You are currently browsing the The Brothers Brick weblog archives for September, 2009.
For once I don’t have to rack my brain trying to think of a relevant song. Barney Main (SlyOwl) has already done it for me by basing a diorama on Ralph McTell’s song Streets of London. Be sure to click through the pictures in order to match the song lyrics to the diorama.
Last year, we posted an offer to connect people coming in by air based on their arrival times, enabling people to share transportation. That was before Seattle built a light rail line that’ll get you from the airport to Seattle Center for less than five bucks. Oh, and you get to ride a monorail along the way.
Mark Sandlin’s Infothingy has the details:
For the graphically challenged (and to help people find this from the interwebs):
Be sure to click through the graphic to a great discussion of other useful ways to get to BrickCon for cheap — more money for bricks!
Matt Armstrong (Monsterbrick) has found a great use for all those empty x-pods. I’m sure I’m not the only person with a stack of pods that runs from floor to ceiling and then starts over, right? He’s done an elegant job of building a ship into a series of pods to make a ship in a bottle. Very clever!
Mike Stimpson (Balakov) takes us into the strange world of Salvador Dalí with his latest photo, a reenactment of Philippe Halsman’s Dalí Atomicus.
As always, the setup shot is nearly as amazing. Mike writes:
This was rather difficult, and wet. It took two and a half hours to set up, and 15 seconds before the set was destroyed by the chaos that ensues when you turn a hosepipe on a carefully balanced Lego scene.
That is so unbelievably cool.
Tommy Williamson (GeekyTom) recreates the complete set for Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report in Miniland scale, complete with trophies and bookshelves.
Check out all the photos on MOCpages and Flickr.
Nation, watch for Tommy at BrickCon in his Stud shirt.
Why yes, that is a BrickArms Cricket Bat and M1 Carbine.
Thanks to the generous folks at BrickArms, we’ll be giving away a bunch of these to those of you who contribute to Zombie Apocafest 2009 at BrickCon 2009 later this week. Each Zombie Defense Pack will include a prototype cricket bat and M1 carbine, along with other great stuff that remains Top Secret.
The cricket bats in particular will be in short supply outside these packs, and there will be a limited number of packs, so be sure to build something awesome.
Those of us who are into trains know that Anthony Sava has been working on his Pennsylvania Railroad T1 Duplex (4-4-4-4) Steam Engine #5544 for a year and a half. We know this because Tony has been posting work-in-progress pictures, asking for advice and generally running an interactive development system for all this time.
Since many people seemed to enjoy my Anatomy of a Warehouse post where I went through some of my own building stages I think this post should appeal even more. Anthony has documented about 30 images as he has progressed in this project.
Right at the beginning he asked for advice and suggestions on the nose which elicited many responses. As one of the most prominent features of the train it is really important to get this right and I think Tony achieved this admirably in his final version.
Later on Tony used LDraw to mock up various components of the train. I assure you the vanity of the example selection was accidental.
As the train got nearer to completion (this picture is four weeks old as of today) the design began to settle down (note the differences from the CAD image above) and more refined details started to appear.
A final pre-production version was completed a few days ago. Just lacking the stickers and any final tweaks. Tony thanks many people for their help but I’d like to thank him for spending the time on this excellent creation.
And I think we can all agree this train has aged rather well since its inception.
Making a good mecha is hard. Making a good carrier is hard. Making a good carrier that carries a good mecha all snugly folded is really hard. Fortunately Aran (Cole Blaq) managed to pull it off.
If I were a secret agent, I’d want one of these Tri-Runners by The Zipper. The gears give an appearance of functionality and the color combo makes this robot remarkable.
The battle bugs theme has spawned some unique insect-based mechas. This stick insect inspired battle bug by Jordan Schwartz is among one of the more novel species in its class. The creation is as fragile as it looks, and I’m afraid it may collapse if I stare too hard at it. Nevertheless it is armed with three ventral rockets and one on the tail.
It’s not so much that this was a slow news week, but that most of us have been too busy with last-minute preparations for a certain LEGO convention happening in just a few days to blog everything. Anyway, here we go.
The house that May built: James May’s LEGO house has been destroyed. Worse, a LEGO version of May’s cat Fusker built by a LEGO fan was stolen from the house.Sean Kenney presents a public service announcement for bikers. Its message is simple yet striking. Check out Red Light.
At least, Sven Junga seems to think so. While I wouldn’t mind a name, I can’t argue with a shape like this. The bulk is just perfect, it looks like this ship can move quickly and really take a beating. It probably can’t maneuver well, but it shouldn’t matter. I also just can’t say no to that turret mount.
Tim (Roguebantha 1138) posted this awesome micro-scale Neo Classic Space ship a couple of weeks ago. I’ve just spotted it, and I think it’s great. There are so many great shapes in this, the cockpit area, the fuselage, even the wings. I guess it’s just all satisfying.
