The first model is something I designed from the ground up. It's a Tank/APC with a heavy duty turret on top. The vehicle is an 8-wheeler with an opening canopy for the driver up front, compartment for troops with opening hatches on the sides, and a rear hatch that converts into a ramp. The driver has a steering wheel and radar panels. Inside the troop comparment are weapons racks with sniper rifles, assault rifles, and a walkie talkie. And chairs for our military dudes to get comfy while they're awaiting deployment. Up top is the heavy duty turret, which can rotate 360 degrees and elevate.













A modified "Sonic Fighter". I found their design to be lacking, so I worked with it and produced my own variation. Modifications include a thinner tail section, additional guns, and engines in the back. Also gave the pilot a pair of flight sticks and a radar screen.











A modified Warthog. The name of this set is "Heavy Bomber", but it's clearly a Warthog. I shortened the wingspan a bit and redesigned the middle part so that the wings have a stronger connection to the body of the craft. Also gave our daring pilot a pair of flight sticks and a radar screen. (I never cease to be annoyed at how Lego and other brands often put a guy in a cockpit without any controls to speak of. At least give the poor guy a lever or something.)









A couple shots of one of my display areas with the custom-designed tank, modified Sonic Fighter, a modified Hover Fighter, a modified special forces ATV, and a modified Missile Truck. The latter three are pretty close to the Super Blox designs for those models, and I just made a few changes to improve them more to my liking.





In the future I'd like to try to design a Black Hawk if I can wrap my mind around how to do it with the pieces available.

Edit: Replaced a couple of the tank pics with better ones.

Classic Rock Raiders, redesigned with a better color scheme and furbished with new details.



Chrome Crusher





















Tunnel Transport

Original model has purple mixed in with the green and a purple-tinted cockpit canopy. It also has a rotor that's angled forward (at the same angle as the cockpit section). I took out the purple elements and replaced them with a more uniform color scheme (it also had a bit of brown here and there, and a bit of misplaced dark gray). Modifying the rotor to be lateral turned out to be a simple matter, although I tried out a few other things before arriving at the elegantly simple solution.

At Brickshelf... (The site is back up and running)
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=495936

And here...















The white snakes fit into a compartment behind the cockpit and can be dropped like bombs.

The snake-man's name is Fang-Suei.

First, a picture of the box for this set.



The blue and white ship has the pilot practically laying down in the cabin. The black and white one doesn't even have a cabin for the pilot. Both ships are lacking any kind of controls or viewscreens. Lots of things to fix here...

Among a variety of modifications, I added some red and blue lights from a police set to the blue and white ship, making it into a space police interceptor. Actually, two of them.











The black and white ship, which I'll call a "Raider", needed extensive surgery. Here's the result...



Those gray things to either side of the cabin are supposed to be engines, not gatling cannons. My sister thought they were the latter.











I still have my tank and other stuff. A bit of dust aside, they're still in good condition.

Like the Rattlecopter above, the original design has purple elements here and there and all over the tail, and it has a purple tinted windshield. First order of business was to get rid of all that purple stuff and replace it with appropriate light green elements. Also added some dark green here and there, and on the tail. Lego gives our two-headed snake driver a steering wheel. I figured he could also benefit from a gear shift and a dashboard that shows how much fuel the Snakemobile has and the Snakemobile's current speed.

At Brickshelf...
http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=508346

And here...














Fangdam (the driver) and his buddy Fangtom.

"Quick, Fangtom! To the Snakemobile!"

Best Lock has their own space theme, entitled "War Of The Planets". It features battles between the "Raiders" and "Planetary Defense Force". First I'll show partial picture of the box for a 1000-piece set.



The Raiders are at the top, while the Planetary Defense Force has an explorer land rover and a small base.

