Khaled Yousef

Wow, love those micro scale ships, especially the Zeta Class, it just looks epic. Keep them coming.

Very interesting mortesv, and then maybe add a 6*6 dish on top of those four to get a clean finish. But you’re right; looking at the refrence photo, it looks like 10*10 is just the right one for this scale.

Thanks for the nice comments everyone, you make the effort worthwhile. Leonardo: thanks; I thought about reducing the studs a little but I found that they give a more detailed and gritty texture to the hull. Mortesv: I’m a big fan of your MOCs (your Rebel Fleet… OMG), I’m glad you liked this, and can’t wait to see the one you’re working on. I wish they made 12*12 dishes; that would look even better. Raskolnikov: I bow to you sir; your Star Destroyer is an inspiration to me. Here is a picture of the edge connection; it’s quite simple, and it can be even sturdier by using an additional plate below the black 1*4 plate. The black 1*4 plate is also the one with two studs on top not the normal one, so it would connect on both sides and not conflict with the plates’ alignment. ChristopherLee: I was working from pictures of the ILM model, trying to get as many details squeezed into this model as possible, glad you liked it.

This is actually a great complement, I’m glad you guys found my photography and some photo editing to be as convincing as a render. Good high contrast lighting, high-res large sensors and sharp prime lenses give products this 3D look, download the high-res pics from my Flickr account and you'll see the LEGO logo on each stud popping up, and you'll also see the scratches and my fingerprints too... this baby is a real monster, and I’m proud of it. And it’s pretty damn expensive too.

Thank you guys for the comments. KlodsBrick: thanks a lot, I’ve got four more MOCs ready, you won’t be disappointed. Ellisss_2: I’m glad I got you excited for the celebration, waiting to see your Venator. I really wanted it to look smooth yet LEGO like, so I combined studs and tiles evenly on purpose, thanks for noticing the effort. But do you think this is a render? It is real brick built MOC.

I’ve been working on this one for quite some time, on and off since 2008, but I finally managed to finish it right in time, so it would be the first real MOC I present to celebrate the Star Wars 40th Anniversary. My design goal was to build accurate rather than just big, so I chose the official UCS set scale (10030), big enough for all important details to fit in yet compact enough to be manageable and sturdy. It’s even swooshable to a certain extent. But I can’t build bigger than that or else things start to bend and break. The challenge with this design was to bring all the angles and orientations together without compromise; the hull plate orientation is perpendicular to the center-line to align with the tower and the docking bay, while the edge is perpendicular to the slope to make a perfect contour line with the side greebling. The tower’s “ceiling” is tilted to the same angle as the hull slope while the levels details which represent the “floors” are perfectly horizontal as they should be. The hull is also built around a tough chassis balanced only on one pillar to expose all bottom hull details for photography; the pillar fits in an opening right at the core of the chassis without the need for pins so it could be installed or uninstalled easily. Hull parts are fixed by Technic links for the bottom part and magnets for the top so it can be easily removed like a modular build. I wanted to work more on the presentation but I had to upload the MOC as soon as possible to catch up with the celebration… I’ve got many more MOCs coming up, and not enough time to do everything perfectly, so I hope this simple presentation is good enough for now. I hope you guys enjoy this one. LEGO Star Wars - Star Destroyer 1 4k by Khaled Yousef, on Flickr LEGO Star Wars - Star Destroyer 2 4K by Khaled Yousef, on Flickr LEGO Star Wars - Star Destroyer 3 4K by Khaled Yousef, on Flickr LEGO Star Wars - Star Destroyer 4 4K by Khaled Yousef, on Flickr LEGO Star Wars - Star Destroyer 6 4K by Khaled Yousef, on Flickr LEGO Star Wars - Star Destroyer 8 4K by Khaled Yousef, on Flickr LEGO Star Wars - Star Destroyer 9 4K by Khaled Yousef, on Flickr LEGO Star Wars - Star Destroyer 10 4K by Khaled Yousef, on Flickr LEGO Star Wars - Star Destroyer 12 4K by Khaled Yousef, on Flickr LEGO Star Wars - Star Destroyer 16 4K by Khaled Yousef, on Flickr

This is just perfect; my heart glows every time I see someone come up with new solutions for curves and angles of SW ships. I’ve been looking for MOCs of Obi-wan’s ship ever since the movie came out in 2002 because the official set wasn’t very satisfying, and yours is by far the most “complete” Jedi Starfighter I’ve seen. Allow me to steal some of those ideas for my MOC (the wedge plates around the cockpit to be precise). Enamel colors have perfect finish, but I find them to be too thick. But your paint job is perfect since it’s thin enough not to obscure the LEGO logo on the studs. Do you use any solvent to make the color more manageable or just apply right out of the bottle?

