Lego YF-21 & Ghost

[Metal_Massacre_79]

Here's a SDF1 in LEGO. Lol.

DUDE! That little guy ROCKS!

[mriboy]

I second that, I used to love playing with my legos and building things up untill my mid teens. See all this make me want to start collecting and building them again. This site is bad for my wallet.

Edited January 11, 2008 by mriboy

[RedLion]

No, they really couldn't.

LEGO has a primary market of 6-10 year old boys. If they were to make a model as complex and containing as many bricks as some of the above models, the individual model costs would be easily over $100.00 for a small set.

Macross is far too niche a market for LEGO to make any money on, even though we'd all like to see it.

Don't underetimate the Lego Market it is huge across the world! From Expert Buider now called Technic to Starwars and so on Some of these kits are super expensive, however worth every penny! The engineering that Lego has is super impressive!

[Grand Admiral]

considering they got the indiana license which no 6-10 year old has any concept of and have probably never seen the movies, it could happen.

lego is starting to realize a majority of their "fans"(different from their target audience) are adults and not children. clearly indiana jones was not picked up in order to target kids. how many kids would even sit through raiders of the lost ark nowadays?, or temple of doom? they'd just say the movie is dated, complain how completely unreal it is, and simply change the channel.

as far as complex models, how about UCS MF? at $500 with 5000+ pieces its certainly not 6-10 year old boys, its strictly for the adults as is most of their SW line.

1) Indiana Jones is being produced because of LEGO's history with George Lucas and the Star Wars license, as well as the new movie coming out this summer providing fuel for advertising it. It is the SOLE exception to what I said about LEGO's marketing.

2) The $500 Millennium Falcon was produced only after LEGO tested the waters with the $300 Star Destroyer and Death Star II sets. When they produced the Star Destroyer, it was the largest and most expensive set they had ever created, and they considered it a huge gamble. Fortunately for LEGO, the Star Wars license is like printing money and they felt it was a viable idea. However, Star Wars is several orders of magnitude more popular worldwide than Macross is.

i forsee macross lego in the near future. all the other companies(large and small) see how yamato has made a killing off the license and they're just now starting to pick it up hoping to do the same. lego has more than enough money to pick up the license, the only problem would be the HG/BW bullshight.

LEGO has had financial difficulties for the last decade and is only now beginning to recover and become profitable again. Are you perhaps talking out of your ass a bit?

Macross sets just aren't going to happen. Exo Force is about as close as you're going to see them get.

also, SK, mr macross himself, helped designed the exo force line so they could just as easily talk to him about doing some macross sets in the future.

No he did not. I've met the people who designed the Exo Force line.

I have been involved with the Lego Ambassador program for the last 5 years.

You can also read my writeup at Classic Space Forums of my trip to the LEGO headquarters in Billund, Denmark where I did prototype designs for the Mars Mission MX-71 Recon Dropship.

I kinda know what I'm talking about here.

[big F]

The easy answer is go get the MLCAD program installed design your mech and buy all the parts from the Lego shop and then build it for real.

At least Lego give you the option nowadays back in the 70's you could only get the bricks from the shop if you lived in Denmark, everyone else like me just had to buy kits that contained what you needed. Shame I didn't know my Ex then as she's Danish and had tons of the stuff as a kid. Looking through the old Lego catalog's with her was all "had that one and that one, had two of those, had that one...." when ever we were in Copenhagen she wouldn't let me near the Lego shop.

[Grand Admiral]

The easy answer is go get the MLCAD program installed design your mech and buy all the parts from the Lego shop and then build it for real.

The downside of this equation is that you can't buy every LEGO part in every color at any given time. The company has a palette of parts and colors that they produce, and that changes every year. The only parts that are consistently produced in a wide range of colors every year are basic bricks.

However, if you have trouble finding parts on LEGO.com, you can always take a look at Bricklink.

[Vic Mancini]

This is pretty interesting, I hope it hasn't already been posted.

Taking into cosideration that Yamato has produced a Ghost fighter for the Zero line I only speculate that ther is one coming for Plus??

While we wait for our Yamato YF-21's I hope these pictures provide some inspriation.

I've been admiring that lego 21 since I first found it almost a year ago. I think the builder did a perfect job at capturing the profile of the menacing 21. The only draw back is it's not perfect transformation and the legs have to be removed to change into F mode.

