Legos, anyone?

[danth]

On 5/25/2022 at 6:08 PM, Chronocidal said:

Ugh.. those moments when you realize LEGO already makes the perfect piece for what you need..

Only to realize they've never even made it in a solid color.

Nice trick regardless!

On 5/25/2022 at 10:14 PM, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

How about something like this instead?

AFOLs helping AFOLs. You love to see it.

Maybe I should ask for more Lego advice on this thread!

[Chronocidal]

8 hours ago, M'Kyuun said:

I have a love/hate relationship with Studio, leaning further towards the hate side. It lacks the user-friendliness and, IMHO, superior interface of LDD. I also preferred LDD's un-graduated hinge tool, as you could tweak it to make things fit in tight spots; with it's fixed points of rotation, Studio isn't as forgiving. Too, much like LDD, whose hinge alignment tool never really worked for me, Studio has the same issue where if multiple in-line hinges are used, I generally have to remove one to get the assembly to actuate, and even then it often skips or just won't rotate through the proper arc or even in the proper arc direction. It's absolute rubbish and it pisses me off beyond my poor ability to articulate. Since I mostly concentrate on building transformable mecha, that ability to hinge is imperative. I also have the same issue with parts that don't initially connect to just zoom off to wherever. Very frustrating.  But it's free, and that's why I put myself through the misery of using the damned thing. Too, I don't have a dedicated workspace to build with actual LEGO (my parts take up half my bedroom, ensconced in a huge Rubbermaid tub with boxes of LEGO and LEGO sets on top. I have to move a bunch of stuff every time I want to build anything, and then put it all back before bedtime. It's a pain, but I'm out of space in my house).  I do like that Studio is linked to Bricklink, though- pretty handy.

I did make a couple of small discoveries about the hinge tool in Studio.  There are a few ways to tweak it to give better results than the default snapped angles.

One way is to just manually enter an angle, which I think will accept up to two decimal places?  It's a little clunky, but it works for nudging parts back and forth by tiny increments.

The other way I've noticed is that the snaps seem to disengage if you drag the cursor away from the rotation center.  Once you get a long lever arm to move, it's like it goes into a fine-alignment mode, and will give you much more freedom in how the pieces are angled.

 

[M'Kyuun]

5 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

I did make a couple of small discoveries about the hinge tool in Studio.  There are a few ways to tweak it to give better results than the default snapped angles.

One way is to just manually enter an angle, which I think will accept up to two decimal places?  It's a little clunky, but it works for nudging parts back and forth by tiny increments.

The other way I've noticed is that the snaps seem to disengage if you drag the cursor away from the rotation center.  Once you get a long lever arm to move, it's like it goes into a fine-alignment mode, and will give you much more freedom in how the pieces are angled.

 

I appreciate the insights; I'll have to give them a try.

[Tking22]

Lego Optimus ordered! I was a bit worried this morning because I forgot this dropped today, but at 10am Vegas time lego.com still had stock, that's awesome! If only the same had happened with the Delorean...

[Chronocidal]

Yeah, I'm going to wait a couple of months before I go for either of those two, since I have other (bigger) projects in the works at the moment, and need to save up.  

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

On 5/26/2022 at 5:17 AM, Chronocidal said:

See, this is what I get for thinking search functions are reliable.  I searched for "ball" and this never came up.  

Thanks, that actually should do the trick, it's the same exact size, and actually comes in gray.

Glad it worked out, I know I never would've found that piece had it not been for another AFOL who gave me the tip.

Just placed a order for Optimus, it's gonna be fun figuring out how to put knee joints on it.

[M'Kyuun]

4 hours ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Glad it worked out, I know I never would've found that piece had it not been for another AFOL who gave me the tip.

The LEGO fan community is one of the most helpful out there, esp in these days of more and more toxic fanbases.

4 hours ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Just placed a order for Optimus, it's gonna be fun figuring out how to put knee joints on it.