atlas: no you’re not; maybe I wasn’t joking, because in my dreams they usually don’t. My Leia is causing quite a scene with those sexy legs. I thought about using AreaLight’s loincloth piece in white, but I don’t have one. A Snowtrooper kama (thanks duboismerci) sounds like a good alternative, though it would be a shame to hide those sexy plastic things. (Great, now people are sure I’m a pervert) VaderFan: maybe the muscular torso from the Indiana Jones German mechanic, but it would still need more work with a tunic on the shoulders and arms, so I thought to make a cross-over with the poster from the LEGO Star Wars II videogame. I wanted to stop working on the logo as soon as possible and start finishing the big MOCs coming up.

Thank you guys for the comments; I’m glad you liked it. Elisss: you won’t be disappointed; I’ve got a couple of heavy weight MOCs coming up. JDbricks: Glad you liked the hair; its custom painted in dark tan to match the source material. RetroInferno & VaderFan2187: thanks for clarifying the missing pants issue, so that people don’t think I’m a pervert or something. Back in the Seventies, women didn’t wear pants anyway, I mean, I don’t know for sure, but looking at the original poster from 1977 it seems to be the case. I wish Leia was wearing this outfit from the poster in the movie.

Hello everyone. This year is going to be an awesome Star Wars year; we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Star Wars universe while at the same time enjoying the privilege of living through the birth of a new cinematic chapter of the saga, with the next installment to be also released in that same great year of celebration. And I’m going to celebrate my way; a new MOC every month, covering stuff from the OT, PT and ST as well, and I’m starting my marathon with a small logo as January’s MOC to fire up the excitement. I hope you guys like it. Star Wars 40 Anniversary Logo 2 (small) by Khaled Yousef, on Flickr

Thanks ZCerberus for your reply. Just so you know; I carry the deepest respect to you, hence my disappointment when things didn’t work out very well. Your choice to publicly and personally correct someone who criticized your moderation, and not do the same to another who kept insulting everyone for so long, was the reason I got suspicious of prejudice (remember, you told me you're not going to do anything to him because he's just "strongly opinionated" not insulting at all, which was a baffling comment to me). I apologize if that was an over-reaction from my side, but such comments made the whole thing look really bad. “No one calling other people’s MOCs stupid,” yeah, I’m sure that must’ve got him; he must be feeling really bad now. Don’t get me wrong man, I think you’re doing a great job keeping the History forum together, it’s just that this was my first encounter with you and I’m sorry to say that it was weirdly unpleasant. I really hope I don’t get entangled in a similar situation again and that this incident would be water under the bridge for all parts concerned, including that other member who obviously stopped being insulting. Apparently the hint, hint (what’s that?) really worked. Just give me some time and you’ll see I’m also not such an annoying debating person. It was the cancellation of LOTR that got us all emotional and psychopathic back then. And I made Hinkley get a little hippy-dippy… my first real contribution to the Eurobricks community.

Hinkley: thanks for a very civilized response. And I must say that despite the fact that I completely disagree with the first point you made (because the mod clearly stated he won’t correct that member because he doesn’t consider his insults to be insults at all, and because the points 6, 7 & 8 you quoted were generally directed to everyone and never as a direct response to that member in particular), yet I cannot help but dismiss the entire issue just out of respect to you. Your thoughtful response made me feel a lot better, and I thank you for that. When it comes to internet bullies, I don’t, and probably most people also don’t, need protection to feel safe and whatnot; were not sensitive children, and on websites that allows profanity (think YouTube) I can handle myself pretty well as do most people. But that’s an ugly reality we try to escape from when we come here. When you intervene, you’re not protecting me or making me feel safe as much as you’re protecting the integrity and civilized manner of this place. Your careful response right here assured me that this place still works as expected; the other mod’s response back in the other thread didn’t, because he wasn’t being fare. In this civilized and peaceful looking place we expect the staff members to shield us from offensive misconduct, not because we can’t handle such misbehavior or because we’re afraid, but because if they don’t then this place will turn into a jungle like most other places… I’ve been here for seven years, and I’ve seen how you worked hard to keep things the way they are, and you have no idea how much I appreciate that effort, and how much I’d really hate to see that effort yield to the current negativity wave that’s been sweeping the internet. I agree with all the members who praise the efforts you make in general; we rely on you guys to keep this place civilized, both ways, as in members don’t cross the line of polite conversation AND moderators don’t cross the line of misuse of power by being harsh or condescendingly sarcastic. And a mod must understand that he doesn’t scare anyone when he yells; he just makes other members angry and bitter, and spreads even worse negativity than the misconduct he was trying to correct. I thank you again for a civilized conversation, and please accept my apologies if I caused any inconvenience by my apparent over-reaction or negatively-drifting thoughts.

