✨Another Custom Vehicle !✨

✨Custom technic vehicle !✨

Something which I had never really posted on before was that, although I enjoy bricks (or Bionicle parts) a lot, I also like to mess around with Technic, when I have the occasion to.

Most of this one is a bunch of additions made on top of the 42065 set, because it's an overall really fun set, with enough space inside to cram in some additional mechanisms.

Here is a video of that thing performing :

...And the remote !

Of course, details and close ups under the cut !

So, here is the (non exhaustive) list of what I added/changed :

Colours of the middle line and addition of some decorative tubes;

A fancy blade at the front;

Plenty of lights;

A turret.

I'll discuss all of these below (except for the first point, which is quite straight forward.

The front :

So, the main plate I used for the vehicle's blade is often used in large Technic cars, mostly for roofs; but used the other way around, it has a nice shape. It's not very functional, but it's aesthetic, and inside are two of the lights I have integrated (some of the cables are visible on the right).

The side :

From here, we can see my beautiful mess of cables (I forced the top open to show it, because it's not as opened at rest). Most of the large cables here are getting power from the battery to the RC receivers; while the small cables are all lights (I might have used too many-).

You might also notice the there are some bumps on the tread pieces : these are rubber grip pieces which I stole from a Nexo Knight Fortrex (it's doing fine without them). These make the plastic less slippery when on rock, but it does a poor job on grass (because grass blades get caught in the gaps of the treads pieces) - to fix that, I would use some of the old rubber treads, but they're way to small to be used as suchs. Instead, to remedy to the problem, I changed the original motors from the default PF M to PF L, which have more power and torque (and can thus reach their max speed even with the added mass). While the two motors have the same theoretical speed, this modified model drives faster than it's standard counter part (it's funny to take over other cars, don't judge).

Back view :

Here you can see the PF M I was talking about (bottom right, the second one is at the front of the vehicle). You may also notice that I have a second mess of cables , because my two receivers are here.

Two major problems with that :

The placement of the receivers makes it so that I can't control the vehicle, unless behind it (oops 1);

Because one of the receivers (on top) had bad wiring with one of the tread motors, the turret is heavily limited in its movements (oops 2).

Turret :

So ! That's the most interesting part of it (obviously).

Now, please note that it was my first time trying to do it, and plenty of my design choices were bad, but fixed in my V2 (will probably be posted next week~).

The way it works is actually quite simple : I have a motor underneath (PF M) positioned horizontally, which is connected directly to the light gray gear (just under the trans green piece on the left) which itself connects to the black base gear on which is mounted the turret. Because of the direct motor connection, the turrets is a nightmare to aim. Not good.

As for the cannon, it's just a servo and a spring cannon. When the servo is activated, the grey technic piece presses the projectile and it flies. Surprisingly simple. (It also lights up the green lights on the side, for fun).

Anyway, this is a fun project to play with. Next week, I might post the V2, which is...Quite different. You'll see :}

And bonus cat picture !

✨Quake and its pilot✨

Another one of my combat mechs ! (See previous here)

Same as last time, closeups and lore under the cut

Mech closeups

Minifig closeup :

So, mech lore !

As I said in the previous post, mech battles happen some times after the third world war. Well, some of the veterans quickly took interest of this new sport, including today’s pilot. As you can see, sequels of the fights are still visible on his body, his hand being the most visible one. Of course, he could have had a normal hand, because it’s an easy thing, but he didn’t want to. He wanted to show what he had partook in, and this glowing hook was the coolest thing he found on the market.

At first, he didn’t really even watched mech fights, but eventually, some of his friends made during the war decided it would be fun to watch it together. And they enjoyed it. Enjoyed it so much, they decided they wanted to participate.

So, they did what any normal group of war veteran did : they looked for a place to scavenge spare parts and assemble a mech of their own, that would be out of the usual roaster of mark III and IV mechs. What they found was what was left of a large dig site, abandoned at some point in the past. Among the scraps, one of them found the large QUAKE panels. Probably the name of the company that used to be here. It would do the job.

It took some time for Quake to get into large-scale tournaments, because it usually fell apart quickly. With some experience, the team managed to get it in a usable state, and when it didn’t break down, the mech was doing some heavy damages. Don’t trust the electric panel on its back, it’s entirely coal-fuelled (coal which was provided by the dig site) and Quake is probably one of the only mechs powered by a thermal engine, but it gives it a powerful advantage : as long as it’s fuelled, it can deliver extremely powerful blows with its large arms, as well as it can withstand powerful attacks (that’s what the shoulder plates are for). With this mining equipment, Quake, after it began to be known, made itself quite of a name in the arena.

