It can be built by anyone

I had a plan was to share some of my own creations. In my opinion Rebrickable is a really great site to do this, so I started uploading. Luckily the past few days gave them just enough time do review all the stuff, so here they come.

First, I have the classic Mustang about which I even made a Youtube video a long ago. I was surprised to find out recently that someone else has downloaded it to make another one too :)

I managed to publish the micro MiG-15 and MiG-21 too:

Finally I have completed the upload of the MiG-15 too:

The instructions have been made with Digital Designer so they are not the best of my artistic career, but they contain just enough to build the models.

Happy building and don't forget to let me know if you build one of them, or you use them in a YouTube video! :)

Build your own Mustang!

I wrote about the mini Ford Mustang on the blog several times. The video is on YouTube and it is one of the most popular videos. Many commenters demand that I provide building instructions so that they can have their own.

Since I am not an LDraw pro, I could not do something as beautiful as _lichtblau_ does. You will need Lego Digital Designer (LDD), but you will have a way to build it.

1. If you did not so far, go to the LDD website and install Lego Digital Designert.
2. Download one of the Mustang models (or click a picture below) and open it in LDD.

Once this is done, you can use LDD to pimp the car as you like it: new colors, roof, spoilers, anything.

When ready, you can do the following:

• In "View / Building guide mode" you can create your own building instructions and click it through. If we have all the bricks then this is it, you are ready.
• In "View / Check Price" you can check how much it costs to order all bricks from the Lego company..
• In "View / Send model to LEGO.com" you can upload it to Lego.com (and make it viewable by anyone) and also buy it. You can design your own box, instructions, I do not go into details now.

If you compare the LDD model to the original red Mustang you will find some differences:

• LDD does not have all the bricks in all colors. Because of this neither of the downloadable LDD models are red. If you are brave enough you can try to order the bricks in all your favorite color from Bricklink.
• The hood of the car on the video is made of this part. Unfortunately LDD does not have this at all. If you would like to have this hood you can order one on Bricklink.

I have put a couple of new images here and these are the old ones from the red Mustang.

Arvo Ford GT Le Mans

The Arvo brothers have created a new cult car, the Ford GT Le Mans. The result speaks for it self. Looking at the pictures I have the impression that it is in fact created with glue and and there is modelling clay inside. In short, it looks good.

Mustang from bricks

Yesterday I have finally got all the missing packets containing Mustang parts. Of course I started building the Great Masterpiece immediately. This is the result:




I am quite happy with it. Of course I got new ideas while building it, for example I have realized that I could have made the interior of the door from tan colored panels. Maybe next time...

Until then some statistics:

• total time spent: approx. 6 hours
  
• total money spent: apporx. 40 USD
  
• waiting for the bricks: 10 days
  
• number of bricks: about 200 including the roof (not yet visible)
  

More images in the album. And a video:

Virtual Mustang

While I am waiting to get all Mustang parts I thought I would make a virtual version. Unexpectedly, getting all the virtual parts was not easy either - the mudguard was neither in the official nor in the unofficial parts of LDraw. I was lucky enough to get some help from gzurti so I have everything now. The result illustrates the difference between images made by LDraw (or POV-Ray to be precise) and LDD (click for more):


Meanwhile I got the first package for the real Mustang - I hope I will get the rest soon as well.

Mustang at scale

Now that we talk about Mustang - the grand master of pneumatic engines nicjasno published a whole album about the details of his own Mustang. This is much larger than mine and its main task is to test pneumatic engines, but it is very impressive on its own. At about 30 studs wide it is very similar to the details of a real car.

Mustang project

Although I am a Technic fan, these days I run into many realistic models. I like cars and aircraft most especially if they are not too large like the mini-Technic models from the Arvos or the cars from the Ralph.

I got so enthusiastic that I started thinking about how I could build something like that. First I considered replicating the excellent Porsche from the Arvo brothers. I did not drop the idea completely but so far it seems to exceed my capabilities. It would take a lot of time to find out how the invisible parts are done and it would take many special bricks like the windscreen ($26 used) or the a rear windows ($15 new), making it expensive.

Building small models leads to different challenges than large ones where the scale gives you much more freedom. With small ones one has to brainstorm about putting each brick to its place, considering different alternatives in many cases. It needs special pieces in unusual colors to return the characteristic features of the original. I have no clue about how pros do it but it seems impossible that they have all the bricks on their shelves in advance in the desired colors (it is worth to take a look at the color chart).

Finally, I have made up my mind. I have decided to try a Ford Mustang convertible (the current one, not the old one). Decisions so far:

• I have many bricks (ask my wife) but not enough. The car will be built solely from newly bought bricks not to limit building. I am also curious how much it will cost. Also, I would like to keep it in one piece forever.
• This makes designing a bit difficult. I have built prototypes for certain parts from the bricks I have but the final car is modeled in LDD because I do not know LDraw very well. LDD also makes some sanity checks like checking if all the bricks are connected.
• The car will be 6 studs wide. This is small but it allows me to use some special parts like the mudguards.

This is where planning is at the moment. There will be some parts that will look different and I will use other colors too. But the basic shape can be seen.



It seems like $40 will cover the financial side. Ordering was a bit complicated because there are some part I could find only at one merchant, so I had to order from 4 different shops to cover everything.

So far so good. When it is ready it will go to brickshelf and of course I will tell you about it on the blog too!