Monday, April 5, 2021

Carter Baldwin's Blade Runner 2049 Spinner (with mods)


 

Hey brick fans!  Welcome back to Bricks and Figs, my blog dedicated to showing you my latest custom (MOC) creations and minifigures.   Don't forget to visit my other blog It's Not Lego to see the latest alternative Lego sets that I've added to my growing brick collection.

I'm a huge fan of the Blade Runner movie franchise, so I was really happy to see someone make a model of Officer K's spinner from the Blade Runner 2049 movie.

The instructions to create this Lego replica belong to Carter Baldwin and can be found here: https://bricksonthedollar.wordpress.com/spinner.


As you can tell from the pictures, I used a mish-mash of different Lego compatible bricks in my collection.  Who knew there were so many variations of dark gray bricks?  

Anyways, I followed Carter Baldwin's instructions and this is pretty much how it looked after completion.  I found the rear end of the model to be very fragile and it would pretty much collapse when I tried to pick it up.  Don't get me wrong, it looks great, but I move my models around a lot for picture taking and whatnot, so I don't want pieces falling off whenever I handle it.

I went through a number of rebuild iterations, and finally the latest version of my alt Lego spinner can withstand a lot of handling. 



My changes on the rear of model deviate from Carter Baldwins and the movie version of the Blade Runner 2049 spinner.  I switched to a smaller rear wheel to give me the room I needed to make the upward slope.  The movie version of the spinner has the rear lights below the black vents.  I added the red marker lights on the rear quarter panel but the movie version doesn't have them.



Carter Baldwin's door mechanism works really well, so I retained that design element.  If I had to make more changes, it would be to sub out the 1x1 trans blue piece with trans black colour.  The leading L brick, I would change from trans black to dark gray.  For some reason this picture makes the front end quite stubby looking.
Wonder if I should try elongating it by a bit?


Here's the view from the front.


Here's the side view.  The smooth triangle piece toward the underside is a from a Megablocks set if I recall correctly.  Not sure if Lego makes this piece.


Here's the spinner next to the Sembo Wandering Earth Troop Carrier for scale comparison.   The Sembo dark gray bricks are super dark compared to the regular dark gray bricks.  The spinner looks like it's made from light gray bricks instead.


Releasing the drone.


Two spinners are better than one.


Just a couple more shots before we go.


What do you think of this spinner version?  Let me know in the comments below.
Thanks for looking and see you in my next blog post, Bye!

Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Zhe Gao QL0935 Hill Tavern Modular Update - Third Floor Furnished!


Hello again! Welcome back to Bricks and Figs, my blog about MOCs and mods I create using not Lego bricks.  Feel free to use the Labels in this blog's sidebar to check out some of my other builds and creations.  I also post my latest not Lego set acquisitions on my other blog called Its Not Lego, so please check that out too!

This blog post is a continuation of the Zhe Gao Hill Tavern modifications, specifically it will look at the third floor that has been fully furnished.   If you just jumped in here randomly, you may want to check out my other blog posts first to get some context.   Here's my list of posts specifically about the Zhe Gao Hill Tavern evolution.

1. A look at the original set

2. Modular conversion

3. First floor furnished

4. Second floor furnished        

5. Third Floor furnished       <---- you are here

6. Bonus Pics (coming soon!)

Ok, let's continue!



I decided early on that the tavern owner would stay on premises, so his studio apartment would occupy the third floor of the modular building. Here's what the it looked like prior to renovations.  That's not the tavern owner in the pic, that's the renovation contractor BTW.   Let's take the apartment tour!


And here's tavern owner Ned in his brand new apartment.  The first room you encounter when you enter is the spacious kitchen, equipped with stove, oven, fridge and sink with lots of storage.  



Meals can be eaten at the kitchen table.  Tonight, Ned ordered a pepperoni pizza, which he will enjoy once we leave. 




If Ned wants to catch up on a football game, he can watch it on his big screen TV on his couch in the living room.


Ok, let's see where we will go next.


Right behind the couch is his workspace, where he can do the paperwork for the tavern and watch his stock portfolio on his computer.


Ned's apartment doesn't have a separate bedroom, hence it's only a studio, but that's good enough for him.


Fortunately, his studio apartment has room for a decent sized bathroom. It has a shower, toilet, sink and mirror.


Finally, here are a few more wider angle shots of Ned's apartment so you can get an idea of the layout.




Alright, I think it's time to leave and let Ned enjoy his pizza before it gets too cold.

BTW,  you can find the Zhe Gao QL0935 Hill Tavern set on Aliexpress by following the link below.



Thanks for visiting Bricks and Figs, and hope you can come back soon!  Bye!


Zhe Gao Hill Tavern QL0935 Modular building MOC - Second Floor Furnished!



Hello again! Welcome back to Bricks and Figs, my blog about MOCs and mods I create using not Lego bricks.  If you are new here, please feel free to loiter and check out my other builds.  

This blog post is a continuation of my Zhe Gao Hill Tavern modifications, specifically it will look at the second floor that has been fully furnished.   If you just jumped in here randomly, you may want to check out my other blog posts first to get some context.   Here's my list of posts specifically about the Zhe Gao Hill Tavern evolution.

1. A look at the original set

2. Modular conversion

3. First floor furnished

4. Second floor furnished        <--- you are here

5. Third Floor furnished

6. Bonus Pics (coming soon!)


Here's what the second floor looked like in the original Hill Tavern set.  The second floor was a bedroom and bathroom.


Now it's a VIP lounge.  I kept the original windows on the front but raised the floor height so it wouldn't feel so cramped.


The VIP lounge has very fancy artwork on the wall and it also has a nice area rug on the floor.  It is very well lit from the large window wall.  Patrons sit on the comfy white leather sofa and chairs.


There is an impeccably dressed server bringing out the liquid refreshments.  Behind him is the door that leads outside where there is a staircase that goes to the third floor.  There is also a small hallway on his right.  That leads out to the second floor patio.


Here's the second floor patio where two more patrons are enjoying their drinks.  It's a new addition that wasn't in the original set.


Moving back inside, we can see the stairwell that connects the first and second floor. To its left is another bar counter.  Behind the bar counter is a lady bartender who has a helper to put away the wine glasses.  There are some colourful liqeur bottles in the shelf behind bartender.


You can see that the patrons are all very well off by their suits.  I ran out of red brown tiles so I had to substitute some dark brown tiles instead.  Hopefully I can replace them soon.


A toast to another successful business transaction!


Bartender lady will be happy with the tips she makes today.

Hope you enjoyed the tour of the second floor VIP lounge.  If you want to see more, please visit my next post where we will see the third floor studio apartment where the owner of the Hill Tavern lives.   See you there!



Thanks for visiting Bricks and Figs, and hope you can come back soon!  Bye!