smoothbit

Thanks for all the feedback and sorry for being a bit too vague in my initial post. What I liked about those two sets wasn't specifically that you could build three different models, (though that was of course cool), rather it was being able to motorise the car and make it drive around. I was hoping to find something similarly fun for my son and decided to get this: https://brickset.com/sets/42140-1/App-Controlled-Transformation-Vehicle There's also this really nice alternative build: https://rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-151271/brikdlego/rally-car-42140-alternative-model Thanks again!

When I was a child I really enjoyed playing with these two simple sets: https://brickset.com/sets/8034-1/Universal-Set https://brickset.com/sets/8720-1/9V-Motor-Set Is there a modern equivalent? All the "Powered Up" sets I see are considerably more complex and expensive.

Thank you very much, those settings make really good looking renders of the models 🙂

As a birthday present for someone, I've built modified versions of two birds from Thomas Poulsom's Birds from Bricks. I've generated instructions using the latest version of LEGO Studio and have a question about rendering an image to use on the cover: Does anyone know what settings would result in the most LEGO-like rendering of a model? Meaning in terms of the images LEGO use on the covers of their own instruction manuals.

My whole street has been dismantled and put into boxes in the basement, but if I ever rebuild I'll take that into consideration, thanks for the suggestion. I've long-since paused work on this. Until I pick it up again, maybe to attempt getting it rentable on PleyWorld, here's a slightly colour-corrected 1440p version of the whole build in one video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdoiBlpADkA

Yep, when I was nine years old I built my own, much smaller version, it made a cup of water fall onto the head of whoever opened the door. I'm considering including an even tinier version in my childhood home, now need to decide whether I base it on my own design or the one from the advert.

That's the very same one I was thinking of, thank you! I've been searching for it for a while now, what search phrase returned it to you so quickly? I tried various combinations of technic, robot, bedroom, sister, but none of them seemed to work.

Does anyone remember a LEGO TV Advertisement from the late 1980s / early 1990s, that featured a girl sneaking into her brother's dark bedroom and being scared off by a huge, Technic robot with red glowing eyes? And if you remember it do you know of anywhere online I can see it again?

Coming at it from the angle of having built many LEGO houses as a child, and then later having built the Modulars, I think I had it easier; I was thinking in terms of LEGO scale first. Shorter than human… or maybe the height of a child? I usually consider minifigures adults, but because this is my childhood home, they can totally be me and my siblings instead, I just need to use some Woody limbs for my parents.

Thanks for the mention, eurotrash. I've yet to update my thread with more details as intended, but in response to your concern of building larger than the official Modulars: Because I wanted a detailed interior, I made my initial model 16x48 instead of 16x32. I also built all the way to the back of the baseplate, rather than leave ~8 studs free for a back path. I also built each floor 8 bricks high to accomodate windows above the doors. I mention this because, if I wanted to build a version that would both look like my house and yet also be the proper 16x32, and not tower above the other buildings, removing the interiors and windows would achieve both of those. However, I did build at 16x48 (and then 16x96) with the idea that it can still fit in among the other Modulars, so long as it's part of a larger block, as in these photos: Anyway, the other big compromise I made was squashing the rooms to be less deep than the original floor plan: The core of the house is to scale, the stairways and bathrooms, but the rooms themselves are maybe 2/3 as deep as they should be. This meant I could not fit in as much furniture as I remembered, but when I started I didn't want to build at 16x64 as I considered that far too large. Maybe for the next version… Also, LDraw is a much faster alternative to LEGO Digital Designer, I can recommend Bricksmith if you have a Mac. Finally, what you've built so far looks very good, I look forward to seeing how your project develops.

I've finished splitting LDD's original LDraw export into steps, you can download a newer version of my LDraw file. It now consists of the following sub-models: Ground Floor (1769 parts) Fire Hydrant (6 parts) Traffic Light (26 parts) No-Ghost Sign (18 parts) Ground Floor Accessories (196 parts) Telephone (5 parts) First Floor (1281 parts) First Floor Accessories (253 parts) Bathroom (121 parts) Bathroom Sink (14 parts) Bathroom Toilet (9 parts) Bathroom Radiator (7 parts) Second Floor (1466 parts) Flag (4 parts) Second Floor Accessories (276 parts) Stairway (52 parts) Rooftop (204 parts) These are my intended next actions: Divide "Ground Floor Accessories", "First Floor Accessories" and "Second Floor Accessories" into further sub-models for each item of furniture, divide those sub-models into sensible steps too Add missing pieces and change incorrect colours the conversion from LDD to LDraw seems to have introduced Modify the original design to use both fewer bricks and have a stronger structure Once that's all done, if LEGO's official model is not yet out, I may even build this for real!

When I tried to generate the building guide in LEGO Digital Designer, my machine also choked. Because I prefer Bricksmith to LEGO Digital Designer, I exported Sergio512's model as an LDraw file and have started to divide the 5707 pieces into sensible steps. So far I've broken out: Fire Hydrant (6 parts) Traffic Light (26 parts) No Ghost Sign (18 parts) Flag (4 parts) Rooftop (201 parts) Telephone (5 parts) Stairway (52 parts) Bathroom (121 parts) Bathroom Sink (14 parts) Bathroom Toilet (9 parts) Bathroom Radiator (7 parts) That means 463 down, 5244 left to go. As for mismatches between LDD and LDraw, I only had to change the IDs of four parts: 4085d to 4085c - Plate, Modified 1 x 1 with Clip Vertical - Type 3 (thick U clip) 4697 to 4697b - Pneumatic T Piece New Style (T Bar) 64567 to 577b - Minifig, Weapon Lightsaber Hilt Straight Due to "Fish Ornamental" (30224) not yet being available in LDraw, I substituted it with "Minifig, Plume Feathers with Pin" (30126) For those who'd like to see, here's what I've done so far. Before I proceed further, has anyone else already done this? I'm enjoying peeling away the model layer by layer, but am happy to use someone else's version if they've already done the work.

Thanks. I wasn't sure where best to ask this, General makes more sense than Digital. That's how they appear in the inventory at the back of an instruction manual, plus another for hair or hat etc., so that would make sense. Do you think it's the same for levers and lever bases? They're two separate pieces in my LDraw file but I think they usually appear combined in instruction manuals too.

I've always put them studs-up, don't think I even thought of putting them studs-down until I saw it in the instructions for Town Hall. Because I prefer the look of studs-up flowers, I put them on that way in Town Hall, even though I usually follow instruction manuals precisely. In a bit of retroactive justification to myself, all the official photos of Town Hall have studs-up flowers, only the instructions themselves are studs down :P

I was just wondering; when you report the total number of pieces in a MOC, do you include Minifigs? And if you do, do you break the Minifig down into their tiniest components (hands and arms as well as torso, hips and legs separately)? Or is one Minifig one addition to the Piece Count? And does anyone know LEGO's own policy in this regard?