What the heck is Rich building?

[Rich Millich]

3/30/2021:

During an unexpected three day weekend…

* Finished the #73 car. A true Rainbow Warrior race car. No, not Jeff Gordon. It’s “Team 1”, whatever that was, LEGO. (There is also a #96 “Team 1” racing fig torso, and it does not match anything well.) I ran out of 1×2 green tiles for the spoiler, so I found some $100 tiles to put up there. Maybe he’s sponsored by a mortgage or financial company. “Keep it 100.”

* Nearly finished the #37, nearly matching the shaping of the #31. I am missing two parts that I thought I had: a matched pair of curved Wedge bricks, 6 x 2, in blue. The shaping influences the stickering, and I think I’m going to have to cut stickers again…

* Did some more replacement on the median, replacing the green 2×2 slopes making up the median banking with 2×4 LBG slopes. I need more corners.

* Started tearing apart the #38 as inspiration for the shaping of the #85. I am having trouble placing the striped stickered parts in the right places. Thankfully, I have two sticker sets, so this makes distribution options.

MAJOR MILESTONE

All race cars, whether completed, partial, or in the beginning stage, have bases, tires, rims and wheel wells, including the new #2 and #3 cars. This includes the Pace Car. The requirements for entry:

* Large numerals on parts or stickers
* Matching sponsorships or associated racing livery from a different set
* No non-LEGO IPs
* A unique proportion of colors that make it distinct from other cars. But this I fix myself.

I can find no more in LEGO history that have all of the requirements. Here are the official 36 team numbers in the racing field:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 12
13 14 17 18 21 22 23 27 29 31
33 37 38 42 43 46 55 56 57 64
71 73 77 78 85 96

Some race teams are combinations of racing numerals without sponsors and racing sets with sponsors but without numerals.

MORE RACE CARS?!?!

28 is technically possible, but one is black and pearl gold without sufficient sponsors, and the other 28 is black on red with ugly gridwork. The former is more likely, as the stickering is cleaner and I do have pearl gold rims for it.

34 and 52 are also possible, and from the same set, and might make a good two car team.

No. No no no.

So I could stretch it to 39 in pursuit of NASCAR’s standard field of 43, but that’s a stupid reason. 36 is a good place to stop, as the resulting cars beyond this would be pure patchwork jobs in terms of livery like the 33, 55, 57 and 64 turned out to be. They still look nice, but the hybrid process from multiple racing sets made me cringe.

Some car numbers, like 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 18, 21, 23, 27, 28, 29, 33, and 46 can make some good looking cars, and multiple cars in some cases, but not as good as the ones I have now. Some of these “alternate” sticker sets and resulting liveries I already have built, and that is a great thing.

37 42 46 57 64 77 78 85

EIGHT CARS REMAIN

TL/DR: Finished two cars. More median work. Laid the bases for ALL remaining cars. The end of the race car field is in sight.

[Rich Millich]

3/30/2021:

During an unexpected three day weekend…

CAR CONSTRUCTION

* Finished the #73 car. A true Rainbow Warrior race car. No, not Jeff Gordon. It’s “Team 1”, whatever that was, LEGO. I ran out of 1×2 green tiles for the spoiler, so I found some $100 tiles to put up there. Maybe he’s sponsored by a mortgage or financial company. “Keep it 100.”

* Nearly finished the #37, nearly matching the shaping of the #31. I am missing two parts that I thought I had: a matched pair of curved Wedge bricks, 6 x 2, in blue. The shaping influences the stickering, and I think I’m going to have to cut stickers again…

* Started tearing apart the #38 as inspiration for the shaping of the #85. I am having trouble placing the striped stickered parts in the right places. Thankfully, I have two sticker sets, so this makes distribution options.

TRACK CONSTRUCTION

* Did some more replacement on the median, replacing the green 2×2 slopes making up the median banking with 2×4 LBG slopes. I need more corners.

* Started building “dump cans” for the pit crews to fuel up these cars on pit lane. With two dump cane per stop, and 4 paddock stalls planned, 8 dump cans needed. I have finished 2.

MAJOR MILESTONE

All race cars, whether completed, partial, or in the beginning stage, have bases, tires, rims and wheel wells, including the new #2 and #3 cars. This includes the Pace Car. The requirements for entry:

* Large numerals on parts or stickers
* Matching sponsorships or associated racing livery from a different set
* No non-LEGO IPs
* A unique proportion of colors that make it distinct from other cars. But this I fix myself.

