It’s done. The third one gave me the most trouble. I had to tear it down and rebuild it three times because I kept making mistakes. It probably took me as much time to do that one as the other three combined. Now I just need to figure out how to display it. Together on a shelf? Separately on the wall? So many options.
It’s done. The third one gave me the most trouble. I had to tear it down and rebuild it three times because I kept making mistakes. It probably took me as much time to do that one as the other three combined. No I just need to figure out how to display it. Together on a shelf? Separately on the wall? So many options.View attachment 1315529
All I can say is that I wouldn't recommend hanging them close together in a line without linking them; the straight, hard, high contrast edges are unforgiving if you don't get them all in a dead straight line and even then, they aren't all perfectly balanced, I can't remember which it is but one wants to lean slightly off-square. If I could be bothered I would spread them out more and not have them all at the same height. Then again maybe you're a better hammerer than I!
Ordered a few sets today, one used from eBay and two new from Lego (I had enough points for £20 off, wanted one that was £45, ordered something else to get free shipping), but more excitingly I think I'm finished with my Cities of Wonders Hong Kong replica projects - it was fun because no single source of info was complete and while I was able to find 3D models on Mecabricks for all of them, they all had errors I had to puzzle out because they didn't agree with the inventories on Rebrickable.
Will I build them? Probably not. Was it worth 10+ hours of my life? I don't think so. But was it fun? Yes. Imagining that I might be the only person in the world to have bothered to do what I've done with the attention to detail that I've done it with feels significant, but I know that it isn't significant because if it was, someone else would've done what I did before me.
In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, these are the models: https://www.mecabricks.com/en/library/search?q=cowhk and they were limited to 1,000 copies each, all GWPs exclusive to Hong Kong and two of them were even exclusive to specific events so it would've been difficult and expensive to collect a full set.
In case you want to read about the mistakes I found:
COWHK1/6218774 has the decoration above the doorway offset because they used a 1x4 tile instead of a modified tile with a stud at each end that allows you to centre the pieces above it over the doorway, also some colours are wrong.
COWHK2/6218775 only has two flowers when there are enough pieces to make four, it doesn't show the lattice pattern print on the curved 1x1 tiles (probably a limitation of the software) and it also had 1x1 plates hidden inside it that should have been 1x2 plates.
COWHK3/6218773 has the wrong number of jumpers, the sides of the clock tower are all wrong (the face near the water should be the blank one, for one thing), it also has collision issues and the wrong number of modified bricks with two knobs (there should be eight with two knobs and four with one, not 12 with two, though that would've made more sense)
COWHK4/6218772 has two missing 1x2 jumpers and two 1x2 tiles too many because the builder added too many 1x1 plates to a Technic brick that pushed it out of alignment with where the jumper should go, but that also resulted in them having too many 1x1 plates so I just took them out. They also used a headlight brick instead of a modified brick with 1 knob, which meant that knob was half a plate too shallow, so they added a 1x1 plate which then raised the roof half a plate too high.
On a related note, some things I've done and said over the past few years have had me wondering lately if I'm neurodivergent, this is definitely one of those things.
Ordered a few sets today, one used from eBay and two new from Lego (I had enough points for £20 off, wanted one that was £45, ordered something else to get free shipping), but more excitingly I think I'm finished with my Cities of Wonders Hong Kong replica projects - it was fun because no single source of info was complete and while I was able to find 3D models on Mecabricks for all of them, they all had errors I had to puzzle out because they didn't agree with the inventories on Rebrickable.
Will I build them? Probably not. Was it worth 10+ hours of my life? I don't think so. But was it fun? Yes. Imagining that I might be the only person in the world to have bothered to do what I've done with the attention to detail that I've done it with feels significant, but I know that it isn't significant because if it was, someone else would've done what I did before me.
In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, these are the models: https://www.mecabricks.com/en/library/search?q=cowhk and they were limited to 1,000 copies each, all GWPs exclusive to Hong Kong and two of them were even exclusive to specific events so it would've been difficult and expensive to collect a full set.
In case you want to read about the mistakes I found:
COWHK1/6218774 has the decoration above the doorway offset because they used a 1x4 tile instead of a modified tile with a stud at each end that allows you to centre the pieces above it over the doorway, also some colours are wrong.
COWHK2/6218775 only has two flowers when there are enough pieces to make four, it doesn't show the lattice pattern print on the curved 1x1 tiles (probably a limitation of the software) and it also had 1x1 plates hidden inside it that should have been 1x2 plates.
