Still Raindrop

I think it was a very clever way around the rules. My only question is: can the vignette stand up by itself, not on the 32x32 baseplate? Or is the baseplate a structural, rather than decorative element, without which it would tip over. Just so you know, I like your vignette and I think it's great that it got in, so I'm not trying to contest that-- I was just wondering.

#4, Dan Church's lifeguard entry, gets one point from me. The chair is very well executed--it's realistic and cleanly made. #23, Darkblane's vampire entry, gets one point from me. Funny and well built. #34, Athos' witch entry gets a point from me. The bright colors and pleasing construction make this a very nice creation. Darn--I'm not doing nearly as well as I had hoped.

I have to say, I like the look of these new sets. I am a bit bummed that Johnny Thunder isn't making a comeback. I mean, it kind of makes sense, as he did already do some adventuring in Egypt, and it might seem like a complete rehash (but hey, if a new adventure calls you back to a place you've been before, a true adventurer would follow). I like the new elements, and I really like what I can see of the cars. I do hope that the sets go through a final incarnation before they're released, though--a few of them seem a little rough.

This certainly is going to be a difficult contest--there are so many good entries! If I place in this contest, I think I'll make my Mexican restaurant vignette into a modular building, keeping the same chef minifigure. So, here's hoping

Wow, really? thanks!

Hi, I was wondering whether anyone had any critiques of my MOC, or any ways I could make it better.

Minifig: Maraca Man/Mexican Theme: Town Here's my entry for the contest. It's set inside a Mexican restaurant where, Casa Bonita style, entertainment is very much part of the meal, and members of the house mariachi band tend to wander around and serenade tables. The chef, Dante Inferno, has been known to put some extremely hot habanero sauce on some of the food when he's in a mischievous mood, and the poor fellow eating a burrito has just found that out. He gulps his water as quickly as he can, but the heat is still affecting him (his hair, for example, didn't stick up like that when he came in). Here's Chef Dante pouring some hot sauce on another burrito. I tried to get the kitchen details down--note the tickets, the heat lamps, and the dish with a dome on the chef's line. And here's our poor diner. The maraca player would be serenading him at his table (though I doubt the guy would notice--his mouth is in quite a bit of pain!).

I wonder if Johnny Thunder will be returning for the Egypt sets? I kind of doubt it, but still, it'd be great to see him back again.

Thanks, guys. I think I probably will leave the stand on the beach (though with a few modifications, like the tiled roof).

Any opinions? I'd really like to hear what people think. Please? I'd really like some feedback (and I feel like I kill all my topics)

BlueBard, thanks for the link! Although that's a cool technique, I'd still have to customize a torso to get the top of the apron look. I tried using the blue plastic cape from the Guarded Inn as an apron, and it looks decent. The problem is, I only have one of those, so there could only be one employee, and I'd really like two. I may just end up using the green overalls over plaid shirt look. Or I could go the Gilmore Girls route... I don't think I ever say Taylor Doose (the owner of the grocery store) wearing an apron (though I may be wrong; this just gives me an excuse to watch some of the episodes with my wife again )

So, I'm about to start making a small-town grocery store (though it won't be as big or fancy as the Green Grocer, more space will be dedicated to the actual store). I was going through my minifig torsos to try to find a suitable one for grocery store employees, but I found nothing that fit really well. The only torsos that really have aprons are clearly medieval in design, and the overalls on modern-styled figs just don't look quite right. Does anyone have any suggestions? Or perhaps even a custom torso they can point me to? My back-up plan is just to use the old plastic cape that appears in the classic castle sets (and is used as a blacksmith's apron), but I wanted to find out first if anyone had any better ideas.

So, I have a question, and would really like to know what you guys think. I'm about to majorly change my town (taking down the town hall and putting in a grocery store, and maybe a barbershop), and I was wondering about the beach. Do you think it would look better if I left it as is, or if I took down the fish & chips stand and incorporated it into my town proper, leaving a smaller pier behind?

Awesome! I love the little scene! My only disappointment is that it didn't contain an actual LEGO armadillo.

I would actually have used the caroler face from the Winter Toy Shop. In any case, this is a great MOC--you've really captured the feel of the painting very well! The minifig head just needs a little change, and it'll be spot on!

The dark red female torso from the Studios horror sets works nicely, too.

I made a topic a while back about what I think is one of the best-looking solutions for the large City wheels, and it includes Racers wheels. You can find it here: Link

Any more thoughts?

Good start for a beach scene! I'm looking forward to watching how you develop it and add more realism. I recently re-worked my beach (as you can see in the topic in my link), and it's fun figuring out how to make it better. That's one of the cool things about scenery--you can always change it and make it better (I guess that applies to everything LEGO, really).

Brilliantly done! I haven't seen the movie yet, but it looks just like the scene in the trailer. Genius!

Thanks for the comments! Yeah, my wife's painting just seemed to go well with the scene, so I photographed it that way. Usually it's on the wall. Hmm... perhaps I should get her to paint other background scenes for our town

Thanks, rakky! I did enjoy making it, but I thought I'd challenge myself and make a better landscape, which turned out to be just as enjoyable an effort as before--perhaps even more so. Here are some pictures of the new beach:

Thanks for the review! The set does look a little lacking as a home base, but since it's called "Prison Tower Rescue," maybe it's a separate building from the main dragon knight castle; like a prison outpost or something. That would keep open the possibility of a dragon knight castle next year. The thing that I find interesting is the armor mixing in the minifigures. I really like the armor design on the lion knight. I didn't like the design on the crown knight plate armor, so I switched it out for unprinted armor. This one I would use--it's very nicely detailed. But they use it with a great helm! As far as I know, great helms and plate armor never really went together, and it would look much better on the red and white tunic torso that some of the soldiers have. I know LEGO has never been great on historical accuracy as far as armor goes, but it still bugs me a little. Fortunately, it's an easy fix.

I bought this set a while ago, and I really love it. I modified it slightly by using a green 32x32 baseplate instead of the two 16x32 ones provided (more for stability purposes than for aesthetic ones, but it also had the benefit of not needing those two out-of-place 2x4 plates as connectors), made the chimney all grey, removed the level of grey plates and the satellite dish from the roof, and tiled the rest of the driveway. I think these make it look nicer, but it's still a nice-looking set as is. As was mentioned before, it doesn't have the problems that the Family Home has with scale. I really like the design, and am also fond of the (rather unusual, but not implausible) color scheme. I am slightly disappointed with the inability to truly furnish the interior, but I'm able to overlook that because of how much I like the set. I may end up just doing a mockup of some furniture so that the house doesn't look so empty through the windows (though even this isn't as much of a problem, since there aren't any large windows, and all windows but the skylight feature the old-style window panes. That apple tree, however, is something I might have to modify. It's tiny! Jasper Joppe Geers, I think the double slope brick is there mainly for use in the alternate models. It's not a good reason to not include a single slope, though. It's made even worse by the fact that the brick they omitted is rare in that color. I have two of them somewhere, but I'd have to dig through my entire collection (some of which is still at my parents' house) to try to find it--quite annoying.

Last time I wasn't able to pick up any of the minifigures (they never made it down to Colorado Springs, and by the time I got up to the LEGO Store in Denver, they were out). Fortunately, I discovered that a friend that I knew from high school is currently working at the LEGO Store, and he offered to buy the minifigures I wanted and hold them for me. So, it looks like soon I'll be picking up the surfer, the skier, the Mexican, the mime, and the explorer!