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Showing results for tags '1930s'.
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For those of you who don't know, the department store Sears (remember them?) used to sell homes through mail order catalogs as do-it-yourself kits from 1908 to 1942. Over the years, they had 370 styles available, and ~70,000 homes were built over that timeframe. They had optional extras for each style including electricity, indoor plumbing, central heating, and telephone hookup. You can read more and even flip through numerous catalogs here on Wikipedia. The house I've made is not based on any specific model or year, but it *looks* like a 1920s / 1930s kit house to me, so thus it became one. This house is a super heavily modified version of a Brick City Depot design, specifically this Winter Village house that I bought instructions for over a decade ago. I updated the design quite a bit, while leaving enough of the early-2010's charm of the original MOC. I also added a much-needed back half to the model with stairs to the upper level and a chimney. The building folds open dollhouse style. Inside the front we have the entryway / foyer, and living room, with bedroom upstairs. In the back we have the dining room and stairway, all with the proper furniture for each room. The modular footprint is removable from the building. I like the late-1930s car from 2015 San Diego Comic Con set 'Action Comics 1 - Superman', but don't particularly like the colors - or the insane price! So I used the instructions and built my own version in dark blue. The car has a number of changes from the set, but it still seats one figure at the wheel. The rear of the car. Inside the car, featuring the drivers seat. ...apologies for the dust everywhere. I don't know where it came from, I just built this MOC last week! Thanks for viewing! -
This early-1930's Duesenberg SJ is based off the car seen in Indiana Jones set 7682 (Shanghai Chase) from the 2009 Temple of Doom line. I changed the color from tan to black, updated the look with parts not available 15 years ago, and added a hardtop roof among other things. Oh, and me being me, I added some flanged railroad wheels to use the car an an inspection vehicle for railroad officials like the one shown. (Because why not drive the high iron in style?) I've always wanted to build one of these in black (since the set was released, actually), and now I've got one! The only problem is, it show dust WAY too easily, as you can see. ...It's the curse of building in black! The rear of the car. The car seats two figures inside the cabin. Thoughts?
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Hi EB followers. I've finished my most recent build. Predictably its another Art-Deco/Streamlined hotel building but I figured its been a few years since the last so I've had time to refine my ideas! It's called the Deluxe hotel and it's taken a couple of months to finalise due the constant changing of ideas in my mind in how I wanted it to look. It's not directly based of any paricular hotel but incorporates elements of many ones found in South Florida. Only a couple of images to show, the interior is quite shallow so I didn't bother with an interior this time. Anyway, comments and questions as always welcomed! You can find the images on my flickr here if you prefer. Regards! Andrew
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NOTE: The steam loco itself began life as a 2-8-4 Berkshire type built by @Plastic_Goth and the instructions were purchased from Rebrickable as seen here. To make this steamer my own, I upped the wheel count of the original locomotive by another leading axle, making it into a 4-8-4 Northern-type from the original 2-8-4 Berkshire as built in the instructions. The piston / wheel assembly is entirely my own work, as is the completely new 7-wide tender and the train the loco pulls. The whole train, with the steam loco and five cars - a baggage car, three coaches, and a observation lounge. This engine originally pulled my MOW (Maintenance Of Way) train when it was built three years ago. Now, it's been upgraded to passenger train service. I also updated the front of this 4-8-4 steam loco model to have a smaller cowcatcher, as opposed to the original one-piece cowcatcher I originally had installed. The rear of the loco, which is lettered for my railroad, Brick Railway Systems. Inside the cab of the engine. The baggage car. All five cars use roller-skates for door handles. These three identical passenger cars are also in the train. The observation car on the tail end of the train uses four of the new 3x3 macaroni brick parts in trans-clear for the back window. These parts are actually the reason I didn't upload this a month or so ago when the rest of the train was finished - I had to wait for them to arrive from Pick-A-Brick. Thoughts? Comments are always welcome!