COWHK3/6218773 has the wrong number of jumpers, the sides of the clock tower are all wrong (the face near the water should be the blank one, for one thing), it also has collision issues and the wrong number of modified bricks with two knobs (there should be eight with two knobs and four with one, not 12 with two, though that would've made more sense)
COWHK4/6218772 has two missing 1x2 jumpers and two 1x2 tiles too many because the builder added too many 1x1 plates to a Technic brick that pushed it out of alignment with where the jumper should go, but that also resulted in them having too many 1x1 plates so I just took them out. They also used a headlight brick instead of a modified brick with 1 knob, which meant that knob was half a plate too shallow, so they added a 1x1 plate which then raised the roof half a plate too high.
On a related note, some things I've done and said over the past few years have had me wondering lately if I'm neurodivergent, this is definitely one of those things.
No, but I've been a fan of the place for a long time through various Golden Harvest and other HK studios' films, games like Deus Ex and Sleeping Dogs and I got to spend three days there to myself after a work trip during the pandemic which was really cool, though of the landmarks represented by these sets, I only saw the Tsim Sha Tsui clock tower while I was there. Obviously when I found out there were some rare HK-exclusive sets I felt I pretty much had to at least try to recreate them.
No, but I've been a fan of the place for a long time through various Golden Harvest and other HK studios' films, games like Deus Ex and Sleeping Dogs and I got to spend three days there to myself after a work trip during the pandemic which was really cool, though of the landmarks represented by these sets, I only saw the Tsim Sha Tsui clock tower while I was there. Obviously when I found out there were some rare HK-exclusive sets I felt I pretty much had to at least try to recreate them.
But that was it. I must've walked past this guy 5 or 6 times, I was staying in Tsim Sha Tsui near the science museum and for some reason got the ferry to the island from the pier that's near the museum of art at least three times in three days.
I've heard Lego is quite popular there and is also relatively cheap, I can't recall seeing it anywhere though. Probably a good thing too because I brought my biggest suitcase for the trip specifically to pack it with snacks we can't get in the UK, so if I'd filled it with cheap Lego instead my partner would've been upset. See how easily I keep this thread on topic?
In other news, my eBay lowballing campaign continues practically unabated, except for all the abating that the people who've rejected my offers have been doing of course. This evening alone I've offered low, low prices on, like, five or six listings, kinda hoping most of them reject me to be honest because I don't think I have space for them all. The only two I might make a better offer on are 31101 Monster Truck, because it's cute, and 31020 because it's a plane and it's on my list.
But that was it. I must've walked past this guy 5 or 6 times, I was staying in Tsim Sha Tsui near the science museum and for some reason got the ferry to the island from the pier that's near the museum of art at least three times in three days.
I've heard Lego is quite popular there and is also relatively cheap, I can't recall seeing it anywhere though. Probably a good thing too because I brought my biggest suitcase for the trip specifically to pack it with snacks we can't get in the UK, so if I'd filled it with cheap Lego instead my partner would've been upset. See how easily I keep this thread on topic?
In other news, my eBay lowballing campaign continues practically unabated, except for all the abating that the people who've rejected my offers have been doing of course. This evening alone I've offered low, low prices on, like, five or six listings, kinda hoping most of them reject me to be honest because I don't think I have space for them all. The only two I might make a better offer on are 31101 Monster Truck, because it's cute, and 31020 because it's a plane and it's on my list.
Well, I did what any other financially irresponsible Lego fan would do and I went on to trusty ebay to fill in the gaps of the missing Monster Fighters sets I didn't get at the store the other week. So, this is all of the theme not including a few polybags.
Picked up set 80054 Megapolis City from the Monkie Kid theme. Big fan of this theme because they're super vibrant, quirky, interesting sets for good value most of the time. Loads of minifigs in this one and some neat references to other Lego themes.
Also, it can be combined with two other sets in the theme to make a giant city, which I plan to do right away. I see it as a "poor" man's Ninjago City, as those 4 sets are too expensive for me at this point.
Picked up set 80054 Megapolis City from the Monkie Kid theme. Big fan of this theme because they're super vibrant, quirky, interesting sets for good value most of the time. Loads of minifigs in this one and some neat references to other Lego themes.
Also, it can be combined with two other sets in the theme to make a giant city, which I plan to do right away. I see it as a "poor" man's Ninjago City, as those 4 sets are too expensive for me at this point.
I really like a lot of Monkie Kid sets, they look so satisfying and colourful. It took me far too long to realise how dull the Star Wars theme is compared to basically any other... I got 60260 the other day, primarily because my son is now into helicopters but I didn't want to buy a Duplo helicopter, and the plane that came in that set has a handful of coral pieces and now I'm thinking I need to find a couple of sets with more coral. Something about that colour makes my brain feel nice, I dunno.
