The Lego Tragic

[leon]

Hi Guys, well some of you may know I do big Lego builds and enjoy every moment of the build.

I have just completed the Titanic, some 9090, pieces, it turned out to be a beautiful experience.

Some time ago i also built the Millennium Falcon, then decided to pull it down and store it, however I have decided to rebuild it from scratch another time.

Wow, this is hard work, sorting through 7500 pieces, but it is a work in progress.

Leon

[AstroViking]

You lucky devil! Those are great sets, and far out of my budget / storage space.

[leon]

I agree Steve they are expensive, however i enjoy them and do save up for a year or two to actually purchase one.

Leon

[Leo.G]

I did like the first season of Lego Masters, since then the Aussie host has become as narcissistic as his American counterpart (Will Arnett, sounds like some sort of cookie).
It's a time consuming event.
Some of the sets are worth a considerable sum of money and will likely never lose their value, till the aliens give us our own real Millennial Falcons to fly around in. Haha



My son has Lego NXT kits here, 2 of, new, basically unused (a few projects done with one set).
Fine motor skill problems as a child meant Lego and Meccano (100th anniversary set) weren't within his dexterity range K'Nex however, WOW, you wouldn't believe what he builds and designs with that.
I buy up old Screamin' Serpent roller coaster kits when I see them at reasonable prices to have enough rods and connectors, there's NEVER enough. The sets were $100 new, people want $400 for old, used, incomplete JUNK now.
We can also buy new bits from the UK but postage is the big killer.

[wavelandscott]

We are a household full of LEGO tragics here too!

My now graduate school sons (and I) still cherish and enjoy them…our basement is reminiscent of the LEGO movie…

Well done on the builds

[floyd_2]

Wow Leon, those two kits are huge. I thought I was tragic with the bigger technic kits lol. These days the technic kits mostly look to be cars and motorbikes :zzz2: so I've lost interest.

Both of your kits look amazing. I'd love to build either of them, but would need to sell a telescope first lol

[LonelySpoon]

Wow, Leon!

And organizing the bits, too!

Lego tragic here, too, but mostly Mindstorms and space stuff

Got the Linar Lander, Saturn V and Curiosity Rover as gifts- great fun to build.

I've looked enviously at the Millenium Falcon many times...

Have fun!

Neville

[leon]

Hi Neville, when completed the Millenium Falcon is a beautiful piece of work.:thumbsup:

Building it first time from the numbered bags supplied makes it a joy.:thumbsup:

Pulling it down and then trying to put it back together with a pile of bricks is a nightmare, but I am three quarters done.:shrug:

Another week or so and I reckon it will be back to the original.;)

Leon :thumbsup:

[JeniSkunk]

Another LEGO tragic here.
I've never had the cash for the big, fancy kits, let alone anywhere to display them when finished. I had to pass by the Saturn V Apollo set because of that latter.
I've always been envious of the folks that had the cash for the big kits and somewhere to display their finished efforts.

edit: fix typo

[Hans Tucker]

https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/movies/a60125907/lego-millenium-falcon-set-amazon-march-2024/?utm_campaign=trueanthemFBPOP&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0-H3zS08653cl2vRKF7IyzaaHrxqgkCo_q4gy-Gghhy854e6BjN3PqlgA

[astronobob]

Amazingly Cool Leon, That Falcon Ship looks Awesome :cool3:

[leon]

Thanks Bob, and Hans I never knew that even existed, thanks for sharing that.

Leon

[LonelySpoon]

If it wasn't for benefactors I wouldn't have them either- I couldn't justify it for myself, I'd feel too guilty.

My Saturn sits in a display case opposite my desk and was the source of much comment during lockdown Zoom meetings.

There are a lot of closet Lego tragics out there...

Neville
LSO

[Rainmaker]

Excellent effort Leon. I’ve been interested in the Titanic saga for decades and finally on Thursday morning was able to touch a piece of Titanic’s steel with my bare hands (fingers actually). My son recorded the moment in photos…..