Thanks Hinkley for allowing me to discuss things freely, to a certain extent. But the posts you linked don't contradict with what I said, it actually proves that the public correction for said member for being incredibly insulting never took place personally, it was just a general note to everyone, yet my criticism to the moderatore's performance warranted an immediate public and personal responce, hence I suspected prejudice. I didn't discuss it further with him to avoid even more public embarrasment, hence feeling bullied. I never said he threatened me alone with the chamber, he did that to everyone, nor did I say he didn't moderate the thread, I just criticised the way he did it, and his harsh and personal responce evoked those terrible thoughts in my head and forced me to second-guess his intentions. You can see that clearly when he insists he won't tell that particular member to back down and he'd dismiss the occurring insults to us as mere "strong opinions!" If you go back and get a taste of those insults you'll see why I got suspicious of prejudice. You'll also see how I appologizes to members when I felt I was being annoying, while said member never ever did, and again I was the one who got into trouble with a mod, you see what I mean? I don't want to abuse this thread for personal issues, or sound like I'm complaining about something old and might be silly in your opinion (honestly, fearing I'd get into trouble again due to misunderstanding), nor am I formally complaining about that moderator in particular, I'm sure he thought he was doing the right thing in his mind, I was just pointing out an example on how a moderator can ruin someone's experience here so easily without knowing it. Thanks for being understanding.

Lind & 6ix: You’re both right, I know some people are nice and understanding and I try not to disappoint or annoy anyone, so that people would accept me for who I am and how I treat them, not for where they think I come from, that’s why I was surprised and baffled by that moderator’s attitude, I have many friends in his country and I never experienced anything similar from them. So like I said, I’m sure it’s just in my head; otherwise I would have escalated the issue back then. No one should tolerate being openly discriminated against by anyone. I was merely pointing out, since we’re discussing how moderators can sometimes be rude, that a certain attitude from a moderator can and did ruin the experience here for me (for a while) as I’m sure it did for other members, and that some terms in certain context and some correcting methods like yelling and bossing may seem to work for keeping order but it can be inappropriate and annoying if taken too far, it can have a similar if not far worse effect on threads than off-topic rants or such, and it sure does evoke negative thoughts for adults, because adults either have had bad experiences with similar references and oppressive methods or at least understands their terrible effect on those who have. In short, when moderators speaks like a correcting teacher to an idiot child, or use sarcasm in a demeaning way, or pass judgment with prejudice, it takes them beyond the role of keeping order to the territories of just being happy with their powers, and that ruins the fun for all. They need to remember they’re just members who volunteered to do extra service for their fellow members to keep the play area clean, not a ruling aristocracy or government.

Lind: I agree completely, except I never thought I had to hide my name to achieve that state of “play” or to be accepted in a certain group. It would be a shame if one had to hide his name to avoid prejudice. 6ix: a moderator can know which country I’m from very easily, and I have an Arab name, and the moderator is from the US, so the conflict is clear if you watch the news. I’m sure he didn’t mean anything too bad, but the situation made me feel so uncomfortable it evoked such negative thoughts for a short moment and ruined my experience here. I was talking about the attitude not the actual meaning behind it.

Lind: the thread is “future LOTR” but I’m sure it must have died by now. Hinkley: thanks for your explanation, I understand what “chamber” means to you, but to adults being treated like children it can be very insulting. Also, when things get a shady political tone, the term “chamber” becomes uglier than you might casually think, as ugly as certain detention camps. For some people it’s just TV stuff, for others it’s real life fear, and it’s not very nice to be reminded with such things when one comes here to escape such grim reality. It’s about the context and the way the moderator directs his threats, not the term or what it really means to those who whimsically created it for fun. And like I said, that moderator’s prejudice made my thoughts drift, perhaps a little too much than it should, towards political reasons, given the nature of relations between our countries.

