LEGO Furniture and Appliances Part 1

Some of the trickier parts of LEGO MOCs for me is making believable furniture and appliances.  Here a few bits of furniture and appliances I have made so far.

I posted these a while ago as a part of a raised corner MOC.  Some simple bits of furniture, I’m not really sure what the thing on the far left is supposed to be, the idea was some kind of barrel holder for a shop but it ended up being too bulky to put a lot of them into the MOC.

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Here are some appliances for an upcoming MOC I’m building for the kids.  I think they are fairly recognizable.  I’m sure there are easier ways to make the lids open/close, the trick here was keeping them small enough to not take up inordinate amounts of room in the house.

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Cubicle Dreams

Here is a small MOC I did for a charity raffle at work.  I should have taken more photos as it was being constructed despite the many changes that occurred throughout.  As it is, you can’t see the little rat that was under the desk.  The flipper bins are also functioning, though I did not take a photo of that either.

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Top Down View

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Angled Iso view

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Iso View

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Iso View

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Front Angled View

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Front View

When I was building this I thought it might be a little too bland and so I checked our cubicles back at work and…they are somehow even more bland than this.  Just the sort of place to foment creativity!

The scale was also a bit of a challenge on this one too.  The drawers are only 2 high, but most offices have 3 or more and differing sizes.  That would have made the desk far too tall; as it is, the cubicle walls are almost too tall which meant only 1 flipper bin as opposed to multiple flipper bins as most offices might have.  I did manage to squeeze in the under flipper bin lights though.

Octorok?

This has been sitting around doing nothing.  It was going to be part of a Legend of Zelda vignette, but I never got around to actually finishing it, especially since this guy needs a little help.  Was going more for the original NES LoZ and trying to get a little spiky with this guy.  Before disassembling him for other projects, thought I’d snap a shot and post it.

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Go Red Mecha, Go!

Thought I’d try my hand at a mecha utilizing some of the curved window pieces I like to use.  The original idea was for a mecha on a much smaller scale, but with the geared pieces it had to get a little larger.  By the time I added all the brick, poor red mecha was having some difficultly staying pose-able.

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Front on Pose with Sword and Shield

Everyone knows that all mecha need swords.  Despite all the high tech, it still boils down to basic swordsmanship.  You can see Red Mecha’s “zapper” (as Cael calls it) laying useless to the side.

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Side view with Sword and Shield

You can kind of see the little “kabuto” hat/helmet I was trying to give this guy to match the little “mustache” on the front glazing.  You can also see the serrations on the sword.

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Side view of Shield and Sword

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Rear view with wings closed and angled

Originally, I wasn’t going to add wings but thought they would look alright.  They add a lot of unnecessary weight, however, and so I had to drop the rotating engine pieces I wanted to add.

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Wings partially opened

You can see the “sneaker-ish” shoes with wing-a-lings.  You can also see the mecha’s back.  The wings don’t look too bad considering they were an afterthought.

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Wings fully extended

I also wanted to add a bit more to allow the wings to flip up horizontally, but again, the weight.

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Rear with opened hatch

Access to the red mecha, the “back” hinges up.  Unfortunately, you can’t see the interiors too well, I need a better lens for close-ups.

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Clenched fist and Raised Zapper

Red Mecha holding the zapper with clenched fist.  I supposed you could also equip the shield in combination.

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Red Mecha with Zapper

The bits with the grey vents is supposed to be a magazine.  Any longer and it would have made the zapper even more unwieldy.

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Point blank zapper

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Side view of Red Mecha with Zapper

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Red Mecha ready to lift off

Or ready for a hug, I suppose.

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Standing Red Mecha

You can see the “hands” pretty good here.  They actually grip things fairly well.

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Red Mecha’s Weaponry

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Red Mecha’s Weaponry

I actually wanted to do a long rifle as well, but it would have been too long and difficult to pose.

Extra Photos

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Raised Corner City MOC

Just completed another MOC that I’ve been working on for quite a while.  As usual, it seems like I’m always short of the pieces I really need and so, you’ll probably notice a few spots where this is the case.

The idea behind this MOC was to use the spiral step stairs and also create stairs leading down to a lower level like a lot of older brick and stone buildings.  I also wanted to incorporate some “basement” windows.  The sidewalk for this MOC starts off three bricks off the baseplate so if it were to be connected, one would need to grade up to this MOC.  If I had enough LEGOs, I would certainly do so.

The Lower Floor, Basement or Cellar Store

There should probably be some sort of railing near the cavity where the stairs go down.  Also, the angled bricks were not quite long enough to prevent that gap you can see there.

Bottom Floor

View from corner of bottom level

Bottom Floor

Front view of bottom level

Bottom Floor

Side view of bottom level

Bottom Floor

Angled view of bottom level

I though I would do something different with the grates in this MOC.  Ideally, I would have used the dark grey “headlight slot” bricks to fit in with the bottom colors.  Also, if I had silver “fence” pieces to use for the grating it would look nicer.