No, we’re not talking about May’s LEGO house. Rather, this humble rustic scene by Matija Grguric evokes a longing for the simple lifestyle of the countryside. I especially like the grapevines, which I have not seen rendered in LEGO.
Well, if we haven’t convinced you to attend BrickCon next week, you’re pretty much stuck following along at home, so we’re moving on without you. For those of you who’ll be joining us at Seattle Center a week from today, this post includes a bunch of important information — especially for first-time attendees.
Past attendees will also notice that this is largely an update of last year’s post. Please forgive the repetition.
MOC cards identify your LEGO creations for fellow attendees and the general public. They also help theme organizers like Josh and me plan for how much space is needed.
Fill out your MOC cards on BrickCon.org by September 28 to ensure that they’re printed on the nice card stock that will help them stand up next to your amazing LEGO creations.
Remember, only “registered” LEGO creations (ones with MOC cards) will be eligible for the various awards given out by BrickCon.
By the way, unless you want to spend the public hours explaining what “SNOT” and “MOC” are to kids and their parents, avoid “AFOL-speak” in your descriptions. Seriously.
Drafting a LEGO set allows you to get parts in large quantities that you might otherwise have to buy individually (from, say, Bricklink). Read more about how the draft works on SEALUG.org. If you want to participate, the draft set for BrickCon 2009 is 5972 Space Truck Getaway
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Dirty Brickster is a LEGO “white elephant” gift exchange. Bring something that would be worth $10-20 to the recipient, wrapped.
Before you stuff your LEGO into your carry-on luggage, consider reading the LUGNET post by Duane Hess and the Classic-Castle.com article by Lenny Hoffman about packing and shipping LEGO.
Wouldn’t you rather spend your time socializing and integrating your pristine creations into the display instead of rebuilding them?
You should soon be receiving a message from BrickCon organizers with details on when, where, and how to unload your LEGO creations at Seattle Center. Last year, the loading dock was only available during the following times (we’ll update this as the 2009 times are finalized):
Given the limited space (it’s a tunnel), please only use the loading dock if you have massive amounts to unload.
One of the most interesting things about LEGO User Group (LUG) meetings is getting to see another LEGO fan’s building space.
If you’d like to share what your LEGO room looks like with fellow BrickCon attendees, bring a few good photos on a thumb drive for projection during the con.
With a week left, you still have time to build something and bring it for one of the many collaborative displays. Here’s a list of the various themes planned for this year’s convention:
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See you next week!
For once the answer is yes.
Ronald Vallenduuk (Duq) has recently added a couple of sets of instructions to Flickr and kindly showed me how to get LPub working again. I actually reverse engineered the seat gondola many years back after seeing a picture of it and coveting it so it’s great to see Ronald making it available to all and sundry.
I used to make more instructions but had to stop for a while due to a problem I had with LPub. With Ronald’s fix I’m back and running so did some instructions for my latest.
As far as abstract LEGO sculptures go, this one takes the cake. In this creation by Marisa, the builder portrays the birth of the brick in an abstract representation of a follicle rupturing to release the egg. At the same time, the sculpture is a tribute to Ole Kirk Christiansen, the founding father of LEGO. Critics may dispute the appropriateness of the metaphor, but I think the attempt is genuine.
Still deciding to get some chrome bricks? This Peterbilt 379 model by Jörg (lichtblau) may just convince you. It’s got enough shiny-shiny to drool over, but there’s also cool features such as an opening hood and sleeper cab.
Flickr user -infomaniac- strikes fear into the heart of the upper class with his diorama depicting the beginnings of a revolution:
I love the sense of utter chaos captured here! Nothing says anarchy quite like a brick through a window, either.
I have a very warm spot in my heart for the Piper J-3 Cub and this rendition by Ricardo Prates is a beauty. I’m really impressed that he was able to reproduce the iconic black stripe without using a sticker. Very nicely done.
I strongly suspect most of you have already seen this, but this LEGO Star Wars chess set by Brandon Griffith (icgetaway) is well worth another look.
In addition to a great board and the minifig stands one might expect from a LEGO chess set, Brandon built a bunch of microscale Star Wars vehicles and even a couple of cute little vignettes as chess pieces.
Via the LEGO CUUSOO blog.
Inspiration can come from many sources. In the case of this L-36 Lapin courier ship, the color scheme was inspired by a pair of sneakers. Does the ship remind anyone else of a bunny?
Angus Maclane has been building like crazy lately. The craziness has manifested itself as CubeDudes, which appear to be famous characters with cubes for heads. They are adorable! He just posted oodles of these awesome little dudes. Click on the pictures to go to a gallery of related figures.
Which is your favorite?
