fred67

Impressive! Nice work!

Need something to pass the time between ridiculous 8 episode seasons!

While I completely agree with you, I don't know why it can't be open for discussion. Perhaps the criteria should be if anyone is left who was affected by the war, but that wouldn't help, there's a lot of older people out there who lost parents in WWI still out there, too... but then they didn't make "war" sets, they made a model of interesting (for the time) technology; something iconic. I don't know what iconic thing they could make from WWII. People would argue about tanks and planes (the jet era being ushered in), but I don't think there's a single iconic technology (besides the atom bomb) that makes me think of WWII. Likewise, the really interesting models are more recent. The SR-71 Blackbird is as interesting as the Sopwith Camel, but it represents the cold war... too recent. No wars are good - neither are pirates, so I don't know how TLG decides what's acceptable or not. Still, as long as the discussion is civil, I don't see why it needs to be closed.

Huh... like others here, there's a list of things with ZERO importance, so it's hard to pick which one, but tied for least important is definitely boxes and playability. I built Mines of Moria, and was overwhelmed with play features... I need to find a way to just remove them. That and the fact I had to add my own baseplates, because all those separate pieces made it terrible for displaying. It's just something AFOLs need to deal with, I guess.

It's not bad; I think you need more stickers for magazines, and perhaps some newspapers. I have waterslide decals, but for things like this you can just use mail labels. I think the coloring is a matter of preference, but I would prefer they matched. While I think that it's cool to be inspired by other people's MOCs, looking around for photos of real things to prototype works better. You can always fall back to the techniques we pick up from other people's MOCs. I don't want to make it sound like I'm dissing on your newsstand - I'd be happy to have it in my LEGO city/train layout, just trying to be helpful.

Neat! I like micro-scale; like Frank alluded to, building these kinds of things to scale is just untenable for most of us! It's too bad about the lack of options with the grill pieces, although I can't think of a better way to do it (off hand... you could raise everything up and use perfect right triangles to have tracks go at an angle, but I think that would be horrendous in execution and probably not look so great, anyway).

Never let it be said I'm not open to suggestions: DSCF1573 by FredJH, on Flickr DSCF1574 by FredJH, on Flickr I'll have to think about the Mariachi Band.

Well... thanks. I appreciate that. I have a bunch of brickforge mushrooms, though, that are pretty neat... I'm not a purist by any stretch (I even - gasp - CUT LEGO sometimes!); I do have that set, though... but I have a mental problem where I can't take a set I like apart for a MOC - I'd have to buy another one. I'm thinking about how to do a nicer base, though... maybe something with a border. But I do agree on one thing - sometimes studless is nice, but for ground - rough ground, or grass, I prefer studs. It is LEGO, after all.

The only point in this set for AFOLs is the two Christmas variants of figures, and only if you're into that sort of thing. For $50, it's just not worth it.

Agree with most of the others. I had two on my wanted list (I have kids) and in an effort to trim down my wants to a reasonable dollar figure, this was the first to go. I agree that I'd get it (even 2) at 50% off, and I'd really like that Darth Maul and Christmas R2 just for fun on my annual Christmas train layout, but it's just too much. I do love that sketchy printing on the R2... thanks for the pictures.

Thanks for the advice... I've never been good at "presentation," making nice bases for the figures. In this case, I realize they are not really much MOCs at all, just a bunch of CMFs that go together in groups with some extra things thrown in... not a whole lot of creativity or thought, but I will think about how I can fill them out more. I've got mushrooms that will go nicely with the three musketeers! (thanks to brickforge again)

Very nice! I love landscaping, although I'm not very good at it myself. The different colors under the trans tiles is an excellent technique; I've got thousands of those 1x1 trans greens (pick-a-brick a couple of years ago... I thought they might come in handy some day, but I never thought I'd use them for water... I don't know what I was thinking, actually). The duck with the minifig hand is brilliant... better than any brick built one I've seen from LEGO, although they cannot use hands that way. The fort is excellent, too. The only thing that maybe doesn't seem like it fits is the lighter tan tiling. I would think, especially on the upper level, 1x? brown tiles would make it look more like wood planks. On the ground, the color is right for dirt, but tiles are too shiny. I like that it's studless, but in that case maybe studded would look more like dirt... or maybe dark tan tiles, if you wanted to keep it studless? I don't know... I've never made anything as nice as this, so it's just my two cents. EDIT: I suppose it does break up the brown a bit... if it were all brown it might not be so striking.

Thanks... I like it manual, too, it's more fun to play with that way. Yes, the women are taller. In the world of LEGO, women must be wearing high heels under those dresses (2x2x2 slopes being taller than minifigure legs).

It's not a matter of how long it takes (I am a touch typist, after all), it's that sometimes I can't think of what makes me like something - like they say about paintings, I just know that I like it. I also don't want to repeat things a bunch of other people have already commented on... it's not just "nice MOC," it's "Oh, I love the ____," which is the same thing the previous five people have already said. But I appreciate what you're saying. I still don't think a "like" button would be so bad, but I will make more effort to comment on MOCs.