I call the Raider ships "Light Raiders" (they have bulkier "Heavy Raiders", too). I recently dusted off my two Light Raiders and Explorer Land Rover. First, a look at the Light Raiders. This set is several years old, and this particular model has undergone three or four renovations over the years. My modifications are so vast here, it almost qualifies as my own creation. I used parts from other Best Lock sets.

Personal modifications include:
+ Chassis was redone from scratch
+ Landing gears adjusted to be on the same level (on the original model, the front gears don't match the back one in height)
+ Awkward-looking square-shaped landing pads replaced with round ones
+ Additional support underneath for the forward guns and a support that keeps them pointed straight
+ Pilot's cabin adjusted so the guy fits in there better
+ Computer display stickers and a pair of flight sticks added
+ Middle rotor assembly strengthened with additional parts
+ Modified tail section
+ Custom-designed bent wings with engines and wing guns
+ Trans-clear visor for pilot (instead of black visor)








Looks like a ship in a vertical shoot-em-up game.









Explorer Land Rover

Personal modifications:
+ Reinforced roof (original model has flimsy roof design)
+ Additional connectors for yellow railings (original model has one connector per side railing)
+ Computer display stickers for front passenger and side control station
+ Elevating weapons array with laser cannons and surface-to-air missiles
+ Trans-clear visors for the guys (instead of black visors)

You can see the TV I use for my PS2 at left. Tall rack full of DS games. Bookcase with stuff and PS2 collection. Shelving at right. The Super Blox tank and
stuff should be familiar. That's where I set up models for pictures. It's a well-lit area, works well. I remove the Super Blox models, set them on the bed, then
set up a model for pictures.


The shelf above the wooden surface has Mega Bloks True Heroes military vehicles and bases. Mega Bloks is another Lego knock-off that uses stiff modeling
plastic. Their quality control is usually better than Best Lock, and model design is usually very good. I didn't make any modifications to those models, so they
don't qualify for this topic, which is about MOCs and mods. Above that are a couple pirate ships, dinosaurs, Qui-Gon battling Darth Maul, a couple
Zoobles (huh?) and a gold Jigglypuff trading card (in box for safe keeping).


Dollar Store ninjas and robots. And a True Heroes brand special forces dude at right of middle shelf. That guy looks badass!


Part of my PS2 collection. Some haven't been opened yet.


DS collection. Most haven't been opened yet.


Storage closet with Lego boxes and stuffed animals.
At lower right you can catch a glimpse of a notebook that has notes for RPG Maker projects written on it.


That back of my comfy chair for PS2 gaming, with shelving behind. Rock Raiders, Best Lock stuff, and racing cars on mid and lower shelves. Upper right shelf
has some KRE-O Battleship stuff. KRE-O is Hasbro's Lego knock-off. Their pieces are made from ABS plastic, similar to Lego. Not quite the same thing, but
pretty close. A valiant effort considering how hard Lego-style pieces are to copy. There's an alien hovercraft, a little boat with Hopper and Raikes, and a
helicopter and a tank (they didn't use those in the movie, but whatever). But what the Bambi 2 is that pastel-looking stuff on the upper left shelf? Lego
Friends girly Legos? Whaaaaaat?! Olivia's Tree House and Stephanie's Convertible? I like the pastels, and they have cute accessories for the gals. I'm a girly
mon.


Other side of the room with shelves and a big table. That big box and cloth are covering my Heroica layouts to keep 'em dust-free.


On the top shelf, Jack Sparrow is battling soldiers atop a carriage. But who's that charging in to help? It's Wolverine! Also present: Minotaur, Space Girl,
Space Aliens, Ninjago Venomari Shrine. Hey, why is there a shark on land trying to eat that one guy? My sister loves to move things around and put various
mini-figures and stuff in the shark's mouth.


Middle shelf: Lego Dino vehicles and Rattlecopter. Some Gungans and Battledroids can be seen in the background.


Lower Shelf: The Snakemobile, some Lego racing cars, and Pokemon miniatures that my dad had shipped from Taiwan (he thinks we like Pokemon for some
reason).


