alienwar9

I'm planning on building a large scale Lego model to: auction off for charity, or donate to charity. I need to raise the funds and the pieces to build it however, and I was wondering how I could legally setup an online donation system that allows people to send money and/or Lego pieces. I'd be putting up a few thousand to start it (hopefully I can save enough to get a good chunk started). The charity foundation I was thinking could be of Eurobricks' choice. I also wanted to know if it would be better for me to auction off the model and give the proceeds to charity, or somehow give the model to an organization so that they can generate donations with it. If I were to auction it off, I was also wondering if I could use some of the proceeds to start another model and continue the process, making and auctioning models for charity. (This would only be if the first model is successful enough). The model itself would cost $15,000 or more to build, so would it even be reasonable to auction off? Would companies, or people looking to donate a lot of money be willing to pay that much to take a giant Lego model? (thinking people with lots of money and nothing to do with it, or extreme AFOLS ) If I were to give the model to an organization, how would that work? Who would accept something like an enormous 11 x 13 ft model? Would I have to travel with the model if they display it for fund raising? Finally, what would be the best way to setup the donation system for the pieces/money? Where could I have the pieces shipped to (I would have to make the address public, so would a P.O. box be better? Would it be big enough to fit large groups of pieces)? I know it is a lot of questions, but I want to make sure I do this right. Anyone with good legal knowledge please help. Thanks, -Alienwar9 Model details and pictures up soon!

AHHH! Missed it. I actually really need that for this large project I'm doing. It would be an absolute pain to physically build such a large model and have to guess always what kind of pieces I need and test different ways of building, and there are points where I really need the aid of some pieces that aren't available (or colors to test the look). On normal builds I'd understand "the workaround" creative process for finding piece combos that work, but on a large build, I need to keep prices down and be efficient with my piece usage. I have to pick through my collection to find pieces that might work in situations. Sometimes the test requires large amounts of pieces that I just don't have at the moment. I do understand why it is taken down too though. Just wish TLG allowed it themselves. On another note, they should add different ways of sorting pieces by their purpose/usage. On my large project it gets to be a pain trying to find which piece fits a situation. Don't get me wrong, I love the process, but when it comes to making hundreds of these decisions, its a little overwhelming (my fault too for shooting sky high). Not to mention a piece count for the model currently being worked on, and a breakdown page of the pieces used like at the end of set instructions. Also, it would be nice if they had a little "mini" price next to each piece in the palette, and a breakdown of the final price and what its made of. Oh, and it would be great if someone integrated bricklink (though I see how that may be an issue). Come to think of it, is there a way we can suggest ideas for future LDD updates/versions to them?

24,087 pieces were counted. But thats after an addition of a ton of pieces, and the taking away of a ton of pieces. wow it took a long time to generate instruction, lol. Yeah, its a big model. And its about half way done so... Oh, and if I were to add in the real details to the model on the LDD, it would be even more pieces. So basically, I really need an efficient program to get this built on LDD.

how do you find out how many pieces a model is? I have a intel quad 3.2 GHz, nvidia 8800 ultra, 4 gb of ram. Oh, and the OpenGL thing seems to be the problem. I've had the thing crash when I save, crash when I save as, or crash when I put a certain number of pieces together. At one point I couldn't do ANYTHING because any movement made it crash. I tried the compatability mode, but OH MY is that slow. I spent an entire day trying to get one building floor on top of another, having to reload the model over and over (with 5-10 minute load times). I'm pretty sure my drivers are up to date for my graphics card (updated it a few months ago). As a temporary solution, I've saved parts of the model off as templates and taken them out. But eventually I'll be coming close to an extreme point again, this time unable to save off parts. Any ideas? Is it possible to load this model into those programs you mentioned? Because I have soooo much already done. Thanks for the help!

Hi, I'm trying to build a HUGE model in LDD and I've got plenty of ram and cpu to handle the work, but LDD doesn't seem to use more than 1 core from my processor, and it only gets to using 30-40% of my memory. It sometimes takes 4-5 minutes to rotate an object and a couple minutes to move it 1-2 studs in a direction. Is there any way (any code) that could allow the program to run more efficiently or something? Or is there any other program that I could migrate the work to? (Because I've already spent DAYS working on this.) I'm not even half way done and its this slow, which means further on its either just going to make me go insane, or crash. Thanks for any help! (Project will soon have a "start" post in the coming weeks)

well, I might be selling a custom set, or auctioning it off starting at $15,000. Though that base price is what the price of the pieces by themselves will cost, and I'm hoping to get donations to be able to build it and then sell it for charity. Its a few year project that I'm starting, one of three, but I have to look up the laws and regulations on collecting such a large amount of money in donations. I'm putting up at least a few thousand to start the project, and hoping that a percentage of the final sale can go towards each new project. So that sale/donation might hit a new high. I'm currently in works on the LDD model. Unfortunately LDD has trouble with such large models and sometimes takes 4 minutes to rotate a section. Its been in a planning stage for almost half a year, but I've finally put the pieces together (hehe) on how to actually do this. In the coming weeks I should be posting an official "start" to the project, with pictures and details. But yeah, its a lot of money and a lot of pieces.

