Long Distance 'Remote Build'

[Fallenangel]

KimT seemed to like it, so here’s my proposal:

Suppose an AFOL – just for fun, let’s call him Candide – has volunteered to create a section of a Star Wars display for a big AFOL event in Denmark which he will be attending. He’s excited, he’s got a prototype built in the basement, he’s designed the whole thing in LDD, etc. Two months before the con (or however early they announce/plan these events), the display is complete. But there are a few problems: Candide lives in Australia; to ship his entire LEGO collection over to Denmark with him would cost him a fortune he doesn’t have; there are portions of his display that exist only in LDD because he ran out of parts; and the display requires at least twenty stormtrooper minifigures, even though he only has eight. So what he does his, he posts a proposal in this thread with a description of his MOC (e. g. estimated size, type), lots of pictures, .lxf file if there is one, etc. as well as some practical things like location (in this case Denmark, but there doesn’t have to be one), timeframe (again, if there is one).

Now let’s say there’s another AFOL – let’s call him Pangloss – who happens to live in Denmark. He has a dozen boxfuls of LEGO in his room and a collection of 75 stormtrooper minifigures. He loves building displays, and he’s eagerly anticipating the big AFOL event which is in two months. Best-case scenario, Pangloss sees Candide’s proposal and agrees to "remote build" it for him (maybe as a "see-ya at the con!"-type thing). With the help of the .lxf file and pictures, he begins to construct the display in his own basement, donating parts from his extensive collection. Eventually, the display is completed and brought to the AFOL event where Candide sees it. He runs into Pangloss at the event, and they discuss the display. Candide’s display has been completed, yay! C’est vrai, tout est pour le mieux dans le meilleur des mondes possibles.*

I hope you get the drift : a “designer” makes a proposal concerning a specific , a “builder” chooses to accept. This would be aimed at MOCers who would like to see their models in a tangible form but for some reason cannot, and perhaps people who want more of a challenge for building than they as AFOLs would normally get from LEGO’s kid-oriented. I guess the process can be very simple or very complicated depending on the circumstances of the “designer” and the “builder” (both of which, by the way, will end up having to design as well as by).

As a matter of fact, there is a certain MOC I’ve been working on for some time, but which cannot be realized fully because I lack certain crucial parts. (I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about.) Normally I would just PM, but I decided to make this into a thread because I thought there might be other members who may be in similar circumstances or would just like seeing their MOCs on display in other people’s rooms. Imagine the conversations: “Looky here, this is so-and-so’s TIE fighter, next to so-and-so’s Millennium Falcon...”

*See what I did there?

We could even go one step further and have a room somewhere in the world with some of the best MOCs by AFOLs on display, like a Hall of Fame.., but that’s still a ways off.

[BrickArtist]

Fantastic idea fallen. This could also work for a SW MOCer who doesn't have bricks, or a camera(1 or the other). He could build the model in an LFX file, request it be built in bricks, potographed, and uploaded so he could have real life pictures of his models, in somebody else's bricks. I'm on board.

[brickbuilder]

Thats a great idea! I don't think I'm going to any of these events though. But what I'm thinking, is that you post the .lxf of your model here, and whoever wants to can try and build it. If they are successful, then they can post it.

This is because I'm just thinking it would be diffincult to analyze the model and decide if you have all the peices.

[The Legonater]

Excellant idea. As you might know, I've been wanting to do an Utapua MOC. But looking over my plans for the MOC, I have no where near enough bricks to pull it off. This way me- and others in my position- will still be able to see a real finished model.