What are you building right now?

KungFuKenny · June 2020

TheFew said:

Just finished my Xenomorph (well a couple of bits to find in the correct colour).

He is a little fragile, but now safely in his new home.

That build is massive— looks great!

TheFew · June 2020

KungFuKenny said:

TheFew said:

Just finished my Xenomorph (well a couple of bits to find in the correct colour).

He is a little fragile, but now safely in his new home.

That build is massive— looks great!

Cheers. Just now need to find some instructions for a decent colonial marines APC...

Speedman29 · June 2020

Started on the 1975 Ferrari 312T from RoscoPC. Watching the 1975 International Trophy from Silverstone while I build

bandit778 · June 2020

I ain't afraid of no ghosts..... because there aren't any and the winged beasty isn't that scary.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/7j/00q0vpv4fqvq.jpg

Nice little build and nicely put together but I preferred #21108 as a build.

Nice selection of printed parts though.

datsunrobbie · June 2020

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Built a few Bionicle sets over the weekend. Toa and Rahkshi and Vahki, oh my!

Speedman29 · June 2020

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Completed the 312T, the rear wing is a little fragile, but I think it captures the car perfectly. Just waiting on the sticker sheets to arrive from Italy now

karrit · June 2020

I just put together the Lighthouse of Darkness. It included a bag of plasma goo blobs but nothing in the instructions to show where or how to use them. I may end up removing the haunted features other than the eyeball in the foglight as I doubt I'll make use of them. At least the teeth are hidden with the tower walls closed up but the claw thing doesn't do anything for me so I don't really need to have the mechanism sticking out of the back.

Fauch · June 2020

10265 mustang. Nice build but the prints are really really bad, they don't align and the color is poor. (I bought it recently, hoping maybe they fixed it)

eMJeeNL · June 2020

Finished #10273 today, together with my 5-yo. Great build, and great play function. Found another error in the instructions (as with #21233); the the chain hauling up the "elevator" isn't long enough when using the indicated 2x74+1 links; you need 2x75+1 (also inquired at my neighbour (fellow AFOL), and he concurred).

560Heliport · June 2020

@Speedman29 sometimes we need to fix what LEGO designers screwed up.

Speedman29 · June 2020

560Heliport said:

@Speedman29 sometimes we need to fix what LEGO designers screwed up.

Quad jet engine all the ships!

karmajay · June 2020

I just finished 42066 Technic Air Race Jet! It was bigger then I thought!

JRBricks · June 2020

Going back a few years...Johnny Thunder’s scorpion tracker. Off to von Barron’s. Build time 3 minutes.

TheOriginalSimonB · June 2020

Having a day at the beach in Newbury.

stlux · June 2020

I slightly modified 2 #40173 Picture Frames to accommodate a signed picture of Matthew Ashton (TLG's VP of Design) and a Unikitty he had drawn for me a while ago:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/h3/ii2uen2gzte1.jpg

Both pictures were slightly larger than the 10x15cm those frames can hold, so I made them a brick/plate higher than the original. And added some inverted slopes so a selection of Unikitties could add a touch of colour.

stlux · June 2020

There's a monkey loose in Modular City!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/57/q8eeezsw9o9t.jpg

Pretty nice build, and those lacquered gold pieces look great!

There's some limits to the articulation, but it's very swooshable, and there's enough poses available for my needs.

GrannyLEGO · June 2020

Looks better than the picture on LEGO.com!

Modeltrainman · June 2020

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Rebuilding Casey Jr. in Stud.io, because people think my photography is bad... Personally, I think the real world model looks better. This one looks cramped, but Studio doesn't have a great electric/electronic hardware collection. But the people voting for him on IDEAS must be satisfied, so they'll vote.

560Heliport · June 2020

I always prefer real-world models to digital (unless the photography is completely horrible- and yours is just fine.)

Modeltrainman · June 2020

@560Heliport
That's the nicest thing anyone has actually said about my photography skills.

Addicted2Oxygen · June 2020

I really like the Downtown Diner's aesthetic, and enjoyed the build. However, it did not feel complete to me.

