aqaz

Really good.... Was that a new part for your Patria, or had it been 'previously cherished' in another build?

Paul Boratko: Sorry, That was my assumption, clearly I falsely perceived the line that fit my situation as criticism. Blakbird, et al: 'This can make someone who chooses to build from instructions feel inadequate or feel that others are implying they are not worthy of being considered a "real" LEGO builder.' If this is the case, for anyone, I would like to say that it was never my intention to imply any such thing, further, If any of you have taken it as such then I would like to offer my unreserved apologies for any slight I might have inadvertently caused: I am truly very sorry. Blakbird, you have shocked me by pointing this out. To be perfectly honest, it never crossed my mind that this could be the case. I do see it now you have mentioned it. ​I had made the assumption that I was the new starter in the company of experts, indeed from some of the comments in my own thread (admittedly, from some too young to know better) everyone here has seen it all before and done far far better way back when. As I said in that other thread, I only joined for an 'expert' opinion on my Magnum.... I wanted to know if I was doing it right and if I had a place at the table of builders of other MOC trucks that I had seen here and at other places..... Consequently, the notion that I could make someone feel inadequate did not occur to me, even after saying this I find it slightly unbelievable. Coincidently, my masters is also mathematics, and again coincidently, I could not believe they were giving degrees for something so easy. ( I did, however, understand that few could do this degree much less find it easy. Conversely, I found/find speaking Chinese very difficult even after several years, to the amusement of my Chinese family. ) Povratnik: If you read and understood what I wrote above you should know I did not say, or imply: '...So according to aqaz, I shouldn't build other peoples MOC's, because it is not fulfilling or satisfactory. I should stop buying Lego sets, and just buy bricks of BL, and build MOC's....' You are choosing to make that inference, I do not think anyone else is deliberately misunderstanding. I have made it abundantly clear that I am only talking about myself.

Meatman: '...criticized basically everyone who is supporting the mocplans idea because you think that people should build their own models....' No, I have not criticised anybody for supporting mocplans.... I support mocplans! I did say: 'I was only saying my goal is building MOC's of what I want....' and; '... in my opinion, building a MOC (however good) should be your goal for maximum self satisfaction....' my opinion... self satisfaction... my goal... for me.... I have talked about what I think for me, not anyone else.... everybody should do as they like.

Balrog: '...you shouldn't talk so bad about custom instructions...' I did/am not talking bad about custom instructions. I did say; 'learn from others' but I suppose the key words in all I have said (and now wish I had not, by your and others reactions) is; '...for me...' I am expressing a personal opinion, I do not want to influence anybody else. Paul Boratko: 'Even if you don't plan on building a model, instructions are a great way to get ideas and learn new things that you otherwise may have overlooked...' Is a rewording of what I said earlier, I also do not think you should criticise me, when you do exactly the same as I '...But the reality is that everyone doesn't have the time to sit down and spend 2 months trying to get a mechaniam to work properly, or the money or resources to to buy every part(or set) out there to build what they want,...' implies that there is something wrong with being retired and having both time and money, I know everyone else does not, again, the key words: '...for me...' I do not want anybody to be influenced by what I want to do. Also, I do not know what a 'mechaniam' is. Bob De Quatre, rocklego: I could not agree more, you stress the words I in fact used earlier.

imajor: When I was a kid I never heard of Lego (1950's), I bought it for my children because, again only in my opinion, it was worth every penny. Lego had a slogan back then: 'Lego, a new toy every day.' and I thought it easily lived up to it. I have only taken it up since I retired so I can at once afford it and have time to do it, however, your line: '... they are very far from the great mocs, but I really enjoyed making them, especially when I was able to finish them... ' is my sentiment exactly. OzBen: '... but I can happily admit that my skills are not at a level to create anything like the great MOCs that I see posted here in the technic forum....' Just like me! 'So the opportunity to build someone else's creation using interesting techniques that perhaps TLC designers may shy away from will hopefully help me to develop my skills to a point where I can share a creation in the future.' ... Is exactly the ambition that I tried to describe! 'I suppose the thing to remember is that this hobby is supposed to be fun!!! :-)'... Not supposed to be, it is, ... tremendous fun! rocklego said it all: 'One of the main reasons I love Lego is I enjoy much more entire building process than outcome. During the process one can find lots of solution to whatever problem one will encounter. Just use your imagination and a little of of engineering concept ,you will be able to build something different from others in your own way. That is truly fun and joyful. Praise Lego for bringing the world so extraordinary .'

