Holiday Break

 

We are taking a break for the holidays.  I might post some train work that I intend on doing.  Putting the Lego Space Outpost to the side for right now so that I can regenerate so new ideas.  Be back in 2024.

In 2024

Brick Palooza - Part 2

 

Here is a link to the Brick Palooza Facebook page.

And a link to a video of our display.

And here are some of the more interesting MOCs at the show.

I was interested in the detailing with the plants in this one.

This and the three pictures that follow show D-Day on Omaha beach.  It was a very impressive display.

This one was very colorful and detailed.

Interesting use of sand green color.

A collection of castle sets.

This was a depiction of the Mad Max world.

I really liked the water simulation.

Pictures of some kitchen ideas for when I detail out the kitchen area of the cafeteria.

A recreation of the bar from Cheers.  I may have to put in a bar when I do the living quarters. 

Yoda and Christmas.

Then there were a group of COS Players there as we see in these pictures.

 

The Omaha Beach MOC was best in show.

 

We were the winners in the Space Category.

Brick Palooza - Part 1

And Brick Palooza begins.

First load of boxes.

 

Setup begins.

 

Setup was different this time.  We were at the end of the large enclosed rectangle.  Thus we we had an 8 foot table and the 30 inches of the two tables that came up the sides.  Total linear distance of 13 feet.  The calculated length was just under 12 feet.

The plan was to center the display on the end.  But this time instead of having one table break, there were two.  And they were definitely not level. I started building from the perceived center, which is the main entrance and tower.

The modules are assembled as a slice.  The main module in the front, the cliff and then plateau/hanger section.  Then this assembly is slid towards the main entrance.  There are a few technic pins that align and hold the parts in place.  Assembling the slice is fairly easy and goes together quite quickly.  It is just remembering to attach the power connections for everything that has power.

The hangers have to be assembled, since the assembled version is too big to fit into the box. Over the last few shows I have reduced the time needed through reducing the technic pins needed and how the cantilever section is held up.  There is still some work to do on the second level platform that mates into the cliff.  When the cliffs are redone, this platform will partially move to the cliff and this setup/assembly will be eliminated.

This is trying to get the technic pins to line up.  Even though I have reduced the pin count to a bare minimum, trying to get  4 to 5 pins to line up is difficult and takes upwards of 5 minutes to get them to engage.  This is a huge opportunity for improvement.

The left side is done.  It is now apparent that the physical center is not on the main entrance.  The landing platform has skewed the center to the right.  But this worked out.  The last hanger is on the end of the 8 foot table.  The platform connector spans of the table gap.  The next platform is then on the end table.  Since the platform connector does not rest on the table top, it floats above the gap.  This is the best of all worlds.  In the future, we will be setting up so platform connector goes across any table gaps.

As the assembly continued, the large roll  up door used for access also let the setting sun in.  This made it challenging connecting the modules on the let side.

This is beginnings of the Terra forming on the top.  It will be a combination of wedge plates and tile.  There will be minimum vegetation since this an arid planet.  But the there will be these different colored crystals.  This will be a new part of the back story.  Part of the reason this Outpost is here is to mine these crystals.  The different colors represent the different stages of development of the crystals.  They reach there full energy potential when they are neon green and glow.  I intend to place UV LEDs inside a large collection of neon green crystals to make them glow.

And the previous event's flags and Minifigures go up, indicating the build is complete.

 

And we are done.