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Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Lego Design by Me Star Wars Sets.

I've love to do some Star Wars themed Lego Design by me, but you can't use Star Wars Mini figures in Lego Design by me because of intellectual property rights.

I helped my daughter build the Lego Star Wars Lukes Landspeeder at Christmas, that was a great set.  Now she keeps pestering me, demading she wants the Lego Star Wars Droid Escape Pod all the time!

Personally I'd really like to buy and build Bobba Fett's Lego Space Ship 'Slave 1' I keep thinking about letting off Design by me and getting the Lego Star Wars Slave 1 Set but despite it looking great, I think the fun is as much in the design as the building.

I'm, still working on my giant battle cruiser design with crew quarters - that should be my most impressive Lego Design by Me set to date!  But It's not going to be cheap, it's going to cost over £200 in parts I reckon and It's a long way from finished...

My daughter also keeps going on about the Lego Death Star, It looks fantastic - but £300 for Lego !?

Monday, 23 January 2012

Lego Cuusoo : The 2 Man Star Raider.

I've had some really positive feedback on my 2 Man Star Raider craft as shown in last weeks post.

2 Man Star Raider Craft.

People particularly seem to like the design of the cockpit.

Getting in.

Back of the Cockpit.   

If you'd like to see this two seater patrol craft in production you can vote for it on Lego Cuusoo

It would need a tiny bit of work to make it production quality - mainly the canopy over the cockpit.  I did the best I could with the Lego Design by me pallette, but a there isn't a decent two seater hinged canopy in the Lego Design by me pallette - so I had to improvise.

Despite design by me ending I am still working on Design by me sets, the next project is a large battlecruiser, with pilots seat, co-pilots seat, captains control chair, 3 command stations, 6 berths, a galley and an officers mess.

How will I order it?  With no more Lego Design by me the only way will be through the pick a brick service. 

I'm experimenting with this by buying a second copy of the LCX1 Fighter I designed for my nephew - he's built it now but I still haven't seen it - so I'm getting my own through pick a brick - but with no instructions or box...

Monday, 9 January 2012

Lego Design By Me : The 2 Man Star Raider Spacecraft

Lego Design By Me has been good to me.  I ordered the set as described in my last post, and though not as impressive as my original set I'm still very pleased with the final result.  It's a very solid model, which looks functional and would fit my 'Black' new interpretation of the classic Lego Space theme well.

The only real compromise with this Lego Design By Me set is the canopy over the cockpit - it would really benefit from a specifically moulded single piece.  My original intention was to use the green domed pieces which went onto the single seater Lego Design By Me LCX1 Fighter I made for my nephew, but the piece is tricky to get to fit right and when it did it made the craft wider than looked sensible.  Besides that I really wanted a genuine two man cockpit - a bit like a flying sports car with guns sort of thing.  Seperate domes didn't really give this feel.

Images below:-

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft.

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft.

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft.

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Canopy open.

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Rear view

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Occupied Cockpit.

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Occupied Cockpit.

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Unoccupied Cockpit.

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Climbing into the Cockpit.



Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Ready for the canopy to be fitted..

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Front View

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Square on front view

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Square on front view

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Side on view

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Rear view showing engines.

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Square on Rear view

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Rear View


Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Showing undercarriage

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Showing undercarriage

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Top down view

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Top down view

Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft : Top down view


Lego Design By Me 2 Man Raider Craft :With other ships - my Space Patrol set and the classic Transporter Set.



Please support my Lego Cuusoo Projects:-



http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/5890 (My Space Based MMORPG which implements player designed ships and buildings from Ledo Digital Designer.)

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/5384 (My Space Patrol Ship)

Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Lego Design By Me : My Final Set?

I started designing a huge Lego Design By Me Battlecruiser that was going to have crew quarters and a command centre, mess and galley - but before I'd finished the chassis it was already over £200...

I had to order another set though, so I decided to get my hands on the 2 man Star Raider Craft which I started showcasing the Design By Me process on this blog with.

The Finished Model
I haven't taken any pictures of this Lego Design By Me set in the bricks yet, but as soon as I do I will post them.  It does work well as a model though and is very sturdy - you can hold one wing adn shake it up and down and it stays together.

The only real criticism is the canopy for the cockpit - it works, but a moulded single piece canopy might look better.

Pictures will follow soon!

Please support my Lego Cuusoo Projects:-



http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/5890 (My Space Based MMORPG which implements player designed ships and buildings from Ledo Digital Designer.)

