LEGO Stained Glass Octopus

Ever have one of those ideas you just *have* to get out?
I was inspired to build something like this on December 22nd - took a couple of days to design it, and put the final bricks in place this morning.

Click on through for higher res and other angles.

LEGO: Owlship V3

I finished my revamp of the Owlship. This time it's closer to scale with the comic version, with a bit more accurate styling.

I also found a solution for the window issue - lots and lots of robot arms from the Exo-Force line and dishes from Belville. It'll do until better parts come along.

Brickshelf Gallery here, when moderated. I've also updated the build review here at Reasonably Clever.

LEGO: Owlship V2

I wasn't completely happy with the scale and shape of the Owlship I designed. So I've gone back to take a second pass at it.

This is a "work in progress". I'd like to solve the window issue a bit more elegantly, and the interior needs to be built. But the exterior is more or less done. It's roughly 20% smaller - and thus more to scale with the comic version. The shape is a lot closer to the source material, as are the rear engines.

It's a lot less like the movie version, though. Eh. You have to make choice somewhere.

Expect one more update on this once I get a chance to finish the interior. I'm also playing around with making some decals for Nite Owl and Rocharch minis to accompany the new version. Stay tuned to see how that turns out...

Oh, so close.

We're getting very close to being able to announce the next Reasonably Clever contest...close enough to change the icon, anyway....

(And no, it's not an Agents specific contest.)

Look for more info early next week!

New contest in the works

For those of you chomping at the bit, I thought you might like to know that the next Reasonably Clever contest is being developed right now. If all goes well, I should be announcing things by the 15th.

LEGO: The Owlship From WATCHMEN

My part order came in - the build is done (for now). Check out the full 7-page photo review of my latest little time waster, the Owlship from WATCHMEN.

Click to read more!

LEGO: Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek at a build I'm 99% done with - just waiting for one more important part order to arrive before I can really finish photography.

It's Nite-Owl's Owlship from Watchmen in LEGO form.

If you want to see more, there are more shots at my Brickshelf.
The full article will be up tomorrow sometime, post-office willing...

LEGO: Fountain

Believe it or not, I actually found a few hours to build over the weekend.

The next chapter of Brick House will involve new locations, and I wanted to spend some time working up some backgrounds and sets. My first effort yielded this: A nice looking fountain/sculpture combo.

You can click the picture to go view some other shots of the set-in-progress.

There aren't any "unusual" or "advanced" building techniques here (other than the simple twist to the column of "tooth bricks") but it still looks pretty good to my eye. It'll certainly work as a background, anyway.

Character Preview

Here's a sneak peek of a character "in development" for a future Chapter in Brick House. I was pleased with the way his helmet turned out, so I'm sharing an image early...

Serenity: Bracing

Another minor progress update. Last night I spent time figuring out how the side engines are going to mount to the larger model.

Of course, I'm going to try and follow the detailing of the movie as close as possible - but there's a big difference between a CGI model and a LEGO model that has to support its own weight...

First off, though, was building a stronger base for the plates that will make the "skin" of the engine. (Remember- it has a hollow interior to try and keep things as light as possible.)

Basically I just enhanced each 1x2 click-hinge pieces with a 2x3 plate and two 1x2 bricks - the skin will seal these blocks with plenty of strength for what they need to support.

The larger blocks with the half-stud offset also got a redesign not shown here. Rather than using the very hard to find 1x2 click-hinge plates with offset tabs, I found a way to mount things to the support beams with a common 1x2 click-hinge brick. This is key, as I still need to build a second ring at the bottom of each side engine to complete the bracing.

Speaking of bracing, here's the first part of the mounting bracket. The red bricks are a solid pillar of 2x6 bricks that connect the front and back braces. The grey 2x2 underneath is what will have to become the main support line - the "twist and turn" nature of the side engines means that when in "normal out the sides" mode, 90% of the weight is going to rest on those bricks. (The piston like brace seen in the movies is the real world analog)

I'd like to build some technic gearing to allow the brace here to rotate - allowing for real world posing. Not my strongest building area, but you have to learn sometime...

