recovery truck. The loading mechanism actually works. There's been an influx of vehicles that are an odd number of studs wide on eurobricks in the last few months and I'd like to think that I was a big part of that. This vehicle also contains many sections that are an odd number of studs wide. The second vehicle is a US 'flatnose' truck. Most American trucks have so-called torpedo noses, but some have a similar arrangement to that most common in Europe, with the cab sitting on top of the engine. Of course LEGO produce quite a few of these for their city line, but those somehow look very European. I wanted one that looked American, even though it isn't necessarily the most attractive. The third car I built is a lot simpler. it is five studs wide and is supposed to represent a generic 'seventies American muscle car. Finally a shot of all three together: Tell me what you think. Cheers, Ralph

The rims do come in grey, on a technic tractor, but the tyres on that are threaded. The hard trucks contest is a competition organised by doublebrick, a Russian LUG. There was an article about it in brickjournal a while ago. I've seen several other really impressive trucks come out of that and it's great to see more members from Russia active on eurobricks. Cheers, Ralph

This is a very nice truck. It's recognisable, detailed and built to my favourite scale Lovely SNOT work for the steps on the sides. I'm amazed that you managed to squeeze a working power functions system in there. I'm curious though, I don't think I've ever seen a front tyre like that. Where did that come from? Cheers, Ralph