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This heavily modified copy of set 31064 (Island Adventures) is now based on a fictional aircraft from the 1930's-set animated Disney TV show 'TailSpin'. Technically it's a Conwing L-16 amphibious seaplane, but it's better known as the Sea Duck, and is piloted by Baloo. This anthropomorphic bear is originally from the 1967 Jungle Book film, and he is not alone in making that transition from the film to small screen, but you'll have to read the show's wiki page for more info as I don't have the space for a full synopsis! Sadly, the plane's pilot, Baloo, isn't possible to make as LEGO doesn't make a bear head in Black. Hopefully someday I will be able to get him built in real life! The rear of the plane. I extended the cargo bay a bit from the original set, and modified the horizontal tail to be stronger and less floppy using technic rods instead of pins. The cockpit roof opens to place a pilot at the controls. The cargo door opens as well. ... and that's all I got. Thoughts? MODS: I wasn't sure where to post this. Move it how you see fit, if you need to.
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This late-1930's American-styled coupe car model is heavily modified and recolored from these free police car instructions as seen at this Rebrickable MOC by user Leewan. I remade it into both yellow (not shown) and blue varieties from the original black-and-white, removed the doors, and revised some other stuff "under the hood". Also, the model bears a resemblance to the titular car from the 1952 Disney short film 'Susie the little blue coupe'. The front of the car. The rear of the car. The inside can seat two figures and the roof is removable. (Picture from Wikipedia - the short's music is still under copyright, but the pictures are not, strangely!) I couldn't do the radio antenna on my MOC, as it changes sides on the car from scene to scene. Also, I couldn't get the eyes on the windscreen. Fun facts: - The design of the Disney / Pixar 'Cars universe' characters was inspired by Susie. - Bill Peet wrote the story treatment for Susie the little blue coupe. (he was quite prolific as a writer and animator for Disney, see his wiki page) Later, he also write the book 'The Caboose Who got Loose', another one of my favorite books - and MOC's! ...and that's all I got. Thoughts, comments, suggestions and questions are appreciated!
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This thread is to put for anybody to put their Adventurers, / Pharaoh's Quest / Monster Fighters figures, and generic people of the same time-frame. (1920's / 1930's) They can put any figures of that era, or from books or movies set in that era. The Great Gatsby meets Johnny Thunder at a cafe or maybe Sam Sinister wants to steal the Maltese Falcon, but Beloq (from Indiana Jones) gets it first. Either way, the era between the World Wars works for me. Here is the first bit, which combines all three themes under one banner. (please remember that my cell phone photography skills are near zero, so most of these are off in one way or another.) In the early 1920's, inquisitive minds and hardy souls, both good and evil, scour the corners of the Earth looking for lost civilizations and vast treasures. Some search for their own personal gain, or limitless power, others search for knowledge in a quest to preserve the past for the future. Good or evil they are known as... THE ADVENTURERS From left to right: THE BAD GUYS Senor Palomar Old friend of the Sinister family. He runs a vast South American artifact smuggling ring, as Sam Sinister's second in command. Alexis Sinister Sister of Lord Sam Sinister, evil, loves traps and weapons, secretly wants to turn Johnny Thunder evil. Lord Sam Sinister Arch enemy of Johnny Thunder, thief of lost treasures and great fortunes, plus is a mastermind of evil THE GOOD GUYS Johnny Thunder Australian explorer with a all- around can-do attitude. Always looking forward towards the future, but an eye on preserving the past. Miss Pippin Reed Former journalist, expert pilot, and a great friend to all in need. Jake Raines Hotheaded former pupil of Johnny Thunder's late friend, Dr. Charles Kilroy. Student of almost all sciences, but a firm believer in the supernatural. Major Quentin Steele English army officer turned monster hunter, tracker extraordinaire, and is a crack shot with any gun. CITIZENS OF THE 1920's These figures are not named, and so are located here. Their is one other figure not under any classification, and that is the signature figure of me as a railroad engineer. I am not in the group because I am named, but am not with the Adventurers because I am not in the story-lines of any of the themes listed above. First Imperial Bank employees Left to right: bank manager - teller number 1 - teller number 2 Law Enforcement & City of Ironwood officials Left to right: Sheriff - Mayor - Silver mine owner - town doctor Railroad Workers Left to right: local railroad official - station master - passenger train conductor - steam locomotive fireman Shop Keepers & etc. Left to right: General Store owner - post office master - bar maid OTHER PEOPLE This is where armies and named non - Adventurers go. Army of the Crossed Sabers (The evil country of Ogel's land forces, known as the Army of the Crossed Sabers, which is temporarily commanded by Lord Sam Sinister on board the Battle-cruiser HMS Vladeck.) Left to right: Captain of the HMS Vladeck, Ogel soldiers (x6) Named non-Adventurers Left to right: Madame Blue (the dog), Captain Karloff (owner of Madame Blue and the tramp steamer "Great West"), Murdoch (engineer for Brick Railway Systems on their steam trains) END (SO FAR) I hope everyone liked my list, and feel free to add your own too. Happy Adventuring / Questing / Fighting Monsters!