Serenity: Small update

Just one small picture today - the completed revised flap ring. Of course, I've run out of 1x4 gray tiles now - time for another part order or two.

It also looks like I'm going to have to find a way to reinforce the "skin". Now that I've got the plates very close to gapless, it's a real pain to fix when one pops off - and they seem to be popping off more and more frequently. I don't know if that'll mean adding a second ring of click-hinges further down or just enhancing the connection at the existing join.

Something to putter with tonight, I suppose.

Serenity: Eye for Detail

Another small update, but one that demonstrates why I have to be in the right frame of mind to work on this project.

I was reviewing my archive of source photos and thinking about those flaps at the front of the side engines and my recent attempt to duplicate them.

As you can see in these two photos, I'm not too far off...

However, there was some real room for improvement. I also wasn't overly happy with the seam/join line between the cowling and the ring of flaps. So...after another stint in the workshop...

The final of about six tries at various shapes and methods - the two flaps on the left are original, the two on the right are the upgrades. (I had no idea how much grey and blue-grey I had mixed until I adjusted the contrast on these photos. Yikes!) The shape of the flaps is much more accurate - and the new join-line helps fill in the gap between the cowling and the rest of the "skin".

The biggest challenge was finding a way to go from 2 to 3 studs in width without going more than two plates in thickness. Once I had that figured out, the rest of the design came together pretty quickly.

Next step is to replicate the new design for both copies of the engine - then get to work on that connecting bracket.

Serenity: More side engine work

As requested, here's an update on the work on the Mini-fig scaled Serenity.

When last we left my workbench, I had just completed a draft of the side engine cowling. The scale was too large, however - putting things at Belville or even Mini-land scale. Too big for my target, anyway.

So...I spent several hours trying to find a way to reduce the number of fins in the cowling while still keeping a technic ring as a base for rigidity and stability. And trying to keep it as "gapless" as possible. This, as it turns out, is not an easy task.

The final result halved the number of fins, while still leaving a pretty clear "cone" effect.

(You can click on images for larger views if you want.)

Changing the scale of the nose meant redesigning the back end exhaust area - here's the new arrangement with "end cap"

Next, I decided to work on the area just aft of the front cowling. This area presented some new challenges - to create the gapless look I had to design a sequence of alternating 2 and 4-width plates attached to a ring of 2-stud click-hinges.

The advantage of that layout is that I was able to attach the click-hinge ring to the six support struts connecting the cowling to the exhaust. It's quite stable, although I'm worried about the overall weight of things, even with the hollow center. I didn't want to have to prop up the side engines with support struts, but I may not have a choice in the long run. (I suppose I could just make them stay in the down "maintenance angle", but where's the fun in that?)

Oh. There's one cool feature I built in already - as seen in the movie, the gray ring has working airfoils/vents.

The next step will be to build the mounting bracket that will eventually meet up with the side of Serenity. That needs to be sturdy enough to hold the weight of the completed engine - hopefully. After that, I'll finish up with skinning the rest of the midsection.

I've been taking some pretty intricate construction shots; I'd share them here but this post is already huge. If you look in the background of the shots above you can see that I'm building two of these engines at once. The idea is that once the design is finalized, I'll have one to keep intact and one to dissect, document, and rebuild. We'll see how that works out.

The final shot for today shows the three-bears approach to building. In this shot you can see the Mama-Serenity Side engine (too small), the abandoned cowling from my first pass (too big) and the new engine as it sits at the moment (just right.)

LEGO: Revised Mach-5

I spent a few hours over the weekend revising and enhancing the Mach-5 from set 8158.

I took it from this...

to this...

Click here to read about this "Work still in progress."

LEGO: Scotch and S.O.D.A.

