Sabtu, 13 Desember 2008

All But Four Roundup

Wow! Just when I thought we’ve seen it all along comes the “All But Four” build challenge. I set out to make you a little uneasy building things you’re not used to and instead of getting scared about it, you have made this one of the most fun…and unpredictable challenges yet! Lets get to our roundup.

Seemingly minutes after the start , Duq sets the pace of the challenge at top speed with this iconic P34 Tyrrell six wheeled Formula 1 racer. Even in LCAD, he works as fast as the cars he builds!
Tyrrell

Then later in the challenge he builds the famous Tyrrell with real Lego brick. its pretty neat!
Tiny Tyrrell P34 left

No stranger to British comedies (remember the Trotter car!) Duq tops off his entries with this motorcycle and sidecar driven by none other than Wallace and Gromit! Everything is just perfect, from the ladder to Wallace's helmet to Gromit's goggles. This MOC will have you trying your best British accent with "Cheeeeeeeese, Gromit!"
Wallace and Gromit left

You’d think heavy armored tanks wouldn’t be this fast, but clocking in just a hair behind the Tyrrell racer comes Matt Armstrong (AKA Monsterbrick) and his heavily gunned creation. In a race, 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd place doesn’t matter when you have a gun turret at your disposal!


Matt also spreads some holiday cheer the Monsterbrick way. Everyone knows Jabba the Hutt is one heavy gangsta! That’s why he needs six supercharged, chromed out engines to pull his sleigh. But what’s in the gift boxes, Jabba? Lets just hope the good children of the world enjoy eating live pickled frogs.
100_9733

Proving she’s no traditional car builder, Model Gal Mariann Asanuma races across the Bonneville salt flats in this sleek and unconventional Trio 1. It must be the coolest thing ever to see that top wheel move in the opposite direction of all the others.
Trio 1

Keeping up with being a non-traditional builder, Model Gal once again chimes in with a most non-traditional ride...the Segway. Just like the real thing, I can only presume this model is kept upright by the power of The Force. I mean...how else does anyone get to the Sci-fi con?
Segway 1

One wheel, one entry…that’s all you need when you’re Dylan Denton. You’d think this monowheel was from another planet, but no…Dylan shows us the very earthly vehicle that inspired it. And I gotta say…he replicated it nicely.
Monowheel

When not tinkering with test tubes and algebraic formulas, even scientists sometimes have a wild side. Our usual polite and demure Ralph Savelsberg (AKA Mad Physicist) proves he’s Born To Be Wild with this custom trike chopper. Ralph says the rider has cajones and his lady friend…um…seems also nice. Either way, this MOC gets that one Steppenwolf song stuck in my head. You know the one…Magic Carpet Ride.
Born to be wild -part 2

And Ralph wouldn't be Ralph without showing us some firetruck or another...this time its a London Fire Brigade Aerial Ladder. Can't you just hear that British sounding siren? Meeeeener Meeeeeeener Meeeeeeeener!
ladder truck

Newcomer dfuzz78 was made for LUGNuts and shows some local flair (at least for me, anyway) with this Waste Management McNeilus Side Loader Garbage Truck. This is the exact kind of garbage truck we have here in Washington. I know…I have fond memories of one of these beauties rattling trashcans around outside my apartment at 7am. But when you think of a life without them…I’d much rather deal with the noise…and this great MOC.


William Ward delivers the goods in this Isuzu NPR Delivery Truck. He says they’re one of the most common trucks in the world today and seeing so many of these around ya gotta figure he’s right. It has a neat rear roll up door and dualies. (yes, real dualies, Nathan!) The only thing this truck can’t deliver is good jokes…and apparently, neither can I. Hah!
Isuzu NPR Delivery Truck

Then, later in the challenge he delivers us this neat little Shasta Teardrop Travel Trailer. You can be the talk of your minifig town while camping in classic retro style in this baby!
Shasta Teardrop Travel Trailer: Right/Front

Keeping up with his camping theme, William shows us a high end Fleetwood Revolution Motor Home for the discerning camper who wants to go "roughing it" in luxury and style.
Climb Aboard

Nathan Proudlove helps fellow LUGNut and Certified Lego Professional, Robin Sather with a project and we all benefit from it. He weighs in heavily with a whole slew of creations. First he blows the tire count rule out of the water with this no-tire-havin’ hovercraft. Get it? Blows out of the water. Hovercraft. Shut up, it was funnier when I first thought of it!
hovercraft5