I felt that the diner window needed to wrap around further, and be more reminiscent of the Nighthawks painting by Edward Hopper. As such, it should be a prominent corner building and not lost in a row of other buildings (this also help stop it jarring with the other sets as much).

So I bought a second set in a sale a while ago, and over the last few weeks set out to 'fix' the diner. What I thought would be a relatively straightforward mod turned into a cascade of issues that needed to be solved. But in the end, I got a modular I was happy with.

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Addicted2Oxygen · June 2020

The gory details of the build

My rules for the MOC were to stick to the pieces that came in the set as much as possible, but I would allow getting additional common pieces, such as plates in bricks in common colours. I wanted to avoid anything too unusual or one off if possible. To that end I think I mostly succeeded, with mostly 1x2, 1x3, and 1x4 plates in black and white being the main additions. The others I will point out later.

The main goal was to enlarge the diner area, so there was room for a larger window and more than 1 table. I had hoped to get in 3 tables but a quick rough out showed that would not be possible. I could get a table in front of the window and some more bar stools.

I had to modify the design of the benches with and use 1x4 and 1x2 red bricks to give me the shape I wanted.

The table by the window looks ok, but is very fragile. It is 2 separate parts that rest against each other. I need to revisit it at some point and figure out if there is a way to join the two parts together. I now understand why there was only 1 table and why it was fixed to the wall.

The larger window immediately made the diner look better, but I had to shrink it back down when I remembered I needed stairs!

The next issue I ran into is with the grill, and its extractor hoods. Originally, these hung out the back of the building, but now the wall is up to the edge of the baseplate, so I either had to redesign the grill or figure out how to adapt the build. I went for the later and with judicious use of jumpers, tiles, and sloped bricks I got in integrated to the wall reasonably well.

I also added some 2x2 tiles with jumpers to the diner floor, so there were more places to stand the figures. I always feel there are too few jumpers in the modulars to aid standing figures.

At this point I had a rough idea for the stairs but I had not fleshed it out fully yet. I wanted to wait until I had the wrap around canopy sorted.

I lost days of time trying to figure out the canopy. I had assumed it would be straightforward, and not actually stopped to look and think about the construction.

You can't just build the side the same as the front, because snot plates cause the front to be offset a fraction less than the height of a stud. So you would have to have an unsightly gap. I almost went with this because it was the most stable option I cam up with. But the gap was hideous.

In the end the option I settled on was to sideways build from the arch and use a white 1x1 brick with a clip on the bottom row clipping onto a 1x2 plate with a side handle. This gave the clip freedom to slide to the correct place and avoid the offset stud issue.

At the other end I built in the same way as front right, but started on the back. The additional snot plate gave the desired additional offset to allow everything to fit together correctly without being under pressure or with a gap. Solving this was the hardest part of the whole build!

The gap when building the same way on the front and side, due to the SNOT tile offset

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Things do not fit

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First attempt at sideways building resulted in too much pressure. Things were still not right.

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The gap I almost settled with out of desperation

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The final design

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How the lower row is clipped

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to be continued...

Addicted2Oxygen · June 2020

The gory details continued....

I then iterated on the stairs a bit. I am still not too happy with how that came out underneath, next to the grill. But the top and the surrounds changed a bit. I had one design, and then I stuck another modular next to it to get a feel for how it would be, and realised that I needed the walls to match up. So back to the drawing board. I think the stairs changed 3 or 4 times before I settled on the final look and the arch way over it which helps hide how the canopy ends.

Then it was on to the first floor.

The increase in size of the ground floor meant I needed to enlarge the gym, which made the design of the floor a bit tricky given the plates I had to use. Otherwise it was a reasonable straight forward build. I moved the puching bag and the increased space allowed me to build a running machine.

The room still feels like it is missing somthing. The space in the middle feels a bit empty.

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Running machine

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I was also still not sure where I wanted the door, or how I was going to do the stairs to the 3rd floor. I kept the front and the side the same, just adding a 3rd window.

But before I could finish it, I had to figure out the stairs to the 3rd floor.

I could not figure out a way to use the spiral staircase. I could not hang it off the side anymore, and having it placed on the floor of the gym level meant I would lose too much space to it, and it would be too high.