[leon]

Thanks Matt, are you referring to the Titanic Exhibition in Melbourne, I do hope to visit that as well before it ends on the 21st April.

Leon

[Rainmaker]

The Melbourne Museum Exhibition is well worth the visit Leon. Weekday mornings at 9am is a good time to go. You need to book ahead

[leon]

Thank you for the heads up Matt, keep the time in mind.

Leon

[AstralTraveller]

It's amazing what you can make with Lego, and some are even functional. :rockband:

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

[leon]

True David it is nearly endless, with so many builds to choose from.

Leon

[Hans Tucker]

Leon .. you need to think bigger.

https://youtu.be/LzzpLG2OLkM?si=HSUqOJs1hq59dtnl

[JeniSkunk]

It's not just having the cash to buy the big sets, or receiving them as gifts, it's having the space to build and display them. And you need the space for display cabinets for the completed builds, or enough permanently clear shelf space.
At my old flat, I used the upper shelves of a 3ftx6ft bookcase as display space, and the largest constructed sets I could fit in it were #43172 Elsa's Magical Ice Palace (https://www.lego.com/en-au/product/elsa-s-magical-ice-palace-43172) and #41314 Friends Stephanie's House (https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/stephanie-s-house-41314).
At my current flat, that bookcase is full of books, so I don't have the space for either set to be displayed assembled, and there's no more space in the flat for another bookcase. The biggest sets I could put on display here now are #70911 The Penguin Arctic Roller (https://www.lego.com/en-au/product/the-penguin-arctic-roller-70911), and #31066 Creator 3-in-1 Space Shuttle Explorer (https://www.lego.com/en-au/product/space-shuttle-explorer-31066).

[floyd_2]

Wow! :eyepop: Imagine that "kit" hitting the market. People would need to sell a car to afford it, and then devote a year to building it. But what a build it would be. Leon - are you up for it mate?

[JeniSkunk]

There's bigger .... MUCH BIGGER .

YouTube - Huge LEGO USS Makin Island Ship with 1 Million Pieces! (2023 Update) (edit)

You'd need to build an entire new room to your house, just to build and display sets that gigantic.

[Leo.G]

Or an entire new house?
Relating to your other post, what's a book? LOL

I have too many myself but they are all technical books on electronics/electrical, robotics and an assortment of maths and physics books. If only I'd learnt to read........

[JeniSkunk]

Bookcases...
3x 3ftx6ft
1x 3ftx6ft
1x 2ftx5ft
8x 1ftx6ft
They're all full of books, and there's no room spare in my current flat for another bookcase. And because they are already full, and their tops have already been claimed for display and storage spaces, I can't even use those spaces for displaying completed LEGO sets.

[floyd_2]

Leon, just a heads up mate. My wife is looking for you. It's something about me recently buying the NASA Apollo Saturn V kit and attributing the purchase to my rekindled interest in building per this thread :whistle:

[Hans Tucker]

You actually found a NASA Apollo Saturn V kit?

[floyd_2]

I did indeed - there was a guy selling it new and sealed not far from me. It seemed a shame to actually open it, but I got over that fairly quickly and started sorting!!! Stage 1 is now complete - its an excellent kit.

[leon]

Nice work Dean, :thumbsup: your missus will never find me, :lol: enjoy you build.

Leon :thumbsup:

[Hans Tucker]

Point to remember

[GrahamL]

Love some of those big kits

Have the saturn 5
VW beetle

Lego art
Andy warhol 31197 ..Marilyn keeper
Beatles 31198 bought a few cheap and sold .. havnt opened that last one

[LonelySpoon]

I got Curiosity Rover for Christmas.

My most complex kit, and largest by brick count.

Everything moves on it, but it also come with a VR trigger so you can see extra stuff around it.

Cool.

Neville
LSO

[Hans Tucker]

This two-metre-high Anzac Day statue was made entirely out of Lego by Perth's Ben McCullock.

It took five months to complete and an estimated 18,000 genuine pieces.