I can find no more in LEGO history that have all of the requirements. Here are the official 36 team numbers in the racing field:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 12
13 14 17 18 21 22 23 27 29 31
33 37 38 42 43 46 55 56 57 64
71 73 77 78 85 96

Some race teams are combinations of racing numerals without sponsors and racing sets with sponsors but without numerals.

MORE RACE CARS?!?!

28 is technically possible, but one is black and pearl gold without sufficient sponsors, and the other 28 is black on red with ugly gridwork. The former is more likely, as the stickering is cleaner and I do have pearl gold rims for it.

34 and 52 are also possible, and from the same set, and might make a good two car team.

No. No no no.

So I could stretch it to 39 in pursuit of NASCAR’s standard field of 43, but that’s a stupid reason. 36 is a good place to stop, as the resulting cars beyond this would be pure patchwork jobs in terms of livery like the 33, 55, 57 and 64 turned out to be. They still look nice, but the hybrid process from multiple racing sets made me cringe.

Some car numbers, like 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 14, 18, 21, 23, 27, 28, 29, 33, and 46 can make some good looking cars, and multiple cars in some cases, but not as good as the ones I have now. Some of these “alternate” sticker sets and resulting liveries I already have built, and that is a great thing.

2 3 37 42 46 57 64 77 78 85

TEN CARS REMAIN

TL/DR: Finished two cars. More median work. Laid the bases for ALL remaining cars. The end of the race car field is in sight.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Rich Millich.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Rich Millich.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 7 months ago by Rich Millich.

[Rich Millich]

I am also going to invest heavily into unique LEGO license plates. With all these leftover bases and parts I will have, I might as well build some of our LUG’s street legal vehicles, big sports cars, compacts, a hatchback or two and some trucks. Maybe a van, since I have the City Pizza van to work from. Most of them will be blue, with some white and red mixed in.

It turns out there are a few license plates that are nonstandard. “Out of state” plates. Which is good.

This will be my next big BL order while I design and build racecars and design trackside things. Building a little car is cheap achievement while I struggle on bigger designs…

Drivers not included.

[Rich Millich]

4/5/2021:

CAR CONSTRUCTION

* Completed the #85 XU Transport car in white, red and DBG. Driver is installed.

* Did some minor adjustments to the 71 and 73 cars, adding NutyREZ as a sponsor to the #71 car on the spoiler, solidifying the red/green split on the front/rear of the car, and using the 1×2 green tiles from there to eliminate the silly $100 tiles on the spoiler of the #73.

* Changed the gas cap area on the #42 to black thanks to a black headlight brick shipment from @philmatt24. I wanted black-white-black patterns around the bottom of the car because of its sponsorship pattern:

https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=3010pb295L

I felt that the black-white-black pattern of the Bull’s Eye sponsor was strong enough and simple enough to execute on the brick of the car itself, so why not go for that?

CAR DESIGN

* Next up is probably the #77 car, as I have the detail parts and driver necessary. The problem I see is that I have twinned parts https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=93273pb034 and its companion https://www.bricklink.com/v2/catalog/catalogitem.page?P=93273pb035 that will force the shaping of the hood into a unique configuration I haven’t built yet.

If the 77 gives me trouble, I can always shift to rebuilding the #46 with some larger and bolder stickered parts I acquired that match the color scheme.

I am also THREE parts away from finishing the #42, and TWO parts away from completing the #37, so BL orders seem necessary.

PICTURES OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN?

* Set out the #27 car and driver to take some pictures of it so I can start posting completed cars that are clogging up my building space.

Progress continues!

2 3 37 42 46 57 64 77 78

NINE CARS REMAIN

[Rich Millich]

4/5/2021:

CAR CONSTRUCTION

* Completed the #85 XU Transport car in white, red and DBG, stickers adapted from a numbered Race Buggy, set 60145. Driver is installed.

* Did some minor adjustments to the 71 and 73 cars, adding NutyREZ as a sponsor to the #71 car on the spoiler, solidifying the red/green split on the front/rear of the car, and using the 1×2 green tiles from there to eliminate the silly $100 tiles on the spoiler of the #73.

* Changed the gas cap area on the #42 to black thanks to a black headlight brick shipment from @philmatt24. I wanted black-white-black patterns around the bottom of the car because of its Subsound sponsorship pattern from sets 8182 and 8147, which are the same patterning.

