Yearly Archives: 2008

Custom-printed LEGO bricks from Brick Engraver [Preview]

Tommy Armstrong from Brick Engraver has been cooking up something rather cool — custom-printing on LEGO bricks:

Tommy can print just about any design on white LEGO, including standard bricks, plates, and even minifig torsos, as modeled above by GO MINIMAN GO and BrickCon minifigs. Note the high level of detail on the four issues of BrickJournal.

Tommy was kind enough to send along a rather sizable number of samples to BrickCon 2008. If you were there on the last day, I hope you got some of the GO MINIMAN GO minifigs and 2×2 tiles we handed out. Thanks Tommy!

We’ll be sure to post the news when Brick Engraver announces that they’re taking orders for what is sure to be one of the coolest additions to the LEGO customization world.

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Ed Diment finishes HMS Hood — in 20-foot-long minifig scale!

Personally, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time!

Ed Diment has completed his minfig-scale HMS Hood. Packed with incredible details, this is my favorite of the big ship builds, which have included the USS Harry S. Truman and the Titanic, among others.

The working derrick on the main mast is powered by a 9-volt system:

Here’s a close-up with a minifig, which gives you some sense of the massive scale of this ship:

The highly detailed superstructure is worth a closer look:

Ed built a full complement of boats to go along with Hood:

Even photographing a LEGO creation of this size is a challenge of its own:

Ed was also gracious enough to answer a few of our questions:

The Brothers Brick: How long did it take you to build it?
Ed Diment: 7 months.

TBB: Does the curve stress the bricks?
Ed: No brick stress needed, it is all stepped plate and tile on its side.

TBB: How many bricks did you use?
Ed: Just under 100,000.

TBB: How much did it cost?
Ed: Difficult to say, some of the LEGO goes back 30 years, but if you were to buy all the brick new about $15,000.

TBB: Where do you keep it?
Ed: In sections in my LEGO room. Nowhere in the house is big enough to display it.

TBB: Are you going to keep it together?
Ed: I’ll be keeping it together for at least a couple of years. A couple of museums have expressed an interest, so perhaps longer.

TBB: How much is motorized?
Ed: All four turrets are motorized with power functions for rotation and elevation. I’ll try and get some pictures on YouTube.

Thanks, Ed!

Check out Ed’s HMS Hood photoset on Flickr for 184 pictures — including work-in-progress shots that show how this amazing creation is constructed.

A new look at things

See anything interesting in Jarek‘s newest creation at a glance? Take a second look and you might notice the shift from minifig-scale to microscale between the foreground and background!

Indeed, Jarek is using forced perspective in his latest work, and he does it superbly.

Taking science to questionable bounds

Tyler Clites (Legohaulic) presents two unusual creations dealing with the deviant wonders of science. His newest work is a Frankensteined version of the Slave I from Star Wars (built for Reasonably Clever’s Spooky Star Wars Contest).

His other recent work is a mech owned by the twisted Dr. Kringe. You can now see a video clip of the builder discussing this creation on LAMLtv!

A juggling Jester Troll!

Most people know how much I love my Trolls, but I never thought of this. Nolnet has his Troll tossing some dwarves for your entertainment. He’s pretty good too. Hasn’t dropped that many…

Dwarven Forge

Lego-Adam just posted a Dwarf blacksmith and his nifty work area. It comes across as very refined and well thought out. The simplicity of the wall details really jumped out at me.

Creepy minifigs

Jamie Spencer (Morgan19) came up with some creepy minifigs for the Halloween minifig contest on Fine Clonier forums. These figs use a combination of custom and standard LEGO parts in creative ways and each has a unique eerie personality.

Click the picture below to access the Brickshelf gallery for quick viewing, or you can check them out in Jamie’s Flickr photostream for captions.

Next BrickFest to be held in Portland, Oregon March 26-29, 2009 [News]

As I mentioned briefly at the end of Nannan’s post about BrickCon Day 3, the original LEGO fan convention, BrickFest, will be back in March 2009.

Here’s the full story from event organizer Steve Barile (no relation to Steve Witt, having delicious fries at right):

Where: Portland, OR at the Oregon Convention Center, Hall A
When: March 26-29, 2009 (setup: Th, convention: Fr-Sn)
Hotel: Red Lion Hotel (mention BRICKFEST for room block rate)
Who: All AFOLs!

YES, it’s that time again! Join us for the 3rd Portland BrickFest back at the OCC Hall A and the RED LION, and all the Burgerville you can stand to eat! From all the AFOL feedback we have received asking when the next BrickFest is, we are expecting a great turnout from all the familiar faces, as well as all the new AFOLs that have joined our community in the last couple years! Wow, I can’t believe it been two years!

It’s easy to get to the OCC & Red Lion: ~$2 for a MAX light rail ride form the airport; so no rental car needed. Once downtown MAX is free, so enjoy the many fine restaurants and microbrew pubs that make Portland a fine place to visit!

SEE YOU THERE!

Steve Barile

Q&A

Q: Has BrickFest changed formats?
A: Nope! We believe that the current BrickFest format works great and we are keeping it the same. Of course we strive to make the event the best possible and make tweaks as needed.

Q: Is there a public expo this time?
A: Yes, there will be a public expo on Sunday afternoon only, same as last time. BrickFest is for the AFOLs; there is no rush to set up the displays, so have fun attending sessions, arranging and rearranging MOCs, and goofing off!

Q: Will there be workshops and sessions?
A: Of course! There are so many topics to discuss and share and MOCs to see, we’ll be expecting many of you to volunteer to give talks and host round tables etc. — one of BrickFest’s assets is the sharing of the tribal knowledge.

Q: When can I register?
A: Registration will begin January 1st 2009 (for book-keeping purposes), but mark your calendars, I already rented the OCC!

Q: Is Christina Hitchcock involved?
A: Christina is completely behind BrickFest ’09 and will be taking an advisory position.

BrickFest 2007 was only my second LEGO convention, and I had a fantastic time hanging out with the friends I’d made at BrickCon 2006:

BrickFest 2007 had one of the most amazing LEGO Castle displays I’ve ever seen:

Erik Varszegi unveiled 10179 UCS Millenium Falcon at BrickFest 2007:

I’m not sure I’m ready to begin planning another Zombie Apocafest (which might have to wait until BrickCon 2009 next October), but I’m really looking forward to attending BrickFest as an out-of-towner.

Check out the action from BrickFests past in the BrickFest pool on Flickr.

SlyOwl has lit the Beacons

SlyOwl recently built a really cool, action-packed pirate diorama. It lit my fire!

It craws on eight legs

A few days ago Adrian Florea (Olog) posted a motorized steampunk battle machine, one with aesthetics blended into a clever mechanism inspired by Theo Jansen’s walkers.

See it in action!

GOGOGOLEM

After winning his freedom, Earth Golem went into business for himself, starting GOGOGOLEM Professional Movers, specializing in the relocation of castles, stadiums, shopping malls, skyscrapers, office blocks, parking garages, nuclear power stations, hotels, churches, temples, hospitals, swimming pools, apartment buildings, restaurants and factories.

I really don’t need to say anything more about Teikjoon‘s latest vignette.

LAML announces LAMLtv [News]

James Wadsworth of LAML (LEGO and More LEGO), known for hosting the most popular LEGO audio podcast, is now expanding LAML’s domain to introduce LAMLtv. Checkout the teaser below and listen to the audio introduction here (you can right click to download).