Blakbird: This is not an 'argument' it is an opinion.... Your analogy is spurious in that you have chosen to use an example that is a one in a million skill, out of any given population, of lets say a country, only a handful are gifted talented artists. Other people buy their work because it is universally agreed to be a thing of beauty, better yet the work is exhibited for all to see..... The rest of the population do not try to copy it. Better to use an analogy of, say, food. Just like lego, everyone can easily acquire the basic skills needed to cook something and with a little practise every occasionally they cook something really good, and are disproportionately proud of the outcome in the eyes of those who find it easy or who do it professionally..... What you are saying is basically that these people should only ever buy ready meals because they, for whatever excuse, will never do anything of value. You say: 'Not everyone can create their own beautiful supercar MOC with excellent functions' this, in itself, is true... But: 'Does this mean they are not allowed to enjoy Technic?' does not and should not follow on from this, you have set an unrealistic benchmark, you are saying: If you can not build a supercar you should not touch technic. Reread my first comment, I did not say you should not build what others did, indeed I said: '... and seeing how others did similar...' What I implied, however, is that, in my opinion, building a MOC (however good) should be your goal for maximum self satisfaction.... Of course you should study others and learn techniques (I agree entirely with legomuppet9, 'flick through instructions or step by step photos and have a look at how people created stuff, and then combine various different components into my model') I am not at all expert, I was only saying my goal is building MOC's of what I want.... If I copied others it would be a SEOC, someone else's own creation, and would, for me, hold no satisfaction. Being able to study how others did things is nothing but good, but it should not be an end in itself. nychase: I wish you well and hope your site is a great success, I would also say I agree with everyone else in that I too think it is a good idea.

Waler: Thank you for the answer.... Truly a monster. I converted all dimensions to studs before I started building anything, makes (for me) building much easier.

I would really like a part that was just one side of this with the pins spaced one old studded technic beam height apart. then another version 2 beam heights apart.... Years and years to late for this request... If it existed I would buy 100 tomorrow!

There is an excellent chapter in: 'THE UNOFFICIAL LEGO® TECHNIC BUILDER’S GUIDE', by: Paweł “Sariel” Kmiec. Chapter 15 should give you a good understanding of not only pendular suspension but how and when it is a suitable solution. Avoiding anything quite as silly as: 'If equipped on front and rear, cab of vehicle tips over.' (posted above by Dluders)

(In a lone negative voice) Surely building MOC's should be just that.... My Own Creation.... Following plans takes away all the challenge and fun of working out solutions, building and experimenting and seeing how others did similar, then rebuilding and rebuilding and more experimenting, till you get what you first envisaged.... Isn't Lego all about using your imagination. I built 8043 in about 3 hours, it was more like work than fun..... good for learning new techniques with new parts but not much more.... But even for something (That will be to you experts) as simple as one of my trailers, involved hours of research working out dimensions in studs then more hours of building as realistic as possible so that it at once looks real and is also able to carry the correct scale loading..... not to mention the little buzz when a bricklink order of parts you didn't even know existed till you were half way through building and came to a; 'I wonder if there is a part that does this? moment' then find out there is so you are waiting till it arrives so you can get straight back to building..... I love seeing other peoples MOC's of things I am interested in, especially the good ones, but have no interest at all in building a clone.... For me it is all about keeping thinking. I can not describe the satisfaction of looking at my own MOC's and thinking; 'I did that.' I did not realise that I was the only person like this.

This is hugely impressive... If you don't mind, I would like to ask a couple of questions: What is it's dimensions in 'studs'? How long did it take you to build it? The first question is to do with how I build, first work out 1 stud = mm ( in my case; scale 1:17.3, so 1 stud = 138.4 mm) then simply divide every dimension by that number. Second question, I want to know how fast or slow I am working compared to other 'from real life MOC builders'

Yes Jon... Just like a real one does.

I have 8 of these that have turned up in e-bay technic job lots.... I do not use them because in my scale they are only 1.522m tall. (exactly 5') After reading the other comments, it strikes me; looking at the way they are dressed, the thin beards, moustaches, shades... Female company would be the last thing they wanted.... Perhaps TLG should make: a cowboy, cop, native american, construction worker, soldier and leather suited individual...... ​A female would just be politically correct tokenism.

technicfan: It is stronger than it looks, this is a scale loading of 27t. (I mention elsewhere that the suspension is not finished on the trailers, so the deck is touching the wheels and it will not move. )

'Well known'..... I expect all the things I think up will have been done before, I have been away so long, and just returned to all these new parts.... But yes, I will post my new trailers as they are completed... 4 more planned at this stage. I still can not get into MOCpages, can anyone help with this?