Right? I'm contemplating it, too.  I looked about a bit, as there are a number of reviewers who received early copies, but I've yet to see any mods. My money's on Chubbybots, as he always does a good job modding these official mech/robot sets. I'll likely pursue my own method, but it's always illuminating to see how others solve the same problem. No harm in copying a superior approach, either.

[F-ZeroOne]

By the way, I'm surprised no-ones asked this yet (AFAIK)... are they ever going to do a trailer for OP in future, I wonder?

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

10 minutes ago, F-ZeroOne said:

By the way, I'm surprised no-ones asked this yet (AFAIK)... are they ever going to do a trailer for OP in future, I wonder?

An official one? My gut says no, but I'm positive there will be a few MOC designs in the near future.

[technoblue]

I decided to wait on Lego Optimus for the moment because I picked up the Starry Night set a week prior.

Being a fan of the large-scale Technics cars, I also added the Ferrari Daytona to my wish list.

Not sure when I'll pick it up, though. I need to plan for it. Maybe in August.

Edited June 2, 2022 by technoblue

[M'Kyuun]

2 hours ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

An official one? My gut says no, but I'm positive there will be a few MOC designs in the near future.

Given the size, I doubt it as well. Optimus is the real draw, and at that scale, a stand-alone trailer set would likely end up becoming a shelfwarmer for the cost. I'm not even concerned with building a trailer for mine. I'd rather spend the time, effort, and money on improving Prime's articulation and making other tweaks.

But yeah, there will no doubt be any number of trailer MOCs, and I've also no doubt several will find their way onto Bricklink. 

[F-ZeroOne]

Yes, just for clarity, I did mean an official one. Thinking about it, has Lego ever produced a sticker that would be as long would presumably be needed for the trailer sides? 😄

[Tking22]

I managed to get the Forbidden West set off Amazon, arrived last night. I wanted to get it off lego.com so I could get and possibly use some points but oh well, lego.com seems to not be getting stock as quickly as some other sites, which is a bit odd. I just need someone, anyone, to get more Deloreans in at retail price. 

[M'Kyuun]

1 hour ago, F-ZeroOne said:

Yes, just for clarity, I did mean an official one. Thinking about it, has Lego ever produced a sticker that would be as long would presumably be needed for the trailer sides? 😄

I think the likelihood of a trailer for Prime is about zero. If they were going to do it, it would have been wiser to include it in the set, but that would have made it extremely large and prohibitively expensive for many fans. So, I think they were smart to release just Optimus sans trailer to keep the price down and make him accessible to more people across the financial spectrum. I don't think a stand-alone trailer set would sell well, as most peeps are going to display their Optimus in bot mode, and the trailer for this guy would be a large model that likely ends up in storage except for the odd times when he's transformed, rolled around a bit, and then put back in bot mode. That's pretty much the deal for my Earthrise Optimus- 99% of the time, he's in bot mode, and his trailer is essentially a paperweight on the back of one of my shelves. I like having it for those odd times when I feel like rolling the full truck around, but honestly, I can't remember the last time I did that. I imagine a similar scenario for LEGO Optimus fans as well. I get the allure, but I don't think it adds more value than just the core fig alone; IMHO, there's more value in making him available to a wider audience with different financial situations.

The cool thing about this situation, though, is it's LEGO! If you want a trailer, you can make your own, and customize it however you wish. So far as the sticker(s) running down the sides, if LEGO were to make a trailer, I suspect the sides would be clad in large tiles and the stripes broken up into a series of stickers, as that's their general modus operandi in these situations.

