Pepa Quin

Yeah, I felt they were a little on the small side but I was really happy with the shape. At least you were nice enough not to point out how big my caboose is. ;) The face was also inspired by , a fun, campy video done to an excellent version of 'Happy Together'. They know about it, I believe (they posted it to their facebook page, at least) and if they ever contact me I would certainly be eager to help. I'm not one to proactively offer such a thing, though - I'm just happy they saw it and enjoyed it. :)Thanks for the comments, guys. On to my next moc!

My latest creation was inspired by this by The Piano Guys. The train appears at 2:50, but I highly recommend watching the whole video. The engine is an EMD MRS-1 currently owned and operated by the Heber Valley Railroad, a scenic train company in Utah. I was inspired not so much by the train itself as the two guys playing their instruments on the flatbed. :) Click on each image to see the larger picture, or visit the full set or my photostream to see everything. This took me approximately one week to build. It will be at Brickworld 2012. And before anyone mentions it - yes, I know American trains don't have those bumpers that are on the European-inspired magnet hook up pieces. No, I wasn't going to cut them off - painting was enough of a sin. ;) -Matt

Yeah, I knew someone would figure that out. ;) Choosing the right purple was tough since it's a rare color (or colors). The most ideal hues simply did not come in the right parts, or the right parts were far too rare and would just not be worth it. I finally settled on the new 'Medium Lavender' that was introduced in the Friends sets. The pieces were far easier to obtain and there is enough variety for my needs.

Each one is on a 10x10 baseplate. This image (from the backside of each) might give you a better sense:

Hi, everyone. I just wanted to share my newest creation: a six-panel mosaic of the characters from The Order of the Stick: For anyone who doesn't know, The Order of the Stick is a very good webcomic where the characters exist in world based on the rules of D&D (as opposed to our world, which is lamely based on rules of Physics). I highly recommend checking it out, just make sure you check the clock now and then and remember to eat and sleep. Thanks for checking it out! -Matt

Last year at this time, I completed my complete Futurama Layout 'Welcome to the World of Tomorrow'. This year, in time for the next season, I've made one small addition: I took a few liberties with the design of the original building (as I did with all of the buildings), mostly due to the fact that I only had a 32x32 spot in which to put it! I neglected to take any pictures of this at the Brickworld convention this weekend (!), so as soon as I find someone who did I will post a picture of the building in its new home. New episodes start tonight! -Matt

Hello! My newest creation comes from the great show Arrested Development: For this scene I have built the model home from the show, the family, and their stair car. For the full collection of pictures, click here or just visit my photostream. This will be going on display for the first time at Brickworld 2011. Look for it in the Northern Illinois Lego Train Club display! Thanks! -Matt

No offence, just surprise that no one in this thread brought it up. You're certainly not at fault. ;) Thanks for the pic, that makes it very clear! Check the Brothers Brick article I linked to (on his name in my post) to find out who he is and what he's done for the community. Also, here's a direct link to his flickr page.

I am surprised with this review, because it seems that one of the most important details has been completely overlooked. Next time you're in your favorite LEGO retailer and see this set, take a close look at the decal for the ship that docks with the vehicle. You can see it clearly on the box. This picture doesn't zoom in far enough to see the detail, so you're just going to have to trust me until a better pic comes along: You can see the large '71' there on both sides, but next to it, there is a small icon of a snake's head. Underneath the snake is a collection of letters which probably won't make sense to most who buy this set: "NNENN" The snake is a viper, and this ship is the designer's contribution to the popular "Vic Viper" building style popularized by the great, and late, Nate "Nnenn" Nielson. This is a fantastic tribute to a builder who inspired thousands around the globe. -PQ I'm guessing, but don't know for sure, that '71' refers to the year Nate was born. Is there anyone that can confirm this?