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/5384 (My Space Patrol Ship)

Wednesday, 7 December 2011

New Hope For Lego Design by me...

Space Patrol Ship Lego Design by me set - interior shot.
Well, it's not really Lego Design by me... In some respects it's something even cooler!

A chance to get your Lego set made into a full production set which gets full proper production and advertised and sold - and you get 1% commission on the sale of your design?

I'd love for this set to be made, if you want to see 'Space Patrol' in production and show me some support - go to this page:-

http://lego.cuusoo.com/ideas/view/5384

sign in with facebook - and click on the support button the like button and tweet it!

Maybe I should offer to buy a copy of the production set and offer it up in a prize draw?  I'll think about that one... I don't know how much the set would be as a production - I'm guessing about £60, I had to pay £90 for it as a Design by me....

Anyway, please, please do me a huge favor and earn eternal gratitude... And help get my Space Patrol set made production!

Thanks!

Some images to tempt you?  Remind you what the set I want made into production looks like?

The Space Patrol model with the Lego Design by me box  


Thursday, 24 November 2011

Lego Design by me : A Swan song...

Lego Design by is closing up shop on January 16th 2012.   Why is Lego Design by me closing shop on 16th Jan 2012?  Who knows...

They've cited cost reasons, frustrated children with models that fall apart... With the demise of Lego Universe I can only assume Lego Chief Executives have had a meeting and decided that to maximize profitability withdraw any products or services which aren't as profitable.

Personally I think Lego Universe is a great game - but the wrong game.  Lego Design by me is a great service though - the problem is it is too expensive.  There are better ways Lego Design by me could have addressed this than shutting up shop though! 

First of all, offer several levels of Lego Design by me service.  A basic where you get a bag of bits and print your own instructions and box cover off.  A Lego Design by me 'silver' where you get the bag of bits, the standard box and printed instructions and a gold Lego Design by me service which includes the glossy cover for the box with your custom lettering.

I just hope Lego Design be me is continued in some similar form once they've got their act together. The prices were supposed to come down once more people were buying and auto-picking robots could be used - but Lego Design by me never had enough customers to warrant the cost.  A vicious circle really...

My nephew was very impressed with my Space Patrol Set when he saw me building it a few weeks ago.  So because Lego Design by me is ending I decided to design and build him a Lego Design by me custom Lego Set for Christmas.  An expensive present - but it's my last chance to order a set and his last chance to own one.

I don't think he'll read this blog - so I think it's safe to show you an image of the model.  I called it the LCX1 Fighter (His initials are L.C.) and I just had room to make the box say Designed by MS for Luke.

Lego Design by me Custom Lego Set : LCX1 Fighter
All in all I'm very sad that Lego Design by me is ending, Lego Design by me was probably the best service or product that Lego was offering.  I can see the issue - designing models looks easy - but to make sure your Lego Design by me model will be solid and not fall apart needs an eye for detail, a lot of patience and a great deal of thought.

It's not easy - but it's enjoyable, whether I shall enjoy Lego Digital Designer as much now that you can't purchase your Lego Design by me model - I really don't know...

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Lego Design by me : Plagiarism, in the gallery?

I've found increasingly a number of people have been copying and re-branding my Space Patrol set in the Lego Design by me Gallery!

They say imitation is the purest form of flattery, but taking my Lego Design by me set and renaming it - then implying it's YOUR Lego Design by me set isn't cool!  I may be over reacting to this - I'm not sure how it works - maybe people are downloading it and calling it something else because they want to name it something different or add a different crew... I don't know... It does annoy me!

If you want to help and vote for my model then you need to create a Lego Design by me account to access Lego Design by me, then go to the Lego Design by me Gallery Then do a search for :-

Space Patrol

Click on the one that looks like my model and the username should read martynstanley, I'd appreciate any votes incredibly!  Even if just to rank it higher than the copies!

Incidentally, if anyone likes Lego and would like to own my Lego Design by me Space Patrol set - then go ahead and buy it! - I would be really flattered, and would love to think there's a small fleet of 'Space Patrol' Lego Design by me ships around the world.

I don't promote myself to be the greatest Lego Design by me designer ever - I just like doing Lego Design by me and wanted to share.  It is a good Lego Design by me set - the guns fall off too easily - but apart from that it's great, and your 8 - 12 year old Lego Space fan will love it, even though it is a Lego Design by me set.
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