That’s it for this one, the next competitor, named Quetza, will be introduced next week :}

Also, I’m trying an old camera of mine to take pictures, because the lighting is better, although it’s less flexible than my phone’s. I’m still trying to get a good feeling as to what I’m preferring.

Random interesting thing to notice about the build itself : All articulations have different kinds of joints : bionicle ball-joints for the arms, technic pin for the hips, small ball joints to connect the legs and the body, old technic joints for the knees, and simple handle joints for the feet. It was accidental, but I think it fits well with the history of the mech.

✨Small theatre !✨

A small but really fun build made for a relative’s birthday.

While there isn’t much to mention build-wise, a few details are interesting :

Firstly, I managed to get the effect of multiple curtains in a row by making 'banners' which are directly connected to the ground.

The base is partially empty, and behind the gold details are 1*4 black tiles on snots which give a pretty nice black aspect (although now that I think back on it, 1*4 bricks would have done the job.

Finally, the floor is a single, large door from a castle set ! I really like the way it’s shaped and likely will reuse that technic again someday.

✨Progress pride flag !✨

Yay ! Finally some colours ! This was definitely trickier to do, compared to all the other ones, because of the triangles, but I like how it looks !

See previous here.

✨Clone wars diorama !✨

Another one, technically the largest I have posted (yet~), featuring the 212th and a (placeholder) Jedi.

Of course, closeups and additional details below !

Views from directly in front/above :

Before I continue, I must confess it. This horrendous mistake, which you might spot by paying close attention to the right part of the image.

Yes. I somehow created an offset on the entirety of the wall’s height.

Overall, I’m quite happy with this one, mostly the environment, which turned out great (except for the offset….). What I’m not really sure leases with are the cheap AT-RTs from the battle packs, which are too bulky, but it works well enough for the moment, and since I’m not exposing to any connoisseur, it does the job.

Most of the minifigs are from these battle packs too, except for the Jedi, which is actually a savage oppress with a cloak, but every time I try to just remove the minifig, it feels like something is missing. The paratrooper captain has the hold grey kama and pauldron which always work well, even if it could have done with an additional visor.

Anyway, let’s get going with the closeups !

AT-RT scenes :

On the left, an engineer (my favorite kind of clone) fixing a broken down leg, with the help of one of the pilots. It was hard to get the minfigs in a 'lively' position, and the photo doesn’t render it correctly. The small white backpack is a piece I’ve stolen from the 501st specialist pack, because it’s nice.

On the right, a paratrooper with a completely inaccurate rocket launcher (the clone wars’ ones don’t look as cool, though). I quite like the way this part came together, even if it’s just a small detail.

Explosion scene :

I’ll admit it’s my first try with building explosions, and I’ll hopefully improve.

On the right, the clone says hi ! Well. No. He doesn’t, but it’s what he looks like on the photo, which I funny, I’ll admit, but not the image I wanted to convey, even if technically he’s set properly, as a projectile caused by the explosion.

The picture on the right convey the feeling of movement much better, with the clone shooting on the left, the others running along, and the paras being blown.

Other scenes :

The focus on the left is the droid ! I really like how it’s sprawled over that rock. Other droids can be found in the diorama, notably one being crushed by the rocket launcher AT-RT, partially under a rock, and part of one in the explosion.

On the right, we see a paratrooper down (but still fighting !) with, at his side, a medic applying a hypo. While it’s hard to see with this picture, he has a pouch at his side, and some chroma-black legs, because I was missing a pair of legs the medic has prosthetic legs, isn’t that awesome and convenient ? That is a lesson to learn, any lack can become lore ! Well, kind of. It’s what I also did with the Kashyyk MOC : I was missing all but the helmet of my ninth minifig, so I turned it into a grave of the missing squad member.

✨Aroaceage pride flag !✨

Another one to my collection ! (see the previous one here). I don’t even understand how I had never even heard of it before, but now that I know it exists, it is now comfortably sitting with all the others.

Like this and don’t see your flag among the ones I made ? I’m open to requests in my ask box !

Additional note : I made a matching bracelet ! (Shades of blue slightly different because of the colours I had available).

