ZCerberus

Day 5- Skin Me- A first swath of orange skin is made and hung. It looks pretty good- I am pleased with the sloped stripes, but they do look a little too studded compare to the rest of the smooth skin. I'll soon learn the angle I placed them at though is a little too obtuse to use, so the outriggers will need adjustment. Day 7- Getting the Rear in Gear- my first work on the rear which includes the first part of the engine clusters. I can already tell the rear may be a bit small, but that is okay, I actually plan to bump it out another 10-12 studs as it goes up. I also need to pull off the skin to fix the outriggers for the frame to be more acute. It does give the SHIP a bit of a narrow vibe, but hopefully that won't be an issue when all is said and done. I also started to work on the top of the lower section/bottom of the "middle section" which will be more apparent soon.

So I decided to try a SHIPtember build- but I wanted to be reasonable about it. I have built what would classify as a SHIP before, and it was a lot of fun- so much fun in fact I made 4 of them (though 1 is perhaps not SHIP length) for Brickworld 2018. I have photographed 2 of those 4 and I will hunt down links to the EB posts on them soon. As for the need to be "reasonable"... I am a dad. I have 2 youngish children (3 and 6), a wife and full time job, so if I am approaching SHIPtember, I wanted to make sure this build "fit' in my fleet so that some of the design language was already determined and I had many of the parts I already need. I also have a work trip at the end of the month, so my 30 days will be more like 27ish- knock off 1 day for photos and editing and 4 or 5 more for family time and this whole idea may be a little challenging. While I could document this on Flickr, I feel like EB is still my base of operations- plus, I can leave many of the photos private to not clog up my photostream. Jump to the finished SHIP here: Build Log: Day 0- Before SHIPtember begins, I started a project on my other SHIPs, and that was transitioning them from a fixed base onto removable ones. This was so I could adjust the height of the stands or their rigidity as needed as well as making them easier to pick up and move. The integrated stands also tended to wobble and flex a little meaning I was always nervous to move them around a table since the stand posts we're connected to each other. I came up with a design for the bases on the other SHIPs and built them up giving me ideas for how I would build the stand for my SHIPtember build. Day 1- The Stand- The stand goes together quickly. The stand off in the back is a single post rather than a double to accommodate my planned shape- which will be quite narrow in the very bottom of the rear section. The desk is fairly clean- I am sure that will change. Day 2- Time to build up the "cups" which will sit over the stand pegs to hold the ship. You will also see all the Technic bricks that will form the frame being sorted for size. Day 4- The Frame Job The bottom frame for Orange Crush is constructed as well as the outriggers that will support the angled bottom "skin". One interesting note here is that while for SHIPtember I will be making the skin orange, I planning allowing the skins to be fairly easy to remove so I can reskin the ship later, including possibly for Brickworld Chicago.

Tremendous work Bob. I could just tell from the first photo this would do the old school Lego style break apart. Love all the parts that can be added the the little ships to serve each function. Blacktron II is certainly one of the best looking space themes IMHO. Love how you capture it.

I'd say there is a very, very, very good chance. The thing is, I am out of town starting tomorrow for a few days on work travel, so as @Seyguh has learned, I have a busy life and putting it on my list may mean a few weeks before I have any time at all. I would also toss in the semi-minifig scale one from Cloud City too I think. As for the stands... without LDD support anymore and with a move to windows 10, I found making the instructions difficult. I tried switching over to studio from bricklink to make the model, and it worked fine, but it seems I would need to put in more thought to make the instructions than I have time for. I did a google search for a free place to host files and found one... no idea on the quality of the site or the like, but if you would like to try to download the instructions for bricklink studio, here you go! http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=02896881536165477233 To get this to work on the newest Slave though, I needed to make some very minor revisions. Check out the 20th Anniversary version of the stand here: http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=75983208672416795028

The little cavey area had a bit of an interior, but the tudor section did not really.

Talk about Necromancing on old thread!! But since it lives on... Still have yet to see it, but based on the truth of other rumors, it looks like we should be expecting another Slave 1 soon- updating the story may need to be a thing soon enough! Though I don’t have it, the little Slave 1 in the Cloud City set would be a fun add as well.