I really like a lot of Monkie Kid sets, they look so satisfying and colourful. It took me far too long to realise how dull the Star Wars theme is compared to basically any other... I got 60260 the other day, primarily because my son is now into helicopters but I didn't want to buy a Duplo helicopter, and the plane that came in that set has a handful of coral pieces and now I'm thinking I need to find a couple of sets with more coral. Something about that colour makes my brain feel nice, I dunno.
I’m at a (possibly weird) phase in my AFOL life where the best sets to me tend to be the stranger, more color ones that have interesting minifigs and unique color pieces so I can see what you mean about the coral color pieces. I’d be lying if I didn’t sometimes get a set just because I liked the odd colors. Though, I can’t imagine that coral is used in many helicopter or plane sets, not that I can think of.
Speaking of weird and planes, any interest in 70429 El Fuego’s Stunt Plane from the Hidden Side theme? A decent looking plane and not a super old retired set from 2020 so can’t be too bad of a price. I quite like the biplanes as they remind me of the older Lego Adventurers themed planes.
@SPhilli911 yeah for sure, I love that plane and it's on my list! Just a shame the acid green is limited to stickers and not pieces. That and the Scooby Doo biplane are probably top of my list of not-Creator sets to buy, although the latter is pretty poor value for what you get because of the license. I was tempted by the Angry Birds biplane but I think it's just too anaemic to be worth it.
As for the lack of wacky colours in plane sets, I'm planning some recolours of some of the worse 3in1 B-models, you know how they just have to make do with an awkward patchwork of colours sometimes? They're way down on the list but I was thinking I might push the boat out and just make them weird, I dunno.
Also, got these the other day:
Not feeling very motivated to build them, though, because my son is rampaging his way through the terrible twos so any Lego sets I make are instantly and irreversibly his, and I really don't want to deal with either the "that's mine and I must have it" meltdown, or the "watch as I throw this 500 piece astronaut at the floor, wait why did it explode?" meltdown and cleanup, and I can't really be bothered to build and unbuild them again.
I'll just keep going with the CAD option for now!
Edit: I'm also half interested in these Lego Movie sets but I think they push the definition of "aircraft" a little too far... Nice colours on some of them, though.
70804 Ice Cream Machine
70805 Trash Chomper
70811 Flying Flusher
70812 Creative Ambush
70816 Benny's Spaceship, Spaceship, SPACESHIP! (this is 800+ pieces, I don't know what it sells for but I assume it's more than I want to pay because I don't absolutely love it, though it is cool)
I’m at a (possibly weird) phase in my AFOL life where the best sets to me tend to be the stranger, more color ones that have interesting minifigs and unique color pieces so I can see what you mean about the coral color pieces. I’d be lying if I didn’t sometimes get a set just because I liked the odd colors. Though, I can’t imagine that coral is used in many helicopter or plane sets, not that I can think of.
Speaking of weird and planes, any interest in 70429 El Fuego’s Stunt Plane from the Hidden Side theme? A decent looking plane and not a super old retired set from 2020 so can’t be too bad of a price. I quite like the biplanes as they remind me of the older Lego Adventurers themed planes.
@SPhilli911 yeah for sure, I love that plane and it's on my list! Just a shame the acid green is limited to stickers and not pieces. That and the Scooby Doo biplane are probably top of my list of not-Creator sets to buy, although the latter is pretty poor value for what you get because of the license. I was tempted by the Angry Birds biplane but I think it's just too anaemic to be worth it.
As for the lack of wacky colours in plane sets, I'm planning some recolours of some of the worse 3in1 B-models, you know how they just have to make do with an awkward patchwork of colours sometimes? They're way down on the list but I was thinking I might push the boat out and just make them weird, I dunno.
Also, got these the other day: View attachment 1317976
Not feeling very motivated to build them, though, because my son is rampaging his way through the terrible twos so any Lego sets I make are instantly and irreversibly his, and I really don't want to deal with either the "that's mine and I must have it" meltdown, or the "watch as I throw this 500 piece astronaut at the floor, wait why did it explode?" meltdown and cleanup, and I can't really be bothered to build and unbuild them again.
I'll just keep going with the CAD option for now!
Edit: I'm also half interested in these Lego Movie sets but I think they push the definition of "aircraft" a little too far... Nice colours on some of them, though.
I honestly don't think I've ever seen those movie sets before now, but I really like them especially that spaceship. My sister collects food related sets (I know... weirdo lol) so I'll have to get her that ice cream one.
I have that one as well, I really like the bus in the theme too.
Was a cool theme if you ask me, shame it was canned after two years. I think the idea was great but the augmented reality thing was a bit of a gimmick and the sets probably would have been better off without that.