I wasn't sure if I should post this under "comics" or "LEGO", but since it's more about building I went with LEGO.

Anyway, I've gotten a couple of requests for instructions on how to build Scotch's new mech suit, pictured here:

There's really not enough there to justify actual instructions, but I have two "exploded" views that should answer all your questions:

• View 1
• View 2

The parts you'll need are:

• 2 Mini-fig mechanical legs (Silver)
  
• 2 Minifig Mechanical Arm with Clip and Rod Hole (Silver)
  
• 1 Minifig Mechanical Torso (Dark Bley)
  
• 2 1x2 plates (Green)
• 1 1x2 plate (white)
• 1 1x1 plate (white)
• 1 1x1 plate w/Clip (white)
• 1 1x1 brick w/studs on four sides (grey)
• 2 1x1 slopes (Trans_clear)
• 2 taps (white)
• 1 1x1 tile with Four Dots pattern
• 1 1x1 Colored Globe for Lights & Sound (Green)
• A Frog

18 Parts total.

Speed Racer Review on the way

Stopped at TRU on my way home - they had most (3) of the new Speed Racer sets. I wasn't willing to pay TRU prices on the big sets, but I had to take the basic Mach 5 set home with me.

Review in the works - look for it tomorrow.

Serenity: A fresh start

This is "Workbench" post - just thought I'd share the results of a couple of hours of tinkering last night.

Ever have one of those moments where you look at someone else's work and see a new application, a new creation just waiting to be built? Well, that happened to me when I was browsing the work menatarms did on his Elven Village.

After waiting for a couple of part orders to come in, I was able to start roughing in one of the side engines for Serenity.

(Click for larger view)

My plan is to make as much of the interior structure Technic as possible - with a think "skin" of plates on top, just like a CAD rendering. That should keep things light, yet sturdy.

The scale here is a bit larger than mini-figure - I'm going to make a call on that very soon. Plus the framework needs reinforcement along the middle and one side (where it will hook up to the ship) . I think I'll probably modify things to have a more rigid cylinder from the front to the midpoint (where the grey technic connectors are) and then slope things down from there instead of keeping the larger "V" shape for the full engine. Most of it will be hidden by the engine cowling anyway, and I think the cylinder will offer more support.

Anyway, it's a fresh start.

And, I have to say, it looks pretty shiny.

Reader Mail episode

We're fast approaching Episode 400 - and the end of the first "Episode" of the new Brick House series. Before the next big arc starts, I thought it might be fun to have a couple of strips where Whiskey (and other cast members) could answer some Reader Mail.

The problem, of course, is that I don't have any reader mail to have them answer.

If you've got a question you'd like to have answered by a character (as opposed to me babbling about it here in the blog) post it here. You might just end up with your question being a part of the strip for all time.

Workbench: The Bean There, Done That

This week's comics let me take advantage of a setting I built years back for the Cups Suit of the LEGO Tarot. For today's strip I had to add on a new section (with a door).

I thought some of you might be interested in seeing the whole layout, so here it is:



If you click on the image, you'll open up a new window with a much larger view.

The yellow tabs along the top of the wall are joins where I can remove sections of the outer wall for easier photography.

Workbench: Scout thingie

I was inspired by the engine on the 7672 Rogue Shadow and thought I'd try my hand a a "vertical half circle drive". This build is about 60% complete - at this point I consider the basic shape roughed in, but all the detail work needs serious help. Plus, I need to build an actual cockpit. Still, I did say I'd post my workbench in-progress photos from time to time, so here you go.

Rear view showing the drive design copied from the RS. Of course, I'm using a larger half circle, so the styling isn't quite the same. The side engines are for atmospheric flight - I may ditch them as they really ruin the thin saucer shape I was going for.

Side view.

3/4 view - you can see the pilot is just sort of stuck to the floor. Controls will be added soon...

The cockpit does open, though.