Parts are Amassing...

Firstly, apologies for the lack of any updates recently, as exams approach for me I have had less time to build or gather pieces for the Arkham Asylum MOC. Between the 13th of May and 4th of June I have several A-level exams (that is the equivalent of APs for US readers) in Latin, Ancient Greek, Classical Civilisation and English Literature. Anyway, without further ado, allow me to fill you in on developments this month so far...

In the first week of April I finally received my Lego cabinets. I am in the process of filling them up with sets for display and the parts I have so far are going in their respective drawers. I am very pleased with these as storage solutions, particularly the small component cabinets which are just the right size to store whatever pieces required and are ideal for Lego. An image of the drawer cabinets can be seen below, as you can see they are too large for my small photography studio and I have only just begun to fill them with parts.

I have also made my first Bricklink order for this project on the 17th of April which although small, contains some very useful parts including some rock pieces and twenty conical flask pieces containing a green liquid which will be used for medical rooms and the like, plenty of which will be found in my Arkham Asylum model. I have not even got around to unpacking those yet, so busy have I been!

Finally, and moving away from progress on my MOC, I have been able to get my hands on all three Superman: Man of Steel sets, along with the three Iron Man 3 sets as well. Expect reviews of those over the next few weeks. My intention is to put those up whenever I have little to update you on, so as to avoid too many long periods of inactivity like the last three weeks, although I will probably only be able to post one or two articles during my exam period.

It is also worth noting that as you can see it is now possible to follow my blog with a single click on the right hand side of the screen. If you have a Blogger or Google account, click on there to subscribe for updates as the actual building begins!

FBTB Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vignette Contest Entry...

Now that I have finally managed to find the time to photograph my model for the FBTB Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle vignette contest, I will also present it here. You can see here my first real attempt at a sewer model as well, which of course will feature in the Arkham Asylum MOC I am working towards.

In this first image you can see an overview of the MOC. It was quite a challenge to photograph thanks to the model being constructed on two levels, with no single image capturing the details of the MOC as a whole in my opinion.

The next image shows the upper (or street) level of the MOC. The Shredder and his Foot Ninjas are hunting the Turtles down, while the Kraang cause some more chaos as Mutagen leaks into the sewer from one of their warehouses.

The final image, and perhaps the most interesting with respect to the Arkham Asylum MOC, shows the sewers as I have designed them for this model. I think they still need some work before they are incorporated into the Arkham Asylum model, but are a decent start to proceedings.

Here Michaelangelo and Donatello have escaped into the sewers. While Mikey relaxes Donatello is not yet comfortable that the danger has passed. As usual he is exactly right as one creature appears to already have begun to mutate thanks to the Mutagen leak...

Voting on the contest at FBTB commences tomorrow. My next post will hopefully be about my current parts collection once the cabinets I await have arrived, which ought to be this week if they arrive on time.

Proposed Blog Background

In a change to the planned article, today I bring you a very brief question.

Recently I asked a few followers of my blog what they would like to see changed here. The most common response was that the blue background was in need of some updating, so here is my proposed replacement.

As you can see, I selected some of my favourite Batman comic panels and created a collage from them, which was then washed out in blue so as not to be too invasive on the more important centre of the page. The question is, would you rather I keep the background as it is or swap it for this new one? Any opinions are much appreciated and can be posted in the comments below.

A Few Items from my Wanted List...

While I still await delivery of my cabinets, and things are all quiet on the Arkham Asylum MOC side of things, perhaps you can help me to obtain a couple of Lego items which I am looking for at the moment.

Starting with some polybags which are available in the USA and Canada from Toys R Us, but have yet to make an appearance in the UK, if you have any of the following and are willing to sell some to me, please contact me using this link.

30240 - Z-95 Headhunter
30241 - Mandalorian Fighter
30243 - Umbaran MHC

Next, and going up the scale of rarity, I am looking for anybody who has the Comic Con exclusive Bizarro, which was released in 2012 and is shown below, who is happy to part with this item and willing to sell one to me. Once again, please send me a message via this link.

The final two items which I am looking for are two more exclusives, this time the TMNT Minifigures which were available in October 2012 at events in the US, images of which are below.

I think I have a fair idea of what I would like to pay for the items, and am offering realistic prices for each, so if you have any of the above items and are happy to sell, please contact me. Thank you in advance.