The Xix himself. (Baldy by choice)

This is a Heavy Raider (pictured at right) and a Planetary Defense Force fighter. Wait, that kind of looks like a Viper and Cylon Raider from the new Battlestar Galactica! I guess these guys like Battlestar Galactica.

First, the Heavy Raider, which underwent extensive modifications. I have two of these ships, but not sure if I have enough parts to remodel both, so I just did one. Remodeled with parts from other Best Lock sets. The angled parts of the wings are dopey and fall off easily, so those had to go. I separated the twin laser cannons on the front because I think that looks better. Took off the tail fin and redesigned the tail section, as well as the wings. The Raiders are supposed to be kind of sinister, so we'll leave his dark-tinted canopy. Remarkably, this set gives our pilot a pair of flight sticks, so all I had to add to the cabin was a radar display and instrument panel. This is a "Heavy Raider", so it should probably carry some kind of cool ordnance. How about some missiles?

Modifications:
+ Modified tail section
+ Lateral wingspan redone from scratch
+ Custom-designed bent wings with engines and wing guns (similar to Light Raider)
+ Missiles!
+ Radar display and instrument panel
+ Trans-clear visor for pilot (instead of black visor)
















I used some Lego pieces to make a transparent stand for an underside shot that shows the missiles.



Planetary Defense Force Fighter

This ship also comes in gray. The cockpit on this thing was badly designed. The guy can't fit in there very well because the side walls of the cockpit are built up so high. At best, he fits in there at an angle with his feet up and arms up in the air. They also didn't give him any sort of controls. I took this model and redesigned the chassis from scratch. Found some better ways to build it using fewer parts (they tend to pad out the piece count, sometimes using six pieces for something that could easily be done with two or three). Placed the guy in there sitting comfortably with a flight stick and instrument panel, then built around him just a bit. Replaced the dark-tinted canopy with a trans-clear one. The original model has the engines facing forward like air scoops. I can't attach an engine part to the back of it, so I turned them around so they look more like rocket engines. Seems kind of wimpy for the PDF fighters to be defending their territory with only a pair of regular laser cannons, so I gave each fighter a pair of Phroton Torpedo launchers.

Photon (Star Trek) + Proton (Star Wars) = Phroton.

Modifications:
+ Redesigned chassis and cockpit
+ Trans-clear canopy
+ Flight stick and instrument panel
+ Additional stripes on wings
+ Engines turned around
+ Phroton Torpedo launchers
+ Trans-clear visor for pilot (instead of black visor)

The Raiders now have a Battle Cruiser, which I designed and built from the ground up. What I had in mind for this imposing space-going vessel was something similar to a Star Destroyer. The exterior boasts an array of laser cannons, including four point defense guns that can cover pretty much any angle above and off to the sides of the ship. The back has a working loading ramp. The entire roof can be lifted up to reveal a detailed interior with a pilot's cabin, two command centers with swiveling chairs, and troop compartment that holds five soldiers and a weaponized ROV. These guys also have weapons racks with assault rifles, pistols, and walkie talkies; and a couple fire extinguishers.










The roof, composed of a central beam and four individual panels, can also be removed from its hinges for easier access to the cabin.
That black pillar sticking out meets up with a smooth floor, providing additional support for the roof when closed.









This was a challenging project. I'm thrilled that I was able to accomplish pretty much what I'd envisioned for it.

Got another Alien Strike set on sale at Wal-Mart. Used some of the pieces to enhance a couple of the alien attack gliders, then designed my own one-man alien attack ship. I built the same cockpit style as their alien battleship and then did my own tail section, wings, and stuff.











Here's their alien battleship. Or are they destroyers?




Cue ominous sound effects from the movie. They're comin' to get us!



Here's my other KRE-O Battleship stuff, including a fight taking place at a Navy battle base. Helicopters, jet fighter, tank, and a small alien glider are also present.