Command and Conquer inspiration does seem like an untapped well of sweet ideas. Great work on this project.

They mostly come at night... mostly.

Beautiful piece of work.

Orange spaceships? Ludacris! Great looking SHIP my man.

Lesson 1- BUILD. Everyone gets better with experience. Just look at these guild leaders who started out as kids on EB and now they are masters- better at castle than I ever was! I am a bit... eclectic. Does mean I am not as easy to pin down as the, “_______________ guy”, which also means I’m not as easy to recognize in the community since my style isn’t quite like a signature. I’ve always been proud of the construction vehicles I did- totally not well recognized though.

Should totally be forbidden to like sci-fi and be in the guilds.

Calling all Guildies! It's back with new leaders and enhancements including a change in playable guilds. Varlyrio is now open for signup along with the classics, Avalonia, Mitgardia and Kaliphlin Want to sharpen your skills, tell stories, or just build cool MOCs like this one by Kevin Wu? If so, then the Guilds are the place to be. Sign up now, Challenge 1 of Book III to start soon!

Not up yet. Solving 1 last issue.

I don't think the goal of change should be to make it like something else- I mean all of those other games are fun and cool too, but they tried to be like us to some degree. I think like a good RTS or RPG video game our goal when the sequel comes out is to take what was done well and amp it up, add a few new features, but not lose what makes it a classic at its core!. Sure we experiment a little, fight new villians, have new heroes- but right now what is really missing more than anything is... the sequel itself! We need a few more talented programmers. The last game had a few bugs... the fifth act drug a little to get started... we tried a minigame which was fun but too involved... we didn't judge all the side quests yet... but we're working on things to iron them out with some of your feedback. I feel like a famous someone when I say, "Make the Guilds great again!" (FYI not an endorsement of that person, just getting in on the slogan!)

Turns out I am only 36, so never mind me!

Hadn't considered being a granddaddy at 37, but you know, why not. You know how grandpa used to be all tech savvy in his day and had one of the first color tvs... but the idea of a smartphone terrifies him now? That is me now- I may have been a MOCer people had interest in seeing build something 5 years ago, but now the grandkids know all the hot apps and smartphone tricks and I just stare at them in amazement knowing all the kids and grandkids have surpassed me! At least I can still help shape a story or two before I get kicked out for good!

Safe Haven will certainly come into play. I also think some threads dropped by HQ and Titus in the last lore need some exploring. I mean the Queen was outside of Historica for years- surely she's come across some other lands to explore- and what REALLY happened to her brother... I am not saying anything has been determined, just that I think there are some threads that were expertly left to be tugged and Safe Haven just so happens to fit into some of this. Varlyrio certainly needs some fleshing out. I hope that is an exciting prospect.

Yes, the GoH kids. So many insanely skilled builders who "grew up" in the guilds. Here is a few people who's skills went from "uh" to "WHAAAAA!?!" due to building in the guilds... in no particular order- Legonardo Davidy Kai NRG Garmadon SoccerKid6 LittleJohn ... The next generation could be the GoH grandkids I guess! And it's not just the GoH kids that grow... here is my first entry into the guilds: Not bad, but photography and some of the elements needed some work... here are a couple of later entries... all of which would be put to shame by any recent build from the GoH kids!

What are those ruffians doing! We must save Lena! Gather your allies! Rescue her now, boys!

Cute. Nice stained glass! Two shades of green would be sweet in there.

Looks like some sneaky ass Dragon Masters in there. flickr has me excited for the story!

It's true that life should come first, but not handing over the reigns before everything burnt out is on me too. I did not conceive of the guild ideas, but I would like to think I have been an important figure and perhaps I have made myself to integral to the happenings, though other leaders have filled voids with their own fun challenges to keep everything together until we were ready to move on. That is why it is important to strike while the iron is hot- get some new blood and see where it goes. I am also aware it is possible there will come a day when GoH just fizzles out. I hope today is not that day and we'll continue to find ways to keep us a float.