I see that as a good thing It always gets me to buy just another little set to make it.

This is a really great idea, and yes, I also think it should be expanded to online, but I also noticed that you actually get less of a reward this way than the stamp cards. Because With the second set of $200 you spend on a stamp card you get a reward of $20 instead of $10. The VIP would come out awarding you only $10. I don't know about everyone else, but I was saving for a long time for a really large purchase and I was counting on those extra $10 + $20 to save me. Oh, and that whole special reward when you buy the grand carousel...how is that exactly special? 250 points for $250 spent. I might be missing the point here (no pun intended)

signed. I so wished that the pirates line went along the lines of the first years of pirates with all the additional sets. Please bring pirates back!

Thanks a ton! I think I'm gonna go for those shelves you have but in 2 ft size, CP. I checked that cabinet out VBBN....unfortunately it is like most cabinets and not 2 feet deep and its quite pricey, though it looks very nice. I also have bins like that, though in all different shapes and sizes. All closet folk. How do you attach the line to the ceiling? I've always wanted to create giant space battles hanging from the ceiling but I didn't want to make holes in the ceiling. Oh, while I'm at it. Does anyone have the problem of "funny looking dust" coupled with hard peeling chipping stickers and occasionally slightly discolored pieces? For some reason this is happening to some of my sets that are sitting on the floor. Oddly not all stickers get hard and peel, only some (not that I'm a fan of stickers anyway, but). I'm thinking its either from the sun, the low humidity in the room, or the fact that the temperature isn't controlled in that room. Anyone have any ideas? (btw, the funny dust. its harder to take off, comes in 2 layers, and has red, green, and brown spots. very icky)

Hello, I was lately thinking of how to store all of my Lego because as of now it fills up the floor of an entire room and gets way too dusty. I was thinking of building wide shelf spaces all around the walls and enclosing them in glass doors, but then I realized I wouldn't know the first thing about making all those shelves and especially the glass doors. I wanted glass doors to keep dust out, but that makes finding shelves even harder. I also moved about 4 years ago and had to put a ton of my collection into boxes for moving. Since then they have sat in those boxes in a closet, and all the while the floor of that room just got more and more cluttered. I always wanted to setup a giant diorama in the center of the room and have the unused sets displayed all around, but I can't figure out how to get this done. I can't get to any of my Lego anymore and it all just sits there as a result Is there any way to find 2 feet deep shelves? I've been looking around ikea and furniture stores but they all have smaller shelves that wouldn't fit some of my sets (or future planned MOCs). How do some of you store your Lego collection if its large? I really hate the idea of having them sit in boxes, and especially dislike taking them apart to be stored.

OK, so I didn't think about this but yeah, I guess PMing would be a good way too. I have some of the questions up there in my first post, so feel free to pm me. I was thinking about looking at profiles, but I kind of feel like that stuff is for site users and would be too private for me to use in the research. Thanks for the links to the interviews and other places to look at. Very helpful, though those are a lot of interviews (hope I have enough time. I am on a deadline with little free time to spare) Well, just to make it easier, here's a list of questions -Where are you from? -How old are you? (general is ok too) -Name? -male/female? -single or married? -kids, pets, imaginary friends, real imaginary friends, side personalities in minifigs/username? -what do you do for a living? -Any other hobbies/activities? -Why did you become a Lego fan? -When did you start? -Why did you join the Eurobricks community? (what do you think about it. remember you can PM me just in case) -What do you do here? (do you have any jobs, lead anything, create anything, are part of anything?) -How much time do you spend here typically? -How much time do you typically spend with Lego? And a few new questions -Have you gone through a "dark period" with Lego or the website? -Why? -How do you feel about being part of this community? -How do you feel about being a Lego fan? -How do people around you view it? -If in a relationship, what are the interactions with them and your Legos? (what do they think, do, how they feel) (save purchasing/monetary topic answers for later) -Same as above, but for kids? and pets and so on? -What do you think about the "spirit" of the website? Its friendliness? -Has your relationship with Lego changed? Once again, thank you for your help and participation. Oh, btw wow with the eurobricks study picture. Thanks how long did that take, cause its really cool that you took time to make it, adam.