You should not be at all bothered by Lego 'Purists'. After all, many of them find it perfectly acceptable to have parts expensively chrome plated..... Years ago we spray painted a small model of a truck after it was built, at the time there was no plan to ever take it apart, despite a lot of playing with, it stayed pristine in its new colours.... They were 'Humbrol' paints if I recall correctly. A long time later it got taken apart and when any of the bricks were used in anything else they were placed so the painted side was inwards or otherwise out of sight.... After saying this, I would not paint parts now, simply because it is far easier just to buy what I require in the colour I want. But then again, I haven't yet wanted to build something in a colour that is not readily available.

Nazgarot: Thank you for your interest and your input.... I follow your idea, but, I need small black 'cylinders' in the gap above the bottom of the trailing arms and they also need a second fixing point that can only move vertically. These two trailers are static now, and it is all about looking real.... If I replaced the shockers with these cylinders I would have a load of hoses where they can be seen. However, the next trailer but one is a semi-lowloader that will have 4 x 8 wheel axles, 4 doubles on each. The suspension is between the outer and inner pairs and cannot be seen... I thought about your idea and did a little bit of experimentation with a couple of these, it strikes me that it does not need to be so complex. It would only need to be a closed system. Under uniform loading the pistons compress the air and are surprisingly strong, but under uneven loading e.g. one wheel crossing an obstacle, its air is distributed to the other cylinders allowing the wheel to ride over the obstacle while at the same time taking the load of that wheel by forcing the others down. ​So, if all the 'top' inlets are interconnected and all the 'bottom' inlets are interconnected maintaining a partial vacuum and minimising air escaping the system this would seem to work, I need to do a lot more to firm up what I am saying here but I am tired now and getting some outside interference from someone who: 'thinks I am mad and should be asleep'.... It is not just doing the Lego that reminds me of 50 or more years ago.... However, I might try this on the inside of the existing trailer chssis' when I have tried it on the new trailer.....

Nazgarot: Thank you for the compliment... The front axle is unsprung pendular with only one plate height movement available, this was pretty much dictated by the general lack of space and the scale size of the wheel arches. However, this is more than enough. The drive axles are floating diff frames within the confines of a chassis frame (see 'closer' folder at brickshelf) there is a vertically mounted 4 long axle from the top of the chassis at each corner of the frame that fits into the corner axle holes, in between the frame and the chassis top are springs from grey shock absorbers, the drive axles are mounted through train suspension units. Again, this came about due to lack of space, I started with just the train units (because I had some from an e-bay job lot) but by themselves they were far to soft, there was not room to mount the shock absorbers and still have the twin wheels so I came up with this. I had a lot of these grey small shockers from another e-bay job lot and I discovered that they were very easy to disassemble without breaking them, you just have to push the lugs on the inner shaft through the slots on the outer. I wanted it to behave realistically under scale loading, so if these are 15 tonne rated axles it should take 30 tonnes to fully depress the suspension, this works out at 5.79 Kilos, so now it is about right. The suspension on the trailers is not yet finished, the shock absorbers just about carry the weight of the trailer but no load. I need something to act like air suspension between the trailing arms and the chassis base, I tried tyres but they were to hard, I have ordered some rubber 2 axle hole liftarms to try to make something with them, I am going for realism in both (scale) performance and appearance.

Once again, thank you all so much for the kind comments..... I have been looking at all your MOC's, so your comments mean so much more coming from such a knowledgeable and skilled bunch.... I have a question about MOCpages: Where should I post it to reach the correct people in the Lego community? (I know here is not the place) My question is this: Does anyone have contact with the moderator? I have been trying to make an account but am not receiving confirmation e-mails or replies to reports of not receiving e-mails..... Maybe something to do with gmail. Any help at all will be very much appreciated.

Doc_Brown: All posts to brickshelf have to be moderated before they are public apparently.... As for when, your guess is as good as mine! To be fair, they were pretty quick last time.