I felt that the black-white-black pattern of the Bull’s Eye sponsor was strong enough and simple enough to execute on the brick of the car itself, so why not go for that?

CAR DESIGN

* Next up is probably the #77 car, stickered parts from set 9094, a numbered Star Striker monster truck. I have the detail parts and driver necessary. The problem I see is that I have twinned parts that will force the shaping of the hood into a unique configuration I haven’t built yet.

If the 77 gives me trouble, I can always shift to rebuilding the #46 with some larger and bolder stickered parts I acquired that match the color scheme.

I am also THREE parts away from finishing the #42, and TWO parts away from completing the #37, so BL orders seem necessary.

PICTURES OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN?

* Set out the #27 Rally Pro car and driver (adapted from the McDonald’s Racers Car 6 – EZ Rally, set McRD6US). This is to take some pictures of it so I can start posting completed cars that are clogging up my building space.

Progress continues!

2 3 37 42 46 57 64 77 78

NINE CARS REMAIN

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Rich Millich.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Rich Millich.

[Rich Millich]

4/7/2021:

DISTRACTED

* I stumbled upon the Speed Champion Elva McLaren sets, and my eyes instantly opened up wide, realizing that this is a rare set that’s almost completely made of booster parts:

30343 Parts List

– SIX black 1×1/1×1 brackets per set pointing in the opposite direction to the ones we bought on BrickLink.

– 1×1 tiles in quarter circle: 4 in blue 2 (3 with bonus part) in red.

– Two pairs of baby bows with slanted ends in blue, and these parts are $0.25 or more in any color. It also has regular blue baby bows to place between them or in contrast.

– Nearly ALL of the set is in blue, and over half of the parts are tight plate parts, SNOT, or “finisher” parts with smooth surfaces. This boosts detail parts in key core colors.

I bought four of them. They’re currently available on BL for quite reasonable prices for the utility that the parts provide. Like most small sets, are best bought in numbers.

* Bought set 60249, the City Street Sweeper. I figured I need one to sweep the track before Race Day and for regular City display, and so I’ll obviously MOC this to include things like a license plate, room for an instrument panel for the driver, and bulk it up in size a little bit. Maybe put extra lights on it. I like the way that all four “brushes” move by simple friction.

TL/DR: Got bored, bought a small set, stumbled upon a GREAT polybag set full of booster parts.

[Rich Millich]

4/8/2021:

LICENSE PLATES

Looking through the license plates I blindly added to a store cart on BL, I started investigating the sets they came from. I’ve learned and decided several things:

* LEGO license plates are the initials of the designers who worked on that set followed by the set number. So I started looking up the associated sets.

* I can actually MOC up many of these street legal cars now that I have some experience in that over the past year, and probably both learn and apply things a little better than TLG did. So, I am now going to try to match the license plates to the car of the set it came from as a starting point for the MOC of the new vehicle, significantly altering the car. Or truck. Or camper van. Vehicle. Yeah.

* Friends cars’ color blocking is TERRIBLE overall.

* I like Friends cars otherwise, and yeah, I like the “out of state” / vanity plates they have and their pastel colors. I can mix and match the plates with the style of the car.

* Many street legal cars are parts of sets that I don’t want to get into, because either the set is too big, or it’s a Police / Fire type set. I’d have to decide on one and only one style with Police / Fire for my personal City stuff, and I’m not ready to do that yet.

* There are enough license plates left over or assigned to weirdo vehicles (mostly from IP sets) that I can appropriate those plates to more standard cars.

* I should be able to start passing out these cars along with parts to other LUGgers who want to join in on the cheap. (Are LUG car builders LUGnuts?)

Yeah, only I will know and appreciate the method, but it also gives me structure to build these cars. I already have 3 street legal cars done just with the overflow parts from the racers.

No progress yet on the #77. The shaping of the hood is intimidating me right now. I may simply shift builds and order the finishing parts for the #37 along with these license plates for the cheap brain chemical hit.

NINE CARS REMAIN

[Rich Millich]

4/10/2021:

CAR CONSTRUCTION

* I am in the middle of building the #77. I need more room on my build table, so I’m clearing off completed cars. So here’s a pic of the #27 Rally Pro car.

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[Rich Millich]

4/10/2021:

I have a backlog of six completed cars, and I’m running out of build space, so I’m going to call this batch of cars done so I can clear the track.

Here’s the #31 CB / Tele car.

