RogueIce

Hello and a very Merry Christmas (for those whom that still applies ) fellow AFOLs! Today I'm happy to share something I've worked on since pretty much the first day I downloaded LDD so very long ago. A police car! But why do I call it a deluxe model in the title? Well, let's just see, shall we? This is, of course, the obligatory diagonal shot, which shows it off quite nicely. I call it DX because I can comfortably seat two minifigs side-by-side, as well as having plenty of room for a prisoner in the back. Plus, I get to add fun little details, such as my front license plate (which helpfully informs people that yes, this is a police car), headlights and grille lights, which are always important. Plus handy side-view mirrors, complete with a spotlight on the driver's side (optional for passenger side, but easy enough to mod in). And my lightbar, of which I am very proud, and will show off more with the front and rear views. (gray background used so the transparent takedown lights could be better seen) I went with as close of an approximation as I could make to a V-shape lightbar, such as the Federal Signal Vector, which I like for the shape as well as the integrated yellow traffic direction lights on the rear. Speaking of the rear, I've got a license plate, tail lights, backup lights and a third brake light with a pair of rear-mounted emergency lights. I placed them along the top mainly because I could never arrange it in a way I liked on the rear deck itself, plus it's reminiscent of what the new Ford Taurus Police Interceptor does (you can just make out the center brake light in that image). And, for completeness sake, a side view. Just because: But why stop there? I decided to pretty up the interior as well! In the front the officers get a nice in-dash Mobile Data Terminal to use for all their computing needs. There's also an instrument panel for the driver. Personally I prefer what the 60001 Fire Chief Car does over a flat tile, but LDD didn't give me that option. I do use the 1x2 cheese slope for the passenger side, so in theory if this were a real set I'd get a (preferably printed) 1x2 slope for the driver, as well. Of course, our brave LEGO City Police Officers haven't been eating donuts all day, and have caught themselves a bad guy, who they place safely in the back for transport to LEGO City Jail. In the interests of officer safety, they have a clear plastic divider so our crafty crook can't bring the officers to harm while they drive, and they can of course keep an eye on him. It also shows off my rear deck design a little. This is more-or-less my final (is there ever a truly final version of a MOC that you'll never tinker with again, though? ) version. Honestly I'd need some custom pieces to make it really awesome. A proper car door that fits in the space provided, for example. The ones presently in LDD are either too short or too big for the precise space I need, sadly. Still, all in all, I really like how this has turned out over my years of tinkering and refining. And I did keep copies of my older versions, so perhaps one day I'll show those off as well so you can see the evolution of this piece of work. It is of course quite possible to swap out lightbars as your heart desires, so as one final bonus image, here's an alternate version with a more conventional clear rectangular LED lightbar, as many US police agencies use today:

Looks pretty interesting. Not sure if it has the wheel arches or the roof tiles, but definately a lot of OD green bricks to choose from. Most interesting from a Military MOC perspective are the treads on 70005 and 70014. Hooray for tanks!

No problem, I know it all kind of blends in on LDD. :) Oh and as for your question about building it with real bricks (sorry for missing that), I wish I could. Sadly a lot of my bricks seem to have disappeared somewhere during a move so I'm out a lot of bricks I'd love to have. Especially older ones with prints like Space Police II and Ice Planet 2002. That and I'm not sure there are enough olive drab bricks to reproduce that anywhere beyond LDD Extended (or getting my hands on some custom colored bricks) so I'd have to color substitute.

Sorry, I'm not 100% on the terminology, but AFAIK "cheese slopes" refers to the green thingies at the top here: What's down by the wheel arches are the inverted roof arches (in red and blue) and I made adjustments to the rear ones. Not a fan of that. I did take a second look at the roof though and made a slight modification: I think that looks okay though I'm not wedded to the idea.

I've been watching GI Joe: Renegades lately (great show, by the way) and I noticed that the Humvee/jeep from set 60007 - High Speed Chase looks quite a bit like Flint's jeep from the series. So, naturally, I decided to remake it in LDD. I figure it works in LEGO City as being the military version of the civilianized Hummer being utilized for police work. And a more show accurate version, without the roof: I suppose it doesn't make a lot of sense to move the lightbar like that, but...well I hate having visible studs on top and so putting the lightbar on the roof was a convenient way to accomplish that, rather than having them moved back to better match up with the no roof version. So...comments, thoughts, criticisms? Nothing too adventurous here, I'll admit, but I had fun making it!

