Another project - M163 VADS

I have decided to build a M163 VADS self propelled anti-aircraft gun! I like the look of them and haven't seen any other ones built out of Lego yet.
I have plenty of tracks and great ideas for how to build it.

More project thoughts

I want to build a Cafe Corner sized building, and for this I am going to use 3 of the #4996 beach house sets. It will be black and yellow, and may stand out a bit form the normal Cafe Corner, but I think it will complement it nicely.
I also want to build a road train, and a selection of hot rod type 6 stud wide cars that can take a minifig each.

Lego Taj Mahal #10189

I have finally finished the Taj Mahal!! After around 13 hours of unpacking, sorting and building I have finally completed the biggest Lego set available, the wonderous Taj Mahal! I purchased this kit on sale at Myers as they had a very good promotional price of AU$395 down from the normal $500 for Austalian buyers on lego.com. I started out by taking out the bags from the 3 smaller boxes inside the main box and emptying them into different containers and bowls so that I would be able to find the parts much easier. When you have nearly 6000 bricks, this is essential and saves you hours in the long run. I like the way that the bae is built as 6 separate pieces so that you can pull it apart for easy storage and the detail of the set is quite amazing. I am already thinking of what I can use all of the parts for in a different project!!
Here are some pics of the build.

10 part lego builds

I have decided to try and only use 10 Lego parts to build something cool. I am going to email brickset to see if they could host a competition where people can try and make the bext looking thing with just 10 parts.

Lego A380

I have built about 90% of the A380, with the only thing being left is to make the now heavy wings stay on the plane!! I have also had to redesign the nose as it was looking way too pointy.
The big issue with the wings is that they were flimsy and fragile on the 787 design, and now that they are about twice as heavy as the old ones due to the lengthening, widening and the extra engine per wing. If they were a 45 degree swept wing, this would be easy , but the current wing mounting system is just not up to scratch. Back to the wing fitting drawing board.

Project A380 begins!!!

I have found some spare time to begin Project A380 finally, and hopefully it should only take a few days worth of free time. I have unboxed my 2nd Lego 10177 kit and have obtained detailed specifications for the 2 planes so that I can try and build it is accurately as possible. The only issue I foresee is that a lot of the 10177 kit parts are blue, and I was hoping to build and all white one. Lego built a 3 metre long A380 replica for Singapore airlines that is just amazing, mine will never compete with that, but I will do my best.
The first thing I need to do is remove the nose and add some length to the fuselage. then remove the current roof and add an extra floor with windows.
Make the tail wider and the vertical stabiliser much taller and the wings wider.
Fit the 4 engines and strengthen the area where the wings go in as the new wings will be a lot heavier and the current wings feel flimsy enough as they are.

Brickworld

I wish I lived in the US, then I could go and visit brickworld!! If I win lotto, I will fly over to Chicago for it!!

More Lego projects

I have decided to start work on a few more projects as listed below.

Airbus A380 - I have 2x Boeing 787 Dreamliner lego kits, 1 of them I got for $70 at target because it was a pulled apart display kit, and had no instructions, and the 2nd one I bought for new off Ebay. I built the first one, and though i would like to build a lsightly bigger plane, and having 2 kits give me the chance to do this. I have 4 large engines, and can easily create this amazing double decker aircraft.

Top fuel drag car - I built a Lego Creator kit that had a few bits that I thought essential but not included such as wheelie bars, a parachute package and a better looking supercharged V8 engine.

Octopus - Paul Allen's famous mega yacht. I think I made need to acquire some more parts for this, but I think i can get close.

My ideas for Lego projects

I have a few ideas that I want to try and turn into projects over the next 12 months or so, and I guess I should list them here so that I don't get sidetracked and forget!!
1. Mindstorms tank.
2. Lego City with trains, streets and buildings etc.
3. Space station.
4. Super Aircraft carrier (This may be made form my Megabloks collection)
5. Battlestar Galactica

The 1st one is underway, and I will post pictures soon so that you can track my progress.

Welcome to my new Lego blog

I have gotten back into building Lego again, and so I decided to start a blog so that friends of mine can follow the progress of the many projects that I will be taking up.
I have accumulated a lot of Lego over the past 30 years, including Space, Creator, City and Technics kits and most of it has sat in plastic crates up until the last 6 months or so.
I really enjoy creating things, and making my brain work to solve problems, and Lego is perfect for this. I am not the artistic type, but I do understand function and usability, and how important they are when you are creating something.
I got a Mindstorms NXT for christmas, and built the few basic projects that they have instructions for, but immediately started thinking of things to build, and decided on a tank as i have plenty of track from some other technic kits, and lots of other parts to make it with. I have only started on designing the tracks for the time being, and I will then work on the clip on body and other features as I go along and time permits.