[Scyla]

26 minutes ago, M'Kyuun said:

I think the likelihood of a trailer for Prime is about zero. If they were going to do it, it would have been wiser to include it in the set, but that would have made it extremely large and prohibitively expensive for many fans. So, I think they were smart to release just Optimus sans trailer to keep the price down and make him accessible to more people across the financial spectrum. I don't think a stand-alone trailer set would sell well, as most peeps are going to display their Optimus in bot mode, and the trailer for this guy would be a large model that likely ends up in storage except for the odd times when he's transformed, rolled around a bit, and then put back in bot mode. That's pretty much the deal for my Earthrise Optimus- 99% of the time, he's in bot mode, and his trailer is essentially a paperweight on the back of one of my shelves. I like having it for those odd times when I feel like rolling the full truck around, but honestly, I can't remember the last time I did that. I imagine a similar scenario for LEGO Optimus fans as well. I get the allure, but I don't think it adds more value than just the core fig alone; IMHO, there's more value in making him available to a wider audience with different financial situations.

The cool thing about this situation, though, is it's LEGO! If you want a trailer, you can make your own, and customize it however you wish. So far as the sticker(s) running down the sides, if LEGO were to make a trailer, I suspect the sides would be clad in large tiles and the stripes broken up into a series of stickers, as that's their general modus operandi in these situations.

I think even I could come up with a MoC for the trailer. It wouldn’t be fancy but it would resemble a box. 

[M'Kyuun]

Here you go.  Love that he brick-built the stripes- looks great.

[F-ZeroOne]

That didn't take long!

Wot, no Roller? 😉

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

Big Planes never ceases to amaze:

 

[Chronocidal]

I don't think it will ever cease to amaze and baffle me how anyone ever even begins to design and build something that huge, let alone how they acquire the necessary parts.  The digital tools we have now are nice, but they start to choke very easily as models grow bigger.

[M'Kyuun]

I'd say the same, but my friend Luke only builds big, so I'm tangentially aware of what goes into a huge build like this. BTW, those rings in the center are each motorized, spin counter to each other, and weigh 20lbs a piece.  He's since torn it apart, but I was fortunate to help him set it up at two different cons. Pretty impressive to see in person.

[no3Ljm]

Lego #10303 LOOP COASTER
July 2022
US$399.99

 

[M'Kyuun]

That is one impressive set.  I love how LEGO continues to push boundaries, sometimes playing a little looser with their traditional stability requirements to create sets with more realism and sometimes nigh skeletal structure, as with the loops here. It looks more like a MOC than a set, and the sense of dynamism is palpable just looking at it.  You can't look at this and not want to see the cars go speeding through those loops.  I don't plan to get it (I wouldn't know where to put it if I did), but I applaud the audacity, presentation, and playability of it.

So, I got this guy yesterday.  It's set # 10302 Optimus Prime with 1508 pieces.  

This is a dream set for me. I've been playing with LEGO since I was about six, several years before the debut of the minifig and LEGO's Classic themes of Town, Castle, and the only one that truly matters, Space. 😍 I was thirteen when Transformers debuted, feeding my unquenchable love and passion for shape-shifting robots. Of course, a marriage of the two followed thereafter, although my early MOCs were, quite simple, having more in common with Gobots than Transformers in terms of complexity. But I digress.

LEGO Optimus Prime (gawd it feels so surreal to type that, and yet it's real!) takes its design cues from the G1 OP toy. Except for the need to rotate the waist 180, and the need to remove the fists, its virtually identical. While it's rather simple, as a first step into producing a set of this nature, it works well. Too, LEGO is obviously aiming this at us old fogies from the 80s who are going to recognize the original toy in this, plucking the strings of nostalgia ever so unsubtly. They know what they're doing. (nodding wisenly)

Prime comes with an accoutrement of toon related weapons and accessories, all of which appeared within the original three-part miniseries which introduced us to the wonderful world of the Autobots and Decepticons in Sept 1984. They include an Energon Cube, Prime's Energon Axe (from his duel w/ Megatron atop Sherman Dam), his trusty Ion Blaster, and Sideswipe's jet pack, which he borrowed in Ep 3 to pursue the Decepticon ship Victory as it headed back to Cybertron. Info kindly provided by the instructions themselves, which are full of toon factoids as you progress through the various builds. Wonderful and much appreciated touch.

