I gotta bad feeling about this...

[85_Ranger4x4]

I was shopping for my at the time pending great nephew's baby shower last fall and found myself in the Lego section at wally-world. He ended up getting a set of the big beginner ones but I ended up with a half priced TIE Fighter.

I ended up falling off the wagon and getting back into Legos... combining my two big weaknesses (Star Wars and Legos) into one thing is scary bad news.

Anyway I have built the Eyeball, an A-Wing, Z-95 and an X-Wing so far. The Z-95 is probably my favorite, I had built one on my own from parts I had when I was a kid (but obviously the non-Clone four engine one)

The kits have really improved since I was a kid, my brother had an X-Wing when were kids and my homebuilt from the descriptions in books Z-95 was more realistic looking. These newer ones look really sharp, the TIE, A-Wing and Z-95 look like regular models from a distance. The older designed X-Wing still looks a little more legoish.

Considering I don't have cable or internet they are a fun rainy day project...

The TIE was great, no stickers and fairly straightforward to put together. The drumroll the whole build was how they were going to attach the wings to the fuselage. No stickers to deal with and it came with a pilot, officer and a black evil looking Astromech droid. One complaint is the cockpit hatch isn't right but it does look right when it is all shut up.

The infamous Z-95, the Clone version with chin canards and only two engines. Stickers were pretty simple, came with a clone pilot, clone trooper and the fallen Jedi Master Krell. One complaint is the main landing gear like to roll up when it is sitting on carpet, there is no detent to hold it in place.

The A-Wing was very nice to put together, decals were simple and easy. The nose gear folds up into the hull really nice It came with a pilot, Han Solo and Admiral Ackbar.

Then the venerable X-Wing. The stickers both for the engines and designation were a PITA. Kit was fun to build though. It came with Luke, R2, Jek Porkins and his Astromech. Kinda miffed that although they plainly show three landing gear in the movies they only put the nose one on this kit.

The family resemblance between the Z-95 and T-65 X-Wing is pretty obvious.

 

[shane96ranger]

Looks good - and fun too. I have to stay away from stuff like that, or it would eat my Mustang funds, LOL.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Looks good - and fun too. I have to stay away from stuff like that, or it would eat my Mustang funds, LOL.

I can see that happening.

So far I have strung them out so it isn't too bad, the TIE and the A-Wing were about $20. Other two were $50.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

For those that don't want to put money in the kits there is another option, lego has a CAD type program that is available for free. In addition to good old freestyling the instructions for the kits can be found for free on the internet.

For those that grew up in the 90's, the Seaduck from Talespin. I made many incarnations of this thing in my youth, it was only one seat wide (and very multicolored) though due to what parts I had.

My latest and greatest undertaking to date, the LAATi from Star Wars. A couple parts were not in my program so I had to adapt things to make it work, I also added the back half to the gun bubbles. If I had white bubbles available I would have changed the wing bubbles to them since they are remote controlled and not manned like the Lego kit. The angled parts are the hardest, getting the wings angled just right (to the fraction of a degree) to fit without interferance and then to get the engine mounts and engines angled to fit the wings just was hard too.

It is more challenging that dealing with the kits for sure, it is a lot of fun though.

I am working on a ARC-170 right now and trying to get my nerve up to an AT-TE.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The ARC-170 is done, the tapered nose was a PITA and the S-Foil mechanism was really complicated. It would be neat to fondle one and see how everything really moves, it looks like it would be really neat.

I will say as someone with CAD training the whole "rotate" feature on the program leaves A LOT to be desired. It can take a lot of time to get one stupid part tweaked just right to line up with another stupid part if everything isn't at an even 90* increment. It would be nice if they had something to point out where parts interfere.

But while I forget how much Inventor costs but I am pretty sure it was quite a bit more than the Lego program...

Right now I have a Venerator class cruiser under construction, the whole angle/rotate thing is almost kicking my butt...

 

[88_Eddie]

just make sure you have a spare closet to hide them in when you bring women back to the house.

 

[adsm08]

Hmm, I am done with big big stuff on my vehicles for a while. Maybe I need to start buying Legos again.

 

[88_Eddie]

Hmm, I am done with big big stuff on my vehicles for a while. Maybe I need to start buying Legos again.

what the H E double hockey sticks are you talking about, ads? i saw you just acquired a 5.4L......you dont have time for legos

 

[adsm08]

what the H E double hockey sticks are you talking about, ads? i saw you just acquired a 5.4L......you dont have time for legos

Yeah, about that.

First, I don't know there is anything beyond the one head that is worth anything but scrap.

Second, I have a 5.0 Mustang to put together before I do anything with a 5.4 that I don't even have a clue what I would put it in.

Third, I am not even going to touch that Triton until Spring at the earliest.

Fourth, Legos.


Also, despite having told us up front that he didn't need or want the engine back and didn't care what we did with it, this guy now seems determined to come get it one piece at a time.

 

[88_Eddie]

Fourth, Legos.

touche, salesman

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

just make sure you have a spare closet to hide them in when you bring women back to the house.

They are siting on a bookshelf outside my bedroom door actually.

I was actually thinking about making something in one of my empty bedrooms to store/display them in.

Not really that worried about what women would think about Legos, I am pretty sure my Ford themed living room would already give them a funny twitch...

 

[Twister]

Legos are awesome , being the middle of seven kids, we had a lot of legos. I think we have 4-5, 5 gallon storage tubs full of legos. I could prolly build half the new kits with random color blocks if i was to try lol.

 

[MastuhWaffles]

They have some serious legos now, I saw a lego set where it was a truck with a crane and it had hydraulics and all sorts of crazy stuff.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Legos are awesome , being the middle of seven kids, we had a lot of legos. I think we have 4-5, 5 gallon storage tubs full of legos. I could prolly build half the new kits with random color blocks if i was to try lol.

I think you are quite a bit younger than me, they have added quite a few parts to the lineup since the 90's when I was in my heyday.

They have some serious legos now, I saw a lego set where it was a truck with a crane and it had hydraulics and all sorts of crazy stuff.

I faintly remember them having pneumatic Technic stuff in the old brochures now that you mention it, I don't think it is anything too new.

I about got the Venerator beat, I think about another hour or so and it will finally be done.

 

[88_Eddie]

i saw a guy on youtube that made a bolt action gun out of legos, if i could figure out how to put the video in here i would. but you can google it and find it i bet