Monthly Archives: April 2007

Blowing my own horn...

Here’s something I built for Brickfest, called “The Bastion of Garda Tùr”. For those of you who might be a bit rusty when it comes to Gaelic, “Garda Tùr” means “guard tower” (or at least it does according to the online dictionary I found). Anyway, on the actual creation.

I hope you enjoy it!

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Zoom zoom!

Brickshelf user Kaitimar has been posting some really cool hover-vehicles (eels optional). My favorite so far is the Zoomer:

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NXT Brick Sorter by Dave Astolfo

So, what might a SYSTEM builder use a MINDSTORMS NXT robot for? Sorting bricks by color, of course! Duh.

Check out Dave Astolfo’s Brick Sorter:

Read more about it on nxtasy.org or on Dave’s site, Plasti-Bots.

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News: Classic-Pirates.com Launches

Eurobricks has had a thriving LEGO Pirates forum for some time now, but the Pirates theme has lacked a Web presence of its own since the demise of PirateBricks.com. But ahoy! What’s this? Behold the new Classic-Pirates.com.

To quote the announcement on the main page:

The booming success of Eurobrick’s Pirate LEGO® Forum has prompted the development of this website to cater to the interests of Pirate LEGO enthusiasts.

The discussion forums will apparently remain on Eurobricks for the time being (which is probably a good thing — splitting the community doesn’t always work). Head on over to Classic-Pirates.com to read the full announcement. Arrrr!!!

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BrickFest 2007 Highlights from Andrew

BrickFest 2007 wrapped up on Sunday, but I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to sit down and reflect. Well, here goes.

Highlights for me:

Phew. That was all so fun I’m now miserably sick. :-D

Still, I can’t wait for the next major LEGO event I’ll be attending, NWBrickCon. See you all there! (You can read more about what NWBrickCon was like last year right here on The Brothers Brick.)

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Who is RACHAL?

RACHAL Example

RACHAL (RAytracing CHALlenge) is a challenge we run on ldraw.org where various people render the same virtual LEGO creation (typically a vignette like scene). The point of it is to allow people to challenge themselves on rendering a shared LEGO scene adding their own technical and artistic interpretations. The first one has just finished and it’s really fascinating to see how various people approach the same source material. If you like it you may also like its predeccesor that I ran early last year called “Remix Lenin”.

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Agent oo7 wishes us all a Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah!

Agent oo7 demonstrates that it’s never too early (or late?) to show off your holiday-themed minifigs.

First up, S. Claws:

And the Grinch:

Finally, on a more positive note, Yehudah Hamakabi:

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ATRV by Mladen Pejic

Ah, if only current RVs were this awesome. But perhaps Winnebago will be inspired by Mladen Pejic’s ATRV:

Check out the interior of the red pod (the blue pod has a bed and bathroom fixtures):

I love how the ladders swing out and down:

Be sure to click the first picture above for the gallery on Brickshelf, or head on over to Mladen’s Web site for pictures and his description of this unique vehicle.

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Heavy Trooper by Jehkay

I’m home sick today after BrickFest, but let’s see if I can do a little catchup without saying anything too embarrassing…

First up, a “Heavy Trooper” by Jehkay that integrates Bionicle pieces very nicely.

(And trust us, this won’t be the last Bionicle you’ll be seeing on The Brothers Brick. Stay tuned…)

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And now for bed!

I just got back from BrickFest 2007 in Portland, OR. What an amazing event! I see that there’s already a bit of early coverage here on The Brothers Brick from Tim and Nathan (heh heh), but look for detailed coverage from both Josh and I over the next couple of days.

In the meantime, check out the BrickFest group on Flickr for photos from attendees:

http://flickr.com/groups/brickfest/

And don’t miss more photos on Brickshelf:

http://www.brickshelf.com/

Okay, I seriously need sleep.

EDIT (12:30 AM, April 3): I’ve been able to upload my raw pictures to Flickr so far, and I’ve added them to the group pool linked above. Still working on write-ups. Sorry for the delays!

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My LEGO figure has dated more girls than I have!

See for yourself:

At least Ginny doesn’t have an RPG like last time.  Oh, wait…

Holy %&*#!@.

Don’t forget to check out Caylin’s post on Classic-Castle.

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Brickfest PDX teaser

Since the guys who are attending seem to be too busy to post pics yet I’ll give a teaser link to Duane Hesse’s Flickr images of the event.

The Brothers Brick is funded by our readers and the community. Articles may include affiliate links, and when you purchase products from those links, TBB may earn a commission that helps support the site.