General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

Chat about stuff other than Transformers.
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Tantrum
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

Post by Tantrum »

Skyquake87 wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 8:02 pmBecause I'm rubbish at attaching images, here's a link to the pictures what I took:
https://imgur.com/gallery/iR49gTz
Nicely done. Did you repurpose that skull gate from a smaller set? I think I have that one, including the single gold tooth. I've got dozens of minifigs and kreons I should build homes for.

I still have the Castle set 6081 shown in Denyer's link, mostly assembled. The tree and flags are gone, but everything else is intact. That slanty black brick with a yellow 4 looks familiar; I may have owned and disassembled that at one point.

A few years ago, I remembered a Space LEGO set called the something Dart for it's long nose. So, I looked up the instructions to rebuild it. I thought it had round tiles for a nose, not round bricks, so I had misremembered the only part of the build that I actually remembered. I rebuilt the rest of it according to the instructions, but built the nose as I it existed in my mind.


More recently, I made some progress on my Gladiator Voltron. I went through old builds looking for parts I needed. When I found them, I'd rebuild those old builds with alternate parts, since I still like them. So, scavenging took a while. Some off-brand mechs that use KO Kre-O Optimus heads lost ankle articulation, but everything else I scavenged from is intact.

I'm mostly done. The black bot just needs smooth (studless) tiles for his shins and left forearm. The red bot needs shin tiles, grey wrist tiles, and red connectors to replace the grey clips in his feet. The blue bot needs the most parts: smooth tiles for the shins, torso, and arms, Technic bricks to replace the dark grey ones in his arms and torso, blue clips to replace the dark grey ones in his legs, and grey wrist tiles.

I'd look for sets to buy to finish him, but I mostly need smooth tiles, and there aren't going to be many, if any, sets that focus on those, since you can't build much with studless pieces.


Edit: I was at Dollar General this weekend, and found Classic set 11008, which focuses on tiny houses. There were stickers on the box saying this product was only for sale at Dollar General, with a number to call if it's found elsewhere. So, I guess Dollar General is getting exclusives now, and expect consumers to enforce it?

The suggested builds are an igloo, lighthouse, castle, windmill, and two houses of maybe 10 to 50 bricks each, with a few dozen bricks leftover. There's more than 20 shades of colors, but only a few of each. For example, there's 2 lavender bricks, 4 purple bricks. The last Classic set I bought did something similar. I think I counted over 30 shades in that one, again only a few bricks of each.
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Skyquake87
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

Post by Skyquake87 »

The skull gate thing is from 70411 Treasure Island, which is a good playset, just lacking a bit of something. So I built up around it a bit. I'm happy with it for now, but may I have another go at it.

Loving your Voltrons - they've really got that old-school chunk going on. Impressive :)
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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Inspired by some of Tantrum's recent customs, plus I haven't done any customs myself lately, I've made a couple things. First is Darth Vader's Tie fighter, which I scavenged parts off of my old Tie Fighter 7263 as well as parts I had on hand. I used a basis of the older 8017 set mostly because I had the parts from 7263 and a couple of the old style cockpits for use. The tricky part was the rounded back end; I don't have those big curve pieces, so I made due with what I had. I also omitted the flick-fire missiles, but I may add those back in the long run. I modified the flight controls too, since the 8017 set only had one flat plate of buttons at Vader's feet. Now he has a control stick similar to Major Vonreg's Tie Interceptor 75240 (which is just a Battle Droid torso).

I also wanted to build a replacement escape pod for my Millennium Falcon 75257 from Rise of Skywalker. This makes the Falcon look more like the version seen in the Solo movie, but with an older, weathered look to match the 75257 aesthetic. Looking over other people's customs, I figured I had the parts to do a decent job with some heavy modifications. The back end of mine needed to be narrower than the ones I had seen, and slides in and out on the Falcon's mandible rails with one set of grooved 1x4 bricks. The hinge piece isn't as fancy as ones with Technic arms, but I found Technic would be too difficult with my parts and it would hinder getting a minifig in as well. It can hold a flashlight and a blaster pistol in the compartment with one minifig. Some slanted pieces on the top also make for a great stop for the front lid piece on the Falcon, and it doesn't hinder anything from opening up for play.