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[Rich Millich]

4/10/2021:

Next up is the #33 AirBorne Spoliers car. Since the driver has a printed torso, this car gets a full pit crew.

Not completely satisfied with this one, but I can’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

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[Rich Millich]

4/10/2021:

Since I’m trying to work numerically, I took a look at the #38 R Power / ANWO Race car and decided the magenta could use a little rearranging. This is the car that started it, and the stickered parts I bought from Josh years ago.

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[Rich Millich]

4/11/2021:

CAR CONSTRUCTION

* Finished the 77 car. I added some minor sponsors, so the 77 will be one of those underfunded, underdog teams. It is at a “version 1” stage where I have the basic shaping and stickers applied, and driver installed. The driver is Captain Stunt, but the printed torso is a little baggy to be a fire suit. This, plus the lack of sponsors, means this team will not be eligible for pit lane, even with a more developed looking driver.

Often times, I look at a MOC and realize I could do better, so I’m sticking with a backlog of six “v1” cars up for either further refinement or release into the field.

* Added the #22 car back onto the development line, as upon car inspections, I realized I need a purple helmet for this driver.

* Refined the 46 X-Treme / Smooth Oil car with new parts from a speedboat set, adding more lime to the orange-lime-black-white mix. It is ready for release I think, but I still want to sit it and examine one more time.

* Did some serious work on the NEW #2 and #3. After trying to build a pure DBG and pure orange car with the same shaping, then swap parts, I saw that I didn’t have the parts to do that. I decided to “jacket” these cars in black, because black goes with anything.

I also decided to fly way off the beaten path in terms of the shaping, based on the numeral stickering being one stud wide. This meant I wanted to put a one stud curved slope at the center of a six stud wide car, leaving gaps on the hood. I decided to fill them with black SNOT studs facing inward, recessed into the half stud widths. Since that shaping was such a departure, I decided, let’s fully embrace the Near Future look on this two car team.

All I need to do is sticker these cars and maybe lift the cockpit and side walls up one plate higher to mold those side assemblies on better.

* Once these cars are version 1 done, then I can start building the final two cars, the 57 and 64, while gathering stickers and parts for the 2, 3, 22, 37, 42, and 78. And plan new cars if the 28 and 34/52 parts fall into my lap during BL buying.

2 3 22 37 42 57 64 78

EIGHT CARS REMAIN

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[Rich Millich]

4/13/2021:

DISAPPOINTMENT

One of the rules I’ve applied throughout the race car field is that at least two car numbers must be prominent on each car. Now, with the design of the new #2 and #3, that’s no longer possible… unless I replace the roofs with orange and DBG respectively… or apply the second sticker directly onto the center of the two stud wide curved slope on the trunk…

So where do I place these stickers?

New #2 sticker set

[Rich Millich]

For reference, here is the New #3 sticker set, and I want to make these cars match up as much as possible. I have some idea, as clearly all the flames need to come from the front tip of the hood, and with exactly five flame stickers, this part is easy.

But I need a second numeral on these cars somewhere. Hood? Trunk? And the slopes on the roof are too tight to put all three flame stickers up there side by side three studs wide I fear.

SOLUTION (?)

I may just Kragle the edges of the three stud wide parallel sticker “assembly” onto the slopes of the roof, creating a tighter arrangement of flames and car number that will appear on the hood.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Rich Millich.

[Rich Millich]

4/15/2021:

PART ACQUISITION

Placed three BL orders. These three orders contain the final parts needed for the #37, #42, and shaping and color blocking options for the new #2 and #3 before I apply stickers. With a side of wheel wells for street legal cars and some “CHECKPOINT” signage when I build a full circuit.

TRACK DESIGN

I think that, unlike most American racetracks, I want more overhangs with signage, like Pit Lane indicators, traffic lights doubling as caution lights and assisting the track’s system, and a pedestrian walkway doubling as Start/Finish line and flag stand. Why build for one purpose when I can build for City while I’m at it, simply removing the racetrack elements for a simpler City display?

I’m also committed to the 10 x 10 String Net parts as catch fencing, but acquisition of these parts will be agonizingly slow. And that means 8 stud wide sections, two nets tall. Oof. I have got to find a better solution.

[Dan]

Rich Millich wrote:

Oof. I have got to find a better solution.

Might I humbly suggest a bar-based solution?

[Rich Millich]

This is the bigger catch fence style.

