Elevated rail stop progress so far

I've been able to do a fairly consistent sequence of MOC work this week! Strangely it's still surprising many viewers that this second elevated train station has progressed in what I consider a natural direction, from extremely rough when it first started, to gradually more polished after a week of work.  Many folks think that when something is first started, that's exactly how it will look when it's finished, a puzzling and somewhat perturbing flaw in their basic understanding of... so many fundamental things.  I've also seen a dramatic rise in decisively non-constructive feedback like, "This whole thing is awful," or "Your worst build ever you should do [what I, individual viewer want this second]," again all while things are still being changed significantly from day to day. Actual constructive criticism is something I consistently revel in and reward with thumbs up, hearts, and personal replies due to its value and increasing rarity.  However, I definitely don't need to be showered with flat-out one-sided negativity while doing something I enjoy, and I'm not going to reward destructive behavior.  Thus, reluctantly, I'm going to start disabling comments on MOC build videos until I'm done with a project.  Making custom things, whether physical or digital, is something I enjoy, and I'm not going to allow completely random, anonymous people with zero investment to even try to ruin that.

More progress soon, though!

Videos:

• Elevated rail progress & your Mellemby LEGO roller coaster decision! (May 22)
• Why today's LEGO elevated rail progress felt so GOOD! (May 24)
• Elevated LEGO train station MOC progress update #4 (May 26)
• Elevated LEGO train station MOC progress update #5 (May 27)
• Elevated LEGO train station MOC progress update #6 (May 31)

LEGO Star Wars Han Solo Landspeeder de-aged Mod

I had planned to make a (mostly) symmetrical "original" version of Han Solo's M68 (Ford Falcon reference) Landspeeder, but then I started looking at more realistic toys as well as official renders and one of the full-scale movie props.  As explained in this video, I realized this vehicle was likely never intended to have been symmetrical in its factory-stock form.  So, I built upon what the evidence suggested.

• Video - LEGO Star Wars Han Solo Landspeeder MOD: Original appearance?

LEGO Amtrak EMD F40PH MOC

First shown on Instagram shortly after I started, this is another little piece of my childhood brought to life in LEGO form!

• Video: Custom LEGO Amtrak EMD F40PH locomotive engine

You Told Me What To Build yet again

This past week I did another TMWTB suggestion collection round and one of the most popular requests was a tank.  This one took a little longer than the others, but I'm happy with the result.

Video:

• TMWTB #04 Tank LEGO build challenge results! (you Told Me What To Build)

A previous cargo ship MOC, made better

Sometimes the outcome of the imposition of a set of rules fails to match the original intent.  In these cases, either changing or making exceptions to those rules is the most constructive path forward.

• Video: Custom LEGO Container Ship MOC rebuild / hull transplant!

Nope, not a good LEGO cargo ship MOC

Alright I am definitely tying my hands a bit too much now.  The collection of non-negotiable requirements I placed on this build forced it into a fairly specific shape & layout that unfortunately could not look good.  Looking at it with the almighty hindsight I actually feel most of it was done right at a high level, with fine details always being debatable.  The problem was all in the constraints.  Without those constraints, though, I'd have a ship in official LEGO style, with the deck level area of the superstructure being 1/2 the height of a minifig, and absolutely no consideration for how figures could potentially get up to the bridge.  I have, in fact, begun to find some of the limits of what can be accomplished with LEGO, with consideration for minifigs, at a reasonable size.  Making everything much bigger would solve all of these issue, but also completely break New Jang City as I'd end up with only 4-6 buildings and 1 ship taking up the entire room! Things that make ya go "Hmm."

• Video: New LEGO Cargo Ship MOC -- Break Bulk Carrier (not good)

The vehicle MOC streak continues!

Still three more official LEGO City/Town vehicles got kicked out of my city for good in an abbreviated building session.  One of the replacements this time is indeed a as much of a duplicate as it appears above, but it still does its job!

• Video: Custom LEGO Jeep-style offroader + truck MOCs

LEGO Rollback / Flatbed Car Carrier Truck MOC

As promised just a day ago, here's a new vehicle recovery build to kick yet another official LEGO set out of New Jang City for good!

• Video: Custom LEGO Rollback Car Carrier Truck MOC

One more official LEGO build heads to the scrapyard

I've had the tow truck from set 60132 sitting in my MOC ideas bin for over a year now, waiting to be replaced by a custom build.  Finally I've gotten around to it, and soon I'll follow up with a MOC to take the place of the flatbed carrier from the even older set 60097.

• Video: Custom LEGO Tow Truck MOC

You Told Me What To Build again

There was a clear winner in this most recent round of suggestion gathering, so I ran with it.  It was a bit more of a struggle than last time, but I don't think the result is as bad as I made it out to be.

• Video: TMWTB #02 DRAGON full Build & Results! (you Told Me What To Build)

I'll be doing another of these builds soon, but this time I won't yet need another round of comments as there was a very strong second-place finisher this most recent time and I'm ready to try that challenge straight away.