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Hello everyone! My latest build is finally complete after taking up most of my desk space for the last few months. It's called Grand Prix Auto Services. A Gas station/Garage which is of a streamlined style from around the 1930's/1940's USA. I struggled to build a car from that time with what bricks I have so went for a more late 50's look with the car and scooter. I've seen some great examples by fellow EB members L@GO and ER0L but felt with so many varied styles out there and not too many versions in Lego there was room for one more! Mostly I wanted to use some of the curved window pieces I had purchased some time ago and this was the perfect opportunity. Most of the model is built sideways with only a little vertical building in places. It's therefore a little less stable in certain sections. Anyway, enough waffle and on with the pics; Any feedback,comments or questions welcomed!
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Description from the Museum of Transportation's website on the real vessel I based the towboat off of: The H.T. Pott was the first Missouri River towboat with a welded steel hull instead of a riveted hull. The vessel operated out of Kansas City, Missouri on the Missouri River. It is named for Herman T. Pott (1895-1982), a distinguished river transportation executive and entrepreneur. The groups of barges that are moved on the nation’s rivers are called “tows." The boats that propel the barges are “towboats” even though they push the barges from the back instead of pulling them. The H.T. Pott is 58 feet long and 15 feet wide, and it has a “draft” the amount of the hull below the water line of 6 feet. You can walk the decks of the H.T. Pott. You can see a picture of the real towboat on the Museum's website here. Notes on the LEGO model: The name of the vessel, HT Pott, will go on the studs just below the roofline on the bridge. Besides the lettering, two white brackets and four black curved plates are missing from the digital model. Also, a printed-cloth American flag will fly at the rear of the craft off the second level. The rear of the vessel, with flagpole and ladder to upper deck visible. I plan on putting this 1930's towboat and my 1880's Proud Mary steamboat on the depressed-height table holding my Eads bridge, to give a stereotypical view of life on the Missouri / Mississippi Rivers, both distant past, and more recently. (as the towboat worked the Missouri river traffic from '33 up until the middle 1980's.) Now, you may be asking yourself "What good is a towboat without something for to to push up / down the river?" This was the existential question I asked myself today, and the answer I came up with shortly thereafter was "not very good". So, I set about building something quite commonplace if you live near any of the major rivers of the mid-western USA: a pair of un-powered barges! (I think they usually use them for grain and silica, among other bulk goods, but here they are empty, mostly because like the towboat model I made, they have open bottoms.) These type I see a lot here in Saint Louis, and are of the modern variety... although I'm unsure how long they've been using this design, to be honest. It seems to be two barges next to each other, but in actuality, they are one big barge. I did this because less parts are used this way. I will eventually have two of these ancillary models hooked onto my tugboat / each other with 5-long LEGO chains. (these are not in the picture) The HT Pott is few bricks less in height (and more than a few studs shorter in length) than my 2019 sternwheeler steamboat MOC, the Proud Mary (link to it's topic). Side note: The two being near each other like this isn't exactly an anachronism, as there were a scant few steamboats still plying the rivers when the HT Pott was built in 1933. (Granted, most steamboats had seen better days and were on the way out or retrofitted for cruising duties by then, but it's still accurate!) Thoughts? EDIT 6/2/22: added real world pictures.