[floyd_2]

And here's me thinking that I took it too far with the Titanic kit at 9090 pieces :question:

[LonelySpoon]

I just finished my birthday present- The Sun-Earth Moon model.

It works a treat! I'm going to try illuminating the Sun and motorising the whole thing.

Neville
LSO

[wavelandscott]

Just picked this up for my son’s birthday…

[floyd_2]

I found this kit on Aliexpress and grabbed it for about $15.00 after discount. It's a ridiculous price. Just finished building it today. The blocks are mini blocks, so are smaller than real lego, but no where near as small as that micro lego that my kids love.

I grabbed this kit as it's almost an exact replica of my very first Tasco 114mm reflector that I bought from Grace Bros 35 years ago. That little Tasco telescope started me on a life long obsession with astronomy.

[iborg]

Hi All


Leon - I suspect you do NOT want to this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxeD4Wd1uoc)! For others, enjoy.



For the Millennium Falcon, skip to about 10:30min.


Philip

[leon]

:eyepop::eyepop: Hell, no Phillip, it took me too long to put together: screwy:

Thanks for that it did look pretty cool.:lol:

Leon :thumbsup:

[iborg]

Glad you enjoyed, have fun.

[Leo.G]

An earlier mention by myself about not having Lego but being amazed by the K'Nex modelling rod kits my son owns a lot of, here's one reason why I'm particularly fond of it.
My son often describes ideas relating to something he'd like to do and I'm often too stupid to understand what he's trying to explain. From a young age he would run out and build a working model from K'Nex bits and pieces.


I recently acquired a ceramic craftsman's revolving platform and we wanted to do a full 3D render of a human head (foam thingie I picked up cheap). We can use the Kinect from the Xbox One to do the 3D but we needed the platform rotating at an even speed for a good render (it's going to doctors to explain headache regions I know about from well over 50 years of suffering, regions, causes and treatments for many).


Anyway, we needed a small stepper motor attached and while I was looking for scrap aluminium bar to twist up to make it my son ran in, grabbed a few K'Nex bits and pieces and slapped the pictured mechanism together. It works extremely well. The Rivnuts were already set into a piece of aluminium and drilled out to accept the K'nex rods for a motor mount on another project (the motor wasn't strong enough)

My son could never use the Lego, fine motor skill problems as a child, couldn't use Mechano either but his builds with K'nex would blow most peoples minds.


A couple of other examples is a full safe type mechanism for a shed door with both electronic locking and manual locking (work either way) and a model designed for a revolving ladder system around my pier for the Newtonian with motor driven variable step height and rotation around the pier. I'll make it one day.
No images of the other two projects for obvious reasons, they are one of a kind designs I will get to building for real out of steel and alloy one day.

[leon]

Impressive Leo, thanks for sharing that.

Leon

[LonelySpoon]

That's a great story Leo. How did the scanner work out? I've got the bits to do one but haven't got to it.

I love that there are so many ways kids can express their creativity these days- whether art or craft related.

BTW I just finished last year's Father's Day gift, the big Galaxy Explorer kit: 9 bags and 1254 pieces.

My grandson did the first 3 bags while I finished the orrery.

Two great things: still playing/building with kids, and now my kids buy me the Lego.

Neville
LSO

[Leo.G]

Sorry, I'm going right off topic here (my long winded explanation).

Not so good so far but it's a USB3 connection problem.
My sons older Lenovo server (S30 from memory) got upgraded to a later version of Win 10 and the USB3 ports were no longer recognised. He tries to roll back the driver and Windows says the best driver is already in use (Arrogant mongrels). We first thought it was the southbridge chip but he found the USB3 works just fine with Linux so it's a M$ thing.
We've come up with a hopeful cure, purchased a PCI to USB3 host bus adapter (not the $24 thing, a $150 unit) which will accept the systems front USB3 headers, hopefully that gets here soon.
My son did try using his small Lenovo 2 in 1 (tablet/laptop) with an I7 processor but the 3D scans are graphic processor heavy and the little unit just couldn't do it. When you get to it use something with a reasonable graphics processor if available (my son has a 3060 in his Lenovo) and if you have problems with the device powering on and off by itself clean the power barrel jack in the adapter if you use one.

