Tommorow (June 15th) is the last day we accept entries to Indiana Jones Building Contest (remember, 24:00 GMT, check your timezone!). New entries are pouring in! Here are few of them:
ImpreSariO submitted UCS model of Ford Trimotor from “Temple od Doom”:
and a car vs plane vignette from Last Crusade:
Ciamek heads for the same categories with equally amazing creations. Mine Chase vig, from “Temple of Doom”:
and Mark VII tank from “Last Crusade”:
We have previously written here and here about the magnificent Technic MOCs built by Nico71. We said then, that there will be more to come, and so it happened - today we bring you Nico himself:
Klocki - Bonjour, Nico. Let’s start with a short presentation of yourself - where do you come from, what is your daily occupation, and how did you come across the Lego bricks?
Nico71 - I am 19 and a first year student in mechanical and production engeenering. I am a French AFOL and come from Haute Savoie. My Lego adventure started in 1995 when I got my first Lego box: the Supercar 8880. It was a revelation and during the next 6 years, I bought all the super sets (one set a year). In January 2007, after my Dark Age, I bought the 8436. So, my Lego adventure started again, but this time it is definitely with the studless parts ! 
- How long is it since you started to publish your MOCs at Brickshelf? I think I’ve seen some of them pretty long ago, but it is only recently that I’ve noticed really huge amount of your new MOCs. I must say I admire the way you blend the speed of building with the quality. I am called a fast builder, but I think I could learn from you a lot
- I started to publish my MOCs on Brickshelf in August 2007. As a consequence, 30 or 40 one set MOCs built from 8436 are not in my gallery (and unfortunately, I didn’t take any photo). My BS gallery includes all my work since August 2007. I dont’ think I am a fast builder. Actually, I have the time to build my MOCs. Most of them are built in approximately 10 hours. I usually create one MOC a week.
- Your MOCs are quite complex, very functional and very realistic. Do you have some special knowledge on machines, some kind of engeenering education perhaps?
- Thanks a lot ! 
I haven’t special knowledge on machines but before building a MOC, I try to gather information on the machine (via Liebherr’s website, forums…) I want to reproduce. For instance, it helps me to get the right proportions for my MOC.
- I like the variety of your MOCs - you are excellent at construction machines, such as excavators or loaders, but at the same time you’re just as good with diverse trucks and supercars. Do you have some favourite type of machines to build? Or is there some kind of machines that you’ve never built before and you’re going to build?
- As you noticed, what I prefer are construction machines such as mining or earthmoving equipment. I also love trucks and supercars. But it is very tough to create a supercar, especially the design.
You ask a good question: what am I going to do when I will have reproduced all the existing construction machines ? I think I will create many supercars or special machines. Trial Truck is also something I like. In fact, it is quick to build a Trial Truck in 1:10 scale, just for fun. Besides, I love to create one set MOCs because I know that it can be rebuilt very easily by the other AFOLs. It is very motivating for me to give some inspiration to AFOLs.
- Is there one MOC you are particularly proud of? And what about your future plans, do you have some longer list of MOCs to build? What are you building at the moment?
- I am very proud of my crawler loader using only parts of bulldozer 8275, because many people have rebuilt it and contacted me to send photos. It’s a success for me because I think I have given something very interesting to the community. I am also proud of my wheel loader and my crawler excavator. I think it is the two best MOCs I created. Before, I couldn’t achieve these 2 projects, because I hadn’t enough parts. Today, with my collection I can build everything I want. The list of MOCs I want to build is still very big! It not so difficult to find ideas. But these ideas have to be interesting for me. For example, I don’t plan to build a new crawler excavator because I am satisfied with the one I did. At the moment, I’m building a special machine: a Xerion Cougar for a contest at setechnic.com. My next project is a big Trial Truck 6×6 using the wheels of supercar 8880.
- I admire it when the people publish instructions for their MOCs, it’s a great way of doing something nice to the society. Many of your MOCs have instructions attached, and some even come with LDR files. Do you often design your MOCs using 3D models, or do you just do it for the instructions? Do you get much feedback from people who use these instructions to re-build your creations?
- No! MLCad is very boring, and I only use it to create instructions. But for the small instructions such as my little wheel loader it is not very hard. On the contrary, for a big instruction like my crawler loader it is very hard and boring. It takes 50 hours of work on the software, whereas I “only” need 10 hours to build it with bricks. Therefore, I decided to do instructions with MLCad only for the small MOCs. For the big MOCs, I only take photos. For my crawler loader, I got many feedback from people who rebuilt it, and I am very happy because it is very rewarding for me. I’m very glad when I enrich the community !