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I digitally recreated this model on January 30th, practically the day pictures of set 40532 - Vintage Taxi were revealed. I then ordered the six new black brackets + about 295 other parts from Lego Bricks and Pieces (R.I.P.) and the rest from BrickLink. Most of the car was finished February 7th, but the black brackets only arrived today. (March 24th). Here is how I recreated the car without instructions by guesswork: For this model I used Rebrickable's inventory to get a parts list of set 40532, removed all the accessories' parts (taxi stand, mini-fig, etc.) and changed the color of the yellow parts to several other colors to see what worked before settling on dark red. As this was designed / built before the instructions were released, it was just a visible parts field at first. (Nothing but parts laid out in a grid in LDD.) I didn't want to wait for the instructions while part prices could go up and thus I reverse engineered it using only logical part placements from the list. I also used Brickset's review of the set for reference to things official LEGO pictures didn't give... although I did miss a 1 x 2 green plate part doing it this way, and had to get a black one from my own collection. I changed the wheels to be something I already have in the same basic size, and the front grille to be a different style for reasons of cost saving and individuality. (If everyone else is going to have that one-piece front grille, why follow the crowd?) Doing something similar, but yet not the same was a goal in this entire project to begin with anyway. I added a license plate to the rear of the vehicle. The car still seats two with room for some luggage behind the passenger. As for the other 295 parts I purchased that January day, they are going to this house build which you can see more of in it's own topic here. All the parts have finally been gathered, with construction to start VERY soon, possibly Saturday... eight months after I started looking for parts for it! Thoughts, comments, and or complaints welcome!
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This building was heavily inspired by a Winter Village MOC by Brick City Depot from who I bought a copy of some instructions from in 2015. (The link to his store's site is here.) I added a back wall to the building, made it look more late 1920's / early '30's by adding painted wooden siding, and removing the Christmas-time items. Also, several items are missing prints in these pictures that would be fixed in real life. Please note: Both these OCTAN models go with my Hogsmeade-style MOCs... and yes, I know that doesn't make sense with Harry Potter cannon. I don't really care, it looks good next to them so thus it stays! The front of the building with the two art-deco gas pumps. The four yellow 1 x 2 tile parts should have warning stripes pointed on them, and the twin pumps should have OCTAN labeling on top as well. This rear portion of the building is new, along with the removable roof section. It's a little crowded inside, with two shelving racks, a service counter w/ cash register, and a printed poster for Radiator Springs on the wall. The gas tanker is a mashup of the truck in set 10222 (Winter Village Post Office) and the one in Indiana Jones set 7683 (Fight on the Flying Wing) and should have OCTAN branding on the sides of the tank. It can seat a single driver figure at the wheel, too. The rear features tank controls and a rubber hose for filling up the gas station's underground tank. Thoughts on this future addition to my expanding small town?
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Before we get to the real model pictures, first, let's set the scene: It's Friday, January 13th 1939: The Civil War in Spain is raging, Neville Chamberlain (British Prime Minster) has just started conferencing with Pope Pius XI after talking with Mussolini for the past few days, and the film 'Son of Frankenstein' is released into theaters. In a rural area west of New York on the NYC Railroad's four track water level route, a J-3 streamlined Hudson is pulling a passenger train through a picturesque snowy landscape of the early morning while heading for the Grand Central Terminal of the Big Apple. ...And now, onto the finished real-world MOC! The entire train in real bricks. This Dreyfuss-style streamlined 4-6-4 steam loco is numbered 5448 and is mostly modeled after a real, long-scrapped New York Central engine. The loco's tender really should say the railroad's full name of New York Central instead of its initials, but I don't want to shell out the money for all those 1 x 1 tiles, so I'm using fewer 2x2 tiles instead to spell out NYC, as it's much cheaper that way! the combine three coaches the observation car. I was originally going to use the new 3x3 macaroni bricks in trans-clear for the rear window, but I couldn't obtain them. Frustrated, I gave up and made my own version. Note: As some of you might be able to guess, this loco with matching coaches were inspired by pictures of Anthony Sava's original streamlined Tequila Sunrise train from 2007... however, no instructions were used to build the engine or cars. Oh, and all the historical things stated in the intro actually happened on the stated day in 1939 according to Wikipedia... and I'll bet the train bit happened too! Thoughts?