Ion Blaster

With a mix of both Technic and brick work, Prime's signature weapon looks the part. I love the way the stock was designed, using an old windshield piece in black to encapsulate the sloped bricks, perfectly capturing the look. I wish they had printed or offered stickers for those grey bricks to provide vent detail. Missed opportunity. Although the gun has a grip, the stock itself attaches to Prime's arm. The hands alone are incapable of holding the weapon.  

Energon Axe

In the first pic, I forgot to attach one of the splat pieces to the handle section of the axe, but it gives an idea of how it was assembled. Both of Prime's arms have a couple black 1x1 Technic bricks with fixed axle holes built within into which the brown axle on the axe can be inserted. The hand needs to be removed before attaching the axe, unless you just want to use the transformation joint and have his hand hanging oddly off the bottom of his arm while wielding the axe. 

Sideswipe's jet pack

This is the most involved build among Prime's accessories, and probably the most superfluous, as like the Energon Axe, it was only ever used once in the OG cartoon. Too, it belonged to Sideswipe, who I don't recall having ever used it himself in the toon, or at least having attention called to his having used it. The existence of it at all harkens back to Sideswipe's bio, and the inclusion of various features/abilities as mentioned in the old Tech Specs in the toon always brought me a measure of joy. Thanks Mr. Budiansky.🙏

The light tan clips snap onto two black 1x2 plates with closed bars built into Prime's back, which is a bit hollow without it attached.

Optimus cleans up nicely with the jet pack attached.

Wrapping up accessories, the Energon Cube is the simplest build, mostly comprised of 1x2 trans-dark pink bricks. It can be seen in the first pic I posted above.

Optimus Prime

So I'll just say out of the gate that my feelings are mixed on this set. I'm beyond ebullient that it exists, and the potential it holds for more. LEGO Transformers is a theme I've wanted more than anything since 1984; it's been a long wait, and I honestly never thought it would happen. I've never been so happy to be wrong. I think it turned out very well, probably better than it should have. Early sketch model:

 

That said, the limited articulation, which is endemic to these large mecha models minimizes the visual and tactile impact as opposed to something that can be posed dynamically. It looks very good, like their Voltron, but playability is severely limited. As a big fan of maximum articulation, I can't help but feel a pang of disappointment when these sets come out and they're essentially statues from the waist down, much like the OG Transformer toys. Alas, stability. On to Optimus.

Ready for action! His right leg is one click forward and the waist is turned slightly to his right as well. His feet do not pivot fore and aft, but they do have ankle rocker, and the toes can rotate through an arc of about 130 degrees on friction pins. I have the toe rotated down a little to support the pose, but the friction is just barely capable of bearing the weight. 

In this pic, I have his left arm butterflied back about as far as it can go, and the right arm is abducted at the shoulder as far as the arm structure will alllow, which isn't much. Those big plates with the Autobot symbols restrict shoulder movement away from the body. flexion rotation at the shoulder is 360 unimpeded, and the elbows bend to 90. the wrists rotate 360, the thumb is made of a 1x1 modified rounded plate with closed bar and a 1x2 slope, which allows for a fair range of motion. The fingers, which are connected into a single rotating unit, can open and close, giving the "piano hands' look. There's an internal hinge joint within the arm that allows the hands to swing 90 degrees perpendicular to the bottom of the arm for transformation.

Optimus features a brand-new joint piece to accomplish a compact hip joint. For larger mecha builders like me, it's godsend, a piece I've been wishing for for well over a decade. Like Prime himself, it was a long but much gratifying wait.

 

These illustrate the hip rotation and limits of the ankle rocker- at full spread, his ankles don't quite bend enough to allow him to stand flat-footed. Unfortunately, Prime has no bending knees, but due to a ball and socket connection, his lower legs can rotate 360.