- There is a special thing about your MOCs that I especially like, that is a modern building technique. They are built in a very smart way, so that they resemble the way that the official Lego Technic sets are built nowadays, with lots of liftarms used in many ways, with emphasis on nice colors and silhouette, and using only parts that are necessary. I think many of your creations, like this wheel loader or that excavator could easily rival the official sets. This is a rare level of building skill, how did you achieve it, and have you been contacted by the Lego perhaps? I think they would surely notice your skills, as they are very close to those of their designers.
- I don’t really know. When I plan a MOC I have some pictures of the real machine and I try to create the same thing. I pay very much attention to the design, the colors and the homogenity of the design. But I am sure that if I build a MOC with fullstud parts, it will be very ugly because I am not used to build with that kind of parts. I have never been contacted by the Lego Company. If it should happen, I don’t know if I would be willing to work for the firm. Actually, Lego is a passion and not a work for me. And I don’t want you to pay to get my creation ! ^^
- Tell me, how much attention do you pay to other people’s MOCs? Do you browse Brickshelf regularly, do you seek for an inspiration or ideas in the work of other AFOLs, or do you prefer to stay independent? Are there any builders that have influenced the way you build, or shown you some new directions of building?
- I check Brickshelf every day. It is a very big bank of ideas and a great inspiration. The community work is on Brickshelf and that is the reason why I upload my work on it. Many builders influence me: Erik Leppen, Zoli, you (Sariel) and many others. The 8436 and the 8275 also have influence on me. The 8436 because I was building MOCs only with it for 6 months (I learned how to build in studless). And the 8275 because this set changed my vision of the studless design (especially combination of liftarms and tiles). My crawler loader had the same design as the bulldozer 8275. In fact it’s the first MOC I created with the parts of the dozer. So, I think that my inspiration is 50% from to official Lego sets and 50% from the other AFOLs.
- What is your favourite Technic set of all times? Is it the 8275 Bulldozer, praised for its PF elements, or perhaps something different?
- The bulldozer influenced me and I love to create one set MOCs with the bulldozer (my crawler loader or pipelayer). The 8275 offers a lot of possibilities. But it had only treads, so it is not possible to create very different one set MOCs out of 8275. I have a preference for the pneumatic system than the electric system. So I think my favorite Technic set is the wheel loader 8459, this model is beautiful and very functional. But the PF system is a great technological breakthrough.
- Is there some Technic part that does not exist today, but you would particularly like to see it in the upcoming sets? Something that would make building easier for you, or perhaps allow you to create some special kind of MOC?
- Yes, I would like very tall pneumatic cylinders (about 15 slots) ! :). I would like also a compressor box with an axle in enter and a pneumatic end at the issue. It were much more convenient than the system with mini pneumatic cylinder.
- I know that you’re running a blog with your MOCs. What’s the reason behind it, do you find it a comfortable way to present your creations? Can we expect an English version some day, perhaps?
- The blog is very pratical to present my creations, before uplaoding them on Brickshelf. Thanks to the blog I can give a description and a presentation that people can read. I also think that blogs are a good platform to show MOCs. It’s a collection of all my best work. My English is very bad so I don’t think that there will be a English version, sorry!
- Tell us something about the AFOLs society in France. Is it a popular hobby, does it have a long tradition in your country? How well are the French AFOLs organised, and what place in the Internet is the best one to meet them and see their creations?
- I have never met other AFOLs in a AFOL day. But I think that Lego is a popular hobby: when I say that I play with Lego, people smile, and then they understand that we can create many interesting things with Lego bricks. Freelug is the biggest French AFOL association and it organizes several meetings. Internet is a very big place for my hobby because it is a practical way to show MOCs and see others MOCs.
- You have built several Trial Truck, does it mean that there is an active Truck Trial society in France, or do you just build them for yourself? If there are regular TrTr races in Frances, what rules do they have?
- I don’t think that there is an active Truck Trial society in France. For example, I have never built a Trial Truck for the competition. Nevertheless, I’m planning to do it. It’s not a widespread sport in France, but Trial Truck interests many French people. I think that Poles are the masters of the Trial Truck!
- Merci beaucoup pour ton temps, I hope to see many more of your creations soon. Happy building!
I am very pleased to appear on Klocky. Thank you and thanks to the community! Play well!
PS: Thanks to Anio (http://www.setechnic.com/) who help to translate some sentences.
Piotrek Builder reminds us of a memorable scene from Indiana Jones and th Tempe of Doom:
Please note: Indiana Jones Contest ends this week!
Look at this amazing samurai figure by Tyler (Legohaulic)! I particularly like the blood dripping from the dragon’s head and from the sword.