@SPhilli911 I had nothing to do the other day so I made instructions for it. Doubt you'll need them, it took about ten minutes, but let me know if you want them.
Speaking of Stud.io, I'm, uh, working on some ideas.
I have that one as well, I really like the bus in the theme too.
Was a cool theme if you ask me, shame it was canned after two years. I think the idea was great but the augmented reality thing was a bit of a gimmick and the sets probably would have been better off without that.
@SPhilli911 I had nothing to do the other day so I made instructions for it. Doubt you'll need them, it took about ten minutes, but let me know if you want them.
Speaking of Stud.io, I'm, uh, working on some ideas.
I've actually built dozens of sets in Stud.io. But I only build actual sets. I don't do any MOCs or anything. The most complicated sets I've built are the Porsche 911 GT3 RS and Bugatti Chiron. I'll get around to the Lamborghini and the Ferrari one day.
My thirst knows no bounds and has led to me discovering this:
I love it, it's so simple yet represents a thing so accurately and even has some playability.
Also I did a dumb thing:
I made the mistake of wondering out loud to my siblings in our group chat if I could build it in the bag and they challenged me to do it, wasn't worth it, honestly. Guess I have to disassemble it now!
That is seriously DOPE AF. He must also be RICH AF to afford those pieces if he bricklinked a lot of them. It was $500+ for me to build each Nintendo console I created (NES, SNES, N64). The shipping on them is what kills ya. I can't imagine how much it costed.
Apart from planes, my son is also really into trains (he's basically like every other 2 year old that's ever lived in that respect) so when I saw the new series of collectable minifigs I decided I wanted to get the train kid, primarily to add another mode of transport to his minifig costume collection - he's already got a ship and a plane, so it just made sense.
Anyway, I got lucky for once:
Not sure if anyone else is interested in buying these things but in case you are, the Brick Search app has a barcode reader function that'll tell you the contents of the collectable minifig box you're holding, however I got this one from Amazon so it was blind luck.
I must say, it's not the most whelming minifig ever... I do like the vampire knight and goatherd in this series though.
@Jump_Ace I do wonder sometimes how people can afford things like this, but I guess there's nothing to say you can't be enormously successful and an AFOL. On a related note I was watching a video about MILS plates the other day and the guy was talking about the cost, saying "if you buy the pieces in bulk it works out surprisingly cheap. That's why I bought 5,000 4x8 plates..." - there's nothing cheap about that! Cheaper per piece, sure, but in absolute terms... No!
So I decided to ask ChatGPT to design a Lego Blackburn Buccaneer for me. Here's what that should look like:
And here's what it does look like:
I had to keep asking it for clarifications, here's an example of its first attempt...
Step 1: Fuselage
Connect two 4x6 flat bricks together for the base.
Attach two 2x6 bricks on top of the base, leaving a 1-brick space in between.
Attach two 2x4 bricks on top of the previous layer.
Place a 2x6 inverted slope brick on the front.
Attach two 1x6 flat bricks on the sides, leaving a 1-brick gap in the middle.
Because that looks like this:
Not even what Jang would call a "suggestion" of a cockpit, if you ask me.
To cap it off, I asked it to "Write a forum post that takes 1 minute to read describing my disappointment at your terrible design", which I'll spoiler for your comfort but unlike the model, it's absolutely perfect.
Subject: Disappointment with LEGO Blackburn Buccaneer Jet Design
Hey LEGO enthusiasts,
I recently attempted to build the Blackburn Buccaneer jet using the instructions provided here, and I must express my deep disappointment with the design guidance. The lack of specificity and clarity in certain steps made the building process frustrating and unsatisfying.
Specifically, the confusion around the placement of the wings (Step 2) and the insufficient detail in describing where certain bricks should be located have significantly impacted the overall experience. The frustration peaked when attempting to interpret the front orientation and attaching the 45° slope brick in Step 1.
I believe in the potential of LEGO to provide enjoyable building experiences, but unfortunately, this particular set of instructions fell short. As an enthusiast, I expected more precision and detail, and I hope future designs or revisions will address these issues.
Constructive feedback is essential for improvement, and I hope this post serves as a valuable input for enhancing the LEGO building experience.
Happy building,
[Your LEGO Enthusiast Username]
And if you think I'm not going to make instructions for this with a view to eventually building it for real, I don't know what to tell you except that you're mistaken.
@Jump_Ace it's interesting because it clearly knows how Lego should work, telling me to place bricks on top of others and stuff, but a few times it would tell me to place pieces next to other pieces without ever tying them together, to which I responded "I can't do that because Lego doesn't work that way" and then it would basically completely change the design. It also told me to put plates on plates then "angle them up slightly", which of course is illegal.
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