gambort

Not quite definitive as it's too long ago but I'm pretty sure only 30-40 (most of which are available already) of the 80 models were ever made as instructions. Some of the other contributors might remember better than me. I'm pretty sure I lost all mine when my old laptop died. Tim

All these little town buildings are really coming together nicely. I confess that when I first saw your stuff I thought it was a bit crude but your latest buildings capture both real life and LEGO life with a really successful balance. Will these be coming to Brickvention in January? Tim

Had it occurred to you that this may have been exactly what they meant? Tim

Thanks. I find that part kind of vital for 5-wides. It looks a bit crap from some angles but from the others it does, as you say, maintain the 'flow' nicely. Come on... did you really need to ask that? You have clear pictures and instructions. If you can't or won't work out if it fits a minifig from that you don't deserve to play with LEGO. Tim

What a great building. You capture the style so well and it's really small and cute which makes me even happier. Tim

Around Christmas I usually start to make instructions for some stuff. This year I started early. You can find instructions for my Generic Holden Instructions and for a Morris Major Instructions Please ask if there's anything you need help with or to point out any mistakes. Enjoy, Tim

Considering that 4073 doesn't come in light bley and you'd probably want a light bley base I think the decision is out of your hands ;) Just build it. It's not exactly hard work to put plates next to each other :) Tim

Absolutely go for it. If you delete the last bit of the URL you can actually see the directory and download the four files required. The more places it goes to the happier I'll be as it's currently hosted at my free webspace and I wouldn't consider that all that reliable. Tim

Quite easy. Presenting the online minifig scaler. Tim

Sorry from me too. I was a bit (a lot!) touchy that day for some reason and took it badly. The image came out of a discussion just like this over in the LEGO Trains group on flickr. I merely assembled a few of the scales that had been mentioned and used the ones that appeared useful. A dynamic image would be great and fairly easy to generate too I imagine. Could probably be done in pure HTML/javascript. Again, sorry for the rant. Tim

I just read this a little more comprehensively and I find the tone rude and condscending. I realise you've been around a while, Dave, but not so much longer than me and you've obviously been less observant than I have so consider being less pompous. Around 1:35 is quite common. Have you never seen a LEGO car with a 7 or 8 wide bonnet to fit two minifigs side by side? I've seen heaps all the way back from the LUGNET days right through to present day Flickr. As discussed in the very first comment it is not unusual for people to make 4 or 5 wide cars too. A landcruiser at 1:48 is 5 wide while a smaller car is 4 wide. Again a very common scale. Now I could have padded it out with more pictures of figs but that would just be stupid. I assume people can interpolate the scales between the ones I added. Maybe consider thinking more before posting in future... Tim

By the way the diagram on the previous page also has an accompanying diagram Minifig Scale 2: The big behind is not a good measure by gambort, on Flickr EDIT: I find the 'swear' filters correction so hilarious I'll change the original title. I suspect a lot of buildings are about 1:60 too. I think I build mine at about 1:70. My system is that the bigger things are in real life, the smaller they're scaled. Works surprisingly well. Tim

Thanks everyone for your replies. I had a lot of fun making these. Tim

Thanks everyone. Sorry but no. They're more complex and too much work. Tim

Minifig Scale? by gambort, on Flickr There is no such thing as minifig scale... which is best answered with a picture. They're about 1:45 give or take. Tim

Holden HR by gambort, on Flickr Skoda Octavia by gambort, on Flickr Holden Kingswood by gambort, on Flickr Generic Holden by gambort, on Flickr I've been busy. There's also instructions for the generic holden(the one with three versions). Tim PS. I can't work out how to edit the title so please pretend that horrid superfluous apostrophe isn't there :(

I was admiring this police station on Brickshelf the other day so I'm glad to have found a thread about it here on EB. Really excellent work on the building. The whole thing is very pleasing to the eyes. Sparse yet detailed. I probably share some of Ralph's concerns about the car although I think the scale is OK. I think it's great in all its details but the ratios seem off. Tim PS. I've discovered that looking at who links to my minifig scale picture takes me to all sorts of interesting discussions and MOCs.