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This house was digitally built in 2018, really built in 2019, then languished in a WIP state for several years before being finished last month. Enjoy the pictures - this model has been a long rough ride since the beginning, but it was worth it! I was inspired to create this model from the 2018 Jurassic World set 75930, Indoraptor Rampage at Lockwood Estate, with some design cues from set 10228, Haunted House. The dollhouse-style model was built from the set pictures, with the play features removed and opening rear sections added to match the front half. The house folds apart, doll house style, with the rear section opening in quarters up to 90 degrees. (Technic pins hold the model shut for transport and ease of handling) The modular building compatible base is able to be removed from the building to facilitate access to the inside details. The rear of the mansion features a back door (perfect for escapes when the locals get feisty about the scientist playing god again!) and the chimney flue. Moving inside, The bottom floor features the living room and dining rooms, while the second floor is the bedroom, study and pipe organ rooms. The third floor features the laboratory for the study of time travel. The rear door to the outside is in the right rear section, while the safe containing the house's title and family paper work is directly above on the second level. This area also has stairs from first to second floors and what appears to be Frankenstein's monster on the third floor's operating table! The left rear quarter features the fireplace and telephone on the first floor and a bed for the second floor's master bedroom. The stairs to the third floor are also on this side. It seems the time stone from the Marvel Universe is also here... I wonder what the Doctor plans on doing with it? I built the roadster model by heavily stretching set 40532 - Vintage Taxi by about seven studs. This allowed for me to add in mechanical details. I added a covered spare tire at the rear of the car, and blacked out the back windscreen to give the impression of a fabric convertible top. As an added bonus, the car still seats two figures with room in the trunk for luggage. (Any and all resemblance in the mad doctor to moderators, living, dead, or otherwise, is totally coincidental. It is totally not @Professor Thaum in his younger years. ) The rear of the MOC. Inside view of the car, with seating for two and room for baggage. ...and that's all I've got. Thoughts, comments, complaints and suggestions welcome!
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Hello fellow EB members; My latest MOC is called Astrid and Associates Architecture firm. This building is the new head office for the firm as a showcase of the firms abilities! It's taken quite a while to build as I've struggled to find the right direction to take the building. After finding the right proportions to using the large arch pieces surrounding the windows on the ground floor the rest of the building took shape from there. I wanted a good mix of colour and texture, using inspiration from 1920's/1930's buildings with perhaps a touch of middle eastern influence. The interior is modern as I wanted to do something different from one of my many older themed buildings and timelines. Anyway on with the pics, 8 in all; You can also find them here on my flickr page if you prefer and it bigger sizes. https://www.flickr.com/photos/52656812@N04/ Comments and questions welcome! Cheers
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With the announcement of Mafia Definitive edition from 2k Games, I got excited and created the iconic characters from the original Mafia game and share with you guys: Lego Mafia Definitive Edition by the Artizan, on Flickr
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This 7-wide steam loco began life as a 2-8-4 Berkshire type built by @Plastic_Goth and purchased from Rebrickable a seen here. This train features an 4-8-4 "Northern" -type steam engine that was purchased and modified a month ago from the link posted above. However, it still hasn't been bought parts-wise IRL. The coaches are just recolored and modified versions of my dark green / black Emerald Express cars, with the rear car having a rounded window instead of a open platform. I upped the wheel count by another leading axle, making it into a 4-8-4 Northern-type from the original 2-8-4 Berkshire. The pistons are entirely my own work, as is the 7-wide tender. I chose the Wabash Frisco and Pacific as the name of the owner of the engine, because the real world ride-on 12-inch gauge railway is re-opening soon (Yay!) and because I felt the shark-nose Baldwin diesel units (plus the passenger train as well) I made in a similar paint scheme could use some company. The coal tender will have the letters W-F-P on the side, standing for Wabash Frisco & Pacific, while the cab will feature the number 2980 on both sides. This is a scrambled homage to real world WFP 4-8-2 engine 928, which is so strong, it's pulled every piece of rolling stock the railroad owns -at one time- with ease! The inside of the cab features two gauges and the firebox door. This combination baggage and passenger car (known as a combine) relies heavily on techniques taken from Retlaw baggage car built by @TJJohn12, as seen here. The three identical coaches have inset doors I designed myself. The streamlined observation car of this train should feature two of these windows in white (which sadly aren't in LDD).
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Hello all. I've just recently completed a new bank as its been over a decade since my last one https://www.flickr.com/photos/52656812@N04/5873042040/in/dateposted-public/ - hopefully it shows I've improved - at least in my photography skills! Its still of an art-deco style like the former but with some more geometric touches and a sharper finish. It was inspired by the Bank of Ireland building in Belfast which was built in the late 1920s and still stands today; I've also included an interior for the ground floor which is not based on any bank interior in particular as the material from that time is very hard to come by for a smaller bank. There is an elevator, patterned floor, teller booths and a relief on the wall to capture the period. As usual you can find them on my flickr stream here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/52656812@N04/ Regards!
