Q: How do you make Lego tanks?
A: I usually start with one aspect of the tank I feel I can easily translate into Lego, or something that sets the scale of the model and that can be used as a reference to adjust the size of the model. This can be anything really, like road wheels and their spacing, the width of the track, or even small details like an engine exhaust. From there it is pretty straightforward for me, but the whole process is a lot of trial and error, and constant re-examination of the model to ensure the feel of the original vehicle is accurately captured.
Q: What programs do you use to make Lego tanks?
A: I use a combination of 2 programs, Lego's own Lego Digital Designer (LDD) and Bricklink's Stud.io. I do most of the designing work in LDD, as I find it more user friendly and I have been using it for a while. Sadly, LDD is no longer being supported, and isn't receiving any new updates, but you can still find links to download it on the internet. Stud.io is used to insert any pieces that are unavailable in LDD, to organize parts lists, create instructions, and to create the renders of the tanks that you see on their pages. I rely on these digital programs for all my design work because I don't have a big enough personal Lego collection to have the same process IRL.
Q: How do you pick which vehicles to make?
A: Pretty much all of the tanks I make appear in games I play (War Thunder and World of Tanks), both because I am familiar with them but also the games provide great, (mostly) accurate models to work off of. I try and stick to tanks that either haven't been done much before or that I feel could be done better. This sometimes leads me to wanting to design a tank but having to abandon the project because I feel like someone else already did it well. Even after selecting something to work on I often need a spark to get me going on designing it, so some designs don't get worked on for a long time after I decide I want to make it. At the end of the day if I think something looks cool enough it will probably end up being made in brick form.
Q: What got you started designing tanks, and why tanks?
A: I've always thought tanks are cool, and some of my favorite videogames were War Thunder and World of Tanks. My passion for LEGOs evolved with my passion for history and tanks and wound up being combined with each other. When I found digital design programs for LEGOs it gave me so much more accessibility to truly do what I wanted with them, and I haven't stopped doing it since.
Q: Why just instructions, will there be kits?
A: Currently, only instructions are being sold, and this massively cuts down on the overhead maintenance required. Full kits could become available down the line, but for right now all effort will be focused on completing new projects and finishing full instructions for older projects. It will take a lot to set up the infrastructure to sell complete kits, but its far from being an impossibility.
Q: What's with the Tiger 2 on the home page? Why no dedicated page for it?
A: That Tiger 2 is my longest going tank project, its first iteration was made in 2015 and was one of my first lego tanks I had ever made. Now its a minifig-scale remote controlled tank that has been through approximately 20 or more different versions. I might just have a page to show it off later on when I build it IRL, but its way too complicated (in a bad way) and finicky for me to feel comfortable selling instructions for it. For now it is just a personal project, but it looks cool so I made it my banner and website favicon.
A: I usually start with one aspect of the tank I feel I can easily translate into Lego, or something that sets the scale of the model and that can be used as a reference to adjust the size of the model. This can be anything really, like road wheels and their spacing, the width of the track, or even small details like an engine exhaust. From there it is pretty straightforward for me, but the whole process is a lot of trial and error, and constant re-examination of the model to ensure the feel of the original vehicle is accurately captured.
Q: What programs do you use to make Lego tanks?
A: I use a combination of 2 programs, Lego's own Lego Digital Designer (LDD) and Bricklink's Stud.io. I do most of the designing work in LDD, as I find it more user friendly and I have been using it for a while. Sadly, LDD is no longer being supported, and isn't receiving any new updates, but you can still find links to download it on the internet. Stud.io is used to insert any pieces that are unavailable in LDD, to organize parts lists, create instructions, and to create the renders of the tanks that you see on their pages. I rely on these digital programs for all my design work because I don't have a big enough personal Lego collection to have the same process IRL.
Q: How do you pick which vehicles to make?
A: Pretty much all of the tanks I make appear in games I play (War Thunder and World of Tanks), both because I am familiar with them but also the games provide great, (mostly) accurate models to work off of. I try and stick to tanks that either haven't been done much before or that I feel could be done better. This sometimes leads me to wanting to design a tank but having to abandon the project because I feel like someone else already did it well. Even after selecting something to work on I often need a spark to get me going on designing it, so some designs don't get worked on for a long time after I decide I want to make it. At the end of the day if I think something looks cool enough it will probably end up being made in brick form.
Q: What got you started designing tanks, and why tanks?
A: I've always thought tanks are cool, and some of my favorite videogames were War Thunder and World of Tanks. My passion for LEGOs evolved with my passion for history and tanks and wound up being combined with each other. When I found digital design programs for LEGOs it gave me so much more accessibility to truly do what I wanted with them, and I haven't stopped doing it since.
Q: Why just instructions, will there be kits?
A: Currently, only instructions are being sold, and this massively cuts down on the overhead maintenance required. Full kits could become available down the line, but for right now all effort will be focused on completing new projects and finishing full instructions for older projects. It will take a lot to set up the infrastructure to sell complete kits, but its far from being an impossibility.
Q: What's with the Tiger 2 on the home page? Why no dedicated page for it?
A: That Tiger 2 is my longest going tank project, its first iteration was made in 2015 and was one of my first lego tanks I had ever made. Now its a minifig-scale remote controlled tank that has been through approximately 20 or more different versions. I might just have a page to show it off later on when I build it IRL, but its way too complicated (in a bad way) and finicky for me to feel comfortable selling instructions for it. For now it is just a personal project, but it looks cool so I made it my banner and website favicon.