Truck

The salient feature of Transformers, of course, is their ability to change their forms, and in this regard, LEGO Optimus Prime doesn't disappoint. Modeled from the original Diaclone Convoy/ G1 Optimus Prime, Joe Kyde, who previously worked for Hasbro designing Transformer toys there, brought his wealth of design experience to give us a complete "Transformer experience' in this model, which heretofore hasn't been the case with other licensed Transformer building systems, like Kre-o. The result is an unmistakable cabover truck that does a very good job of filling in most of the gaps, especially where the front panels meet the arms creating a cohesive look. It's not perfect, however: there are large gaps in front of and behind the shoulders as well as on top to allow for clearance to swing the arms out. I can forgive it. The toes curl down and rest at an angle displaying some trans-red bits that provide brake light detail. This looks better than many official and 3P solutions for Prime's feet, where they often hang out obtrusively. These just meld into the back of the truck nigh seamlessly. I like it. I didn't take a pic of it, but Prime's gun can nestle snugly in the gap between the legs in truck mode- it doesn't attach to anything, though. As storage goes, not bad. Below are some underside shots in truck mode. In the pics, you can see how the hands stow behind the front panels and bumper. The bright orange bits on the feet are rubber studs that help give the model traction when standing.

 

The head

Prime's head is a complex build of brackets, wedge plates, slopes, tiles, and of course the bits used for his antennae, or ears as I've seen some refer to them. There's a 1x2 plate printed with his eyes, and a 1x2 tile printed with the vent detail on his helmet. His head is mounted on a ball-joint, which gives a generous range of motion. Some ado has been made about the bit of bracket below the eyes, but in-hand, it doesn't bother me too much. The ack of a nose protrusion is more noticeable to me, but that'd be a tough thing to add in at this scale. As it is, it does the job well enough.

That wraps up my review.  As I said in the beginning, I'm exceptionally pleased and grateful that this set exists, hopefully paving the way for more. It's not without its flaws, but overall, I think the execution was well done, as both modes look clean and reminiscent of the original G1 toy. The fact that it can be transformed without removing parts is the icing on the proverbial cake- it just completes the experience as a Transformer toy, and IMHO after nearly forty years of waiting, it was worth it. The lack of knees and other limitations in articulation are disappointing but not unexpected in a model this size. Fortunately, it's LEGO, and infinitely mod-able. If you're a Transformers fan or a LEGO fan, this set should have great appeal for you. Highly recommended.

 

 

Edited June 10, 2022 by M'Kyuun

[M'Kyuun]

LEGO Con just wrapped up and there were a number of cool reveals:

Nearest and dearest to my heart is the long-rumored update to the perennial Classic Space favorite, the venerable Galaxy Explorer (10497): (POs are up on LEGO.com- got mine already!)

Classic Space fans have long clamored for a return of CS in some form, and when LEGO put out a number of themes for fans to vote on as the winning theme for the 90th anniversary set, CS was a close contender behind Classic Castle. This is a wonderful love letter to us CS fans, and the only thing that would have made this better is if it had included a base plate with a little radar station like the original set. But given that the ship model is about twice the original's size, and a very faithful update at that with all the original's play features plus more, I'm just super thrilled that this is happening. I can only hope it paves the way for a renewed interest by LEGO in original space themes.

However, Classic Castle was the ultimate winner of the 90th anniversary vote, and LEGO outdid themselves with an ambitious set that pays homage to a number of CC sets, especially the Black Falcon's Fortress:  Coming in at a whopping 4514 parts, The Lion Knight's Castle (10305) promises to be an impressive centerpiece to any castle layout, or just as a stand-alone set.

Features include a working drawbridge, which when closed will unceremoniously drop any hapless fig on the bridge into the dungeon below; a working waterwheel that spins a grinding stone, a working portcullis; the ability to close it up for a fully walled fortress or open it up to reveal a fully detailed interior. It's a thing of beauty, and a great tribute to Classic Castle. The Galaxy Explorer and Lion Knight's Castle will both be available under the new LEGO Icons theme on their Shop site.