I'm pretty happy with the way both have turned out:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dJQivREYLKKRxai86
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Tantrum
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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Thanks, guys. Reading the discussion of Multibot in another thread got me thinking about making him with Bionocle. I'm trying to decide if the pieces should simply separate by removing the ball from the socket, or using those little ball pieces with the cross-shaped hole so the ball remains with the socket. That'd be more complicated to build, but I've had a socket snap while removing the ball, so it'd be safer. It'll probably depend on how I do the Y-pieces.

I tried to remember how many pieces Multibot (and Modulok) split into. I was pretty sure it was 22 each, and tried to make a list. I came up with 20 each, but only because I thought there were only 3 Ys in each kit, not 5.

Really, though, my next project should be cleaning my building area. I've got some unsorted bricks on the floor, along with a bunch of builds I haven't found shelf space for. Plus a lot of instructions I don't need, like for Classic sets, or small off brand kits.
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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Got 76141 Thanos Mech at Dollar General. Like the Classic set I mentioned above, it has a sticker saying it's only intended for sale at Dollar General. I find it hard to believe that DG would get not only a LEGO exclusive, but a Marvel exclusive.

Most LEGO mechs with fingers have 4 on each hand, articulated only where the fingers meet the palm. This guy's right hand is like that, but the left has 5 fingers, each with an articulated knuckle, to hold the Infinity Stones. The 6th stone stores in the back of the hand.

I don't even care about the Avengers franchise. I just thought it looked cool. And he's one of those kits I can build without instructions, so I feel smart. Maybe I'll build an Oppenheimer minifig and recreate one of my favorite Epic Rap Battles of History. Or, I'll have him fight...

...Princess Morbucks' mech from 41287 Bubbles' Playground Showdown. I picked this up from Marshall's. I had another set with Blossom and Buttercup. Now I have a complete set of minifigs for a show I didn't watch when it originally aired, and whose reboot was OK. Morbucks' mech is just a little smaller than Thanos', and has the benefit of ranged weaponry, so it's a fair fight.

I also got 11006 Creative Blue Bricks which is one of those 50 brick Classic sets, and 31100 Sports Car, which I haven't opened. It's one of those 3 in 1 Creator sets where the main build looks good, but the others don't. I just threw out a bunch of instructions for builds like that.


I made some progress on my Voltrons. I replaced some of the studless blue tiles on Vehicle Voltron's legs with rounded tiles (for the one with the red top) and angles tiles (for the one with the yellow top). This makes those vehicles more distinct from each other while following the one-side-rounded, other-side-edged motif that Vehicle and Lion Voltron use for their limbs.

Plus, I used those studless blue tiles to finish Blue Gladiator's chest. He still needs studless tiles for the legs, arms, and waist. But, in combined mode with the blue legs in the back and black torso on top, he looks done. I also completely finished the Black Gladiator.

The Red Gladiator still needs studless tiles for his arms and legs. If I can finish the legs, the combined form will look complete. The studs on the Red and Blue arms will still be visible, but will mostly be blocked by the arms above.
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ganon578
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

Post by ganon578 »

Tantrum wrote: Fri May 29, 2020 2:12 am Got 76141 Thanos Mech at Dollar General. Like the Classic set I mentioned above, it has a sticker saying it's only intended for sale at Dollar General. I find it hard to believe that DG would get not only a LEGO exclusive, but a Marvel exclusive
Unless there's something special about that particular mech, like a color variant or something, I just saw it at Target yesterday while shopping. Seems like a misplaced sticker. The Target one was $9.99.
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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Denyer wrote: Sat Sep 07, 2019 11:00 amSo I think my plan is a "new" style traditional boxy one in black, having a play with LDD first and then for realz.
Far from a good photo but I finally got around to taking one for people who asked. :)

Image

The design is a bit too intricate to be fun (it models the insides as well and there are some areas with loads of plates where bricks might be appropriate, or when you're building with actual parts you want a more solid connection). But I really like how it turned out.