Here is a second batch of custom minfigs ! (Yes, these are Nexo knight based too. What can I say, the original designs are just too good.)

Closeups and commentaries underneath the cut !

Closeups are from left to right

So, starting with the pretty basic guy. Quite a mixup of different things : the helmet is modified from some type of samouraï thingy, the pauldron probably from clone wars, and the axe’s blade (beautifully chromatic bronze, so rare these days) come from an old castle set. Other than that, the base is mostly a basic evil guy starter set, but the armour details are really neat

This one ! Probable the most customised. Legs are from one of the cool original minifigs, torso is from the (meh looking) main antagonist, with both arms equalised with red color (the purple arms came handy for something else~). The armor piece is from a Ninjago skeleton, the head is also from Ninjago, but with a much later subtheme, and the bit of hair comes from the nice guys of Nexo knights. Sword comes from China Chima, and the shield ! The shell is made from an Hero Factory piece, and it looks pretty nice like that. And of course, I can’t not mention my favorite piece, the cloak, that I put literally everywhere, because it goes with a lot of things. It also comes from Chima.

Probably my favourite. It’s not really modified much from the original (ultimate) version because it is very, very cool. I did make some slight modifications on the blade to use shiny dark grey; and the armor piece + pauldron are just an addition to make him look more menacing. But it simply looks great as it is !

…Yes, the cloak is here again. Ignoring it, everything is recycled from somewhere in Nexo knights, here. The body is from the moltor guy, the head is, too, but with the back in front, framed by the helmet to make it an eye. And the two sword. These I can’t use as much as the cloak, but if I could, I certainly would. An awesome addition, really.

Finishing touch is quite simple. Most of the piece are from different characters of Nexo knight, mostly following a default character, and the two tridents are from Atlantis (a really really good Lego theme. One day I’ll have a diorama of these)

You’ve made it here ? We’ll be aware I have a batch of the blue ones that will arrive…at some point. Probably not next week, I’m hoping to have enough time to put my bionicle customs in my larger studio for next week.

✨Custom water Toa !✨

Another one ! (Slightly less giant)

Details below the cut !

Front/back views

That one, too, is experimental, albeit in another style. I tried to remain closer to actual Bionicle size this time. Many fun details and technics here, so we’ll go from the feet all the way toward the head.

So, starting with the feet ! I have a complex of normal feet and Visorak legs held by a single connector. They have a wide angular range, but given that the connector connecting the socket to the feet is alone, a foot can also have a 360 rotation angle horizontally (not natural-)

The legs don’t have much special traits, except the upper legs using two socket with axle holes on top and a silver foot as armor on the side.

The body is where things get interesting. The Rahkshi silver shell is held by the silver claw above it at a chest plate, while part of the back is hidden behind a Rahkshi foot. The body is very triangular because it’s framed by these sockets with a silver piece in the middle, which gives it a nice aesthetic. The arms are an equivalent, with some tubes directly in the shoulders to offer a flexible piece which also limits the movements.

Finally, the head is not a head. I’ve made it like that because of the translucent Kanohi, that way it looks brighter, the inconvenient being that the backside of the head is quite literally an empty shell.

Now for the lower part of the arms : no socketed hand because who needs hands when you have a trident (bident ?) ! The main piece obviously comes from a Rahkshi, and the magic is wishing the silver connector. It used to be a lightsaber hilt from the larger Star Wars figs, but it looks good practically everywhere, including here !

Also, here below is a picture of the angle range of the arms (not much, oops).

✨Micro-Nether !✨

And a small wither to go with it~

There’s not much to say about this build, it’s mostly just a tiny box with triangles and cubes inside. I’m considering making more of these in the future (feel free to suggest biomes/mobs in my inbox !) while keeping the scale (8*8*8), which is a bit of a challenge, but it’s fun.

✨Trans pride flag !✨

Had some inspiration and a nice motivation (here)

(See previous work here)

Alt version below the cut :

Pastel version ! It looks a bit bland because I didn’t have enough pieces to make enough variations (this type of pink is exactly what I needed, but also happens to be very hard to find). It’s probably more fitting for the actual flag compared to the one above, which is very neon-y (and I tuned it down a bit, it could be much worse brighter than it is now). But the above version looks better, I admit, and it give a bit of peps in the middle of all my other works, too, because of the unique colors.