Seeing as how I'm trying to generate some extra money to buy some newer sets, I'm willing to make some trade deals in the hope that it might make it a better deal for you. My stuff in green, what I'd like in blue; Just for example, I will trade: 10194 Emerald Night (asking $145) for either 9474 (Battle of Helms Deep - $103.60 right now on Amazon) or 9516 (Jabba's Palace, $102.25 on Amazon right now). This trade has been done (for Helm's Deep)! But I'm leaving it as an example... make an offer! 4708 Hogwart's Express (asking $100) for BOTH 9465 (Zombies, MSRP $40) AND 9476 (Orc Forge, MSRP $40) OR BOTH 9472 (Attack on Weathertop, MSRP $60) AND 9470 (Shelob Attacks, MSRP $20). So... you see where I'm going with this? If you're interested in any of the sets I have, feel free to make an offer in sets. In particular, what I'm looking for right now: Batman Jetski polybag. 9470 Shelob Attacks 9471 Uruk Hai Army 9472 Attack on Weathertop 9474 Battle of Helm's Deep 9476 Orc Forge 9465 Zombies 9496 Desert Skiff 9516 Jabbas Palace Several of these - notably Jabba's Palace and Helm's Deep are both really good prices on Amazon right now; the Desert Skiff is also cheaper, even the Weathertop set is several bucks off. So you can save some money on my sets (even if you pay MSRP) if you're willing to trade any of these new/sealed sets. If you order from Amazon, you could have it sent directly to me for free (even without Amazon prime - over $25 is free super-saver shipping on these sets - at least, I think you don't have to pay even if you're not having it shipped to you, but I could be wrong). Free shipping from S@H for over $75 orders, too - plus you get the Zombie car. If it needs to be shipped all to me, I'd forward you the Zombie car (or you can use that to trade for something else on my sale list, too). These trades would work out way more in your favor than mine; please feel free to let me know what you think.

Agree with AncientDayz; boxes won't just increase price, they'll take up more display space.

Mariachi Band: Guitar and violin from Brickforge. DSCF1562 by FredJH, on Flickr DSCF1561 by FredJH, on Flickr Three Musketeers (duh): DSCF1560 by FredJH, on Flickr DSCF1559 by FredJH, on Flickr

I'm not a big fan of the blind packaging, and usually want at least two complete sets+ (one for posterity, one for display, and figures for MOCs... then my kids want some, so I'm usually still buying more of the popular ones), so I'm at the point where I just order a box. If they threw a rare figure in each box, then, it wouldn't really bother me - especially if, in doing so, they gave us four of the one of the lamer figures instead of five. But that's me - it's only because I am at the point where I'm buying the box. If I weren't, I'd be really annoyed if TLG were to pull something like that. So... ultimately, I think happier customers are better than unhappy ones. The ones buying figures are happy... why make a few of them even happier if you're going to make most of them annoyed? So no, I don't think they should do that. I also don't want completely blind packaging (the "feel" method works well - I'm 100% when taking my time)... I have (so far) seven complete, sealed series that I'm planning on leaving my kids or something... don't want to screw that up now if they moved to little boxes and you just couldn't tell. If people are opening the figures in the store and destroying the packets trying to do the "feel" method, I think that's a vendor problem, not a supplier one... they should leave them closer to the registers, perhaps.

Interesting... I see a lot of cool MOCs that I'd like to show my appreciation of, but often don't post because I don't like just saying "Great!" or "Nice!" I only post if I have something else to say or ask.

Gorgeous! Absolutely! I love seeing miscellaneous things in layouts like these - I'm not a pirate fan, but couldn't resist the QAR, either - but you can't let it go to waste! Great use of LEGO facades for the backdrop, too. It's very impressive, and I'm very jealous.

Being dry on ideas for new MOCs, I went ahead and redid series 1 to 7 displays. Uses a lot of bricks, but condenses the space - 112 figures takes 6 cases (with some space left over) using the three display levels the case comes with and using a 7-6-7 order (to make it work out to an even number). The new displays do 6-7-6-7-6, and take less than 4 cases (series eight will fill the rest of the fourth case, whereas it would have made me go to a seventh case the old way). DSCF1553 by FredJH, on Flickr I'm sort of on the line about how condensed it all is now, but I like matching the colors with the series (and am getting a few 1x3 curves in various colors to make it a bit nicer), and it certainly is convenient and saves a ton of space. I do have to play with the placement to make them fit... but not following the order on the sheet doesn't bother me (I didn't do it before, either).

Didn't know if there was any appropriate sub-theme for this. (link to video) DSCF1556 by FredJH, on Flickr Yes, it could be hooked up to a motor, but as it is, it can sit there and people just play with it when they pass by... if I made it motor driven, I'd keep taking it off for other things.

Updated the Monsters of Rock... still needs some last few pieces. DSCF1555 by FredJH, on Flickr

It's been a long time since I finished these, but after taking some other pictures today, I decided to just take everything that's been updated and post the latest pictures. DSCF1565 by FredJH, on Flickr DSCF1564 by FredJH, on Flickr DSCF1563 by FredJH, on Flickr

I actually updated this ship shortly after posting the original here, but never got around to taking pictures. The thread asking if your ship had been indexed got me thinking I should, because I think the newer one is nicer. DSCF1567 by FredJH, on Flickr DSCF1568 by FredJH, on Flickr