[big F]

The downside of this equation is that you can't buy every LEGO part in every color at any given time. The company has a palette of parts and colors that they produce, and that changes every year. The only parts that are consistently produced in a wide range of colors every year are basic bricks.

However, if you have trouble finding parts on LEGO.com, you can always take a look at Bricklink.

See it pays to have someone here with an ear at Lego's door so to speak

I downloaded the relevant programs and files last night, not a bad little app. Spent about an hour looking for one brink in the inventory though, it's not a special brick I just can't find it. Although the example pictures of made "kits" have the brick so it does exist in cyberspace. I have about 30 of them in my Lego box. I was thinking of making an installer for the complete apps to help the less computer savvy users here at MW, anyone who want me too speak up.

Edited January 12, 2008 by big F

[Grand Admiral]

If you have the brick you're looking for in hand, flip it over and there's a number on the bottom of it.

Then you can plug this number into Peeron and gets all sorts of information.

[Dante74]

See it pays to have someone here with an ear at Lego's door so to speak

I downloaded the relevant programs and files last night, not a bad little app. Spent about an hour looking for one brink in the inventory though, it's not a special brick I just can't find it. Although the example pictures of made "kits" have the brick so it does exist in cyberspace. I have about 30 of them in my Lego box. I was thinking of making an installer for the complete apps to help the less computer savvy users here at MW, anyone who want me too speak up.

That would be great big F, but only if it's Vista compatible.

[Slammer]

That would be great big F, but only if it's Vista compatible.

seconded! I want to see if I can`t combine some Exo-Force joints and parts along with normal components to make an articulated VF-0....

[big F]

If you have the brick you're looking for in hand, flip it over and there's a number on the bottom of it.

Then you can plug this number into Peeron and gets all sorts of information.

Thanks for that I will do just that.

And to everyone else I will get to work on an installer and try it out at work to see if its Vista proof.

[wwwmwww]

However, Star Wars is several orders of magnitude more popular worldwide than Macross is.

How about Speed Racer? That is something more on par with Macross/Robotech in terms of popularity isn't it?

http://eurobricks.hosting.ipsyn.com/eurofo...=12059&st=0

I have been involved with the Lego Ambassador program for the last 5 years.

Sounds interesting... may I ask how you got started with that program?

Carl

[badboy00z]

Found this on brickshelf and thought it was awesome. LEGO SU-27

[RedLion]

Found this on brickshelf and thought it was awesome. LEGO SU-27

Cool! With camo and retracting landing gear!! NICE!!

[Grand Admiral]

How about Speed Racer? That is something more on par with Macross/Robotech in terms of popularity isn't it?

A couple years ago I would've said yes, but these sets are a direct licensing tie-in to the movie that's coming out this summer which is sure to have TONS of publicity, ads, toys, etc. This isn't just LEGO randomly deciding to make sets based on a 40 year old cartoon. It's going to be a summer blockbuster with all the hype that goes along with it.

Now, based on that thought... I think it's possible that there might be LEGO sets for the Robotech movie that's in pre-production right now.

I just seriously doubt you'll ever see LEGO sets based on any of the anime-based Macross series. This is for the same reasons that Hasbro or other large toy companies don't make them either. It has to do with licensing, marketing, production runs, and so on.

Sounds interesting... may I ask how you got started with that program?

I've been active in the LEGO fan community, both online, and in public events and shows since about 2000. It was announced on LEGO fan forums like Lugnet, and I applied and have participated in it for the last few years.

[dizman]

Ahhh legos, I miss those little guys. The YF-21 and ghost are pretty neat, so is the Su-27. Grand Admiral is right about Macross and lego though, never gonna happen. Macross is just not big enough, now if there was a blockbuster movie made of ..... Robotech...... then we would see some VF-1's. For now all we can do is buy bricks and build our own. BTW, does anyone remeber the Space Shuttle lego set with the Crawler, launchpad and the shuttle/fuel pod/booster, man that was my favorite lego set.

Edited January 14, 2008 by dizman

[badboy00z]

I saw the trailer for the Speed Racer movie and I have to say...it's so cheesy and the CG scenes are just horrible.

[big F]

Well I have an installer not the best of ones because my setup maker software is not working for some odd reason. This one should get you home and dry though. I have as yet not tested it with Vista but you welcome to try as no registry alterations will be made and you can just delete the files created without any problems.

Just download the file and run the two exe files inside. All patched with the most up to date brick files.

And again sorry I couldn't make an all singing and dancing installer but once I sort out why I can't I will.