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I've had these ten train cars built for months now (years in some cases!) and thought I'd better upload them before I forgot again. The two old-fashioned freight trains consist of the following items (in no particular order): - red standard caboose - two boxcars - three generic open-top wagons - flatcar with rail load - OCTAN fuel tank car - livestock car with cow - green streamlined caboose This green 1930's streamlined caboose was inspired by a very similar real-world Wabash caboose located on the Katy Rail-Trail at St. Charles, Missouri. This caboose model (along with the green streamlined one) is inspired build-wise by the Katy Caboose (as in, "The Caboose who got Loose" from the children's book) model I copied in late 2021 from TrainedBricks' MOC. These two nearly-identical boxcars were inspired by set 7597 (Western Train Chase) from the 2010 Toy Story 3 line. They are 99% the same except for colors in a few places, as not many train cars are identical to each other - especially freight! The simplest car of all: a flat car with railroad track / rails strapped to the top in four rows. These three generic wagons cars are actually British Railways plank wagon models, not American at all... but they work well enough for me! These cars were designed by the_chestertonian, but sadly he deleted all his photos. This is just a quickly-mocked up tanker car in OCTAN colors. It's nothing too fancy, but it does look good. (to me at least) This livestock car was heavily inspired by 2014 CITY set 60052 (Cargo Train) but with a roof for more realism. I can now understand why LEGO left it open top in the set, but I managed to make it work. The roof (which was designed with the same look as the boxcars) is even removable and the ramps fold down so you can take out the cow. Believe it or not, the freight cars wouldn't fit in this box in any other configuration! That's all I have... Thoughts?
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This car is owned by Cruella De Vil of "101 Dalmatians" fame in the classic red and black paint-scheme of that animated film... and no, its doesn't fall-apart like in the sequel film, "Patch's London Adventure". (at least, not on purpose!) I built the model by heavily stretching set 40532 - Vintage Taxi by about seven studs. This allowed for me to add in some mechanical details, although it might be a bit too long now. I added a covered spare tire at the rear of the car, and blacked out the back windscreen to give the impression of a fabric convertible top. As an added bonus, the car still seats two figures with room in the trunk for luggage. The whole point of building this car is to give Cruela from the upcoming Disney CMF her iconic vehicle back and complete her "look". I plan on buying this figure as soon as it comes out on April 1st. Thoughts?
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Back in the day, whilst flying you could get a real turkey carved right in front of you, stretch your legs without bothering your neighbor in front of you, and take whatever you wanted on board with you... peanut butter, toothpaste, shampoo, you name it! Need the smoking section? The whole freaking plane was the smoking section! Of course, tower radar wasn't really a thing (cockpit radar was a long way off too), flight instruments were crude, and inflight entertainment was either out your window, napping, or reading whatever book you brought with you. Crashes were also common with survivability rates poor, and there was no GPS to guide your pilot on his way.... but they did have paper maps, gut instinct, a lot of know-how and nerves of steel. (a quick silent prayer couldn't hurt either) So, buckle those seatbelts (if your plane has any!) and steady those pre-flight jitters - we're taking off! This 1936-designed Douglas Aircraft Company DC-3 was very heavily modified from limited edition Indiana Jones set 7628 (Peril in Peru, from the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull film) and my own imagination. I redesigned the passenger cabin of the DC-3 to not have any pesky stickers as in the 2008 set. Sadly, the airplane's opening door has been removed as a consequence of redesigning the airframe. The colors are based off Trans-World Airlines (otherwise known as TWA) back in the immediately post-WWII period. It's not a perfect match for the paint scheme, but it doesn't use stickers, so I'm happy. The rear of the plane. Originally I wanted to build this airplane in green for Ozark Air Lines, but limited green wedge part availability killed that idea. (Ozark was headquartered at my local major airfield - St. Louis' Lambert Airport, from the early '50's until when they merged with TWA in 1986) The two front landing gear fold up. The roof of both cabin and cockpit come off to seat six passengers and one pilot figure. Thoughts? EDIT 7/14/23: Main post updated, model finished!