I think it is clear Varlyrio will be playable. I also think the guild threads tell the story. In both Books, Nocturnus only had 2/3 the discussion as the other guilds and Nocturnus even had 2 of the 5 challenges. This makes us believe if we stick with four guilds, Nocturnus may find itself in a holding pattern. Again, there is nothing stopping people from building there or continuing to develop the land, but those builders may need to find a new home for purposes of which guild they represent in the challenges since we are assuming guild affiliation will still matter for this book at least. If this doesn't work, we will shift, but I think that is the likely direction now.

So what happened from the start of Book II to now that made this a slow grind? Here's a timeline from me... Due to fading interest of former leaders- Ecc and ZC are promoted to History Mods. I take over Nocturnus as that was ISC's guild before and there is no leader while Avalonia has regulator Rogue Angel. August 2013- Book II starts and the Guilds are off and running again on high octane! I have an infant son (born in June) but some time on my hands while he naps to "play" I also work in a job that has a season- tax season- so summers are slow and I can work on Guild stuff. September 13, 2013- We launch Challenge I. Challenge deadline is January of 2014. I am proud of the work I did for this and it launched well. January 2014-May of 2014- Tax season. Work, sleep, repeat. Though I do find time to announce winners in March! June 2014- My job is largely outsourced to another company, though I am retained, I no longer have summer's available for Guild Stuff. We continue to push challenges on. August 2014- Challenge II wraps. October 2014- Challenge III starts Late October 2014- My mom is diagnosed with terminal cancer, though the prognosis is life for several years. We alter plans to visit her often and very few MOCs are built. March 31, 2015- My mom loses her battle with cancer less than 6 months after diagnosis. Interest in Historica and community fades greatly. Challenge III ends and Challenge IV starts, but I am fairly out of the loop on this now with real life matters close to my mind. May 2015- Take a new job that is more stable, but no longer allows for a "busy" and "off" season. June 2015- Attend Brickworld- I had invited my mom to come with- but in the wake of her death I built a spaceship (our theme was Sci Fi that year) in her honor. I have several builds that were intended to be part of the Challenge V preludes already built, but not photographed. November 2015- Challenge IV wraps. I begin planning for the final challenge, but motivation for builds is challenging. February 14, 2016- A Nocturnian princess is born! I now have a two year old and an infant- a few builds to use in the final challenge announcement are photographed, but now time is precious. June 2016- I attend Brickworld with a mix of build interests- construction trucks for my son, castle builds, a few of which will end up in the final preludes and Rogue, Ecc and I discuss the final challenge again. I feel stressed that I have been slow to launch due to real life issues. December 2016- all the builds for the final challenge are done and we launch Challenge V. Building MOCs essentially solely for the purpose of kicking off the overdue challenge wears on me greatly and I find participating in the Guilds to be a challenge. May 2017- Begin a new job, which I enjoy, but again, no slow seasons and travel now sometimes involved. Building time limited by work and family balance. June 2017- at Brickworld- entire year has been devoted to Neo Classic Space because I can build out of the "LEGO room" and in the living room while I have breaks from watching the kids. Challenge V is long wrapped, but I am slow on voting and prizes (which I still have by the way). June 2018- at Brickworld again, whole year devoted to microscale space for the challenge of it- meet the "GoH kids"- the builders who were only young pups when I was actually around who are now Guild stalwarts such as SoccerKid, LittleJohn, Kai and Garmy and some awesome "old guard" builders like Silver Smith, Gideon and Rogue. Interest in launching Book III and reviving Historica is awesome. It is clear I am not fit to lead a whole guild or build for challenge preludes due to the drain from Book II and life events. We begin looking into how to freshen it up. That leads us to now. What is clear more than anything is taking on two of the challenges in Book II was not wise on my part and the death of my mother had a very large impact on my interest. I had help in getting prelude builds done from Mass Editor and Ecc, so I have no complaints about the support I received- it was and is largely on me for not powering through the issues I faced. I am trying to do better now by stepping aside as much as possible to not be the roadblock I was before. I still think I can be valuable, but as an organizer and an ideas guy, less so as the day to day guild leader and the major "pusher" of the deadlines like I was before. Hopefully I will build something too!