After two long months, my newest layout is complete! Over two years ago I first built the Planet Express along with most of the main characters. This past winter I expanded that into a small scene with a street and river. For Brickworld 2010, I decided to expand the whole thing into a 'full size' layout.* For this layout I've created six brand new 'feature' buildings, some smaller shops and attractions, and a large section of the Mutant Sewers. Aside from buildings, once again I created more minifigs for various characters in the show. There are a lot of new faces here, hopefully you might even recognize some! I've made over 30 Futurama characters in all, plus many generic citizens or Futurama-ized versions of other well-known characters. Check out all my characters, buildings, vehicles and more in my Welcome to the World of Tomorrow photo collection on Flickr I'll leave you with this: New episodes of Futurama start TONIGHT on Comedy Central! (6/24/2010) - Matt * "Full size" means 80"x60", a limit I place on myself to make sure my layouts can fit with within my club's overall set-ups, as well as to keep myself sane. Somewhat.

This hapless marine is being chased down by my eleventh creation within the world of Starcraft - a horde of the ever popular Zergling! Zerglings are, of course, back in action in the upcoming Starcraft II game. While their basic functions remain the same, they now have wings to aid in their ground attack speed. Click the pictures below to see the full gallery. Enjoy! -PQ

Correct - as I've mentioned before, scale in SC has never been the designer's top priority. :) That being said, I've tried to keep all of my SC creations roughly in scale with one another. I uploaded a pic today of all three 'harvester/worker' units that I've made: Note that the SCV is not a special power suit, but an actual mecha with a pilot. The Protoss Probe is simply a robotic unit, no pilot needed. Based on these units, I think the Drone is pretty close to being in 'scale' with a standard minifig. Plus, I can make it 'pick up and shake around' the smaller troops. :-D

Thanks, guys! I almost went with tan bananas instead of croissants (from the Harry Potter dragon), but in the end the croissants matched the color scheme better. :)

Hello, all! Around this time last year, I built a bunch of mocs based on units in the upcoming Starcraft II game. I've finally gotten back to that series, and my latest creation is the Zerg Drone: You can see what the unit actually looks like here. This drone took me over a year to build! Okay not really, but I did start it a year ago, put it aside, and then finally got back to it last week. The biggest problem was finding a suitable solution for the head and claws. Check it out by clicking the pictures above, or click here for the full set. Enjoy! -Matt

Wish granted!I took some video this weekend; here is an edited compilation: Did you talk to me or any of the other club members while you were there? It was pretty busy, I hope you had a good time! Wish granted! Well, kinda. ;) Here's a cross-section of the boiler, which is one of the more complex builds in this train. The rest of the train build is really fairly simple, or can be deduced by looking through the pictures. -Matt

Thanks for all your great comments, guys. I would have posted before but I've been preparing for a show this weekend! (Oak Lawn Library in Illinois, just south of Chicago, if anyone in the area is interested in seeing an awesome Lego Train show!) Actually, those robot arms are fitting on to this piece. I actually considered using click hinges just as you're talking about, because I have much more of them, but I didn't like all the texture that they added to the dome. Thanks! Actually I've been here before, but I post so little I'm easy to forget. I'll try to work on that. ;)Obviously this train is just a continuation of that single car I started with. I actually like the windows I used there, but they were just not cost effective to do for the entire train. :( No problem - in fact I'll hold you to that and see what you can come up with in time for Brickworld. ;) I have no idea what either of those sentences mean. :) I must confess, I am not in any way a 'train guy'. I built this model because I got inspired - I liked the design and the thrill of a brand new challenge. Start asking me about, say, what I based the engine off of and I'll say 'Um... that orange and red one.' I build what I see, but I don't necessarily understand what it is I'm looking at.Ok, so I've actually learned a few things in the process of building this - like that this train has an oil tender instead of a coal tender, and that there are such things as oil tenders. ;) For the most part, though, this train is done unless I discover some glaring mistake. I might also add some some decorations on it, like a name on the side and/or numbers. We'll see. Thanks again everyone! As I said, I have a show this weekend, so I will try to get some good video of this train in action! -Matt