Next he races in with what I’m sure he sees often in the Great White Canadian North…a fun little snowmobile.
snowmobile

Then he keeps up with his cold, snowy theme with this admittedly cool snow cat that has all of us fast forwarding our copies of The Shining to the part where Scatman Crothers pulls up to the Overlook Hotel in one of these only to get an axe to the chest. Yikes!
Snowcat

Then he thaws the icy theme out a bit with this Car Hauler. He says it has 46 wheels…or 38. He’s not entirely sure on this. Neither am I for that matter. It probably has to do with the American vs. Metric system or something. Either way, this more than qualifies for our challenge.
Car Hauler

Not to be outdone by the car hauler, we have another common Canadian sight, a neat little logging truck. When not hauling logs, it conveniently hauls its own rear trailer. Its brown…just like the logs it carries.
Logging truck

Then we have his Unicef transport truck, proving you don't need to build large in order to achieve great detail. A lucky thrift store find helped formulate this MOC. Nathan notes that some of these pieces are 40 year old bricks, making this truck aged to perfection like a fine wine.
unicef4

Next we have Nathan’s school bus. Great build but let’s count the tires. One, two, three…um…hmmmm. Well if you use your imaginations and squint really hard, you can almost see the dualies. Almost. But hey, at least he came up with an awesome amount of entries this time so we can forgive him for that.
Schooled Bus

Next Nathan shows some holiday cheer with this clever Santa's Slay. With too many cool details to mention, I'm digging the sick gas tank, and how crazy and irresponsible is that to have Rudolph's skull guiding this chopper down the road?
Santa's Slay

Finally, at the request of his son, Nathan submits a cool replica of Mack, the truck from the movie Cars. I'd say his boy has good taste in vehicles and I think the world may see another little LUGNut real soon.
mack3

Speaking of crazy and irresponsible, Lino Martins waxes nostalgic with this trio of retro rides. First he delves into his own (decidedly cruel, we find out) childhood with this slick 70’s era Big Wheel. The spinouts. The jumping off of ramps. The mowing down girls on bicycles. The getting chased by angry dogs. The scars. Ahhh, the sweet memories!
Big Wheel..."All But Four" LUGNuts Challenge Entry...(1 of 3!)

Badass kids grow up to be badass adults. That's why they need this pirate themed 60's era show rod complete with an engine made from treasure chests and shiny gold! "Squawking parrot be the shifter" Lino says in pirate speak. Lets just hope that's not a real parrot!
Ghostship..."All But Four" Build Challenge Entry (2 of 3!)

Finally Lino proves that great minds think alike with some holiday cheer of his own, this time Santa rides an old-timey 30's era bobber with sidecar. Once the toys are offloaded, a sexy new Mrs. Claus has a place to sit. I think her name is Natasha and she came in the mail from Russia...or something. Hmmmm, I wonder if she can bake cookies as well as traditional Mrs. Claus?
"All But Four" LUGNuts Challenge Entry (3 of 3!)... Santa's Little Bobber

Fe2cruz proves that weirdness can exist both on land and on water with this unsinkable amphibious Hydra-Terra tour bus. They hold a US patent but the yellow ones like this one are all the rage in Dubai.
MHT money

Not to be outdone by the Hydra-Terra he also presents this dualie legal Volvo hauling a porta-potty and a camper pulling a boat. All told, these MOCs have a wheel count of 14...just like the challenge!
TF8

Then he clocks in with these three rather explosive jet powered busses. So long as they’re not hauling explosive porta-potties, I’m ok with them!
SBF8

And just when we thought he only knew squarish conventional vehicles he constructs a wild 2-seat, 3-wheeled Campagna T-Rex. Not quite a bike, not quite a car, the T-Rex combines the best of both worlds!
trex

Then, just when we thought he was done, we get the completely odd two-wheeled BMW C-1!