During last few weeks a lot of Indiana Jones creations were built by AFOLs around the world. Some of them were submitted to our Indiana Jones Building Contest, some not (and they should!). Let’s take a look at few of them:
Jordan Schwartz (Sir Nadroj) created several wonderful scenes:
Crises shows a classic scene of Indy and the staff of Ra:
And Majek pictures Indy and Johny Thunder heading for the same treasure:
Some time ago I’ve mentioned that the end of the year 2007 witnessed a flood of Technic MOCs in the Lugpol community. The crowning achievement of this time was the Poland’s biggest MOC - a 1:40 model of Liebherr LR 11350 truss crane built by Aurimax. Aurimax kept showing no new MOCs for months, while secretly working on this creation, that would eventually bring us all to our knees. Today, just a little bit late, we have for you and interview with the creator of this over 4 meters high monster.
Klocki - Hello Auri. Let’s begin with a couple of words about you: where are you from, what do you do for living, and how did your adventure with Lego bricks begin?
Aurimax - Hmm, a couple of words about me? I’m 28, I’m a dental technician, currently living in Nowy Targ. I just happened to come here, and it seems like I’m going to stay here for a while, though who knows… Like I said, my daily occupation are metal and plaster teeth. My “relation” with Lego has started in the old times of Pewex [shops that imported Western merchandise to Poland in the Iron Curtain era]. The accessibility to Lego sets was awfully poor. I was given my first set on Christmas Eve of 1987, when I was 7 years old, it was the 6656 set, and the others followed, sometimes more, sometimes less. The financial situation was mediocre sometimes, but sometimes I has luck.
I guess you all know the 8720 set. At the beginning of 90, I was around 12 years old, I was given 50 000 zloties (pre-denomination money, unfortunately) on Children’s Day. What else could I buy than Lego? So I went to Pewex, and saw a shiny new Lego motor - a dream come true. I asked the saleswoman how much it was, and she told me: 22 000 zloties. I was shocked for a moment, and then I asked only for ONLY ONE SET (no good to be sly, mom always tells me). I paid for it, and got it wrapped up in a Lego bag. MY DREAMS CAME TRUE, I ran all the way home. Upon opening the set, it turned out that the price of 6 required batteries is almost equal to price of the set. It became obvious later, that the proper price of the set was 422 000 zloties actually, but ONLY THIS ONE SET was improperly tagged - the price lacked the first digit. I remember my mom’s monthly salary was 1 200 000 zloties at the time, so I could never afford this set at full price.
That was my wonder. Everything has changed since then.
Now it’s much better, yet still far from luxury. I was back into Lego bricks at 2005, after some 10 years of the Dark Age. The bag of bricks in my cellar just kept bothering me, especially when my son was about to be born in 2 months. So I’ve pre-taken care of his intellectual development, by buying 3 kilos of bricks at Allegro. Then I bought some more, and more, and so on. I suppose I own some 100 kilos at the moment. It’s troublesome to keep it all in my room, but I still can make it - that is, as long as I don’t buy more.
- Where did you get the idea to build that big? Why this particular crane, Liebherr LR 11350, has your choice been limited by the scale, or did you plan a truss crane from the beginning?
- That’s where my dark side reveals itself I simply wanted to build the BIGGEST model in Europe. I was only some 40-60 1×16 Technic bricks short. Time will come when I have my payback. The choice was simple, the biggest challenge is followed by the biggest machine, that is Liebherr LR 11350. Taking the size into account, a telescopic crane is no good idea, and you know why. The constructional problems are massive, the boom’s weight, the number of parts, boom lifting system - that’s abstraction. Truss are lightweight and resistant, and don’t require some abundant amount of parts. I like cranes, and I’ll probably stick to them for a while. My crane idol is ABRANT23. His cranes are masterpieces, and that’s the level I want to come close to. From Polish builders, I admire Mirek (Benny80), his models are brilliant too!
- How did your close ones react to an idea to build something over 4 meters high? What did the people who think Lego are just small sets for small kids say?
- That’s the annoying part. Ever since an interview with me was published in Cracovia Newspaper, people think I’m a freak, some kind of weirdo. My wife tolerates my hobby, so does my son, even if unintentionally all the others… I guess they condemn it, that’s the sad truth. The situation was somewhat better when the crane was deployed across three rooms of my house. At this time they changed their opinion, from considering the Lego bricks a toy for some 8-years old. When I’ve been deploying the crane in a cinema (the only place with rooms high enough), I saw people’s reactions. These have been very favourable for the most. Lots of people congratulated me on the idea and persistance.
- Over 17 kilos of weight, height of 4.6 meters, 7 motors, 600 tread links, some 100 meters of rope - what else does your crane include?