My next article will be posted in the next couple of days, and unless my cabinets have arrived, will showcase the MOC which I have created for the TMNT Vignette Contest over at FBTB. In this MOC (which is complete, but needs photographing) I have included an area of sewer, which will be similar in appearance to the sewers featuring in the Arkham Asylum MOC.

FBTB Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Vignette Contest..

With little going on with respect to creating my Arkham Asylum MOC as I still wait on delivery of my storage cabinets, I think it is time for me to bring another competition to your attention.

Prior to the interesting (and divisive) revelation of Lego Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I had no interest in the series, but once the sets started to appear I thought I might as well give the new cartoon a try. Immediately I was hooked and have been keeping up with the series ever since. I have only been able to pick up a couple of the smaller sets so far (79100 and 79101) but intend to collect the remainder of the sets when I can get around to it.

Anyway, I write this article to point any TMNT fans who read my blog in the direction of this brilliant contest over at FBTB, which I am soon going to be entering myself. Hopefully the model I am making now (which includes a sewer area and is not the one above just to clarify, that is the model built as a kind of 'logo' for the contest by the host) will serve as good practice for the Arkham Asylum MOC. The full contest rules can be seen via this link, but just to outline them, the idea is to create a 16x16 stud vignette with a TMNT theme, there is no height limit, and there are some excellent prizes to be had so get building!

My MOC is now in its final stages, but there is still plenty of time to enter as the closing date is not until the end of March, so why not have a go?

Good luck!

Brick Fanatics Collectable Minifigure Contest...

In a slight change from the usual discussion about all things related to Lego DC Super Heroes and my Arkham Asylum MOC, this time I would like to mention a competition which has recently come to my attention and which you may be interested in.

Over at Brick Fanatics, an excellently rounded website which not only features Lego news but also showcases some great MOCs, a contest is currently being run to create a 16x16 stud diorama around one of the Series 9 Collectable Minifigures of your choice. It has been running for a month now and continues to the end of March, the aim and rules of the contest are explained in more detail here with some great Galaxy Squad prizes available to the winners.

You can see some of the entries so far in the Brick Fanatics Flickr photostream and a gallery devoted to the contest. If you own one or all of the Series 9 Collectable Minifigures, and have a few spare pieces lying around, why not try your luck and enter?

Good luck!

Arkham Asylum - Functions for Section One...

As I have previously mentioned, this MOC will be build in several sections. The first section to be built will be the front gate and courtyard, and although I am sure as I build more possible functions will become apparent, I already have some in mind. Over the last few days I have discussed a couple of these possible features with more experienced Technic builders than myself, and have received some excellent advice (and new ideas).

One of the functions which I proposed was a secret door in Killer Croc's lair. This would be opened by moving a rock hidden among many others which would act as a switch. It is apparent that using an only mechanical solution would be particularly tricky, and thanks to some of the people who volunteered to assist I have worked out exactly what I want to do here and how I will go about achieving the effect I am hoping for. Beneath you can see my initial idea for how to create this function, unfortunately however, despite using more gears to increase the torque, nothing could be done to make the door slide up as much as I wanted without forcing the switch to move further than I wanted. Therefore the only solution is to use Power Functions, which will not only mean that the door will open nice and smoothly, but I can run other functions off the same motor (like lights for instance) and activate the feature via remote control!

I do not want to give away too many of the features I have planned for each section, so this is just a taster of what might be included in the final model.

This week a large cabinet which I ordered for storing the bricks for this model, as well as general spare parts, arrived, so now I can commence with the mammoth Bricklink orders which will be required. Expect an update on what I bought soon. Until then however, keep checking back on my Flickr page for some images which I hope to post in the next few days of some more small concepts I have created recently.

Arkham Asylum - I Need Your Help...

Up to now I have only been presenting the aesthetic elements of my design, which I hope will only be a part of the final MOC I produce. I also intend to include plenty of functions and features which will help bring the asylum to life.

However, I have little experience with Technic or Mindstorms construction, and therefore I am looking for anybody who is particularly interested in Technic or Mindstorms to assist me with creating some of the more challenging (perhaps even impossible) functions which I have envisaged. If you fall into this category and would like to help, please contact me either through my Brickset profile or via Flickr Mail, and hopefully you can help in considering how some of the functions I have in mind might work. I already have some ideas, but I would prefer to consult others about them rather than overcomplicate my solutions or simply miss them altogether! Many thanks in advance to those of you who can assist me.

In my next post I will discuss some of these proposed functions and possibly some of the early solutions which I have created through discussion with Technic enthusiasts from this article.