Not that I'm thinking about disassembling any of them, but will probably update the LDD file at some point so I've got a better record and so people can hack on it if they want.
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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Denyer, do those little ball joints in the ankles actually support that much weight, or does the design of the figure just not allow it to bend those joints any more?

I made a LEGO flamethrower for Hotlink using one of TLK Leader Megatron's flame effects.

I found enough smooth tiles to finish my red Gladiator Voltron, though his round grey wrist pieces are the dark shade of grey. Blue Gladiator also has the wrong shade of grey wrist pieces, and needs smooth tiles for his waist and arms. Blue's shins are finished, though. So, I can now combine the legs in any order and have it look finished. I'll post pics once I've got Blue done.

I forget if I posted Nightbird with Ninjago weapons
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

Post by Denyer »

Neat! LEGO tends to be my go-to for parts in other customs too -- there's always something that can replace a neck/joint when you're putting action figures back together or be the base for a weapon. Must dig out a Bionicle trident for Hammerbyte actually.

I wasn't sure that the ball joints would support the hips and ankles either, I think they're from the Mixels releases originally, but they do have enough clutch to support what's otherwise a very top-heavy build if you don't push it by accident (they can still move a bit). The arms are locked in position with Technic axles due to the weight.

The weakest connections in the standard dread design are actually the forward angled armour plates which relied on single studs in places (Jerac's done the angle with cheese slopes and clips/claws on the back). So hidden by the wings are a couple of these to reverse the direction and provide strength, and helpfully they also allow a 1x3 plate or tile to fill in the gaps on either side.

Was hoping to figure out a suitable part to go next to the Mixel joint sockets on the ankles to give them more substance, but it'd be awkward switching something else out and I do prefer the sparser layout to just filling it in lots of slopes.
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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I just bought and assembled 75891 Speed Stars Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Race Car. Where the blocky hood meets the angled doors looks kind of awkward. The rear is curved, which helps it blend into the doors a bit better.

I'm always a bit underwhelmed by Speed Stars since they don't use through axle construction, which would allow them to roll better, and be speedier. I've rebuilt one to have through axle, but this one has one of those long plates that's 2 studs wide at either end, 4 studs wide in the middle, with a dent for the seat. The ends go where the axles would.

It's got hubcaps to make it look like the tires have CHEVROLET CAMARO printed on them, which I haven't seen before. There's a neat roll cage. The rear window folds up to get out of the way, but the windshield piece still has to come off to put the driver in. One nice touch is the extra stickers for the side windows. There's two of each in case you screw one up. Which I did.

I haven't bothered with the other stickers, since many of them are the kind where multiple stickers must be applied to multiple bricks to make a single image, and I always have a bit of trouble with that. Plus, I only bought this because it has lots of smooth blue tiles to help me finish my Gladiator Voltron. Your end is nigh, 75891.
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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I used the smooth tiles from that Speed Stars set to finish my Gladiator Voltron.

Back when Kre-O sets hit discounters, I doubled (or tripled) up on some so I could build the bot and vehicle modes at the same time. This meant the vehicles had some joint parts in them that I'd never use as joints again. This week, I finally got around to partially disassembling them and replacing those joint bricks with regular bricks so I could use the joints in other things, like Bluestreak.

pics
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

Post by Clay »

Nice. How big is the Voltron?

I still have my Kreo mini-figures in a tote, most of which have been assembled.
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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The combined Voltron is 15 inches tall, smaller than Trypticon, but big enough to give him a decent fight.

Each Gladiator is 10 inches tall, just a bit bigger than Cyberverse seismic Stomp Grimlock.

Bluestreak is 8.5 inches tall, so between Voyager and Leader sized.
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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I made Tarn. I did the half treads with a alternating 2x2 and 1x1 cylinders. I didn't have near enough, but I was able to do the outer half of one shoulder to know what it'll look like when done.
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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G2 Devastator

When I was making Gladiator Voltron, I needed 6 light grey coupling plates, the 2x2 tiles with 5-mm holes attached, for the wrist deco. I found this website that lists which sets that part is found in. I recognized the Raid Zeppelin as one I own, hadn't taken apart, and knew where it was. I like the Raid Zeppelin and didn't want to disassemble it, so I partially disassembled it, swapped in some dark grey coupling plates, and put it back together.

