Ambitious 2023 plans - and 2024!

[Tom a.k.a. eastawat]

I tried to make a list of projects I wanted to build in 2020 and 3 years later I still haven't got around to some of them. So this year I'm aiming for one project a month up as far as November. It's ambitious, but some projects are small and might leave a bit of wiggle room, and with careful planning of Bricklink orders I think I these might be achievable, so I'm going to track my progress here. Also by publishing my plans it puts a bit of pressure on to actually do them! I'll try and post updates as each project is started/completed.

The running order might get moved around but January's project is already underway at least and assuming there are no surprises with parts I've failed to order it should be finished this weekend, so that'll clear the way to move onto something else ahead of schedule :)

• January: 42145 helicopter with efferman's mods, also try and copy Brian Bills' top streamlining technique
• February: add ground floor interior to hotel MOC - already designed in stud.io and have parts
• March: add upstairs interior to pub and bookshop - already mostly designed in stud.io
• April: build modified 42009 crane, already partially designed in stud.io - also use Christoph Mottie's extended boom design
• May: train station, already designed in stud.io, some parts already bought
• June: railway bridge 1, already designed in stud.io but may need some tweaking, most parts already bought
• July: city vehicles - build the 7 or 8 already designed in stud.io
• August: hotel upstairs interior
• September: M-Tron-themed strandbeest - prototype built back in 2020, but probably redesign from scratch
• October: hook lift truck... maybe
• November: second ammonia train (Dad's commission)

Other small projects:

• reinforce orrery (one evening job)
• Ulysses probe (Stonewars version), most parts already bought (max two evenings)
• lower road bridge to match new height of city quays (hopefully two evenings)

[BrickSwords]

I like this idea, a new years’ resolution for Lego that doesn’t involve spending less money. And peer pressure will help.

So, my resolutions are
Jan/Feb- put up shelves in bathroom to display Modular series… buy Jazz Club when desirable GWP is available

Mar/Apr- modify HP Shrieking Shack (76407)into Dr Frankenstein’s laboratory. Modify Haunted House (10273)to remove elevator shaft and replace it with monster and vampire lair.

May/Jun- expand Winter Village to include reindeer stable. Add ski slope that’s due to be released this year

2023- expand MOC castle to build landscape

[Tom a.k.a. eastawat]

No reason why we can't all update our 2023 plans in this thread, feel free to leave your own here!

[John]

This will hopefully take up all my spare time keeping a track of your efforts!

[Tom a.k.a. eastawat]

January was always going to be an easy one as it was basically just building a set. As of the 8th Jan it's finished! Instead of trying to copy the streamlined top technique used here I decided that I still wanted to be able to slide the top section open to see the mechanism (which can't be done with that streamlined version). But as I didn't particularly like the way efferman did that section in his mods, I based it more closely on the original set design, with slight tweaks.



I found that the parts holding the joysticks together had a tendency to work themselves apart a bit, causing some looseness in the mechanism, so I went back and added this small mod this afternoon to fix it. I highly recommend that to anyone who's building their helicopter! And efferman's version is really good. Awkward building techniques, the instructions sometimes left a bit to be desired, but he did a great job of lowering the otherwise very disproportionately high rotor mechanism.

Still undecided what project to start next, although my options are limited as lots of them require Bricklink orders.

[Tom a.k.a. eastawat]

Emma's getting annoyed at how productive I'm being this year.

One of my mini projects is done - reinforcing the orrery. I built one for my dad and then later built another for exhibitions, but the first one was prone to gears slipping and it was sagging under its own weight a lot. So I gave my dad the good one, but borrowed it back for the culture night exhibition. Now the original has been updated with the improvements of v2.

Now I'm not entirely sure which is which one I just modified!



Next week I'll probably start on February's project, putting an interior into the ground floor of the hotel, as I won't have a chance to do any more for a few days. Also now realise I've never posted photos of the hotel moc, as I was rushing to get it finished for culture night and it's been sitting in a box since then... so I'll put up a full post about it when the ground floor interior is done.

[Tom a.k.a. eastawat]

Starting to wonder if I wasn't ambitious enough... but maybe that's just the result of giving myself an easy January project. I started on February's project last week, adding an interior to my hotel, and finished one half of it on Friday (proper photos to follow when it's finished) with the lobby, reception desk and lift:



Before I start the other half, I'm taking a break to look through what parts I need to order for March, May and June's projects - the pub and bookshop upstairs interior, the train station and the train bridge - so I can place some Bricklink orders while working on the rest of the hotel.

I've made some modifications to the design of the train bridge and have just been checking the height of it next to a cross-section of quays. It'll be a tight squeeze but the Centra truck should just fit underneath the low-bridge warning signs!

[Tom a.k.a. eastawat]

Finished the hotel ground floor interior (February's project) but still haven't got through prepping bricklink orders for the next few projects which means March's project won't be ready to start for at least two or three weeks, so it looks like I'll have to bring April's project forward and have another Technic month!