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"It was a Monday, a day like any other day. I left a small town for the apple in decay. It was my destiny, It's what I needed to do. They were telling me, I'm telling you. I was inside looking outside, the millions of faces, but still I'm alone. Waiting, hours of waiting, paying a penance - I was longing for home." - Foreigner and their song 'Long, long way from home' (or at least a portion of the song) This seedy, rundown looking building is a heavily modified version of half of the 2015 set 10246 (Detective Office) from the modular building line. I removed the blue barber shop building and cookie-smuggling play features, and added an exterior staircase. I also added a billboard on the opposite wall taken from the Brick Tales pop-up book's cover, plus a new, simpler water tank on the roof. Then, just for the heck of it, I decided to take my de-modularized detective office and modularize it with a removable baseplate. Why, you ask? Because I just wanted to make it usable at Gateway LUG shows since we use modular buildings, but at home I don't use modular buildings. I realized I couldn't put it on a straightaway like the original 10246 set, as there is a billboard I placed on one side that makes this impossible. Thus I put it on a corner... but wait - it's too small for a corner module! So, I decided to build in a wooden fence for the one side where the billboard is, to bring it in line with other modular buildings. I added a gate for access to the pool hall's back door, and placed a tile footing to keep the building removable from the baseplate. Naturally, this made it impossible to put in the connecting pin holes, but they are rarely used anyway so I felt confident it doesn't matter if I left them out. As you can see, the original medium nougat is changed to sand green, and the dark green awnings are now old printed slopes from the 1990's, the red POOL neon sign is now printed round tiles, among MANY other things that were changed around. The upper floor features the quite messy detective's office. Papers everywhere, a hat stand, desk fan, quite a few places to store case info and a telephone. By comparison, the pool hall is pretty sparsely decorated, with a trophy on a stand, darts / dart board, pool cues, and billiard table. Oh yeah, there is a picture on the wall too. The modular, removable base without the building attached. Be sure to mind the guard dog! For it's entire production run of fifteen million vehicles, made from 1908 to 1927, the Model T by Ford came in any color you wanted... as long as it was black. This particular Tin Lizzie's body was inspired by Calin's MOC over on Flickr. It's supposed to be based on the 1923 model year and the Detective figure fits in the drivers seat. The rear of the car with the spare tire. (I just love how Calin used the window frames mounted horizontally for the drivers cabin... it's so ingenious!) EDIT 2/4/24: I even wrote a small story about my detective, who now has the CMF Noir Detective outfit, but the same IJ hat / hair as before. "...'It's over Joe! Turn yourself in!' I screamed into the desolate train yard. Of course, no response. He knew what awaited him back at the penitentiary - the electric chair was a sweet release compared to the desolate inhuman solitude of permanent solitary confinement that awaited him. Suddenly, a movement to my right caught my eye - it was Joe, running away at full speed, bounding over switch handles and jumping rails like a scared jackrabbit in the darkness of the witching hour. I hopped in my Model T to catch up with him at full tilt, almost tearing out my suspension in the process. I grumbled to myself about sending the Feds a bill for car repairs, when I heard a lonesome wail of a steam whistle. 'So THAT'S his game!' I said to no one in particular. 'He's gonna hop a freight!' I headed for the sound, when into my headlights came a sight I'll never forget. Jailbreak Joe came to a skidding halt, trying to get close enough to the engine to hop on the front deck of the loco as it sped past. Only problem was he hit an oil patch, invisible in the darkness. He went tumbling into the path of the loco, knocking himself out in the process by hitting his head of a rail. I tried to pull him clear while the train went into emergency, whistle shrieking like a banshee all the while. Simply put, I was too late to save Joe..." Thoughts, comments, questions, and complaints welcome!
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This menacing car was inspired by this build which in turn was a modified version of set 70911 - Arctic Roller from the LEGO Batman Movie. This model is owned by Cruella De Vil of "101 Dalmatians" fame in the classic red and black paint-scheme and revised headlights / trunk / taillights. The car can fit one figure in the driver's seat and has space in the opening trunk for a single suitcase. I'm not sure the rumored Cruella CMF fig will fit inside, but even if she doesn't, I'm still gonna build this if / when it's confirmed she's coming. The build is missing four of these spoked wheel covers in flat silver. Yes, I know the wheels are to big: I'm making the best out of a bad situation and this was the only good looking option. The model is about 6 studs wide (with a tiny 1 and a 1/2 stud bit of overhang on each side due to the front fenders) and 28 studs long in total. @RichardGoring This is model I was talking about over in the Disney Properties 2023 thread. Thoughts everyone?