But wait there's more! just when the challenge was most of the way through fe2cruz floods us with five more awesome bikes. Just look at them all! Wow, you'd think people are having fun with this challenge or something.


big singlebmrpopo

supermoney


cbmoney

From two-wheeled bikes, we move onto Zach C and his six-wheeled, tough as nails, heavily armored APC.(Armored Personnel Carrier)There's a trick with scale going on here. By the looks of it, you'd think this carries like 20 guys. Nope, just one very cramped minifig. I guess a one man personnel carrier can still be considered...a personnel carrier.
APC entry for LUGNuts

Also considered one man personnel carriers are Zach's three bike entries.
Dirt Bike "Last Minute"

New to LUGNuts but not new to the Lego scene comes technic builder, Nathanael Kuipers (NK DeSign-er) with his classic and fun tricycle proving that you don’t need lots of horsepower…or an engine to have an awesome entry.
Kiddiebike

J4ke has never built a truck before…but you wouldn’t know it with this very cool Mack Truck with its fiery hot flame “paintjob”. I always put quotes around paintjob because well…it Lego and not really paint. I also put quotes around paintjob when referring to that mess that supposedly passes for color on my dad’s Aries K wagon. J
Mack Truck - Title 1

Newcomer Steve “kwycstix” Walker shows us what he’s made of with this flashy little Springer Hardtail V-twin with rider. With hornless Viking helmet and grizzly beard, that’s one biker you wouldn’t wanna mess with!
V-twin springer hardtail

Then he goes from bikes to big rigs with this Volvo style conventional sleeper. If you’re gonna drive for the long haul, you’d definitely want this sleeper cabin truck. I imagine it has a flat screen TV and mini fridge inside.
Conventional Sleeper

Shifting gears back to bikes, he comes up with this yellow hardtail, this time with a friendlier looking rider and kind of a laid back high seat for ease of ride and comfort. Both bikes have among the coolest built V-twins in this scale.


Then he clocks in with this...um...ghostly bike called Bone Rattler made from droid arms. This thing looks fragile. I'd hate to sneeze near it as it would topple over, I'm sure. Come to think of it kwycstix kind of sounds like the noise you make when you sneeze.


Next comes yet another bike, this one based on the single piston Suzuki Savage, a 650 Thumper with a serious rake.


If kwycstix (gesundheit!)isn't careful he's gonna become known as a bike builder. He chimes in with this final entry, a low and stretched water cooled chopper. Phew, that's a lot of bikes!


Tim Gould…or Gambort says it had to happen. And yes, he’s right you can’t have an All But Four challenge without the iconic 3-wheeled Reliant Robin. Its prone to tipping, apparently so careful taking those sharp corners.
Reliant Robin

Just when I was thinking that someone should build a Thai Tuk Tuk, Portugal’s resident car builder Biczzz (Ricardo Prates) delivers with this highly accurate model. These details are not to be missed! Tuk Tuk is the noise the vehicle makes when scooting along. The noise I made when I first saw this was…Oh wow!
Tuk Tuk

Firas Abu-Jabar shows that you don’t need bike tires and all the specific bike parts to build an awesome Dodge Tomahawk motorcycle. Everything from the Lego built road to the chrome pipes to the hazy font is all eye candy. I get the hunch that Firas understands…presentation is everything!
Dodge Tomahawk

Soon that hunch turned into a certainty. Firas once again impresses us all...this time taking the challenge in the opposite direction with this Model Team inspired American style truck. He says whats great about this truck is its "so huge, so tough, very heavy duty,". While we do build 'em big and tough here in the US, I'm gonna shed my tough exterior and say the best part of this truck...is its builder. Awwwww.
Model Team: American Style Truck

Newcomer M_longer somehow lives up to his namesake with this HUGE mobile crane. With a chart topping 18 wheels, this crane weighs in heavy with stunning detail. Be sure to check out the crane in all modes...this is a MOC not to miss. Although new to LUGNuts, we're thinking M-longer will fit in with us just fine.


It was bound to happen. You can't have an "All But Four" build challenge without the iconic six-wheeled Nemo car from League of Extrordinary Gentlemen. That's why we're glad zanthrax-dot-nl pulled it off.



And what would a LUGNuts challenge be without the prolific lego911? Just when we thought he was taking an oath of silence on this one, he chimes in with the instantly recognizable 1976 and '77 Tyrrell P34 and P34B F1 racers...the car that is so good for this challenge that(kinda like potato chips)no one can eat just one!
Tyrrell P34 1976Tyrrell P34B 1977

Then 911 clocks in with a 1964 K360 Japanese 3-wheeled vehicle. Economically sized and environmentally sensitive, these K-cars are perfect for transporting, flowers, kids, or those adorable Hello Kitty dolls.
Mazda K360 1964

Switching from Japan to Australia, the always informative Lego911 shows us fun and recreation on the outback with this Landrover 90 Series II that pulls a very neat camper caravan.
Landrover 90 Series II plus Caravan

Finally we have a stunning 1938 Mercedes-Benz 770 G4. It turned out the Spanish Royal family had one for whenever they needed to do their...um...Spanish Royal Family stuff.
Mercedes-Benz 1938 770 G4

rabidnovaracer shows us what life would be like if only our Lego fame translated to real fame. We'd pull up to the Lego Convention in this H2 SUT Stretch Limo Hummer...complete with hot tub, fully stocked mini bar and enough seating for you and all your posse. Keeping true to DUB culture this Hummer rolls on six "grown men", plus a spare. Don't know the term? Look it up, playa!
Lego Hummer H2 SUT Stretch Limo

If paramat has any influence on the future we'd all be riding around in these wispy Transparent Personal Diwheels. The hatch and floor opens up to easily accommodate a driver. Can't you just hear the music of minimalist composer Philip Glass as this thing quietly rolls along? Don't know Philip Glass? Look him up, playa!


onetruescotty Scotty Whitesell has some fun stepping outside of his comfort zone and shows us some far eastern culture with this Japanese Tanker Truck. I'm digging that cab!
Japanese Trucking

Forget one bike. Forget two or even three! onosendai2600 Andrew Lee races in with a whole fleet of fun, Akira inspired bikes. Just look at the variety! This is one biker gang I'd love to join!
Let's Ride!

Big Rafalski packs a wallop with this 30 year old custom farm pickup called Blue Lighting. He even gave it a backdrop and a good story at no extra charge. I've said it twice, I'll say it again...I love the little red gas can!



Having tried it unsuccessfully a few times myself, I've come to the conclusion that bike fenders are the hardest thing to build in Lego. But newcomer Hobo4Evar shows me up with this awesome Noddy inspired chopper called The Cougar. From the front fork to the engine, this little bike is chock full of advanced build techniques. Hobo4Evar..Hah! I laugh every time I see that name!
Cougar

Crimson Wolf beams in with an idea from out of this world... a trio of levitating bikes propelled by magnetism. Like my insoles, the riders travel along in style and comfort on a cushion of air. now if only they came up with a motorcycle powered by coolness, Crimson Wolf would be ridin' high!




Then he throws in a regular bike just for good measure.
Motorcycle


When the end of the world comes Improbcat will be good and ready for it with this no wheel havin' Snowpocalypse Truck. Check out that hodgepodge apocalyptic styling!
DSCF0007

From the end of the world we come to happy childhood memories with this brilliant wheelbarrow built by Nolnet.He and his sister used to love to be pushed around in a wheelbarrow and just like real life, this one dumps out its contents exactly where you don't want it.
wheelbarrow1

In case you ever wondered what a RIOT Wheel is, Azaghal Gabilzaramul clears our cluttered minds with this...you guessed it...RIOT Wheel. Its actually pretty neat and it turns out that, just like everybody who has ever been arrested on that show Cops, you have to drive it while shirtless and in a top hat.
RIOT Wheel in Action!

Speaking of funny hats, we go from RIOT Wheels to the exotic land of China with cbla_member's rickshaw. A simple build, ten minutes from concept to post, he shows us you can build and photo a timeless classic with very few pieces. I wouldn't careen through China's busy, congested streets in anything else!
Rickshaw

A few weeks ago, no one knew who bricksonwheels was...but that all changed real quick once he posted this amazing 18 wheeled Peterbuilt 379. He seems a fan of highly customized rigs, his inspiration and other Lego MOCs are not to be missed! I demand everyone check out the rest of his photos! Go ahead, I'll wait......... Pretty freakin' sweet, huh?!
peterbilt_379_reefer_small_-_18

Newbie lardydooty (say that ten times fast!) shows us a couple of entries. They're not real cars per se but a couple of...um...generic three wheelers. He couldn't decide which was better...that's up for us to figure out. Here they are.
IMG_2236


We should make it international law that Ed "Lego Monster" Dement and Ralph "Mad Physicist" Savelsberg should team up every time they build something. Whenever they do, the Lego world benefits big time! This time they concocted a juggernaut with some Australian flair...the massive Road Train with a staggering 86 wheels! Don't miss the...um...Foster's filled cabin for driver Marco and his little 'roo friend. G'day mate!


He fought us, shuffled his feet, complained for a month, and wished the challenge would be over with already. Then
Raphael G.
squeaks in on a technicality with these two tiny turbos. Note they have spare tires so they qualify as five wheeled cars. Then just minutes before the new year, Raphael submitted a bunch of stuff that didn't make any sense. (Cough)...um...yeah. Anyway. Let us bow our heads. Good luck out there, Raphael.


Last but certainly not least Apple Pie shows us that what glitters definitely is gold with this Racing Truck. The first LUGNuts entry ever to have sparkly effects, this amazing truck never fails to impress even without the sparkleys. Do not miss the other pics of this...it looks like it can just tear up the road!
Race Truck

Wow! Just wow! This challenge proved we can cut up and have a great time even while building outside of our comfort levels. A staggering number of these entries made it onto flickr Explore and brothers-brick so my sincerest congrats go out to all of you. Now lets see how we do when we get all...secret agent-y in our 15th challenge called "Who Is Agent Janus?" I can't wait to see what you all come up with for this one!

Senin, 01 Desember 2008

Fear and Loathing round-up

We've brought our much anticipated "Fear and Loathing" build challenge to a close and once again we've been graced with an onslaught of great entries...this time all about phobias and superstitions! To start us off, Lego911 gives us his unique interpretation of fear and loathing by digging deep into childhood memories and presented this black ‘61 Mercedes-Benz W112 300 SE Saloon driven by his creepy Gestapo music teacher!

Mercedes-Benz W112 300SE Saloon

911’s second entry…the Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider demonstrates the fear of spiders (Arachnophobia) and slips in a good “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off” reference with fear of irate parents. I can totally relate to that one…my dad nearly blew his stack when I scratched the Aries K wagon. I’d hate to see what happened if it was a Ferrari!

Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider

The technical term is Phasmophobia or Spectrophobia: Fear of Ghosts. But newcomer TJJohn12 tells us “I ain’t afraid of no ghosts” with this iconic Ghostbusters wagon.

Ecto-1; 3/4 Front

Should I be attracted to Abbey? She’s dark, gothy and maybe a bit creepy, but a few months ago she and her Plymouth Rock were the subject of my dreams! Now Ed Diment (Lego Monster) once again teams up with Ralph Savelsberg (Mad Physicist) to scale up…and scale down their fiery ride with this four score Arsonaphobic entry!

Plymouth Rock Scales

Matt Armstrong wouldn’t be Monsterbrick without giving us all the heebie-jeebies! Here we see Death in a suped-up coffin rod complete with copious chrome and enough toxic exhaust to choke a village…oh, wait, that IS a choked village!

smoke n mirrors

New guy Raphael G shows some Maximaphobia (fear of big things) with these decidedly small Iron Goliath entries that come in blue and yellow flavors. See, aren’t they cute?



And what germophobe would ever want to set foot in this…or any other rat rod? Here Raphael demonstrates Limusphobia with this down and dirty rat rod Bonneville racer!



And Raphael throws a couple more entries our way with this little six wide van illustrating fear of thunder and fear of night and this low-down HydroRider representing...acrophobia.




Our resident Mad Physicist (Ralph Savelsberg) shows he can multitask with this awesome FDNY fire truck that covers not one; (fear of fire…Arsonaphobia), not two (fear of heights…Acrophobia) but three fears! (fear of loud noises…loud noise-aphobia) It even has motorized power functions!



Also Ralph covers the superstition concerning black cats with this sleek and sultry Jaguar Mk 2. Clever, huh? Between these entries there is one more phobia Ralph didn’t mention called Damnyouralphobia…or the fear of being outdone by Ralph! ;)




It turns out 40% of the world’s population is claustrophobic and Dylan Denton cleverly demonstrates this point with this cool little ‘63 Peel P50! Nothing screams “get me outta here!” like the confined Peel production car!

Peel P50

Then Dylan throws in Anemophobia, Anablephobia, Aeroacrophobia at no extra charge with this sleek roadster. I'm digging the trans-blue headlights!




Clowns are just plain creepy. Lino Martins proves this with his disturbingly coulrophobic entry called I Scream. It features a mini hot rod that launches out the back and buzz saw blades that come screaming out the front!

Coulrophobia...Fear of Clowns!

Tim Inman (Rabidnovaracer) shows some Necrophobia and maybe just a touch of Acrophobia with this slammed ‘68 Cadillac Hearse rightfully called…Dead Sled! Of course it comes with a coffin and the most menacing pipes ever seen.

"Dead Sled" 68 Cadillac Hearse


Fe2cruz’s little entry packs a big wallop with a phobia AND a superstition! Xanthophobia- is the fear of the color yellow or the word yellow. Yes, its true…I know someone who has it. But more amazingly, it turns out peanuts are considered a bad omen in auto racing. Who woulda thunk it?!