Summary for the week Feb. 19 - 25

I'd like to start off by assuring you I do not intend to post once per week on this blog long-term.  I've just been a bit more overloaded than usual of late, resulting in the need to trim a bit from even my regular routine.  This most recent week has been a prime example of the phenomenon, with a rush to move New Jang City forward being unexpectedly interrupted by the Toys R Us release of some cool cars and embargoed live-action superhero sets.

Avengers Infinity War reviews:

• LEGO Avengers Infinity War Sanctum Sanctorum Showdown review! 76108
• LEGO Avengers Infinity War Thanos Ultimate Battle review! 76107
• LEGO Avengers Infinity War Hulkbuster Smash-Up review! 76104
• LEGO Avengers Infinity War Corvus Glaive Thresher Attack review! 76103
• LEGO Avengers Infinity War Outrider Dropship Attack review! 76101

Speed Champions reviews:

• LEGO Speed Champions Ferrari Ultimate Garage review! 75889
• LEGO Speed Champions Porsche 911 RSR & Turbo 3.0 review! 75888
• LEGO Speed Champions Ferrari 488 GT3 Scuderia Corsa review! 75886

Custom builds:

• New Custom LEGO Cargo Ship -- dry bulk carrier MOC
• Custom LEGO ISO Tank Container MOC & build techniques
• Custom LEGO Road-Rail Switcher / Shunter MOC
• Epic LEGO ship MOC reveal! 😆

Only a small handful of early March release sets remain before I return to custom work, unless the Jurassic World sets suddenly appear in the wild.  My goal is now to have New Jang City ready for another full tour video in time for the beginning of this Summer.

Custom LEGO intermodal STS container gantry crane MOC complete!

At long last, I have a functionally complete ship-to-shore crane in New Jang City!  I previously did a few progress videos, plus a few updates on Instagram, but now there's a single video to show the last additions plus the basic operations of the whole thing.

Videos: 

• Custom LEGO intermodal container gantry crane (STS) MOC complete!
• Work In Progress: LEGO Container Gantry Crane (STS) update Jan. 21, 2018
• Work In Progress: LEGO Container Gantry Crane (STS) build update Jan 19, 2018
• Work In Progress: LEGO Container Gantry Crane (STS) MOC begins

Want to see the earliest suggestion of one of these types of cranes coming to my LEGO layout?  You'll have to go all the way back to my June 2013 city update!  Ha!!  On to the next thing, and here's hoping whatever that is won't take almost a half-decade to turn into reality.

Starting work on my largest cargo port crane

After over three years of waiting for this moment, I've finally started on my custom ship-to-shore freight dock crane!  This first step involved simply figuring out the dimensions of the thing without any concern for realism or structural integrity.  Next I'll rough out the trolley and figure out a spreader design.

• Video: LEGO container gantry crane MOC begins

LEGO train station MOC home stretch

Nearly "done for now," less than a week after I began!  I wish all of my structure projects could move this quickly.

• Video: LEGO train station MOC almost done (progress 4)

After this, the zoo is ready for its remodel, but I'm leaning towards skipping right past it for now and doing some work at the new Planetary Defense Base location.  We'll see how I feel inspiration-wise in a few days when I'm fully ready to move forward.

Still more on that second train station

Told y'all I'm trying to get this done quickly!  Secretly though, I'm just playing a game with fate, forcing it to accelerate the release timeline for the first winter LEGO sets.  The deeper I go into custom building mode, the sooner releases come as it's their sworn duty to stop me and hog all of my attention.

• Video: Good progress on the custom LEGO train station (part 3)

Second update on the new train station

I'm tellin' ya, I'm trying to get this thing done quickly.  The first winter set release season fast approaches and I want to squeeze every last bit of value out of this down/free time that I can.

• Video: Wheelchair lift for my new LEGO train station (progress 2)

And the next MOC for the city will be....

Train station #2!  As I touch upon in the later part of the introductory video, creating the space for this newest creation helps set the dimensions for most of the future work on the entire back edge of my tables.  With any luck, this will go pretty quickly, and we'll see where I decide to go from there.

• Video: New custom LEGO train station project begins!

Another music store & laser tag arena MOC update

Hey!  Look at that!  Both floors together, with a roof on top & everything.  I'm not 100% satisfied yet and will surely do some tweaks, but with all of the important components in place I'm nearly ready to call this "done for now" and turn my attention elsewhere.

• Video: LEGO music shop & laser tag arena MOC gets a roof! Progress 10

LEGO Laser tag arena almost done!

Work in progress is work in progress!  I hit no snags over the weekend and only ran out of one needed part for which I had an acceptable substitute.  There's a lot of building trickery in this thing that'll never been seen by anyone, but I'm fine with that as I just want the result to be decent.

• Video: LEGO laser tag arena MOC progress 9

A part of me really wishes I could shrink down & play-test this arena with some family & friends!

Work resumes on the laser tag arena MOC (over the music store)

Whoa.  I did not realize it had been so long since I last worked on this thing.  Well I'm sure glad to be back at it!

• Video: LEGO laser tag arena MOC progress 8

Work in progress!  Incomplete!