You are currently browsing the The Brothers Brick weblog archives for September, 2011.
Though it was due out on October 1st, LEGO has just released 10220 Volkswagen T1 Camper Van early. It’s available on LEGO.com now, and free shipping over $75 has been extended through the end of the month. Huzzah!
Am I strange for seriously considering ordering 4 of these beauties and customizing each to look like the ones I see around town?
Time flies when you’re building furiously. BrickCon 2011 starts next Thursday, September 29! Here’s what you need to know before you arrive.
Past attendees will observe that this is *ahem* almost exactly the same as the 2008 and 2009 posts. It’s good info, though, especially if this is your first BrickCon.
MOC cards identify your LEGO creations (“MOCs“) for fellow attendees and the general public. They also help organizers plan for how much space is needed. Only LEGO models that have MOC cards will be eligible for awards.
Fill out your MOC cards on BrickCon.org before the con to ensure that they’re printed on the nice card stock that will help them stand up next to your amazing LEGO creations.
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. Read more about how the draft works on SEALUG.org. If you want to participate, the draft sets for BrickCon 2011 are 7326 Rise of the Sphinx and 4182 Cannibal Escape.
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?
If you’re flying in, we recommend using public transportation to get to Seattle Center. Handy instructions in Mark Sandlin‘s graphic:
The convention hall will be opening at 7:00 AM on Thursday. But if you show up before 10:00 AM, plan on helping to set up tables, haul chairs, and otherwise make yourself useful. Please wait until 10:00 to put your models on the tables, since we’ll need to put drop-cloths on them first.
With a week left, you still have time to build something and bring it (especially if you’re driving) for one of the many collaborative displays.
See you next week!
Ben Beneke is one of the greats of LEGO train building, with even his old steamers still standing out as some of the best. I’d been wondering what had happened to Ben recently (he usually posts at least one new train a year) but apparently he’s been spending time making excellent animations using LDraw and POVray. An animation like this is really hard to do in POVray. I know, I’ve tried.
What brings a traveler this far, you might ask? What a fabulous question. Wealth? Power? Prestige? In the long run it doesn’t matter, but a respite is always appreciated.
Though, knowing Sebastiaan Arts, I’m fairly sure there’s something hidden. A portal to another dimension, perhaps?
Carl Greatrix is a designer for the official Lego games, and his design of the Flying Dutchman for the Lego Pirates of the Caribbean video game shows why he’s the man for the job. Even though this is a render, just about all the parts used are official Lego elements.
Even bandits need to take a break now and again. David Leest bursts back on the scene with this lush little gem. The waterfall, foliage and general landscaping are very nice, but the posing of the figs put the topper on this for me.
Lasse Vestergård built this in the style of LEGO’s architechture sets and it came out quite nice. I’m really liking the austere look of this build.
In 2005, LEGO Master Builder Erik Varszegi built a massive Venator-class Star Destroyer for Star Wars Celebration III. At 8 feet long, it was the largest LEGO model most of us had seen at the time, and set the bar very high for the likes of Mark Kelso. However, in order to build the Venator strong enough to ship from Enfield, Connecticut to Indianapolis, Indiana, Erik and his fellow model builders had to glue the model and incorporate a steel frame. (FBTB has a great interview with Erik.)
Now, six years later, iomedes has built his own version of Erik’s Venator, except that it’s built from 100% LEGO elements with no glue.
iomedes’ Venator by the numbers:
Check out lots more photos on Flickr and iomedes’ blog, and don’t miss the video.
Bart De Dobbelaer amazes me with the intricacies of his scenes and the action that he packs into them. The scary aliens/bugs in this scene are pretty wild and the backdrop highlights the action perfectly.
I’m fairly sure I’ve never been ten-pin bowling. I’m even more sure that Dave Shaddix has. From the mosaic on the wall, to the hotdogs on the grill, this diorama has everything I imagine a bowling alley should have. And more.
I’m so used to seeing excellent teensy spaceships from Rodney Bistline (Buster) that I had to check twice that I had the name right. I did. This delightful helicopter combines Rodney’s gorgeous use of shape and colour with a more contemporary design. I want to see more near-future stuff from you, Rodney. Got that!
…or something like that. Perhaps not necessarily noble, but the idea of re-purposing something certainly isn’t new.
Matthew Hurt‘s done an excellent job of illustrating just how enterprising some folks can be. His crumbling tower has become a hideout for two unsavory characters.
Barney Main (SlyOwl) contributes to an IronBuilder challenge by incorporating more than a dozen yellow road signs (the “seed part”) into his latest model.
The cartoonish face is complemented by a TV screen frame, while a background cactus adds depth to the scene.
As much as I prefer Frank Herbert’s original novels, David Lynch created a unique vision of the Dune universe that was all his own. Stefan Käsmayer (-2×4-) has recently recreated bits of Lynch’s version in LEGO, beginning with the Harkonnen ornithopter (via The Living Brick):
He followed this with a little scene depicting Paul Atreides practicing his combat skills (via VignetteBricks):
Apparently even a castle can be greebly. This fortress, by ErykCoa, packs quite the visual punch. So many different pieces, techniques, angles and colors all vie for attention, but somehow it melts together for a very interesting effect.