[Tom a.k.a. eastawat]

Delays caused by the huge amount of time it took to organise my Bricklink orders meant I did nothing in March, and getting into the really busy part of the dodgeball season meant I did nothing in April. Going to be tough to get this back on track but I'm hoping to get a chance to do March's project later this month!

[HarveyHD]

January was always going to be an easy one as it was basically just building a set. As of the 8th Jan it's finished! Instead of trying to copy the streamlined top Neteller technique used here I decided that I still wanted to be able to use Neteller and to slide the top section open to see the mechanism (which can't be done with that streamlined version). But as I didn't particularly like the way efferman did that section in his mods, I based it more closely on the original set design, with slight tweaks.

Definitely your version looks better. Did you use extra parts?

[HarveyHD]

Starting to wonder if I wasn't ambitious enough... but maybe that's just the result of giving myself an easy January project. I started on February's project last week, adding an interior to my hotel, and finished one half of it on Friday (proper photos to follow when it's finished) with the lobby, reception desk and lift:

That's probably because it seems like a daunting task to you. If it were too easy it wouldn't be as interesting, would it? I like what you do. Keep at it, it will work out :)

[Tom a.k.a. eastawat]

April's project never got off the mark due to March overrunning... May's project is still in progress - at 7000 pieces+ I should have realised it would take more than a month. I'll be happy now if I get to June and July's projects by the end of the year!

[Tom a.k.a. eastawat]

January was always going to be an easy one as it was basically just building a set. As of the 8th Jan it's finished! Instead of trying to copy the streamlined top technique used here I decided that I still wanted to be able to slide the top section open to see the mechanism (which can't be done with that streamlined version). But as I didn't particularly like the way efferman did that section in his mods, I based it more closely on the original set design, with slight tweaks.

Definitely your version looks better. Did you use extra parts?

I used some, very few though, can't really remember what exactly!

[Tom a.k.a. eastawat]

An update on my ambitious plans for the year!

• January: 42145 helicopter with efferman's mods - completed
• February: add ground floor interior to hotel MOC - already designed in stud.io and have parts - completed
• March: add upstairs interior to pub and bookshop - already mostly designed in stud.io - completed
• April: build modified 42009 crane, already partially designed in stud.io - also use Christoph Mottie's extended boom design
• May: train station, already designed in stud.io, some parts already bought - completed
• June: railway bridge 1, already designed in stud.io but may need some tweaking, most parts already bought
• July: city vehicles - build the 7 or 8 already designed in stud.io - mostly completed
• August: hotel upstairs interior
• September: M-Tron-themed strandbeest - prototype built back in 2020, but probably redesign from scratch
• October: hook lift truck... maybe
• November: second ammonia train (Dad's commission)

Other small projects:

• reinforce orrery (one evening job) - completed
• Ulysses probe (Stonewars version), most parts already bought (max two evenings) - completed
• lower road bridge to match new height of city quays (hopefully two evenings)

Recently completed the train station (I'll post photos soon!) and seven city vehicles (one vehicle still to go), and I also built the Stonewars Ulysses probe at last. I'm going to leave the rest of the city projects until next year as I have no room to place the railway bridge anywhere and the hotel interior would require another significant investment in parts. So now I'm going to try and focus on Technic for a while and hopefully actually complete a Technic project, which will be a first in recent history!

[Tom a.k.a. eastawat]

• January: 42145 helicopter with efferman's mods, also try and copy Brian Bills' top streamlining technique
• February: add ground floor interior to hotel MOC - already designed in stud.io and have parts
• March: add upstairs interior to pub and bookshop - already mostly designed in stud.io

[/color]

• April: build modified 42009 crane, already partially designed in stud.io - also use Christoph Mottie's extended boom design

[/color]

• May: train station, already designed in stud.io, some parts already bought
• June: railway bridge 1, already designed in stud.io but may need some tweaking, most parts already bought

[/color]

• July: city vehicles - build the 7 or 8 already designed in stud.io

[/color]

• August: hotel upstairs interior
• September: M-Tron-themed strandbeest - prototype built back in 2020, but probably redesign from scratch
• October: hook lift truck... maybe
• November: second ammonia train (Dad's commission)

[/color]
[/list]

Other small projects:

• reinforce orrery (one evening job)
• Ulysses probe (Stonewars version), most parts already bought (max two evenings)

[/color]

• lower road bridge to match new height of city quays (hopefully two evenings)

[/color]
[/list]

A quick review of the year - since the last update I ended up building the railway bridge that I have no space for. I spent most of November buying and organising the parts for the second ammonia train, that was a major project in itself.

I found I couldn't get started on Technic projects. That's going to be a focus for this year instead. I'm not going to create a detailed plan, but planned projects for 2024 are:

• Second ammonia train (finally started this last night)
• Modified 42009 crane
• Technic hook lift truck
• M Tron strandbeest
• Hogwarts express carriages

I doubt I'll get to all of them... last year the projects I completed were mainly ones where most of the design work was done already, but that's not the case this year.