Bottom Floor

Top down side view of bottom level

It would have been nice to have a cleaner break with the flat tiles at the top of the stairs.

Bottom Floor

Angled view of bottom level

Bottom Floor

Angled top down view of bottom level

Bottom Floor

Back view of bottom level

There is a “hidden wall” section leading to this tunnel that the rat is occupying, you can’t see it very well in the other pictures.  It is behind the counter.

Bottom Floor

Angled side view of bottom level

That’s it for the bottom level.  The idea was a kind of basement level store, separated from the rest of the building.  The stairs were a tighter fit than I had anticipated.  I was constrained by the average sidewalk widths of the LEGO Creator sidewalks.

The First Floor

The original idea was to split the first floor into either two residences or two stores, but there just wasn’t enough space to do that.  The back stairs eat up far more space than is necessary, but part of that was due to the basement floor stairs.

First Floor

Angled view of first floor

The balcony turned out nicer than I thought as well as the rounded glass piece, although it does look a little wonky.

First Floor

Front view of the first floor

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Side view of the first floor

The little statuary portions didn’t quite work out the way I wanted, it’s a little too plain.

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Top down front view of first floor

Not as much space here as I would have liked, but it still works.

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Top down side view of first floor

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Side view of first floor

Hinges for the wall leading to the “kitchen/dining” area.  Of course, the hinges would have to go or be inset when lining it up with other sets.

First Floor

Side view of first floor with opened wall

You can see parts of the kitchen here.  You can also see how those stairs make it difficult to access this portion, thus the hinges.

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Side angled view of first floor with opened wall

The rest of the “kitchen/dining” area with the stove and refrigerator.  Originally, I wanted to put a full sized dining table in there, but there just wasn’t room.

The Second Floor

The second floor is the “living” area, it’s a more reasonable height as well.  I went for a lot of different elements for the facade, some statuary and detailing.  I did have enough grey frogs, but they are not all shown.  I think the kids harvested them from the walls and I never located them afterwards.

Second Floor

Angled view of second floor

The statuary portions just barely fit into their cavities and they hide some of the necessary bridging and messy bits necessary to make the angles work.  The little gold bits above the doors were originally going to be housings for some kind of canopy, but I gave up on trying to work it out.

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Front view of second floor

Second Floor

Side view of second floor

You can see I had to move the grey frogs around to take the photos.

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Top down view of second floor

Second Floor

Top down angled view of second floor

The TV actually rotates around for different “viewing angles”.  It still looks pretty sparse.

Second Floor

Top down angled back view of second floor

Those square things behind the couch are supposed to be “pictures” of some sort.  The little grey drawers under the windows were necessary as I didn’t have enough grey 1×2 flat plates to finish the tiling.

The Third Floor

This is the “bedroom” space.  This level was the most difficult level to finish off for a variety of reasons.  The angled front with the lions were not easy to finish, they constantly broke off and required some complicated bridging to make work.  Also, because of the height and the way I build, it was very difficult to lay the tile in the “walk-in closet”.  If I knew how I was going to finish it off, I would have laid the tile before it got so tall or closed in.

Third Floor

Angled front view of third floor

I think the lion and window combination worked out well over the statuary portions.

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Front view of third floor

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Side view of third floor

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Angled front view close up of third floor

The middle portion under the window is actually sitting loose and not tied in to the floor at all, it has to slide in just right to hold it still.

Third Floor

Top down side view of third floor

The angled portion is rather messy, but necessary for the roof to fit right.

Third Floor

Top down front view of third floor

You can see how I ran out of 1×2’s in the right color, but it isn’t too noticeable (unless I point it out).  The grey rod is there to hold the roof trap door in place which comes down into “walk-in closet”.  Probably would have been better to turn that into a bathroom now that I think about it.

Third Floor

Angled top down front view of third floor

Most beds have a cat in it, my wife can attest to this fact of life.  The bed seems larger than most, but it fits.

Third Floor

Top down front view of third floor

The Rooftop Level

Rooftops are usually pretty boring.  I tried to do something different with the rooftop here, but had to abandon it…not enough pieces in the right colors…or patience.

Rooftop

Angled front view with rooftop

Doesn’t look too bad from this angle, the sloped crenelations help.

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Front view with rooftop level

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Side view with rooftop

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Angled top down view with rooftop

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Angled top down front view with rooftop

Originally, I was going to extend the dark grey portions back further onto the rooftop but the angles made that too difficult.  Not to mention lack of pieces in the right colors.

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Angled back view with rooftop

Boring back and side view, but it is intended to have buildings flush against both sides.  It also gives a sense of scale for the height.

All the Levels

All the levels removed and side by side, and a promise kept.  Once finished, the kids get to play with it.  I figure it will be disassembled at some point anyway.

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Furniture

Some close ups of some of the furniture throughout the MOC.