Dan, Here’s the real life source. Some smaller catch fences, just as tall, have one small strip of angled section above the main wall. Within the main support and crossbeams there’s basically chain link fence.

I thought about this and several alternatives, including this part. Basically every part that’s grating, netting, or used as rigging on pirate ships. One guy used the 8×8 grille plates we use a lot, attached vertically. This is the same problem as this part: too much is obscured.

In terms of cost and purchase, the 9 x 13 grille has about the same availability and cost issues as the 10 x 10 net, so that’s kind of a wash, with the more open and realistic look provided by the nets.

The only other alternative I thought of was a fully brick built clip and bar fence, maybe with crossbars and robot arms, but I have no idea whether that’s more expensive than just doing it with the nets. The nets seem less expensive per section. Crossbars are going to need to be threaded through the nets anyway, somehow…

I dunno. This is a loooooot of surface area to cover, no matter what. This means $$ and time, so I’d better start thinking about that now.

[Greg Schubert]

Nets sound like a good LUGbulk item. Perhaps they have been available in the past?

[Dan]

Maybe it’s a LUG support possibility if a track will be part of our core displays? I forget the requirement around that program, but worth considering.

[Rich Millich]

Greg Schubert wrote:

Nets sound like a good LUGbulk item. Perhaps they have been available in the past?

I just tried to look at the LUGBULK 2021 Available Parts List. Access denied. I wasn’t even looking there for nets when I was ordering, because I was focused more on the cars than the track at the time.

Missed opportunity. 2022 maybe? I don’t remember seeing nets on any LUGBULK list during any year… then again, they could have been there and I just coasted over them.

[Rich Millich]

Dan wrote:

Maybe it’s a LUG support possibility if a track will be part of our core displays? I forget the requirement around that program, but worth considering.

Not to shoot my acquisition in the foot, but this is a specialty display, and to justify that as Support, it would have to be a part that we as the LUG want across the board.

There are no plans for my MOC, far from finished, to be featured regularly in events that I do not and did not regularly attend. The full construction of the track wouldn’t be ready at my building rate until 2023 anyway.

That said, nets are a MUCH more versatile building element than we think of.
Nets as FULL 2D offstud construction? Why yes!

But this is one of those nebulous foundation techniques that, while useful for anybody to bridge odd heights and distances legally, no one builds this way yet. Although if you want undulating, snowy or sandy dunes, or more flowing hills, this might be the very best way to do that and merge it back into full System on every side. Since this is string, this could be easily less than 10 x 10 stud sections, and could fill in any gap that bridges one surface to another.

They are both difficult to acquire in bulk and expensive.

This is kind of the pitch one would make for a LUGBULK part, and would be necessary to justify the LUG’s overall request.

[Rich Millich]

Doing the math, I would need one 10 x 10 stud net per 8 stud distance, the other two studs for connectivity. This means 8 nets per baseplate. There are 375 nets for sale on BL right now, the majority of which are $1.00 or more each. And slowly buying the inexpensive ones would slowly push the price higher.

Oof.

How would any LEGO builder approach creating a chain link fence?

It seems like purism would need to be broken to get a good answer.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Rich Millich.

[Greg Schubert]

Rich Millich wrote:

It seems like purism would need to be broken to get a good answer.

that sounds reasonable to me, especially if you could find something that looks LEGO

Knotless Netting

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Greg Schubert.

[Matt Redfield]

Rich Millich wrote:

That said, nets are a MUCH more versatile building element than we think of.
Nets as FULL 2D offstud construction? Why yes!

But this is one of those nebulous foundation techniques that, while useful for anybody to bridge odd heights and distances legally, no one builds this way yet. Although if you want undulating, snowy or sandy dunes, or more flowing hills, this might be the very best way to do that and merge it back into full System on every side. Since this is string, this could be easily less than 10 x 10 stud sections, and could fill in any gap that bridges one surface to another.

That is suuuuuuch a sweet technique – I’d get behind a LUGBulk or LUG Support purchase to make it financially viable… if we LUG Supported it, we could get some epically organic sleddin’ hills for the Trolley Museum / other wintry displays, plus the new DUNE movie comes out in October, just sayin’. #threadjackin’

[Matt Redfield]

Greg Schubert wrote:

Rich Millich wrote:
It seems like purism would need to be broken to get a good answer.

that sounds reasonable to me, especially if you could find something that looks LEGO

HERESY! *patooie*

Shun the nonbelievers! SHUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

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