In the end I admitted defeat and went with an additional piece of a standard stair part.

I roughed out where it would have to sit and then continued to the top floor. The final design of this was the last thing that I did, and I clipped it in place with 1x2 plates sticking out the wall and then a 1x4 at the top. It just rests on the ground floor layer. The platform at the top of the stairs works, but I am not completely happy with the finished look. I may at a column of bricks undeath in the corner and then use the sloped brick to support it out to the edge.

The top floor posed additional problems.

Because the stairs hand moved to the opposite side, the door also had to move. I also need a ladder or stairs to access the roof.

This required me to move the recording studio to the other side. which in turn meant I had to block up the additional window to allow the wall to fit. Overall the new position works well. We will just ignore the fact that having a window that opens in the roof of the recording studio is daft, as they also built it above a gym. With the move the waiting area is now in the tower which makes it grand and imposing. The additional records help fill out the space. And the guitar and tile outside the front door as a company logo and nameplate.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/zi/54pux0b9kjid.jpg

Finally, the roof. This is reasonably the same, with the big change bing the increased height of the tower. I wanted this to feel big and imposing, and be a landmark in the city. I think it achieves that.

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Completed, I feel that the whole building now looks much more imposing and the diner is more airy and open.

This was a fun challenge that took me a good two weeks of evenings and some mostly whole days to do. I now have even greater respect for the designers, and more understanding of why things are sometimes the way they are.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/su/xg7igv89x1eh.jpg

GrannyLEGO · June 2020

Wow ... that came out great and worth it just for the bigger window alone! Thank you for showing the how you did it as well as the results.

Speedman29 · June 2020

Dug out #31088 for a rainy lunchtime build. I just love the 3in1 sets, this feels so solid and looks great.

Modeltrainman · June 2020

@Speedman29
That is...gruesome.

GrannyLEGO · June 2020

It looks delicious to me!

560Heliport · June 2020

#76143. I've had #76142 for a while.

ReesesPieces · June 2020

GrannyLEGO said:

It looks delicious to me!

Oh grandma, what big teeth you have!

KungFuKenny · June 2020

A large shipment of late Classic Space and Futuron sets arrived recently (after traveling all the way from Belgium) - they cleaned up nicely I think... #6874 and #6885 were fun to build

but the star for me was #6780 with the ingenious Light & Sound electronics...

This weekend I plan on swooshing in the dark!

flightrisk · June 2020

I dug out some Star Wars sets bought used a few years ago that were never inventoried. Figured building them would be more fun than doing a piece count. Mos Eisley Cantina was fun. Ewok Village, not so much. Not at first anyway but, now that I’ve made a dent in the piece count it’s a little easier. I dig out a few pages of parts for a while then spend 5 minutes putting them together, then another hour or so searching for parts... I’m going to have to design a better way to separate parts other than putting them in baggies and bowls.
Totally worth it though. Ewok Village is a great looking set. Only missing a transparent dish so far. All the minifigures are there with accessories. That was a relief. Hopefully all the sets will be built before LEGO starts ramping production back up. The August set releases alone could put all these sets back in the totes again.

JudgeChuck · June 2020

I am just awaiting a couple of parts in two last Bricklink orders, so I thought I'd make a start on @BenBuildsLego's Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring skyline. It's quite a size!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/4l/l8t6lwgdx85e.jpg

As part of the same orders, I got together the parts to build #40109-1 MINI Cooper Mini Model, which I've wanted for a while, to go with my full-sized version. I'm just waiting for the white roof to arrive to finish that off.

BillyBricks84 · June 2020

JudgeChuck said:

I am just awaiting a couple of parts in two last Bricklink orders, so I thought I'd make a start on @BenBuildsLego's Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring skyline. It's quite a size!

As part of the same orders, I got together the parts to build #40109-1 MINI Cooper Mini Model, which I've wanted for a while, to go with my full-sized version. I'm just waiting for the white roof to arrive to finish that off.

That LOTR build is on my list. I am currently gathering the parts for his Hobbit build.