RUYLOp

And he clocks in with another entry, this one an amphicar. It derives from too many phobias to list, but notably hydrophobia (fear of water) and Teutophobia (fear of German culture.) Sorry, Hasselhoff!

amphicar


Nathan Proudlove shows us what he’s made of with this futuristic, super sleek Batwedge…yet another concept ride for the dark and brooding Batman. Be sure to check out the top view…the Batman Begins logo has cleverly been placed there. But with three Batmobiles built, do ya think Nathan really has chiroptophobia?

batwedge


First time challenge participant Firas Abu-Jabar surely doesn’t disappoint with this new GT500 Super Snake…illustrating the fear of snakes and fear of high speeds! Not only is this one of the more intricate cars seen in awhile, but check out that fully posable coiled cobra!

Shelby GT500 Super Snake

cbla_member makes up a new big word and shows us a phobia we all have but just didn't know it...amaxomaimouphobia...or the fear of riding in cars with monkeys. Laugh if you must...ok, I did...but enough people have envisioned this idea and deep down it probably represents a fear of not being in control of our own actions...and not trusting those who are.

Amaxomaimouphobia

Apple_Pie clocks in with this cool new hot rod that lists nearly two dozen phobias as its inspiration...too many to mention. Um...uh...we're just gonna have to take his word for it! Great hot rod though.



Duq squeaks in just before the deadline with a build he's been dreaming of for awhile now. He honors his own heritage with the most fearsome Dutch made vehicle ever...the DAF twin Turbo X1! And it turns out there really is a such thing as Dutchphobia. We're watching you, Ralph!

TinyTurboTwin

Newcomer V&A Steamworks takes a break from Steampunk creations to submit a vehicle that shows us the true meaning of acrophobia! This MOC is simple but effective! Yikes, I'm scared!
Fear of heights 2

Anyway, its been a great month! We've built a lot of awesome vehicles and learned a few big words while we were at it. Don't miss this month's challenge, All But Four...this one generously allows you to build any vehicle you want...so long as it doesn't have four tires. Should be fun!

Rabu, 26 November 2008

Lego911 builder profile

I am happy to present to you the most recent of our builder profiles here at LUGNuts. Lego911 joined our ranks in August and has quickly become known as one of the most prolific and talented among us. In the two and a half months he's been with our crew he has entered an astounding 28 miniland scale vehicles in three challenges.



How might we know you online?

I am known on both LUGNUTS and Brickshelf as LEGO911. I have a profile on LEGO FACTORY too, but I can't remember what it is off the top of my head. The material on both is pretty much the same - there is more on brickshelf though, if people wanted to dig through all the folders.

What is your real name?

Peter Blackert

How old are you?

36 - I think? Its difficult to remember sometimes.

Where do you live?

I live in a small city called Geelong. It is about 70 km south-west of Melbourne our second largest city, in Victoria, Australia. The main industry here is manufacturing. I work as an engineer here at the Research and Development Centre for Ford Australia.

How long have you been building?

I have built with Lego since age 2 - Duplo hadn't been released yet. Since about the age of 7, all I wanted for presents for my birthday or for Christmas was Lego (not that I always received it). I had a couple of periods where I built less than others. From about 2001 when I got married, and needed to finish university, along with starting a family, means that I had not been building much. The lego only came inside from the garage again 4 or 5 months ago, hence the activity on LUGNUTS. You could probably only call the 'grey ages' as I still did build, but probably only the same amount as 'normal' people.

How long have you been building cars?

I have built cars of some sort since I was pretty young. I built my first repeatable, recorded car in August 1981. I called it 'Penguin' using the P initial of my first name as a theme. My car company was called 'PP" or Peter Power - but don't tell anyone, its embarrassing. I still remember how to build this car. It was based on the period Nissan Pulsar (possibly called Sentra, Sunny or something else in other places). I have modelled it on LDD, except for the wrong type of wheels. It even included opening doors and boot (trunk). Since then I have built many, many cars (total approximately 25,000). The pace has turned down a lot lately - as my time doesn't really seem to be my own much these days.

The car company is still called PP, though I don't do unique original designs very much at all any more. What I enjoy about the LUGNUTS challenges is that it encourages me to build cars that I would be less likely to otherwise build. I hope that other LUGNUTters feel the same inspiration.

Do you have a favourite style or scale of vehicle to build?