Hello, For almost 3 1/2 years I've been going through the many forums of eurobricks, seeing whats new, what amazing new MOC someone has built, some of the games and groups that have been made, and looking at anything interesting in the Lego world. Now, for a research study on a culture, I've decided to do one on eurobricks. This all sounds so un-fun, but I thought the best way to start was to use what this place was made for, get everyone to talk, and see what I as well as the community can learn from each other. It would be helpful too if you would like to post some good places to look for information and study on this site, whether it be forums here or somewhere else on the web. Any indexes, interviews, or really cool places. I will try to search around myself, but this site is quite big and I am not that skilled at finding stuff. A basic demographic would be nice to set up, to see where people are from, how old is everyone here, male and female, single or married, family?, jobs, and so on. Just to get to know each other a little bit. This is an ongoing research, so I'll be studying behavior, psychology, rituals, language, and whatnot; coming in periodically to update and add more questions and go further in to the community. If there is anything you do not want shared just don't post it. Names would be nice , but its up to you. Anything you want to say about yourself, why you became a Lego fan, why you joined the eurobricks community, what you do here, what you think about this site, and how much time you spend for the site you can write. Thank you for helping me out By the way, does this fit here or in the "website and forums" section? Oh, and it would be really cool to get a lot of the moderators and leaders of anything to join in, you guys know this place the best. Finally, if anyone wants, it would be helpful to get a wiki type detail of what this site really is, all the things that are in it, whats going on, how everything works, and the interesting facts and facets of this site.

Thank you very very much. I guess I will have to wait then to see if Sith35's custom guns are better than brickarms or not.

I was searching for custom weapon models and had never been to little armory toys before but have seen their products so I wanted to go to their page but it said they will be coming back soon. Why did they go? Is their website down for some reason, or are they doing something big? I just came back to Lego from a little dazed spell, so if anyone knows anything could they tell me?

I have just started using peeron, as you said, and it is taking me forever so i divided it to a two part thing. One for sets after 2000 and one for before. So far i got to page 8 out of 35 and got 75 sets and 23,000 pieces. After i will do the before 2000s count. I just counted my minifig count though, and it is at or around 2000 people.

Here is the second part of the picture. Some stuff is moved around.

Thanks! Here are the pictures of some ships. Top left is evil ship. Top middle is good medium fighter. Top right are some extra support ships. Second top left would be a battleship/ freighter class. second top right would also be good side b/f class. 3rd top left is of a mothership on the right side, a specialty ship in middle, and b/f class ships on left. 3rd top right is evil b/f or cruisers and behind is a evil destroyer. Bottom left is good side fighters. These would be the tiny ships in packages. Finally center bottom is a cruiser class for good side. There are some other pictures I will try to find but for now these are some to give you an idea. Thanks. I would love to hear opinions. Also if anyone actually built something like this I would love to see it. EDIT: The picture wouldn't fit so I split it in two parts and moved around some parts on the second picture. Hope it's not too hard to figure out. :P

Well I can show you pics of the ships from the game as an idea or inspiration for the models. Problem is I'm kinda new to the whole posting thing and I dont' know how. Can someone clue me in on how to put pictures in? Thank you.

Hi everyone. I know I posted this on another topic but I just wanted to bring it out. This is an idea I had for a new space theme that I always wanted Lego to make. I know this is long but I really would like other's opinions and ideas like this. So here it is. I was thinking of one based off a video game type space theme. I doubt this idea will ever be possible but I have been planning it all out. Every set, their prices, packaging, marketing scheme( is that how you spell it?). You would have two set groups( good and evil. Just not generic black vs. white). Set groups would be like the knights Kingdom sets as one year is based on good with a few evil sets sprinkled about. The next year would be based on evil with a few good sets sprinkled. The sets would be: - packages of 3-4 mini fighter ships. Those would be in the $5 range. That might be a little too hopeful. It is like the old days of mini-fig packs. -battleships and frieghters. $15-20 range. These might include opposite side fighter ship. -specialty ships (cargo, civilian, research). Those would fit in $10-15 range. These would include very small supply parts and extra pieces. cruisers. $30 range. Can come with a couple fighters. -heavy cruisers. These would be very detailed coming with a few fighters from each side. $40 range. -Base stations and construction hubs. These would include either a battleship or frieghter and a couple fighters. $50-60 range. -Destroyer. Very large ship. Can open up. Has docks, turrets at main points, main station, comms port. Comes with many fighters, and 2 battleships. $70-90 range. -Mothership. I was thinking maybe it could come as two parts but that would be illogical. Comes with detachable parts, central power core, huge docks, engine blocks, research and defense units. Comes with a cruiser, battleship and frieghter, and one enemy battleship. $100+ range. -Super alien ship. This is like a special class set. It is sort of seperate than the others and is released later on. It comes with its own kind of fighters, and half-battleship/ half-cruiser ship. Or it comes with some sort of portal or gate. This would be around the $50-60 range but I'm guessing realistically with specialty like this it would be $90. I was also thinking of having them do a bionicle type think where they use mini-figs after these in a "mini-fig" version. That would be kind of wierd though. It could work as large scale fighters of the small ones and battle scenes on planets with mini-figs. None of the sets would come with mini-figs ( unless just for special model characters that come as extra bonuses) as that would throw off the size. These sets cannot be mini-fig fitting because the mini-fig would almost be the size of the fighter. If one were to look for inspiration ( this is the idea I was going for. Just don't use a lisense deal as it is rated Teen) they should look at Homeworld 2 ( computer videogame). I thing lego looking ships like that would be very amazing( obviously not that detailed). You could build fleets of fighters and have then dock or combine sets for a megamothership.