We have played in the past with the older 360 Kinect and got some reasonable results.

We had issues besides the USB ports which involved a full strip down of the Kinect (Xbox One unit), complex little unit but found our problem with it dropping in and out of connection wasn't the Kinect like everyone online suggests "cut the fan wires it will run fine" (after replacing thermal pads on everything requiring it), I studied electronics, I DO NOT cut fan wires to fix a problem. It turned out the Xbox one to One X adapter we were using had corroded internal circuit board and connections (like EVERYTHING which comes in from China electronics related, they don't ship them, they simply float them across in a container and sea water ingress damages everything electronics, they must). Anyway, cleaned up the solder joints on the barrel jack power inlet, still didn't fix the unit then while using a toothbrush and contact cleaner some of the contact cleaner must have dripped inside the barrel jack and plugging the power in for the third time got the device working properly. Pulled the thing out and sprayed the barrel jack internals and poked a small brush in to clean internal corrosion off and the thing works like a dream now.

Other than that we're hoping for good results, this thing I'm doing is going to my local doctor (he will share it) and my neurologist (she will share it too). I may actually send it to the head neurologist in every major Sydney hospital which has a neurology department because I've been in them all for extended periods of time dating back a lot of years.
I've had more MRI brain scans than most people. They still haven't found anything, just a vacuous void.

[JeniSkunk]

Apologies in advance for necroposting.




Today I was in at Astro Anarchy at Greenslopes Mall here in Brisbane, and they had one last set of the Saturn V.
I caved and bought it even though I've no space to display the completed set.
I've yet to unseal the set. No idea when or if I will do so.

[TrevorW]

I found LEGO way to expensive and purchased kits from MouldKIng, just as good IMO :)

[Leo.G]

Seems to be the thing these days, just tuck it away in it's original packaging and in 20 years you'll be paid an absolute fortune for it.
I wish I knew that as a teenager with some new motorbikes I bought.....

[JeniSkunk]

What motorbikes were they, Leo?



For me, It's not so much seeing a now rare set as an investment. It's a simple lack of space for displaying completed sets. It's why, after moving house in May 2022, that the bulk of my LEGO sets are still in their boxes, in the disassembled state I had to take them to, for the move.

I've still got 2 other unopened and unbuilt sets, bought in 2017.
The LEGO Technic 42058 Stunt Bike and 42059 Stunt Truck. I bought them at the same time as buying another 2017 released Technic set, 42057 Ultralight Helicopter, which I did assemble and have space for.

edit: fix typo

[Leo.G]

A 2 stroke Suzuki GT250A and a brand new Honda CB750/4 F2 supersport.
I wanted the Suzuki 500 titan for the same price of $999 on the road but my license was pre-stamped for the not yet introduced rule of 250CC restrictions on learners and P platers. A week after settling for the 250 I received a letter from the motor registry insisting I send my license in for modification and received it back 3 weeks later with the restrictions crossed out with X's. I could have legally bought the 500.
Both bikes would pull a pretty penny now in near new condition.
That's back when a brand new Ford XC Fairmont with the GS rally pack including a 302 v8, four speed manual and mag wheels was $7800 on the road ( i very nearly traded in the 750), now a GS rally pack xc Fairmont is worth well over $100,000 but no one could have ever predicted people having so much money to throw away on old cars.

[Max Vondel]

Nice builds Leon.
You have given me an idea for my GF, who has OCD and counts cutlery when stressed. Maybe a small LEGO kit might be good therapy? She can separate the pieces and count them instead.

[leon]

Agreed Peter that certainly may be helpful and enjoyable as well.

Loen

[wavelandscott]

Lego does have some small kits (with just a few pieces) to be used to help kids (adults too) stimulate their imagination…item #2000416 Building Toy

You have a set amount of time to see how many different ways you can build a “duck” out of the kit. It is a lot of fun and a great way to be distracted and get your brain thinking a different way. Those Lego folks are pretty clever