You can make a remote controlled car chassis out of basic parts too but that didn't stop LEGO releasing a PFS remote control chassis with integrated steering. It's pretty arrogant to base your concept on what is or isn't PFS on what you personally feel fits the system. Or at least it's arrogant to expect other people to care. You still don't make sense. If you buy the PFS Train Motor and they stop making it you have a bunch of PFS Train Motors. It's like people who stocked up on 9V motors when the line was discontinued. Or maybe you're worried about the gauge changing... which has never happened. The first motor was made before trains fell under the PFS banner. The IR train system was interim (in truth I'm pretty sure it was a failed experiment) and its motor was made compatible with the old electrical system. The new motor is compatible with the new PFS. Seriously... you can argue all you want but some of us actually do know what's going on because we're involved in it. Not to say that TLG couldn't discontinue trains tomorrow but it does make it much less likely. There are at least three parts on the market (no I won't say which ones) that came about through train fans being invited to help with PFS. That's not a sign that it's going away soon. Tim

OK, first to give some background: you see in that press release you linked to how it mentions that AFOLs were involved? I'm one of them. That covered I'll mention some things: PFS is universal in the sense that it is compatible right across the board. Technic components work with LEGO Educational components work with... LEGO Train components. It doesn't mean that each part has to be useful in all cases, simply that, for example, the same IR reciever works on a train and a WeDo robot. Trains now run under the PFS system and banner. The old motor was designed for an older system and the extension leads gave an old plug/new plug connection to make it work but that's not really useful in a childs toy. So a new motor was made using a similar shell. It's a PFS Train Motor and is designed under the PFS banner. When I visited Billund to talk about PFS trains I met with the Technic team, not the trains team. That gives you some idea of just how PFS trains are now. There is absolutely no suggestion that PFS will be going anytime soon. The system is actually cleverer than what it's used for so far. The software aspects of it are expandable which is why the new variable speed remote works with all motors just as the push-pull did. Why on earth would you future proof yourself by not buying something? Just getting some correct information out there. Tim

I'm not sure what makes you think that 9V track will ever go down. There's a finite supply of it so, while you might sometimes get lucky on secondhand lots, the only way I see the price going is up. You didn't mention motors but they're going to be even worse as they break down eventually so the supply is actually dwindling. Without a huge supply of track and motors already in ownership the question comes down to a simple one: do you want to spend increasingly higher prices to maintain 9V (which has a few benefits)? or do you want to buy the cheaper tracks and motors that come with PF trains (which has a few benefits)? Personally I think it's a no-brainer and, although I probably own a similar amount of 9V track and motors as you do, I'll only be buying PFS track and electrical components from here on. Tim

It would appear Monteur isn't a fan of 6-wide trains either. He does, however, appear to be an excellent builder of 7-wide trains. Tim

At least some people are observant. It's hardly surprising that HoMa would do a good job. He's been doing good jobs for over a decade. Tim

Too true. Can't they be more creative. Tim

Yes I could lose the slope and get the groove. But then I'd have a hole in my wing which I think would look much sillier than having no groove. And the panel wouldn't fit in the space available. Can you demonstrate a way, with this or a similar construction to achieve BOTH the groove and the slope? If you can show me a way I'll be rather happy but I'm fairly sure it's impossible. And to get away from specificities while I don't disagree with your comments I do think that one should offer a plausible solution when calling for the near-impossible and very difficult. It's very easy to just say "that's not quite right" but if you're not taking into account the limitations of building with LEGO (which is, after all, what we do), it's somewhat meaningless prattle. Tim

I agree to some degree and would love to work out a way to pull it off but at the scale I'm yet to work out a solution. I agree about the guns. I based the whole thing on various pictures including those of the Delta-7 and may have used the wrong guns for the MOC. But I'm sorry I think complaining about the groove is just pointless without offering a viable alternative. If you can tell me how to get a small groove on a slope I'll add it in. I've got nothing against sensible critique but seriously... that's just an unreasonable complaint. I see no yellow arrows on the picture you link to but agree that those squares are very obvious in that pic. Unfortunately that obviousness doesn't seem to be remotely standard. Upscaling always offers the opportunity for more detail. But I'm far too lazy to try it ;) Tim