I joined here based on that same reason; I thought this place was more organized than other places… but things changed throughout the years, and especially after an unfortunate encounter with one moderator. In one thread, there was this member who kept creatively insulting everyone who’d disagree with him, and he was very rude to another member who built something he thought was below his standards. It kept going on for months and there were no public correction from any moderator to that member. Later on, I made a small comment about that lack of intervention and suddenly the moderator of the thread was all over me. It was so weird, I mean, I understand that people can be rude, and insults on the internet is nothing an all that, but it was the moderators sudden attack on me and his total lack of correction to that other member that baffled me! The guy who insulted everyone in public never got corrected in public, and the guy who made a small comment about staff performance got spanked in public immediately. I tried to reason with that moderator but it only made him speak more harshly and embarrass me more, so I withdrew fearing I’d get into trouble… fearing… I never thought I’d get this feeling on a LEGO related site. I mean is it OK for moderators to threaten to send people to “the chamber?” Is that an appropriate term to use? What “chamber” is that supposed to be? I can only think of one, and it would be a tragedy if that moderator meant what I think he meant. I kept apologizing but then I realized I didn’t do anything wrong to apologize for, and that I was doing this just to avoid being humiliated or shunned, which felt so ridiculous. And of course the moderator never answered my apology, as if he just felt good he yelled and that people got scared. This moderator’s very strange behavior got me thinking for a while that such prejudice towards me specifically was because of my nationality (our countries and possibly religions are not getting along very well in real life). It felt strange that such exaggeratedly dark thoughts could be evoked by a mere discussion of toys! I never thought these things would follow me here. I’m trying to convince myself I was over reacting, because of the political unrest we’re going through here, but my feeling towards this place have changed for sure. And that’s mainly because a moderator is free to yell at members like they’re his subordinates, or treat them like children under the banner of keeping the place organized. I prefer a less organized place than one I feel discriminated against in, or treated like a child, or be scared to question someone with high authority fearing I’d be shunned or embarrassed. We have to deal with these things in real life… we shouldn’t have to deal with them on a LEGO site… I suppose.

Not really, just look at the empty first post of this thread. I think staff only updates first post with confirmed news not rumors, I agree with Gouniaf if he means an updated post of all the rumors without the fuss and unintentional spoilers.

Darth Dino: good remark about sharpness and better quality at narrow aperature in makro lenses, depth of field is very important for product photography, and makro lenses are definitly better at that , they can be a bit pricy though. Humdrum: if you're interested in teathered photography then take a look at the Canon 70D, you can control everything from the convenience of your ipad's large screen through wi-fi and just leave the camera untouched on the tripod for better results in stop motion sequences. I don't know if Nikon has that, but I'm sure they must have an equivilant.

Darth Dino: You don’t really need a macro lens for LEGO, unless you want to fill the frame with just a minifigure’s head or a 1*1 plate, it’s an artistic choice for very specialized tiny or super close photography, for all other normal set or medium size MOC photography macro becomes a useless feature in the lens… when you’re shooting at 50mm 1 meter away it’s not macro photography anymore. Have you tried to shoot a UCS Millennium Falcon or a Star Destroyer with a 50mm lens 1 meter away on a crop sensor? Impossible. Any modest size town or castle layout? Impossible. You need to step back, or switch to a wider lens like a 35mm in that case. That’s why I recommended a wide zoom for the OP till he finds out what fits his MOC size and shooting clearance in his LEGO room. Also Darth Dino, your sig is awesome and hilarious

I agree with dr spock, a 50 mm would be narrow for indoor shooting in most cases, I recommend a zoom lens with a wider end for a beginner till you figure out your own needs regarding focal length, an 18-55 zoom lens would be the best choice, and both Nikon and Canon 18-55s offers very decent image quality for a very cheap price. Also stay away from old Sigma primes, they're mostly crap, only newer Sigmas are excellent, so make sure you check which generation of primes from Sigma you'll be investing in.

Thanks Archer for the info, this is good news, I’ll get one from Bricklink now to modify my Watto

There are no sand blue hands, never been made by LEGO before, and this was a good chance for it to happen. I do like the tan choice though. I like the new Qui-gon’s face a lot; I just wish they gave him a normal non-smirk face as standard look. Now I have to wait for another Qui-gon with a normal look in another set, which is highly unlikely in the foreseeable future.

Good point about the mobile version, it’s a pain to use since the site was created way before the smart phone era, I hope they improve that, that’s much more important than cosmetic changes, and I’m sure they will.

Dude, “Jarjarish glory” remark seriously cracked me up I agree, the cockpit needs to be at least straight if not tapered to narrower end, but it still looks better than the old one. I just wish it comes in trans-black not trans-clear.