For Marvel, LEGO unveiled a modular styled Sanctum Santorum (76218):

As with all the Modular series, this one has Technic bricks built into the base of the building to readily incorporate it into a layout. Too, it's jam-packed with features and Easter-eggs. As a Modular fan and collector, this is a cool and unique addition to the series, which has long been more representative of city life with a very 1930s-50s-ish look and feel. This joins the Daily Bugle as yet another Marvel set that can integrate with your Modular Building layout. 

From the upcoming Avatar sequel (of which there are four planned), the Taruk Makto & the Tree of Souls (75574) set features some good use of colored elements as well as new minifigs with new heads, tails, longer arms, and longer legs to represent the Na'vi's taller stature compared to regular minifigs, a new Direhorse mold, and a brick-built Leonopteryx.

From Star Wars, Cad Bane's Justifier (75323) and a new AT-TE set (75337) are coming in August.

For the artistic among us, LEGO is introducing a Floral Art (31207) mosaic set with which one can build one of three different prints of flowers from different parts of the world.

For Minecraft fans, The Abandoned Village (21189) and The Skeleton Dungeon (21190) offer the ability to continue expanding their Minecraft world in physical brick.

Finally, Series 23 of the Collectible Minifigures is coming, this time celebrating costumes.

Credit for all pics, which I copied shamelessly, goes to The Brick Fan.  Lots to look forward to in the fall. For me, the new Galaxy Explorer rises to the top of the list in terms of my excitement and anticipation. As a CS fan from the very beginning, this is truly a Holy Grail set, one that I've personally hoped for (or a rerelease of the original) for many years. Mike Psiaki, a long-time AFOL-cum- Designer notable for numerous Expert Creator sets like the Mustang, the Astin-Martin DB-5, Ferrari F-40, Volswagon Beetle, Apollo Saturn V Ideas set, Creator 3-1 Blue Power Jet, and many more, is the primary designer behind this updated Galaxy Explorer, and given his penchant for always building working features into his sets, as well as head-scratchingly impressive techniques, I'm even more excited to build this set and swoosh the ever-living bricks out of it. Aside from Classic Space, there's quite a bit of new goodness coming this fall across a number of themes that's sure to please most LEGO fans. More opportunities to Play Well. Cheers!

[Chronocidal]

Just threw out an order for two of the Galaxy Explorers, that's going to be a really fun build.  The DeLorean will have to wait a bit longer.  

I do wish LEGO could straighten out whatever seems to be screwing with their website in this corner of the country though.  I'm getting that stupid error again where it refuses to load the English-US regional site at all.  I had to load the Spanish version, and let Chrome auto-translate it for me to place an order.

[technoblue]

Thanks, @M'Kyuun!

I also got my order in for the new Galaxy Explorer set. Looking forward to it. It's cool to see a red spaceman in the updated mold and that the recreated arrow detail using a new clever design. I'm very curious to see what other surprises will be revealed in this build.

The Lion Knights Castle set is one I don't want to miss. For me, it feels like a supreme update to the old King's Castle set.

Those new LEGO art sets look like a lot of fun too. So far, my first foray into LEGO art has been the Starry Night set.

Edited June 19, 2022 by technoblue

[Scyla]

As I wrote somewhere else the castle doesn’t come with enough knights with visored helmets and separate chest armor. Including three or more of those knights would have been an absolute draw for me buying the castle since those where my preferred knights as a kid.

With just one knight done like this to me it’s a set that is expensive and will take up a lot of space (the castle itself looks very good though). So maybe I’ll buy it if it ever goes on clearance.

[edit:] Saw more pictures of the castle and apparently the queen comes with a knight helmet with golden visor and another helmet is in the armory for the knight with the hair piece (which I mistook as the squire at first). That makes the set more interesting to me. Still not enough horses for all the knights.

My own Lego castle is the one they released after the yellow one (6080). And four knights on horses is a must to me. 