The, when I was working on Tarn, I needed dark grey coupling plates for the elbows. So, I partially disassembled the Raid Zeppelin, swapped in some yellow coupling plates, and put it back together.

Then, when I was making G2 Devastator, I needed yellow coupling plates for Scavenger and Bonecrusher's treads. So, I partially disassembled the Raid Zeppelin, swapped in some red coupling plates, and put it back together.

I don't know what I'll build next, but I'm certain it will require red coupling plates.
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

Post by Skyquake87 »

Those are cool. Kre-O was alright, wasn't it? I had the Prowl set and was surprised by how decent the bricks were. Usually off-brand Lego is cack. I like The Beast!
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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Thanks. I've generally had good luck with non-LEGO bricks. They aren't quite as comfortable to handle and work with as LEGOs, but stay together pretty well. Before I built the ridiculous head and added the grey bits to the torso and thighs, the Beast looked legitimately cool, not like a silly monstrosity.

I was looking through the tfwiki Beast page for images, and didn't get the bits about the Dinobots breaking themselves down to combine, and parts if him not being recognizable regarding which Dinobot they came from. He's clearly a stretched out Grimlock wearing his buddies as platform shoes and Hulk hands. Sure, Swoops wings detach to go on Beast's back, but that's no different than Divebomb and Predaking.

It's been fun building Kre-O bots again, but I'm running out of socket pieces. I was only able to build these guys because I got a second Megatron a couple years back so I could have one in bot mode and one in vehicle mode. Since that means I won't "transform" the truck again, I took it apart, removed the ball joints, and rebuilt it with normal bricks a couple weeks ago. Tonight, I rebuilt the limbs of my Impactor to use hinged knees, ankles, and elbows instead of ball joints.

This leaves me 14 sockets to work with. Most bots use 6 ball joints: one in each shoulder, one in each hip, and one more in each leg. Sometimes, like Bluestreak, Devastator, and now Impactor, I skip the extra ball joint in each leg and only need 4. So, I can probably get 3 bots out of these.

I'll probably do more big Tarn/Dev/Beast sized bots. The size makes for a more imposing figure, and allows for more detail. Plus, they take longer, and I'm in no hurry to be out of joint parts. The obvious choices are Omega Supreme and RotF Dev. But, I used a lot of my yellow on G2 Dev and Beast, so I don't know if I could do the details on those two. Plus, Omega's grey/yellow/red color scheme is pretty close to Beast's. I should think of bots that use the odd colors LEGO makes now, with the several shades of blue and green.
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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I made Omega Supreme. Looking at the photos, they don't show how the upper part of the chest, where the yellow covers the shoulders, is 6 studs thick, while the rest of the torso is 5 studs thick.

On Gladiator Voltron, each elbow joint is two Technic pegs on the same axis. It worked well enough, though one forearm has a light tendency to droop down. Clearly, that means I'm near the limit of what such a joint can support. So why did I use the same joint for Omega's knees and ankles?

He's stable enough as long as I don't try to pose him, and Omega never seemed like the most limber bot anyway, so it's fine. Definitely more of a display piece than an actual toy, though.
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Re: General LEGO discussion (inc. collectible minifigs)

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Behold the glory of G1 toy-based Jetfire!

I generally have more nostalgia for the toys than the show, and have been kind of bummed that the Jetfire toys homage the latter. Even when they have the masked face, they still have the wings out Seeker style instead of folding away G1 toy style.

This is the first build I've done in a while with no waist articulation. That's because the flat panel that covers the back, representing the fold away wings, is load bearing. The top of the torso only connects to the cockpit with 4 studs, which isn't enough to stay together. The upper torso, cockpit, and each hip all have studs in the back, which connect to the large white plates, which hold him together.
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