- Not much more. It’s just that no one writes guides on how tu build such a thing :/ It took 6 moths in total. The documentation and planning part took about 3 weeks. About one hour was needed to deploy all parts on the ground, and then 2 hours more to raise it to a working position.
- The question that probably everyone who sees you crane wants to ask is: what collection of parts it takes ti build such a giant? What kind of bricks resources did you have before you started to build it, and how many purchases were necessary in the process?
- I own “some” bricks, it’s hard to estimate the exact number because I mostly buy in bulk. But surely it takes “some” resources to build over 1 meter tall / long. Above all, I lacked lots of 40 tooth gears and treads, currently I have over 40 gears of that kind, and nearly 4 meters of treads. I bought the new treads too, but the order was delivered kinda late, I think that the model would look better with them. I can surely write that the next model will have the new treads and news motors
- One of the interesting solutions you have used are driving rings used as locks on winches, that allow to disengage the winch from the drive. Tell me, have you encountered any problems with driving rings under big loads? It happened to me many times that driving rings unclutched themselves under tensions in gearboxes.
- Driving rings make a lot things easier, and greatly shorten the time needed to deploy and pack up the model. With rings disengaged, I was able to plug in a motor bypassing the transmission system and quickly coil the ropes. There are huge gear ratios in the winches, as they deal with many kilos of loads. The unclutching never occured, but I believe it was thanks to the fact that there was some gear reduction between the rings and the winches. So they were not exposed to full loads, and that is probably the solution. A lot of trouble could have happened should the driving rings be attached directly to the winches.
- I’m greatly impressed by the fact that your crane, being over 10 kilos heavy, is still able to move, driven by regular 9V Lego motors. Was it difficult to build a chassis that will support that kind of weight and allow to move it around? No problems with the endurance of axles or treads?
- As for the chassis,the only problem was the transmission. The simpliest was was to build motors into the appropriate tread, but I couldn’t fit them in. I placed motors in the lateral beams between treads. It took me some time, as this kind of weight required huge gear reduction. The worm gears were a necessity, then some additional gears, and so it drove. Speed was obviously minuscule, but that’s almost like a Truck Trial. Not a single axle or gear was damaged in this project, so I suppose the reduction was just fine. To obtain greater surface of treads, I’ve used double treads with 1×8 plate on them. It’s not a perfect solution, plates tend to fall of on obstacles.
- What has been a greatest challenge in the building process? Or perhaps something turned out to be surprisingly easy?
- Hmmm, a challenge? It was a challenge to raise up something over 4 meters long using just a few ropes. The tensions have been critical, several times the construction collapsed and the trusses broke, or the blocks were disrupted. Nothing was easy with this crane, it was difficult all along, when I fixed up one thing, another one failed. Today I’m aware that with this scale I could have make it look better, but I’m not such an aesthete as Maciek Drwiega or Dmac. Functionality comes before the look for me, so there are few details, but at least I prepared my own stickers
- Your crane was enthusiastically praised by the polish community. Have you been surprised by the reactions, or was there something particularly pleasant? Have you paid attention to the response to your crane abroad?
- Hmmm! As for the reactions, it’s been a most pleasant surprise, I didn’t expect this kind of enthusiasm. Well, it’s just a MOC like any other [just somewhat bigger 
- Sariel], and deserves not much description. I was happy to see the model being praised, and receiving some constructive remarks. I will pay more attention to make my next crane better Sincerely, I have no idea what was the response abroad - if there was any, I’m happy with it.
- What can you tell us about your plans for future? Is the next MOC going to be big too, and when can we expect it?
- Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to build at the moment :/ I only build spontaneously, not like you - 3 or 4 MOCs every month. Sometimes I build quickly, sometimes not. I can only promise that I’m preparing for something tall again. Just a few Bricklink orders more, and perhaps something will come out of it.
- Thank you for your time, keep building
- Thanks and regards, Auri.
This should be banned. Space builders should sit in their corner of LEGO universe and stick to their starships, shouldn’t they? But no, instead, they go on out territiry and show creations that totally take the breath away and make my jaw drop. What a cheek
Here’s what Adrian Florea (a new LEGO Ambasador from Romania BTW) did:
If this is not Adrian’s a one-time fling with castle, we will have a major competitor for this year’s Colossal Castle Contest…
Kris Kelvin presents a impressive castle gate diorama
I like the wooden structure over the gate, the cart and this group of countrymen on the left.
A trip to Cuba inspired Patrick Bosman to build this wonderful Havanian street diorama:
The cars and building facade are great, but take a look at the other side - there are rooms fool of details!
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