25 years later I gave in to the dark side (old hobby).

[Pilotasso]

16+, but who cares? its totally awsome :D

[Druid_]

Any bits left over?

[Pilotasso]

yes, technic studs. 5 of them.

[Druid_]

Well, start over again and make sure you do,it right this time! :smilewink:

[MTFDarkEagle]

Well, start over again and make sure you do,it right this time! :smilewink:

 

There's aaaallways spares ;)

[Ells228]

Awesome job and patience there, well done :D

[Pilotasso]

It wasnt actually THAT time consuming at all (kids would get lost easely in he build though). I could have done it in 2 days. I just had only time to do 1 hour a day during the week since the previous weekend had been a busy one.

[Pilotasso]

Somo photos of Lisbon Fan Expo. :)

 

Spent this afternoon on a LEGO expo in my local town. Took a bunch of pictures.

 

The Fist lot represent cities, the second are national monuments, the 3rd is Star wars, and the last some technic models.

 

 

 

 

They had Lego sets for sale, but I had to fight really hard not to purchase that B-wing smiling at me. :)

Edited April 27, 2013 by Pilotasso

[Pilotasso]

Edited April 27, 2013 by Pilotasso

[cichlidfan]

Very cool! Thanks for the pics. :thumbup:

[hegykc]

Oh.. my.. God!! Nice job!

Few things in life can make a full grown man smile like a little kid :)

And lego's are right there at the top!

 

Lego's are #1 reason I became an engineer. That is THE perfect toy for a child. So many things to learn from it. Life lessons too.

Like that, you can create things with your mind, and hard work. And you have to look after them, and many times you have to part with them in order to build new things. Eye-hand coordination exercise, creativity and intelligence exercise and the list doesn't end.

And when you get bored with a toy you just built (like all the kids do), you just take it apart and build something new. They don't end up in a old toys box somewhere in the attic.

 

Perfect!

 

 

Look at those technic models! And now they have that robotics line, you can hook it up to a usb port and program them on your computer, which basically moves the upper age limit completely.

From a toy, to a developers design kit, crazy!

Edited April 27, 2013 by hegykc

[Pilotasso]

Started with LEGO's too and became aircraft maintenance engineer. :)

 

My first model was a police boat back in 1982, then an ambulance. I lost both while living in the madeira archipelago. XD

 

Then resumed with Lego Space for several years until I was 14 (from the early blueish ones to Blacktron), then went Technic till I was 17. My super star destroyer was a comeback all these years past. :)

 

All other readers check the LEGO expo I visited today on previous page!

Edited April 27, 2013 by Pilotasso

[cichlidfan]

My childhood Lego experiences predated most of what is around today (1960s). I think motors and gears were the latest when I moved on to other things. I had a suitcase full of parts though.

 

My parents always swore that they were the best money they ever spent on toys.

 

Mechanical Designer before switching to IT. ;)

[Nealius]

Man, the only thing I remember about Legos is stepping on them while barefoot.

[Pilotasso]

Added 2 more shots to the previous page collection. :)

[manfrez01]

Very interested, an incredible number of pieces, Lego and a mandala

 

 

 

 

Might break your mandala? for me:D just kidding.

[asparagin]

Appropriate :D:

 

[Mr_Burns]

They pronounce it LAYGO in Aus?! Its LEGO guys!!

 

All the Lego sets I buy for the boy from starwars seem to have really bespoke parts which can only be used on the spareship they were built for.

 

I got space lego as a child and heaps of generic pieces, I managed to make 100's of different space ships even some from star wars, used the parts about a year ago to make (IMO) a pretty decent Eurofighter model to show him what he could make with imagination. Granted you would put them on show.

 

There isnt much Meccano around any more, that was another engineering prototype toy which was awesome!

[Pilotasso]

Yeah, I hate custom parts but you can still find 99% of them are generic. heck, 99% of these parts were around 20-25 years ago already. My UCS super star destroyer is made nothing but from these generic parts. The only parts new to me were the orange exaust transparencies.

[Pilotasso]

Guys I got another UCS model. yeah I know I cant afford it and still bought it. Im afraid Im getting addicted to this... :cry:

 

review to be posted soon. ;)

[cichlidfan]

There isnt much Meccano around any more, that was another engineering prototype toy which was awesome!

 

For me it was the Erector Set, nearly the same thing from a quick glance, which at the time (mid-1960s) was all metal parts and lots of screws and such; an electric motor too. It was awesome. :)

[CyBerkut]

For me it was the Erector Set, nearly the same thing from a quick glance, which at the time (mid-1960s) was all metal parts and lots of screws and such; an electric motor too. It was awesome. :)

 

+1

 

:)

[Pilotasso]

UCS B-WING STARFIGHTER! :)

 

[Pilotasso]

 

B Wing next to the SSD. :)

Couldn't make if fit completely on the shelf so had to bend one of the wings.

[Pilotasso]

Ok here's the verdict:

 

It is of modular construction. You can build it in parts and put it together at the end like I did. While building it I was like "meh" as it didn't look anything special. That was until I placed all modules in place. It was then that the model showed its full glory.

 

I do have a few gripes with it. The cockpit area is very fragile. The main fin roots are made of round bricks seated on top of sloped bricks without studs connecting them. I had to use gluing tape on strategic places to prevent them from separating. This parasitic effect is very ugly just look at reviews.

 

Lego designers used many new parts that are exclusive to this model making it possible build this way which kinda feels like cheating. On the other hand those new parts open up many possibilities for new construction methods say, a Calamari cruiser where those brackets and rounded parts come in handy to make all those organic like shapes without resorting to blocky bricks.

 

My SSD had lots of plates and classic parts, this one has lots of smooth surface rounded shapes and brackets to build in multiple orthogonal directions, or angled.

 

With the exception of the cockpit area, and unlike some reviews out there, it is a very solid model enabling ease of handling. Some reviewers built this wrong like this guy:

 

Pros:

-Drop dead gorgeous model, looks great as an exposition model.

-it is mostly solid to pick up by hand.

-It is REALLY BIG, check the photos where the size of this mofo is greater than my 27" monitor.

 

Cons:

-Cockpit area is a bit flimsy and breakable. The frontal part is hanging on an axis with some play in it and its not possible to make a tight fit.

-LEGO used many exclusive parts for this one and that's probably why it is so expensive.

Edited May 12, 2013 by Pilotasso