MLCAD.zip

Here's what it will do

Create a folder in C: called LDRAW and put all the files needed inside and create a program group in your start menu called MLCad and put a shortcut in for you to use.

You may get an error the first time you run it but this is normal and explained on the MLCAD website

[badboy00z]

So with your installer, you don't have to follow the 14 steps listed from MLCAD?

[Fly4victory]

When you are done with MLCad do not forget LDview so you can rotate you virtual models in 3D.

It really helps to find holes that may have been hidden in MLCad.

[the white drew carey]

Wow.

[V4lkyri3_Home]

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=RalphS

[badboy00z]

When you are done with MLCad do not forget LDview so you can rotate you virtual models in 3D.

It really helps to find holes that may have been hidden in MLCad.

So MLCAD doesn't let you rotate the model while building?

[big F]

So with your installer, you don't have to follow the 14 steps listed from MLCAD?

That's right. Basically I have done it for you.

I have spent most of the time building the old kits I had as a kid. I still have em all but all. The Lego instructions for almost every kit right back to 1958 are available on the net.

Edited January 15, 2008 by big F

[RedLion]

http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?m=RalphS

Cool Stuff!

[Fly4victory]

The lower right quadrant with the "3D view" in my prior post will allow you to rotate the model. The other three windows have "fixed" but changeable views, top, left, right, bottom...

LDview is easier for me to see the model plus I can make better pictures of the model in LDview compared to MLCad.

[badboy00z]

That's right. Basically I have done it for you.

I have spent most of the time building the old kits I had as a kid. I still have em all but all. The Lego instructions for almost every kit right back to 1958 are available on the net.

What would be different if your installer maker software had been working?

[protostar8]

Has anyone else had trouble with the pieces not centering/fitting correctly??? Sometimes I can't get blocks to orient together correctly b/c one piece will be slightly shifted one way or the other and it leaves a little gap between blocks almost like the program suddenly glitched and forgot that pieces fit together perfectly.

[badboy00z]

I sometimes have trouble placing parts (mostly moving in the Z axis) in LDD but I haven't tried MLCAD yet. Nothing beats building with real LEGOs though. Sometimes you just need to have the parts in your own hands to figure out something complicated.

[Fly4victory]

Yes, The parts do not have to line up perfectly in the digital world. Just look at the picture of the YF-19. The red 2X1 plate on the top of the left fin is partially inside the black wing that makes up the majority of the fin.

It was a real pain on the monster.

[Fly4victory]

Here is the only picture of the Lego Monster that I could find.

The sheet is to make Macross Mini-figs. Sorry that it is a Jpeg but the Bitmap was too large to attach.

Just convert it back to Bitmap clean up the colors and print on a white sticker sheet.

[protostar8]

Okay, I SOLVED the parts aligning incorrectly problem!!! If you highlight all the parts you want (or the entire model), you can hit a little button at the top that looks like a grid called "snap to grid", this forces all parts to align to the grid and made my parts all fit together perfectly with no gaps left. I would SAVE before doing this just in case it doesn't work like it did on mine (I'm building a Beta Fighter).

What's a good way to make a joint for a lego creation??? (potentially one that would move in three dimensional space like a ball joint instead of just a ratcheting joint)

Edited January 17, 2008 by protostar8

[badboy00z]

Exo Force ball and socket joints.

[M'Kyuun]

Okay, I SOLVED the parts aligning incorrectly problem!!! If you highlight all the parts you want (or the entire model), you can hit a little button at the top that looks like a grid called "snap to grid", this forces all parts to align to the grid and made my parts all fit together perfectly with no gaps left. I would SAVE before doing this just in case it doesn't work like it did on mine (I'm building a Beta Fighter).

What's a good way to make a joint for a lego creation??? (potentially one that would move in three dimensional space like a ball joint instead of just a ratcheting joint)

Are you using LDD, or a fan made design program? LEGO makes ball and socket joints, as well as ratcheting joints (Exo-Force type). Unfortunately, they aren't included in the LDD Factory parts pallette. You can use parts from certain Creator and MindStorms sets, but a model using parts outside of the Factory pallette can neither be uploaded nor purchased from the factory site. The sparse pallette and a few parts alignment/interlocking issues are the major limitations to what is otherwise a good program, and a good marketing tool for LEGO. However, even with its limitations, the new version of LDD is far better than its predecessor. Fanmade programs offer a lot more flexibility, but are dependent on newer parts being created and uploaded into the program, and generally are a little more complex.