I think it is really cool how they have a ladder going up the side of the crane. It looks great. The bridge is awful. I don't really mind the truck though. I see they are now using new tires. Has anyone else noticed them? They look like chrome hubcaps that are on hotwheels. I will have to break into all my savings next year.

I was thinking of one based off a video game type space theme. I doubt this idea will ever be possible but I have been planning it all out. Every set, their prices, packaging, marketing scheme( is that how you spell it?). You would have two set groups( good and evil. Just not generic black vs. white). Set groups would be like the knights Kingdom sets as one year is based on good with a few evil sets sprinkled about. The next year would be based on evil with a few good sets sprinkled. The sets would be: - packages of 3-4 mini fighter ships. Those would be in the $5 range. That might be a little too hopeful. It is like the old days of mini-fig packs. -battleships and frieghters. $15-20 range. These might include opposite side fighter ship. -specialty ships (cargo, civilian, research). Those would fit in $10-15 range. These would include very small supply parts and extra pieces. cruisers. $30 range. Can come with a couple fighters. -heavy cruisers. These would be very detailed coming with a few fighters from each side. $40 range. -Base stations and construction hubs. These would include either a battleship or frieghter and a couple fighters. $50-60 range. -Destroyer. Very large ship. Can open up. Has docks, turrets at main points, main station, comms port. Comes with many fighters, and 2 battleships. $70-90 range. -Mothership. I was thinking maybe it could come as two parts but that would be illogical. Comes with detachable parts, central power core, huge docks, engine blocks, research and defense units. Comes with a cruiser, battleship and frieghter, and one enemy battleship. $100+ range. -Super alien ship. This is like a special class set. It is sort of seperate than the others and is released later on. It comes with its own kind of fighters, and half-battleship/ half-cruiser ship. Or it comes with some sort of portal or gate. This would be around the $50-60 range but I'm guessing realistically with specialty like this it would be $90. I was also thinking of having them do a bionicle type think where they use mini-figs after in a "mini-fig" version. That would be kind of wierd though. None of the sets would come with mini-figs ( unless just for special model characters that come as extra bonuses) as that would throw off the size. These sets cannot be mini-fig fitting because the mini-fig would almost be the size of the fighter. If one were to look for inspiration ( this is the idea I was going for. Just don't use a lisense deal as it is rated Teen) they should look at Homeworld 2 ( computer videogame). I thing lego looking ships like that would be very amazing( obviously not that detailed). You could build fleets of fighters and have then dock or combine sets for a megamothership. What do you think?

I really had a set slip by. I went to Slovakia in Europe to look for old sets and in one store I found the original lego airport and the old 6339 suttle pad. I decided to get the airport as I didn't have enough money with me. When I went back the launch pad was gone. This was a long while ago so I had no clue that the airport was going to be remade. What a bad choice. If I had gotten the launch pad I could have both as I would buy the new legends airport. |-/

I must have a bad memory but what's the largest system set? I'm on low brain cells here.

I don't have much of a collection of pirate sets. Although I really want to get all the pirate sets( no 4+. Its a boundary I set for myself) If anyone has a large collection and wants to sell it I'd be willing to buy if its not too expensive( keeping a tight wallet) My mini list: 6281 Pirates Perilous Pitfall 6285 Black Seas Barracuda 6289 Red Beard Runner (2x) 6278 Enchanted Island 6280 Armada Flagship 6236 King Kahuka sets I really want: 6271 Imperial Flagship 6277 Imperial Trading Post 6286 Skull's Eye Schooner ( lost in eBay war. REALLY want) 6276 El Dorado Fortress I really need more pirate sets. If anyone has a LARGE collection I wound be willing to buy. (Really willing).....(desperately willing)