hahahah okay! im finally back, been really really busy building LEGOs and spending some 'me' time :) one day, mum bought more LEGO sets and i was like WOOHOOOO finally! all thanks to all the import taxes and currency exchange, lego in Singapore has always been very expensive D: how i wish they can do something about it! plus kids and teens nowadays no longer appreciate the same childhood games i used to play like five stones, or even just simply reading a book! let alone building LEGO models. In my opinion, building official LEGO sets like those that we always see on the shelves is enriching! you actually get to learn some design/architectural skills on why that particular piece has to go there, if not it would _______? however, passion has brought me more than just building such sets. now i am on to building my own creations? (MOCs, that's what we call it in lego terms :) and its interesting on how we can actually apply new techniques or even see a new way in utilising some parts  and hence change the turnout of the entire creation! of course the limitation of bricks might be of a big hindrance to ya but hey! working with just what you have forces you to improvise. I kept running into that "problem" in the past as i had really really very little bricks  to play around with.




HAH all these are the ones that mum bought, aaaaand if you read my previous blog posts, i have been waiting for the republic frigate for almost ONE YEAR! its like waiting for your birthday dude. but hey! FINALLY. ya know, at first i was really hoping for the price of this mammoth set to drop but in the end, after the wait, it only dropped by $10. -___-"' i had to wait so long just for it to be out of season. i expected some massive price cuts actually but oh well!

i straight away zoomed into the building of the much awaited republic frigate and it was so much fun to learn some new techniques that they had!

seriously this set looks like a really good set to buy, just for the parts. i guess i find it really useful because of all the long parts and the flat pieces! makes me be able to create massive ships that way~ and massive ships need massive, trusty infrastructure and supports all around~
oh! thats how i place my lego pieces when i am fixing! surprisingly, mum passed to me this tray from IKEA and it just fits so snugly with my furniture at home! lmao. its like it stacks up nicely on the chairs so that i have like a bottom tray too, and when i am done with it, i can fit it in neatly on top of a box and tuck it into a bottom of the chair and every mess is gone---

the following photos are....the photos for me to record down the interesting finds and sometimes i get my inspirations from these as i get to branch out from the techniques that lego uses. :) from these techniques, i can also introduce more playabilty into my creations!

thats the locking mechanism for the drop pod.

thats the carrying handle. little did i expect how useful it can get~ one can actually use it to create extensions from the creation, like eg.deployable missle pods?

landing gear..ack usual stuff!

UHHHH connecting parts together? LEGO adopts a 'jigsaw puzzle' approach..im not a fan of that. like whats the point? other than it being easier to fix in terms of parts.



these are the interesting parts i found when building the frigate! its like every model, there is always something to learn!


look at the massive parts this set gives man...im sure i can do a lot of stuffs with the parts!

HMMMM APPARENTLY I FORGOT TO TAKE PHOTOS OF THE COMPLETED PRODUCT. NICE JOB MING YANG. HOW COULD YOU FORGET.


okie dokie! now that the republic frigate is done, i am on to expanding my 'base' upwards!

guess what are these! they are actually supports that i am going to use for the upwards expansion~


so far thats how it looks like! well i havent touched it for a pretty long time! all the while, the projects that i have done have been peppered all around the living room after i realised that i have run out of space in the base. andddd at that time, i wasnt keen on channeling money into the expansion of the base. it just felt so troublesome and not to mention, up till now, because i am building higher and higher, the base is starting to get less stable on the higher area because i am using those lego bases that are flat underneath which means...only 1 contact point for support! i got to like "clamp" down the plates at the sides whilst building up the bottom so that the plates dont bend so much.


this is the usual small reinforcement i do to the supporting beams. as you can see, thats how i do stack up those colourful blocks upwards! it makes it easier to also add on extra stuffs at the sides. :) i intend to add probably either more plates at the sides and clamp them, or either just add more supports to make it more sturdy..but at the same time, leaving it empty all the way in the middle gives it the "open concept" spaciousness it man it feels nice to have such a clear view too!


***after spending one whole night on trying to better stabilise the structure, i have finally done it! but its not yet done. i still need more pieces and hopefully in the future i can get to expand it even more! apparently now, i have too many of those small 2 stud pieces.moreover, i also completed the Home One Mon Calamari and integrated into the base.***


yeah! as you can see, the new layer on top is a whole lot higher than the other one because of the other layers that i have at the further end of the base and also, so that i can either slot in more, or branch out with the lego plates in future. big gaps also means i would be able to store taller stuffs eh! i have this idea of integrating like normal houses or shops, like the Grand Emporium LEGO set into the sides of it, so that it sort of gives the base a different side to it? but its gonna be hard given the difference in dimensions..hah not all ideas are possible i think! not yet.

so there are 4 plates on the highest level so far and this is the first! just a usual simple good old plate~

actually i intend to upgrade this part into like some sort of office-lego city looking place? but that will be next time~


that's the home one mon calamari base section. the actual lego product can be split apart, so i did just that! what i like about what i did to this is shown in the following photo..



the feel as though it goes all the way through! like a suspension bridge kinda idea :P i know they had similar things in the star wars movies, so i wanted to create just that.


pretty long way down! :D that's something new..


this one is the hangar part. oh without the ship! apparently i have yet to build the ship! i decided to go ahead and build the things that can be integrated into the base first. i literally built up the whole top layer on the floor, then transported it by sections onto the supports. i always love the idea of seeing the whole base suddenly expand. :P love that shocker feeling!

THEN comes my favourite part! dumping my beloved creation on top! i am still so happy with this creation because it just looks so good! i wanted to get that sleek look and maybe i should get more photos of it..it also has some playability features like bomb dropping and piston-looking engine with walkable space inside! i still remember this model being such a challenge as i had to keep it looking sleek and thin, whilst maximising internal space just in case i want to add on more things internally in future. of which i already have plans!

so now...the final product is this!

really glad the adding on of one more layer is a success, i did have some doubts at first, but after getting hands-on, thats when i realised issues that i overlooked and worked around them! it looks simple of course-but the truth is that it isnt quite as simple. not when you intend to continue going up or expanding to the sides.

EXTRA PHOTOS of one of my previous creations. this thing has no space to be stored man. so does my republic frigate.




one of the many techniques that i pulled off here.
If you see the first photo, half of the hangar area is actually built upside down.
and, the thruster behind is built on a one-stud width. diverging from an even 2stud width to 1stud.
In the second photo, it shows the front. that was built upwards, sideways (the whole thing is tilted 90 degrees) and at an angle. Also, this part is built on 2 seperate 'planes' so its like one is free floating while the other is connected to the main structure. i shall post the photo of the side.


if you notice the front portion, the ship is actually like an arc. so that was what i achieved when i tried the idea of seperating the front structure into 2 planes. :D