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This green 1930's streamlined caboose was inspired by a very similar real-world Wabash caboose (Katy didn't own streamlined cars like this as far as I know) located on the Katy Rail-Trail at St. Charles, Missouri. The caboose model is also inspired build-wise by the Katy Caboose (as in, "The Caboose who got Loose" from the children's book) model I copied in late 2021 from @zephyr1934's MOC, The one shown later in this post is my own version of that caboose, which you can read about in it's own topic here, or you can see his original version in his own topic. I was going to put MKT (standing for Missouri - Kansas - Texas Railroad, the same owner of Katy caboose, and from where she gets her name) on the sides of the new caboose where the printed brick is but in printed 1 x 1 tile letters, but the needed green 1 x 4 Technic bricks were problematic, as was the two letter T's that I don't have. Also, the doors to the inside open, but there are no interior details. There are a number of similarities between the two caboose models. However, they are more different than alike for several reasons. For example, Katy has A LOT more SNOT-work compared to her newer cousin. Why, you ask? Katy's walls are all sideways to better represent planks of wood (typical in caboose construction up until early-1910's), whereas her opposite number has only SNOT in the base of the body / stairs and regular bricks everywhere else to represent more modern steel construction. (I also left the mouth and eyes off the new arrival.) Thoughts anyone?
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I was inspired to build this industrial-looking old fashioned interlocking Tower by set number 60009 (Helicopter Arrest) and a number of old towers in my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. In addition, the unusually-placed signal arm attached to the building is inspired by an mid-1960s WWII-set black and white film, (The Train) in which a French signal tower very similar to this one is used for some sabotage of a German train and is subsequently blown up in an Allied air raid... and yes, they really did blow it up - no miniatures were involved! Here you can see the chimney flue on the rear of the building. There is an abandoned OCTAN tank car also visible nearby. Upstairs is a heating stove for those cold winter nights, six lever frames for moving switches and a signal board for showing which route is currently aligned. The bottom floor features a (empty) gas tank, a chest for emergency flares and torpedo's, a trash can, plus a telephone. "This is getting out of hand... now there are two of them!" The one on the right is my original switch tower, while the one on the left is my Dad's (slightly different) copy. He paid for the model and I built it. I ordered the parts last Sunday (Feb. 12th), the three orders arrived Wednesday and Thursday and construction on the copy was completed last night. (the 16th) Thoughts anybody? EDIT: 2/13/23: Real world photos added!
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So I woke up the morning of Sept. 22nd, 2022 to the news Winter Village set 10308 - Holiday Main Street had been revealed. I liked some of it (Trolley FTW!) but the buildings were lacking "something". So, I tried to recreate the music store in LDD to fix what I thought I needed to fix. That quickly turned into full-blown MOC only slightly inspired by the set with a fold-open back wall and vastly different interior. More recently, I revisited it to add in a bay window, elongate the second floor, and revise the troublesome roof with a design inspired by set 10246. (Detective Office modular building) The lower floor has got a sales desk with old fashioned cash register, a scale for weighing packages, and a couple safety deposit boxes. The poster on the wall above the boxes will be a "most wanted" mugshot, for a true post office feel. Moving on, the upper floor is the sorting room, with bunches of drawers for route maps / address change requests / etc., cubbyholes for outgoing mail, and trashcans for dead letters. The table is for where the postal employees do the sorting. The rear of the building has a service door to give access to big trucks for delivery / pickup of cross-country mail. The 8-wide postal delivery vehicle was heavily inspired by free instructions for a 6-wide hi-rail vehicle (called the Stud Inspector) I found at the bottom of this page by Brick train Depot. It really is a cool model, and a neat callback to the "Rivet Counter" trucks you sometimes see on (non-LEGO) model railroad layouts. I added a opening rear loading door, a different color scheme, and (of course) revised it to 8-wide. Thoughts, anyone? EDIT 2/3/23: Revised model, added new pictures. For comparison, here is the original MOC:
