deraven

Hi PTI Student(s)! Welcome to EB. I guess my first question would be how your proposed service differs from the many others that are already out there. There are a few different ways to use existing parts and mix them into a "custom" minifigure, and even more services that allow you to do custom designs and prints (on all different parts of the minifig) - just google for "Custom Lego Minifig." If your idea has some unique features please share; I'm sure there's plenty of interest if it's something useful that's not already out there.

Welcome to EB, Davide! No real tricks- just be open-minded and polite, and enjoy the community! When you're ready to share your MOC, set up a flickr account and link the images from there (a lot of people try to host images from inside Google Drive or upload directly to Eurobricks, etc., but a flickr account is the way to go). Happy building!

Seems like a kinda rough part of town. So many great details! The graffiti, use of old bricks for weathering, basket ball stuck on the roof, and the way you did the roll-up doors at the back are all bits I especially like. Well done!

Really great design. There's a lot going on there in 32x32 without feeling crowded. The interior design is nice as well. The ATM is a nice touch showing the integration of modern life into the old buildings.

Impressive. Most... impressive. I especially like all the detail down the centerline of the ship body. Great build!

I'll chime in and say that I don't think you have too big a collection, I think you have too frustrating a collection. I was starting to feel a bit like you were describing: less joy in building when so much of the time is spent collecting the bits you need rather than actually creating or finding inspiration. I transitioned to more digital building for a while so once I was mostly done with a digital MOC I could pull the parts list and collect everything in bulk, then finish the last little flourishes/improvements in real brick. That was OK, but as was mentioned above by others, I also find a lot of creativity in just digging through a big pile of parts and running across inspiration from random pieces that wouldn't have popped to mind otherwise. Plus... I spend enough time staring at a computer screen the rest of my life to love doing it during Lego time as well. I'm at a pretty happy medium now. I still build digitally when I've got an idea for how to do something complex with a given set of pieces but don't want to go dig them out or if I know I don't have enough of a specific element for what I'm wanting to try, but I don't often do a whole MOC in the computer anymore. Basically just some prototyping, then I move to real brick. I have a smaller area of sorted brick (around 30 large sets of Akro Mils drawers) that I do only by part type (not color) where everything is within a few steps and only takes a few seconds to get to any given part. I just fill up the drawers with as many of that element as I have or will fit, and the overflow goes into ziplock bags that are kept in large bins/drawers that roughly match the groupings of the sorting drawer units. If I need "back stock" of an element for a larger MOC or run out of a specific color in the sorted drawers, I can still easily find that element in the bulk bags but 90% of the time my building isn't stalled by needing to go do that and my actual working area is less cluttered and far easier to build in. But what about the spontaneity? I keep a few largish tubs (4-5 x ~50 liter) full of random parts for both me and my kids to dig around in freely when we feel like it. Some of that is from mixed bulk orders from eBay that I scooped in there before sorting the rest, or where I just toss a handful of spare parts from a Bricklink order before putting the rest away, and recently disassembled smaller sets that the kids take apart - a nice mix to stumble on inspiration or just fiddle around. Maybe the bifurcated storage would work for you, too, Boulderer, so you could have most things at arm's reach with less frequent runs to the larger storage area only when you need larger quantities of something?

Very nice. I especially like the overall shaping of the car at the rear. The subtle curves are incorporated nicely, and a nice touch with the curtains in the windows.

Wow - I love this! I like this more than the good ol' Falcon. If this were released as the current UCS, I'd buy it. The coloring is great, the studdlessness but still maintaining great greebling, and the fact that everything seems like it should be there and has a purpose rather than just random extra bits stuck on is really fantastic. Beautifully done!

Really nice work. I'm impressed with the smoothness and number of angles you've captured related to the super-curvy design of the N-1 at such a small scale. Bravo on the interior construction techniques as well!

Cool. I think the shoes came out particularly well- NPU for the laces, and the scissors for the draw-string bow on the pants!

WOW! Even more impressive seeing the interiors! Just fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing more detail.

Very nice! Would love to see more of them!

Very nice! A little bit hard to differentiate between the black-on-black bricks in some steps, but that's a minor nitpick and I still really like the live-build style of instruction. Thanks for sharing!

Welcome to EB, Ether! Nice collection of UCS there, even if they do need to hang out on the floor for a while.

That's really not typical for any Lego, but if it was stored, assembled, in a bad environment it's possible the bricks were affected in such a way as to have them loose clutch power. That's assuming they are genuine Lego, but with an older set like that I think it's fairly unlikely it's a counterfeit. If it were me and the bricks were degraded to the point where they don't hold together well, the set has little value and the bricks won't be of much use elsewhere either, so I'd return it if you can. Now, the sticker sheet and 9v components are the priciest items to replace, so if those came with this purchase and it wasn't outrageously expensive, it might be work keeping it for those items.

I think the site you're looking for is: https://www.brickpicker.com

Well, there are quite a few pictures online as you noted, but as far as actual instructions, the only one I can think of that might have that kind of additional detail is @LEGO Historian

Welcome to EB, Hobby Bricks! Happy building.

Wow... I don't have much to say- it's just so good! The few places you used the flextube work really well and add a lot to the overall design/fee. Only thing I don't know about are those rubber bands on the underside. Seems like that might be too vulnerable during play for an official set, but that's my only nitpick. Supported!

Very nice truck! I like the flip-up cab roof for easy minifig access. Nicely done!

Welcome to EB, Legorgon! And welcome back to Lego!

Those are pretty cool! Nice technique for the brick-built wings at that size.

Very nice. Clean, recognizable, and a fun interior! I agree that some kind of engineering/maintenance section on the interior would be a nice addition, but what you've got is great. :)

Welcome to EB, Gerardo! Yes, Bricklink is the way to do. That's a Technic Disk, 3x3. Here's a link to the part on Bricklink and, if it matters, you can see that there are quite a few of that blue color available for sale: https://www.bricklink.com/browseList.asp?itemType=P&catString=638 Happy building!

Welcome to EB, Moxieman! Nice to have you with us - happy building/studying!