Edited June 19, 2022 by Scyla

[technoblue]

A fun interview with designer Mike Psiaki has been posted on-line today. In it, he notes how he extrapolated that Galaxy Explorer set from building updated versions of the old Classic Space 918 and 924 sets. Even better, he plans to share his instructions---very cool. 

https://brickset.com/article/78875/interview-with-mike-psiaki-designer-of-10497-galaxy-explorer

Also, in case anyone needed an extra push to pick up that second set. I know I did.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

On 6/10/2022 at 11:24 AM, M'Kyuun said:

That wraps up my review.  As I said in the beginning, I'm exceptionally pleased and grateful that this set exists, hopefully paving the way for more. It's not without its flaws, but overall, I think the execution was well done, as both modes look clean and reminiscent of the original G1 toy. The fact that it can be transformed without removing parts is the icing on the proverbial cake- it just completes the experience as a Transformer toy, and IMHO after nearly forty years of waiting, it was worth it. The lack of knees and other limitations in articulation are disappointing but not unexpected in a model this size. Fortunately, it's LEGO, and infinitely mod-able. If you're a Transformers fan or a LEGO fan, this set should have great appeal for you. Highly recommended.

Good review M'Kyuun, I was going to build mine with my kids while we are away on vacation, but another kit arrived at the same time:

Surprisingly, they chose this to build over Prime.  I am only too happy to oblige 😊

[danth]

Not much to add about the recent news, but I've ordered and received my Optimus Prime and a few Forest Hideout sets, and I've pre-ordered multiple Galaxy Explorers.

I've built the Forest Hideout and it's just so good. I can't get over how substantial it is while only being about 250 pieces and coming in such a small box. It's a great update to the original. I just wish it had a second forestmen hat in brown, but other than that it's pretty much perfect.

The castle though...it's a bank breaker. Not sure if I want it that bad...

[Dobber]

5 hours ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Good review M'Kyuun, I was going to build mine with my kids while we are away on vacation, but another kit arrived at the same time:

Surprisingly, they chose this to build over Prime.  I am only too happy to oblige 😊

Ooooh, please post progress pics!

Chris

[M'Kyuun]

10 hours ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Good review M'Kyuun, I was going to build mine with my kids while we are away on vacation, but another kit arrived at the same time:

Surprisingly, they chose this to build over Prime.  I am only too happy to oblige 😊

That's pretty sharp. As a building experience, I think the A-10 would be more fulfilling, especially if you and your kids are aircraft fans more than Transformer fans. I've never bought any of these independent kits, but some of them are really well done, case in point. 

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

7 hours ago, Dobber said:

Ooooh, please post progress pics!

Chris

Sure, here's what the boys have done so far:

They're having a hard time with some of the isometric views in the instructions but they're doing good with minimal help from me. 

Edited June 23, 2022 by Valkyrie Hunter D

[Dobber]

4 hours ago, Valkyrie Hunter D said:

Sure, here's what the boys have done so far:

They're having a hard time with some of the isometric views in the instructions but they're doing good with minimal help from me. 

That looks so cool. Where do you get these kits?

[technoblue]

11 hours ago, Dobber said:

That looks so cool. Where do you get these kits?

A quick search of Cody Osell, the set designer, will get you to your destination. 

I like the look of the Brickveteran WWII Warbird sets but I am wondering if they have working gear.

[Valkyrie Hunter D]

1 hour ago, technoblue said:

A quick search of Cody Osell, the set designer, will get you to your destination. 

I like the look of the Brickveteran WWII Warbird sets but I am wondering if they have working gear.

Yup, that should lead you to BRICKVETERAN.  Do check out their Instagram, I get more news about their projects there than their actual website.

Their WWII planes look great, I'm tempted to get their Tuskegee Mustang.

We got a good chunk of one of the wings done today:

It's impressive how a hinge plate is used to attain the shape at the rear of the wing.

Edited June 24, 2022 by Valkyrie Hunter D