I have only learned recently that the model scale I build to is called 'miniland', after the scale used currently in the LEGOLAND theme parks overseas (I have yet to go to one - though I did hatch a plan for a while, to use a two day layover in Los Angeles to hire a car and drive down to Carlsbad and go - the 8 hours jetlag pretty much shot that one down). The scale equates to about 20.5:1. A touch larger than Ralph's models. I was very excited the first time I saw the Ultimate Lego book, published in 2000 or so.

I have made a couple of adapted models like the cover 1957 Chevrolet. If you search hard enough you can find photos of the other miniland models on brickshelf - there is some crossover with what I build myself.

Miniland is a pretty good scale for cars, as it offers you a pretty good choice of available wheels and tires. Also things like headlights work pretty well. If you want to you can also equip cars with lego piston motors and suspension (though unique installation can burn a lot of build time - though it is worth the challenge every now and then).

Miniland is also a good scale to build in terms of the number of pieces used, enough to build some cars with good detail, but not too big or heavy or piece intensive.

What other themes do you enjoy building?

When I first thought about this, I thought 'I don't build anything else', but then I realised that I did. I have a soft spot for Castle, and have built a few big ones over the years - I also had a pretty big army of knights and cavalry. The main purpose though was to account for the significant amount of Lego that would not be built into cars.

I have also built a couple of 2 metre buildings - though my wife was not amused with crawlers and toddlers around - though they make me think what it would require to build a record hight lego tower. That would be 100 - 150 metres and a kings ransom worth of Lego bricks.

I also went through a couple of Train periods (to drive around the cities overlooked by the castles) inspired by the lego theme train book and lego train sets from the early 1980s. I also had dreams of connecting my whole house with rail and remote controls - again way out of my period (and current) budget.


If you had to choose a personal best MOC, (my own creation) what would it be?


Personal best MOC is a hard one - I have had a grey age for a while, hence no building, and before that was before cheap digital cameras.

So here's a few:

Best MOC Miniland body:

2008 Built Citroen DS. This is a pretty recent build, but in terms of 'change' it incorporated the highest take-up rate of new parts and building techniques, particularly the rear of the car. If you look closely, you can see the first use of classic space 45 degree small wings for the front bumper bar. The complicated thing with this car is that it is so un-alike to other cars I have built. The real car is a bit of an eye-opener also. Feedback for this model also seems to receive some considered admiration.

Citroen DS Later Series

Best MOC Miniland Drivetrain:

BF Falcon V8 and suspension.

This may sound like a bizarre discussion point, but I see my main difference to most competent builders as the ability to install powertrain/drivetrain systems on this scale.

The selected powertrain above is not the most difficult to fit, but incorporates the most robust and functional powertrain set I have developed. The main ingredients are a Vee engine - simulated V8, though with only 4 lego pistons - it is scale correct for the overall engine. The tricky part was to install independent front suspension within the space available, this is by longitudinal torsion bars. The rear suspension is similar in principle, but incorporates the driven rear axle and driveshaft pickup. The innovative part here is the bushes on the axle. Overlapping the fixed centre axle and the outer articulated axles by 1/2 stud each, it acts as a CV (constant velocity joint) with remarkably low loss.

All of that may have made no sense, but if you have a stronger understanding of real cars it will help.

Powertrain

The most difficult overall MOC I ever made was in 1989, at age 17. This was a technic MOC car at about 1:8. The lego used was up to about 1985 technic vintage I set and met the ambitious target to build a car with four wheel drive, four wheel steer, and four wheel fully independent suspension. It also incorporated an old style Lego piston V6, and 3 speed gearbox with reverse. The problem - lego had not come out with the large sophisticated specialised pieces that allow these feature to be built today. The car was somewhat heavy and had some suspension camber issues because of it. And secondly no-one who saw it had any comprehension of how difficult it was to build.

Unfortunately I have no photos.

How long did they take to build?

Citroen DS - this took two builds - one to develop the theme and the second to refine. All up about 8 hours work, though I tend to process the designs in my mind in 3D while walking around or doing other things.

Falcon drivetrain - again, much of this was developed conceptually mentally. To incorporate all the features took about 12 hours in 3 development sessions.

Big technic MOC - probably 20 - 30 hours.

How many pieces are in them?

Most of my miniland scale cars use 250 - 450 parts. It depends on how complex the chassis systems are installed, for instance, the drivetrain system pictured has 50 parts for the rear suspension, and about the same for the engine and front suspension combined. If replaced with simple axles, you could save 80 parts.