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LEGO “Spencer” Train

I made my youngest son a LEGO version of the Spencer train from the Thomas videos they watch all the time.  I based it off of one of the diecast metal trains, otherwise it would have ended up looking a bit different, especially the coal tender.  I had to build this one a little sturdy to withstand some serious shoving around.  When he gets older, I’ll fill the tender with the little round black pieces to look better.  This is what I was going for, and this is what I ended up with:

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Space Marine Transport MOC

Finished off this Space MOC I’ve been fiddling with.  As usual, I am missing all of the right pieces in the right colors.  I think it could also use more and better greebling.

Space Marine Transport

Space Marine Transport

You can see here how I’m missing the red curved piece; I actually have three of those in red, but not the mirrored piece for the other side.  I’m sure its buried somewhere but I wanted to finish it so I could harvest these pieces for other projects.  Actually, this whole MOC started with the front bit…the window portion turned sideways with the curved parts holding it in place.  I may come back to this window configuration for another MOC but turn it vertical instead and see how that turns out.

Back left view of Space Marine Transport

Back left view of Space Marine Transport

You can see the old dark greys mixed in with the newer dark greys.  Greebling looks kind of random to me.  Originally the wings were going to be different, but they just ended up like this.

Back right view of Space Marine Transport

Back right view of Space Marine Transport

Sparse greebling on this side.  I thought the engines turned out okay; I was playing around with using two “wheel wells” together and seeing how that would look framing the engine bits.  I actually saw someone else using the pieces in this way for a building and was intrigued.

 

Right side of Space Marine Transport

Right and under side of Space Marine Transport

A view from somewhat underneath showing the angles used.  I think it would look better if the red angled “striping” in the middle extended all the way back.  Maybe next time.

Left side of Space Marine Transport

Left side of Space Marine Transport

Left side of Space Marine Transport with open hatch

Left side of Space Marine Transport with open hatch

Right side of Space Marine Transport with open hatch

Right side of Space Marine Transport with open hatch

 

Top view of Space Marine Transport

Top view of Space Marine Transport

I’m happy with the overall basic shape of the MOC but not so much the wings.  Without some kind of wings, it felt kind of awkward.  Again, you can see how it could use more greebling.

Top view of Space Marine Transport with top removed

Top view of Space Marine Transport with top removed

The framework of the Transport and interior.  The interior has pretty much no greebling whatsoever; but there wasn’t a lot of room for it.  Spacing was a little off on the “benches” so I had to stagger the Space Marines.

Back interior of Space Marine Transport

Back interior of Space Marine Transport

You can see I didn’t have any more of the right color arches.  Also, the half heart hose greeble in the back there.

Front interior, cockpit, of Space Marine Transport

Front interior, cockpit, of Space Marine Transport

There is actually more to be seen than shows up here.  A lot of instrument panels are hidden, but again, it could still use more greebling.  I probably should have taken more shots as it was being built to see things more clearly.

Overall, its ok.  It was mostly an experiment with the window pieces that turned into a transport.  Next time will be better planned out and probably turned vertical.

Space Marine Transport stop-motion-video

I finished a space MOC I’ve been fiddling with for a while and thought I would try out some stop motion video with some basic software.  It’s pretty basic, but the program was a lot easier and quicker than I thought it would be.  Next time I’ll take a little more time to make it look nicer.  For now, just testing out how it looks on here and how it views online.  More pictures of the MOC to follow.

Lego City MOC – the Antique Shop

I’ve had some time to fiddle around with the Legos again.  I designed this MOC to fit in with the LEGO Creator series; the floors line up and the sidewalks look similar.  I tried to keep the style similar, however, I feel this one is lacking in the color department.

Street front

Street front, from L to R: Set 10197, Set 10218 with my MOC in between, and Set 10211

You can clearly tell which one is the MOC; a lot of grey and white.  I think it is OK for a first shot at fitting in with the series.  If the white portions were dark grey I’d be happier.  Every city needs standard grey buildings, right?

Close up Street front

Close up Street front: Set 10218 with my MOC in between

I have since found the pieces to fill in the pavers, other than the roof being slightly higher, I think it fits in alright enough.

MOC Front

MOC Front

Pulled away, the white window bits seem a bit out of proportion.  I’m not happy with the decorative blue parts on the white window elements, but I figured less would be more in this case than something overly complicated.

MOC Rear

MOC Rear

The rear needs some help.  I was fiddling around with different window decorations and such.  Most building rears aren’t very fancy as it is anyway.

MOC Ground floor

MOC Ground floor

In hindsight, I should probably have done this Antique Shop with a larger baseplate as I ended up with more “antiques” than I thought I would.

MOC Second floor

MOC Second floor

The furniture is rather sparse, but at least there’s something in there.

MOC Third floor

Supposed to be a kind of Proprietor’s area with the trap door and all.  Still rather sparse and my furniture needs help.