Well, it's been built for months now but I've finally gotten around to posting pictures! The Day-Glo Special is my first full and 'real' train. I've built other "trains" before this, but none to this scope. The train is based on the old Daylight Special line which was in use in America in the early/middle 20th century. I named my own model the 'Day-Glow' Special, for what I hope are obvious reasons. :) This all started last September when my club did a display at a model train show. My friend, Eurobricks member Eilif, found a vendor selling cheap old/broken model train cars. His idea was to get one of these cheap models and use it as inspiration to build a Lego model. Thinking that was a great idea, I went to that vendor as well and came away with these: . Based on those, and with some help in determining the type of engine and tender that goes with it, I've built this train: The train, when on the track, is around 110 inches long. Each car is separated by about a one-brick width gap, and when going around corners no part of the train swings out or in more then 3 studs past the track. Overall this is a 6-wide train, although that line gets fudged a bit in the engine. ;) For more details, click each of the pictures, or just view the full set on Flickr. Thanks! -Matt

Been a little busy this week, but I've finally added some WIP pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pepa_quin/4314028326/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pepa_quin/4313291491/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pepa_quin/4314027432/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pepa_quin/4313290359/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pepa_quin/4314026104/ L-Space: Understood. :) But that scene wasn't at this location, exactly. However, later this summer you might just see it...

Thanks for all the great comments! Commodore: Yes, it comes apart for transportation. The two big 'wings' on the side come out, the towers on top come off, the roof in the middle comes off and middle section slides together... and then after that it becomes a bit complicated. ;) Over the years I've learned that it's far easier to have a large construction come apart in sections, so it is always something I plan for even before I put the first brick down. It makes setting up and taking down for a weekend's show go very quick. The entire building and grounds is set up in five minutes or so, leaving me with plenty of time for the 'decoration' - setting up all the cars, plants, and minifigs. I do have some during-construction WIP pics, I'll try to post those soon. eversio11: No, the show at the St. Charles library was just for the weekend, I'm afraid. However, we do have two upcoming shows in Geneva, and elsewhere around the Chicago area. Check our Events section for upcoming shows: http://niltc.org/ I honestly don't know at which event I will set up this particular display again - at the moment I have 6 different layouts which I rotate or combine for different shows. However, I can tell you for certain that this will be at the Brickworld convention this year. Thanks again! -Matt

This weekend saw the debut of my newest creation: "Ladies' Night at the Palace Hotel Ballroom" For those that don't know, this is a scene from the Blues Brothers movie, depicting the moment when the heroes, after finishing their concert, duck out of the building with the state police in hot pursuit. Click above images for more pictures. The building itself is actually the South Shore Cultural Center in Chicago, and was used just for the exterior shots of the 'Palace Hotel'. This was displayed in the Northern Illinois Lego Train Club's show at the public library in St. Charles, IL. Enjoy! -Matt

Thanks, Brickster. I used a standard panel, 1x2x3, turned sideways: http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=2362a

ENTERED Hello, all. Here is my submission for Category 2 of the contest: At a recent train show, a friend of mine spotted a vendor that was selling old or broken scale cars for very cheap. He had the idea of buying a few cars and using them as models to base a Lego creation off of. I followed his idea, and this is the result. Not being much of a train guy, this is my first 'real' train (my trains are more fanciful.) This is the first car I've built for the full train.I've done a small bit of research on the Daylight Special, and this color scheme does not fit any train company that I could find (in a two minute search ). These colors are based on the model I got (third picture). If anyone knows any more details as to the coloring, please let me know. I decided to do this train in 6-wide instead of 8, due to the length of the cars. At 50 studs long, it just barely fits within the maximum space limits for NILTC's layouts. If it were 8-wide, and/or longer, it would not be able to be run at our shows. There are a few more pics in the gallery, plus a short video I took of the car 'in action' this weekend at my club's train show. As an aside, this is my first posting on Eurobricks! I love the idea of having a train forum here and I hope it will really help promote one of the more exciting aspects of the Lego community. -Matt