Well I don't know what generation to call it. All I can say is that I'm using (in general) the Space Police II color scheme, with some components from Space Police III tossed in, with the Star Justice (http://www.brickset....il/?Set=10191-1) decorations. Which sadly are not selectable in LDD anymore, but apparently still exist in the program for me to display, so I can still use them thankfully. Anyway, first up is a nice line-up of the different types of Space Police personnel there are: https://dl.dropbox.c...ce/Officers.png From Left to Right (top row): Detention Officer; Pilot; "Commander"; Patrol Officer; Commando/SWAT Next, the Police Interceptor. A zippy little craft for patrol purposes. Though more a dedicated fighter than what you'd consider a common 'police car' of today: https://dl.dropbox.c...Interceptor.png That little connector in the back is that it can dock with a larger Space Police Cruiser (or something) that I haven't really thought about yet, but it's there for future planning. The clear roof tile on top of the control panel is to represent a HUD. Fair warning: This little fighter design is one from my childhood and I absolutely adore it, so don't be terribly surprised if it shows up in any other "custom universe" designs of mine. So if the Police Interceptor is a fighter design, how do the normal officers get around, you ask? Well, I could always make a version of the PI without guns and use that for patrol. Or make another design. But that's for the future. At the moment though, I do have a method for them to get from place to place: https://dl.dropbox.c...ce/Shuttles.png The mainly black one is a Commando Shuttle, the Black/Gray is a regular Police Shuttle, the gray is a Detention Shuttle. You can see with the open hatches that the Detention Shuttle has a solid wall between the 'transport area' and the cockpit, which would make sense. And is better than an imaginary forcefield that I could have left it as. The engines are also closed off though I didn't get a screenshot of that. IIRC it sits about 8 minifigs in the back as LDD can fit them in there. So anyway, this is the start of it. What do you all think? PS: Sorry if the formatting is weird. I have no idea how to use this crazy interface for posting topics. EDIT: Well, guess those images were a bit bigger than planned. Made them links instead.

So I'm having some painting issues with the 87610 Boba Fett helmet. In LDD Extended, it would appear that along the front of the helmet, you can paint in three sections: the visor, the "cheek" and the "jaw" (my terms). The problem is that LDD seems rather finicky in the colors it wants to show when I do this. And that it seems to change with every time I open and close the program! When I use the eyedropper on each section, it'll register as what the color should be, even if it doesn't show it. Here's a couple images to show what I'm talking about: Yesterday: https://dl.dropbox.c...creenShot66.png Today: https://dl.dropbox.c...reenShot66b.png I have made zero changes to the models, file, LDD's options, my graphics (drivers are up to date) or anything else. And having just closed and reopened the program and file, I get yet another variation. Again, the eyedropper will register the colors fine (and when it flashes on the piece, it flashes the proper color until I move the mouse away) but the display is wonky. I'm not 100% sure if this is some weird LDD issue or just me. Can anyone experiment? If you get the same issues I guess it's a bug. I'd also like to reiterate the shortcomings of the palette on certain resolutions. There's at least one more row I can just barely make out when LDD isn't maximized, but I can't see it. :(

Thanks for the welcomes! I'll tell you one thing: I didn't even know BrickLink existed until I started browsing this site. An alternative to eBay to get classic pieces and entire sets? Sweet!

Excellent review! I remember many great memories with this set and the rest of the Ice Planet crew, so your review certainly brings up the nostalgia in me. Wish I could track down where the majority of my LEGO parts ended up; I've found some but the majority seem to be missing. I'd love to build this baby again. I also applaud the little scene with Blacktron at the end there. Hilariously fitting.

So LEGO is pretty awesome and I gather this is a site about them maybe? Old school here. Mostly a fan of the Space Police (the second run green dudes) and Ice Planet 2002. Wish I had gotten the classic Pirates sets, though. Also Police, which is always fun and I especially enjoy coming up with the lightbars.