The technic MOC probably had 1000 or more. It saved by not having an outer body.

Did you use instructions?

Complex question. I do not have instructions written by someone else, but because I build so many cars, and some are quite complex (it is difficult to remember the 3D plans for the 1000's of cars I have designed - though you would be alarmed at how well I can). I do make my own instructions: simply, since 1982 I have hand drawn 2D plans in side front and rear elevations, including colour for parts (not the general bodywork though). I have about 12 binder folder full (somewhere - maybe at my mum's house).

Since I bought my first CAD (computer aided design) program in the 1990's I modelled some of the more 'complex' cars in 3D cad, designing my own pieces (no studs though). This included complex technic parts as cad 'blocks'. This is similar to the idea that real car makers talk about with regard to 'modularity' where you have a bunch of systems, be they engines, gearboxes, suspension etc, which have known compatible interfaces, which you then connect together to make whatever combination you need for your new car. However, I think it would help if the engineers did actually do this with Lego first, so they knew what they were talking about and did it properly, instead of pretending to do it. (rather cynical - I know)

With the release by Lego of Lego Digital Designer from Lego factory, it has been pretty simple to design my cars in 3D with all (most) of the appropriate design constraints. The limitation being technic parts for powertrain, and an unnecessarily limited palette of parts and colours. I have only been using it for a few months now, but my flickr photostream and brickshelf account would show a healthy catalogue of work in the medium. Another suggestion to Lego would be the ability to insert 'blocks' from other models, then I would be able to install modelled powertrain and chassis systems from already created assemblies.

W111_220SE_Convertible_05

Do you have any projects on the go?

Yes.

Apart from the LUGNUTS challenges, I do a number of projects:

1. Update my back catalogue - particularly cars of historical significance or beauty. Currently I am developing 1950 - 1975 Mercedes-Benz models.

2. Powertrain and chassis development. Currently developing I4 transverse front drive installation with suspension and I4 and V6 longitudinal front-mid-engine (aka Citroen DS and SM and various 1980s and 90s large Hondas and 1970s and 80s Renaults)

3. Generally develop my skills and techniques with an eye to building commissioned models at some stage - particularly cars from early than 1980.

And one specifically for you, how long does it take for you to build one of these cars? You're such a prolific builder, pumping them out every day, we're curious about your process.


I guess I could answer this a number of ways:

If I have built the car before, and I have all the parts I need, I can pretty much build a car in an hour or so (remember - I have the instructions)

If it is an original build from the last 30 years or so, I can build a pretty competent model in 2 - 3 hours. It helps that I have a lot of resource material, books, magazines and a good technical knowledge to find information on the internet.

Something harder, like the powertrain/suspension systems, older historical cars or weird things like Citroens take a while longer.

I can design up cars pretty competently on LDD with the same constraints in about the same amount of time + 30% or so.

An interesting challenge would be to set me a list of 30 - 40 cars (and particular models and colours) and see how many I could build in a day or two - though you would need to have me released from work and family obligations to do this.

Anything anyone would particularly like me to model, I am generally open to suggestions.


There you go. A glimpse into the mind of Lego911. Anybody want to take him up on the list of 40 cars to build?

Jumat, 21 November 2008

Model Gal's Modeling Skills

Nathan has given me the invite to help run this blog so I can do posts of my own and help out when my assistance is needed. My HTML skills are shoddy at best so I hope this will turn out ok...but my first order of business is to call attention away from my lack of HTML skills and to highlight someone with mad skills with the Lego brick. Mariann Asanuma (Model Gal) has produced a truck that is not only completely LUGNuts worthy, but check out the SNOT mosaic lettering! No wonder she has been a Master Modeler. Anyone lucky enough to visit LEGOLAND California can see this great model...and plenty of others by Mariann in person. Model Gal, we salute you!

Dreyer's Side

Kamis, 06 November 2008

Jerrec's NotRod


NotRod
Originally uploaded by Jerrec

Newcomer to LUGNuts, Jerrec, has created a hot rod with realistic proportions and stunning details. Great work man and welcome aboard.

Model Team re-imagined.


main
Originally uploaded by Firas Abu-Jaber

We've got a new star in our ranks. Firas Abu-Jaber builds stunning large-scale cars and trucks but the latest re-imagining of a Model Team set stands out as a future classic. Be sure to check out some of his other work as well.