Listen , I found out something this past week . C.A. Affects LEGO like regular Tamiya liquid glue affects styrene ! This means that we as modelers can catch some at flea markets and do this .
Say you have a large ship .You don’t want to use the flimsy stand supplied to build that ship . Well , build a cradle of assorted LEGOS . You can Tailor it to fit the hull and Bingo ! there you go . Oh, It works for Armor and Aircraft too .
Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees .I’ve been doing this for years with cars !
The beautiful part . Once put together you have to build new , if the ship or armor , or plane and car is grossly different . You will still have the base rigs for everything else . It takes two pair of pliers to pull them apart once glued , and you’ll likely suffer irrepairable damage to the bricks . So just build new , Label them and put them in a drawer , for when you need them . T.B.
I cleaned up my basement after the Grandkids were over and sorted all the un-built Legos into the proper boxes. Looks like there are a few hundred that Don’t Belong… So, I appropriated a few and will experiment. First thing to try is what do I have to do to get paint to really stick. These Logos are very Glossy. Guess I could sand a few hundred down but then I’ll never get to my Stash. Another thing is to determine what scale model ship will look appropriate either Mounted on some Legos or in a Diorama using Legos. What a dilema…
A neat Idea for something completly different. It may not be Museum quality but when I broached the idea to my oldest Grandson, He glowed! (He loves Legos!)
Hey here’s an idea . LEGOS take paint well Especially Krylon Or Rustoleum Brand . Build a drydock Dio . It can be small or large . Remember ! According to " Rulers of the World " They work out to 1/20 scale ! That’s large ! By The Way I got a " Rulers of the World " comparison chart because of the Rail-Road Museum . T.B.
Well, I am a Rattle-Can sort-a Guy since I’m inexperienced with Airbrush. Krylon and Rustoleum are easy for me to get .
Looks like Legos could be used at various scales based on some Pics I broused. Maybe 1/144 or larger might work.Some of these Drydocks show really large wall sections.
Oh you are on the right track . Now remember for smaller scale you use what LEGO calls plates . These are a third the height of the regular brick .Then you cover the studs with the flat 1x2, 1x3 etc tiles .This covers the studs . OR , Cut the visible studs off with a sprue cutter and glue .010 strips on to cover what you’ve done .
As far as paint sticking . Sand lightly with 320 grit WET after gluing , or wash with lacquer thinner ! .
Last Christmas the Grandkids were over and wanted to “build a wall”. (Too much tv?).
They built it and I found it on a shelf and did the natural thing, added to it. And then…
I had to put a model in it. And then… I remembered your “Nutty idea”. And then…
well, here we are, dry-docked at last.
Ran out of Legos.
The model is the Revell Snap-tite Nautilus. I added some left-over stuff. It is not finished. I am not doing a dry-dock Diorama. My granddaughter just wants the ship. A lot of touch-up is still needed. The figures were just for scale.
It’s a nice kit and since it’s fictitious, you can do anything you want with it. And yes, the wires go to internal lighting.
If I get another kit, I plan to completly reverse the plan. The Stern will become the Bow and the bottom will become the deck. The resulting profile seems to look more believable.
My wife has a great sense of Humor (She has to.). Late last night she saw my “drydock” and not knowing what it was supposed to be and knowing I played with it, made the appropriate comments. I saw it this morning on my way to the post office and grabbed some pics before they " …tear down this wall".
I just re - read this post to see if I could add anything new . I have that very Submarine . One difference though . All the interior stuff have been replaced with scratch - Built plastic and brass components .
What a great cheap venue for detailing experiments . I went and bought two more to experiment with .
Try making the Stern the Bow. Those “window” depressions no longer will imped forward movement. And then turn it upside down. All of a sudden it starts to look a bit like the USS Holland (Okay, wishful thinking : You need to narrow the hull A LOT lot and sand the hull smoth and add a fairwater and reshape the bow and stern. Fortunatly it would only need a simpler propeller setup).
The best part is you can make it any scale you want. It will work as a 1/48 Holland type sub or as a 1/200 20,000 leagues make believe sub which could scale out to 178 feet long- like the Disney/ Julkes Verne 20,000 leagues sub, depending a bit on how big you make the Ram.
I will PM you in prep to send you my original proposed WIP.
(I have no guts to post it)
I am in Virginia today with my grandkids. It would take awhile for me to access my WIP data in Philly. I will send it when I can.
Gonna watch all the Star Wars. The second oldest won every movie in a raffle including Rogue 1 and Last Jedi. I can sleep when I get home.
I’m not laughing. I am smiling, Ear-to-ear. We think alike.
Gosh, I bought a “Lot” of 3 of’em a couple of months back and I have the one I just narrowed the hull on and I still have 1 un-built somewhere in the stash.
A space ship looms in the Future for sure.
Might make a nice Interplanetary Refueling Tanker. It’s wide enough.
And Thank you for reviewing my small wip “test”.
Jim.
Psst… I have another write up on a re-evaluation of the kit.
You are right, there’s plenty of possibilities for this nutty model.
have you considered taking the " Window " and putting it behind a door ? You know , like a torpedo Tube Door ? For the Steam - Punk version it will become the container for the steam engine and the flotation chemical . Plus the four bladed stick prop out back . Below will be a gondola reminiscent of an upside down Volkswagen Bus !
Now the other thing is take two , Cut them just right and make it longer . Even longer still with framing and sheet in the gap . Long enough that you can squeeze the ends and create the very neat Hunley ! Also a quarter of it makes a neat racing Hull Capsule for a " Star Wars" type Water-Borne Pod Racer . Shall I continue ?
I modified it though . Now the crane moves easily up and down the pier on little wheel sets . I did a Non - LEGO thing though . I took that hull and cut it in half . I then took another and cut the bow and stern off and inserted that large center piece , into that space on the other one .
Using the" LEGO " Plates to re-create the Deckhouse and deck hardware . That way I had everything in scale sort - of . One plate equals one third of a LEGO block in heighth . I converted the re-assembled hull into a MEGA -Tanker for my room . The Pier is longer and thanks to you I’ll have to have a Dry-Dock now ! LOL.LOL. T.B.