JudgeChuck · June 2020

@BillyBricks84 I think The Hobbit will be my next one to attempt as well, before returning to LoTR.

Snizzlebutts · June 2020

The Monkie buildings look kind of ok next to Ninjago ones.

pxchris · June 2020

Just got done with this beauty...

*heart eyes*

10 year old me is over the moon right now.

tr100 · June 2020

Hi Everyone! We've been adding a ton of new build tutorials on YouTube lately, let me know what you think! Really appreciate all of the support!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5015319/uploads/editor/mz/i7bs1dqqjnxw.png

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_0li9weBkc

Speedman29 · June 2020

Finished these 1970s F1 cars a few weeks ago, the sticker sets from Italy finally arrived today, so I spent the afternoon carefully applying them. I think they look ace.
1975 March 751

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1976 Tyrrell P34

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1976 Ferrari 312T

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eMJeeNL · June 2020

Extremely nice @Speedman29 !!

Myself, I build #5541 I sorted from my pile of old bricks earlier, in awaiting of the GWP I bought. Really stoked, only need the little BL-order of 7 parts (amongst one of the bent chromed exhaust parts, quite pricey) to arrive to finish it :)

vanvonfull · June 2020

I took a break from Newbury High when the treehouse finally arrived.

Really fun build so far.

I intend on getting a lighting kit and making this a timed night light for my little guy.

JRBricks · June 2020

Picked up 493 recently and it’s an absolute beauty.

SeijiAmasawa · June 2020

Since I had to go to the office and I’m scared to bring in potentially germy toys in the house, I figured I’d build my BrickLinked Huwbot.

Are you cleaning your BrickLink orders before handling them in this time of COVID 19? I was going to but I didn’t.

klinton · June 2020

SeijiAmasawa said:

Are you cleaning your BrickLink orders before handling them in this time of COVID 19? I was going to but I didn’t.

I don't know that it's necessary? I dump the contents out and discard the shipping carton straight away, and then was my hands beford handling anything. The internal contents have likely been untouched for several days during their travel from the seller to your door, which is plently long for any potential trace of the virus to have died anyhow.

Switchfoot55 · June 2020

I just give them a good lick to clean any debris off and call it good.

560Heliport · June 2020

My 1995 Castle sets. I borrowed a white horse from Western because the yellowed one needs more time under the blacklight. I like this Castle, although with the low walls and the open throne room, it should probably be called "King's Vacation Home" or something. I like the gargoyles!

lessjunkfood · June 2020

I had this in a closet unopened. I knew it had been sitting a while but I was surprised to look up my shop.lego.com order and find that I bought it in April 2014! Why did I let it sit so long? Anyway it was a really fun build over the weekend and I definitely won’t let such a delay happen again!

vanvonfull · June 2020

I just opened up 80104 lion dance and I guess I forgot it was full of printed pieces. I’m very impressed with the quality of this set, and specifically these little guys so far:

I probably won’t track down the regional sets from a couple years ago, but I’m on my way to a nice little Chinatown, (or maybe I’ll call it the “International District” since I used to live in that part of Seattle).

TheOriginalSimonB · June 2020

^That and the Temple Fair are my fave sets of the year so far. Just be careful you don't get infiltrated by Sky Pirates or corporate sponsors. Also watch out for lazy puppeteers lying down on the job!

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Th1nDiesel · June 2020

Finished the Monkey King Mech last night. I don't have much interest in the rest of the Monkie Kid range, but can't say no to awesome looking mechs. And a magnificent mech it is, probably one of the best in my opinion, though it's no Voltron! It has the usual issues around a lack of articulation and I'm not sure how it would stand up to serious play; lots of pieces are easy to knock off, especially the gold spoiler pieces on the feet and shoulders. Plus the cape and foil pieces look like they could damage easily.
Personally, I'd have preferred it at a lower price point without the side builds, though the Monkey King on his flying cloud is brilliant.

timmeyh · June 2020

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31099 - instructions were over clearly (like in all 3/4 in 1 sets) and I still managed to mess it up (was a bit too fast) and had to grab a brick separator... Overall a good build for it's price/ play value.

What are you building right now?

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