Doc_Brown: Your word is my command... I have taken some close ups, wheels off etc, and uploaded them at brickshelf (Is there a batch upload facility there? It is quite tedious one at a time.) ​I expect you will have to wait till the folder is moderated. Oh yes, nearly forgot, the folder is called: 'Closer'. rocklego: No, nothing to do with Lego, I made them.... Also the windscreen and mirror glasses. I included close up pictures in the new folder at brickshelf: http://www.brickshel...lery.cgi?m=aqaz Red, blue and yellow are air lines, black is electric this one is a tighter spiral..... grohl, Boxerlego: Thank you for your kind words. (By the way, that term: 'cab over' is not required in the rest of the world, only in your country.)

If anyone wants close up photos of particular 'solutions' I came up with i.e. suspension with the wheels off.... Feel free to ask. (Forgive my assuming anyone would want these, the nice comments have gone to my head. Also, I needed a tenth post so I can make a profile.)

Even back in the 70's you got slight differences, set to set, particularly with red..... ​However, in reality there are slight differences in paint batches for 'real' items.... And.... Red Lego, paint, plastics, whatever, are particularly prone to UV fade, as are other colours but most noticeably red. So, if you build a MOC including old parts you are going to get shade differences, even from one side of a brick to the other.... But.... If you get a real vehicle wing resprayed you have the same problem, even with paint from the same tin the original painting was done with..... In Lego as in life, you just have to live with it.... If this is a huge worry to you.... Don't do Lego ! One must remember who Lego's target customers are, they basically don't give a s*** about using any colours mixed up in the same item.... It's only us adults who care. (But get a good look at the colour consistency of other 'popular, cheaper, construction systems' before you go off in a huff.) The thing that makes me smile most is someone complaining about a barely perceptible shade difference spoiling the 'realism' of their model when they are perfectly happy to include an engine without cylinder heads and no windscreen in their truck. (By the way, why include wipers when you have no windscreen?)

Again, thank you for the nice words... Brickshelf is now open, I have put a couple of pictures of the AE450 6x2 that I had in the mid 90's up to compare. Tim: the trailer sides are part: 3754 brick 1x6x5. I bought them at Bricklink, 45 each side, they cost about $0.30 each. Jon: Yes, I got the stickers from the company, after I invented it. It is; Zhong Guo Long Feng, Me and my wife, I am a dragon she is a phoenix.... The words say: China Dragon and Phoenix. Making that logo took days to get what we wanted, I used 'FotoMix' to make it.... I made all the stickers, it was the only way to get exactly the right size to fit the tiles. I made them up and printed them onto laser copier sticker film (from e-bay), the ones on white bricks were printed on clear film, the others on white film, the Renault diamond on silver film. Notice the correct instrument panel from a Magnum, the number plate with our names on and this years reg on a 1995 model. The high cospicuity foil for the box sides and back and the front wings of the unit was made by cutting 4 mm strips from an A4 sheet of foil. (Putting this on took hours, it was by far the most difficult part of the whole build.... I am, after all, a shaky pensioner.) But one has to abide by EU ruling ECE 104. ​Tech-Nick: It took 3 months to build these three, at least a week was taken up in converting all the dimensions to studs, I worked on 138.4 mm actual = 1 stud, the big measurements trailer length etc 1 m = 7.2 studs. the hard part was having to round up or down to the nearest stud, then having to rebuild loads when a 1 stud discrepancy met. The most obvious would be where the lower bodywork worked out at 19 wide, but the cab is 18 wide, fortunately, the cab is 'old' technic so even numbers work well, the chasis and lower bodywork are 'new' so odd numbers work here. It was quite difficult to join them together.

Thankyou for the kind words.... Brickshelf has to wait to be moderated I'm afraid.... Plenty more pictures there, close up and underneath. Doc-Brown: I had an AE450 6x2 in the mid 90's, but it was blue, (pic to compare in the brickshelf folder) same body though. However, this is totally made up. Tech-nick: What details do you want? Will this cover it? Dimensions, in studs, Unit: Length: 49 Width: 18 (lower bodywork 19) Height: 27 Box: Length: 96 Width: 18 Height: 30 Flat: Length: 104 Width: 18 Height: 10 floor, 15 headboard Full independent suspension on everything, since leaf springs are not an option, I made it up as I went along.... The drive axles are train units in the chassis and a spring from a grey shocker mounted on a vertical axle at each corner of the diff frames. You would not believe how many rebuilds to come up with something that handled the correct scale loading. (5.79 Kg), Main drive if PF XL, steering is PF Servo. Control is with a IR speed control. The kingpins are inside the front wheels so that I could build the wheel arches to scale, the steering is Ackerman. The only thing not to scale (Given that one must round up or down to the nearest whole stud) is the distance between the second and third axles, it was simply not possible to get it right.